20 Worst Games to Play While High on 4/20

Alien: Isolation (2014)

Some people think being high makes horror games more fun. Those people have clearly never played Alien: Isolation while high. You’re trapped on a space station with a perfect, relentless killing machine – and your only defense is hiding in lockers and praying to whatever stoner gods you believe in. Every hiss, beep, and footstep will send you into a paranoid spiral of fear. You’ll start yelling at your own breathing noises. You’ll mistrust the motion tracker like it personally betrayed you. It’s atmospheric horror at its finest – and a panic attack in digital form if your senses are... heightened. | © Creative Assembly / SEGA

Balatro (2024)

Look, we all love a good roguelike deck-builder now and then, but Balatro is not the one to play when your brain feels like a melting marshmallow. The game starts innocently enough – combine poker hands with power-ups, easy right? Wrong. Before long, you’re 15 hands deep, staring at some cosmic Joker card trying to figure out if it’s helping you or plotting against you. It’s like Vegas and a spreadsheet had a baby during a fever dream. You’ll either feel like a card-counting genius or like you've been personally outwitted by a deck of pixels. Save this one for a sober Sunday, not a stoned Saturday. | © LocalThunk

Sifu (2022)

Sifu asks a simple question: “What if every time you mess up, you get older?” Which is already kinda deep if you're high. This game is all kung-fu action and precision timing, which sounds fun until you realize your reflexes are operating on a 10-second delay. Suddenly, you're an 80-year-old warrior because you missed every parry while admiring the floor textures. And the worst part? It's actually good, which means you’ll feel double the guilt for failing it. Watching your character age rapidly feels a little too real when you're feeling "elevated." Cool concept, wrong vibe. | © Sloclap

Outer Wilds (Especially Echoes of the Eye DLC) – (2019 / DLC in 2021)

Playing Outer Wilds while high is like trying to solve a cosmic Rubik’s Cube while someone whispers the meaning of life in reverse. This game is all about exploring a time loop in space, which already sounds trippy, but the DLC, Echoes of the Eye, dials it up to eleven. You’ll be floating through eerie darkness, ancient ruins, and existential dread while your THC brain begs for a nap and a cartoon. There's mystery, there’s beauty – and then there’s the creeping terror of realizing you’ve been in the same loop for 45 minutes. A masterpiece, sure. But 4/20-friendly? Not even close. | © Mobius Digital / Annapurna Interactive

Hades (2020)

Fast-paced combat, mythological mayhem, and lots of dashing – Hades is a game that demands focus. The moment you light up, though, it turns into a stylish panic simulator. You’ll be trying to pick between boons from Greek gods, and suddenly Zeus and Poseidon are blurring together like you're stuck in a divine nightclub. You meant to dash left, but you rolled into a lava pit instead. Oops. The dialogue is clever and the action is slick, but high-brain might not be ready to process Zagreus' daddy issues and chain those combos. Proceed with caution – or just watch someone else play. | © Supergiant Games

Deep Rock Galactic (2020)

“Rock and Stone!” they yell. You yell back. But honestly, Deep Rock Galactic is kind of a sensory overload buffet when you’re blazed. You're a dwarf in space mining caves full of bugs, chaos, explosions, and team-based strategy – which is way too much responsibility for your current vibe. One minute you’re drilling into a glowing wall, the next you’re swarmed by alien bugs and yelling into your mic while holding a beer. Add in the cave darkness and a mission timer, and you've got the recipe for a stress burrito. High you just wanted to vibe, not lead a dwarf expedition. | © Ghost Ship Games / Coffee Stain Publishing

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (2019)

You know what’s not fun when you’re high? Dying 87 times to the same sword-wielding maniac while a giant ape throws a tantrum. Sekiro is punishing on a good day, but under the influence, it feels like trying to defuse a bomb blindfolded while being scolded by your ancestors. The game demands perfect timing, razor-sharp focus, and a Zen-like ability to control frustration – none of which pair well with giggle fits and existential musings. And just when you think you’ve mastered the parry system, a boss breaks all the rules and yeets you into despair. This one is for the warriors – not the wanderers. | © FromSoftware / Activision

Fear & Hunger (2018)

If you thought Dark Souls was grim, allow me to introduce you to Fear & Hunger, aka “bad vibes: the video game.” The moment you boot it up, you're treated to a world full of trauma, cruelty, and no tutorial. Being high while playing this game is like watching a horror film with all the lights off, except you’re the one making the awful choices. There’s permadeath, limb loss, starvation, madness, and worst of all – reading. Deep, heavy, lore-drenched reading. One bad move and your character is eaten, corrupted, or worse. If you're in a good place mentally, Fear & Hunger might drag you into a shadowy pit and whisper “lol no” on the way down. | © Miro Haverinen

Subnautica (2018)

On the surface, Subnautica seems like a great chill pick. Beautiful oceans, alien fish, no guns – perfect for some high relaxation, right? WRONG. The moment the sun sets or you dive a little too deep, it becomes a full-blown underwater anxiety simulator. There's something about the vast black nothingness of the ocean that triggers primal panic, especially when you're blitzed and your oxygen's running low. Oh, and don’t even get me started on the sea monsters. High you will go from “wow, look at that coral” to “OH GOD WHAT WAS THAT?!” in 0.3 seconds. Chill surface, terrifying depths. Just like your thoughts. | © Unknown Worlds Entertainment

Lisa: The Painful (2014)

