The Best Video Games to Play Stoned

Image via Complex Original

Suggested strain pairing: Grandaddy Purple

If Hemingway designed iOS titles after a massive bong rip, it would look something like Ridiculous Fishing.  As Billy the fisherman, you are in search of fame on the high seas by casting, reeling in, and, ultimately emptying a revolver into the belly of your hooked fish. The game cleaned up with a ton of awards and was an indie darling when it dropped earlier this year. Hucking fish in the air and blasting them for money is amazing sober. Getting a little lit before heading out to sea would make Papa Hemingway even prouder.

Suggested strain pairing: Hawaiin Skunk

In case you can't tell, we think horror games are pretty dope after a puff or three. Telltale Games' episodic The Walking Dead was released in five single serving installments and, thus, can be enjoyed in smaller sessions. The entire series functions as a serialized graphic experience that focuses less on action and puzzle solving, and more on decisions with lasting consequence.

Might sound stressful to some, but trust, this game builds at such an understated, deliberate pace you'll be weighing every decision you make with real consideration. Getting lifted makes this game a deeply involved  experience.

Suggested strain pairing: White Rhino

Rockstar's love letter to the old west is perfect. How do you make a nearly flawless title even better? Der. Get into that sticky.

While the occasional glitch may mar the title, Red Dead's overall aesthetic, content, and soundtrack are all consuming in their level of immersion. Red Dead Redemption rewards the curious player that takes the time to explore the hinterlands of the Wild West.

Hmm, what makes one both curious and encourages exploration? With the game's beautiful day/night cycles, players can enjoy the sunset before setting out on a bounty. This game is amazing and Rockstar needs to announce another entry in the franchise already.

Suggested strain pairing: Walrus Kush

This game invites introspective dissection even when not under the house arresting effects of a dabs session. Massive living set pieces that act as bosses, the colossi that you face are thunderous works of moving art. As Wanderer, you are given a world with no dungeons to raid, no towns to socialize within, and no other 'human' characters to interact with. You and your horse are dwarfed by a world that must be explored and living monoliths that need defeating. A minimalistic, emotionally layered story that stays with you long after the game ends.

Stoned, the entire experience feels like you've spent the evening inside the fever dreams of an orphan. But, ya know, in a good way.

Suggested strain pairing: Seattle Blue

Journey has been cited by nearly every serious game critic as a watershed moment in the popularization of the indie blockbuster. As a robed, figure wandering through an endless desert towards a nameless mountain in the distance, the game plays like equal parts Disney's Fantasia and Frank Herbert's Dune.

The co-op element between other randomly encountered, online players are enhanced whilst under the veil of the sticky icky. Oh, also, you can't 'talk' in the strictest sense, you sort of chirp to communicate. Getting lost in this massively beautiful world is way too easy.

Suggested strain pairing: Sour Diesel

An obvious addition to this list. Getting faded is probably the only way the plot of this game would begin to make any sense at all. 

After the King of All Cosmos, your dad, accidentally destroys the universe, it's up to you, young prince, to rebuild the universe by collecting objects to rebuild the moon, stars, and, ultimately, the entire universe. Other than sounding like the lyrics to a Fleetwood Mac track, the game's plot and primary mechanics are deceptively simple. Gather enough matter that will eventually collapse under the weight of its own mass and create a star. 

You've watched Neil deGrasse Tyson stoned before right? Same concept.

Suggested strain pairing: Grapefruit Kush

The illegitimate love child of Tim Burton and early German Expressionism, this black and white 2D platformer will make you think about what exists in the shadows on a much, much deeper level.

After blowing a little of the doja, this tale of a boy awaking in a forest on the edge of hell, and tasked with finding his missing sister, will have you questioning the fundamental tenants of your belief system. Most of the other characters you run into during the course of the game are already dead. The game is sparse and haunting and is the perfect accompaniment to a 'my god, this is so deep' sort of high.

Suggested strain pairing: Lemon Wreck

Any entry in the Smash Bros. series will do, but the chances of you still having a Wii hooked up are much higher than a GameCube or an N64. Nintendo has always been the perfect sidecar to a little tipple of the green. Brilliantly cartoon soaked environments, an instant and lasting recognition of the characters, and, let's be honest, being stoned is one of the few times seeing a gorilla in a tie even begins to make sense.

Super Smash Bros. is a game seasoned veterans can get down on, but it also lends itself perfectly to the casually baked neophyte. A simple control scheme means that even the most burnt of us can pick one of the candy coated members of the roster; a fox in a racing jacket who captains a starship; a pink amorphous blob that fights by forced asphyxitation; a Japanese electric rat that is in the U.S. llegally; they are all at your disposal. 

Suggested strain pairing: Cadillac Purple

Have you ever gotten baked and sat down to a truly well-done horror film? A taut atmospheric film that heightens and disorients any chance it gets? It begs to be enjoyed with a dip of the hydro. Slender is exactly the same.

The free, indie survival horror game is base on the manufactured folklore of the Slender Man. A faceless  tuxedo clad figure that is present when children are abducted. A first person title, Slender charges players with finding eight loose pages scattered through a fog dense forest. Catching a glimpse of the Slender Man will drain a player's sanity meter forcing you to jog away before succumbing to madness.

A hyper-minimalist horror outing that relies on well placed jump scares, and your ultimate powerlessness in 'defeating' the Slender Man, for its effectiveness. Now imagine all of those components amplified with a little toke running through your terrified lungs. Download the game right here.

Suggested strain pairing: Girl Scout Cookies

Aside from currently being available on nearly every console in existence, and making the leap to the PlayStation 4 come November, Minecraft is the quintessential stoner outing. Placing nearly endless agency on world-building and creative expression, players are limited only by their imaginations. 

We've seen the worlds of Azeroth and Westeros recreated down to the exact drawbridge and stained glass window. Whoever put the time in on those projects was, without a doubt, blazed. Getting stoned with a significant other and creating an entire world from scratch is basically what Minecraft was developed for.