Imagine mixing a retro RPG with emotional trauma, body horror, and the kind of dark humor that makes you question your entire sense of morality. That’s Lisa: The Painful. High or not, this game doesn’t just break the fourth wall – it crashes through it and slaps you across the face. You’ll be forced to make choices that are straight-up awful, and the music? Unsettling in a way that feels like your game console is judging you. There’s no happy ending here, only pain, loss, and the occasional drug trip gone extra wrong. It's brilliant, bold, and totally not the vibe for a fun 4/20 escape. | © Dingaling Productions

Overcooked 1 & 2 (2016)

At first glance, Overcooked seems harmless. Cute chefs, charming music, and you're just cooking up burgers with friends – what could go wrong? Everything. High you might think you’re Gordon Ramsay, but you’re more like stoned SpongeBob on his first day at the Krusty Krab. Suddenly the kitchen’s on fire, someone’s trapped on a moving platform, and there’s a raccoon in a wheelchair shouting for lettuce. It’s total sensory overload with a side of friendship-ending chaos. Fun? Absolutely. High-friendly? Only if you want to scream “WHERE’S THE TOMATO?!” for an hour straight. | © Ghost Town Games / Team17

The Binding of Isaac (2011)

Few games can make you laugh, cry, and stare into the void like The Binding of Isaac. It’s a roguelike filled with monsters, crying babies, and vaguely biblical trauma – which is not ideal when your brain is feeling extra philosophical. The game throws new items at you every second, most of which have confusing effects, cryptic names, and icons that look like bad tattoos. High you will spend more time Googling what a “Dead Cat” does than actually surviving. And then you die. Again. And again. It's quirky brilliance – but also kind of a fever dream you didn’t consent to. | © Edmund McMillen / Nicalis

Super Meat Boy (2010)

You might think you’re in the mood for a platformer. Something simple, jumpy, maybe nostalgic. But Super Meat Boy is not that kind of platformer. It’s a lightning-fast, pixel-perfect, blood-splattered gauntlet of pain that will laugh at your high reaction time and then yeet you into a buzzkill spiral. Every level demands split-second timing, and the more you fail, the more the game replays your every embarrassing death in rapid-fire. It’s hilarious when you're sober. When you're high, it's like being mocked by a hyper-caffeinated Looney Tune. This one’s for speedrunners, not space cadets. | © Team Meat

Left 4 Dead 1 & 2 (2008)

Zombies are scary enough, but zombies that sprint, climb, and scream at you in 7.1 surround sound while you’re blazed? That’s a hard pass. Left 4 Dead isn’t just fast-paced – it’s a relentless, chaotic co-op frenzy where teamwork is essential and panic is constant. One second you're vibing with friends, the next you're being tackled by a Hunter and begging someone to help while the music goes full horror movie. Also, the AI Director literally adapts to your stress, which just feels personal at that point. Not great when you're high and trying to chill – not fight for your virtual life. | © Valve

Dwarf Fortress (2006)

Dwarf Fortress is basically a game about building a civilization from scratch – with ASCII graphics and a complexity level that makes spreadsheets look like coloring books. The tutorial is “figure it out,” the interface is chaos, and everything that can go wrong absolutely will. Playing this game high is like trying to manage a fantasy ant farm during a blackout. One minute you're building a tavern, the next your dwarves are dying of dehydration because someone forgot to dig a well. It’s brilliant, deep, and absurdly detailed – but it’s also the video game equivalent of being asked to solve calculus while underwater. | © Bay 12 Games

Cropped Eternal Darkness Sanitys Requiem

Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem (2002)

If you’re high and looking for a mind-bending experience, Eternal Darkness might sound like a good idea. But trust me – it goes off the rails fast. This game doesn’t just mess with your character’s sanity, it messes with yours. Fake error messages, TV volume pranks, and the illusion of your save file deleting will have you questioning reality, your controller, and possibly your existence. You’ll find yourself pausing to ask, “Did that just happen?” Yes. Yes it did. And you’ll still be unsure. This game breaks the fourth wall, then burns the wreckage – and high you is not ready for that. | © Silicon Knights / Nintendo

Silent Hill Games (1999 onward)

Ah yes, the fog-drenched psychological horror series where everything is a metaphor for trauma and nothing is ever okay. Silent Hill doesn’t just scare you – it haunts you. The music is oppressive, the monsters are symbolic nightmares, and the storylines are a rabbit hole of grief, guilt, and existential despair. High you will go in expecting spooky vibes and leave wondering if you're the monster. Also, navigating that foggy town while your “enhanced” brain is hyper-focusing on every distorted noise? Forget it. You'll drop the controller and walk away. Forever. | © Konami

LSD: Dream Emulator (1998)

This game is literally called LSD, and somehow it’s still too weird to play while high. It’s not a game so much as a fever dream simulator where you wander aimlessly through bizarre, low-poly environments that range from whimsical to deeply unsettling. Nothing makes sense. Doors teleport you. Faces melt. Textures change for no reason. If you're high, it’s like being trapped inside a haunted Windows 95 screensaver narrated by your subconscious. A total cult classic – but let’s be honest, you’ll either have the time of your life or cry in a corner. Possibly both. | © Asmik Ace Entertainment

Resident Evil Games (1996 onward)

Zombies, puzzles, and inventory management under pressure – what could go wrong? In the Resident Evil series, the real horror isn't just the monsters – it’s trying to decide whether to keep a healing herb or that one oddly-shaped key while something groans down the hallway. High you will spend ten minutes combining bullets with gunpowder while panicking over whether you heard a Licker. Jump scares hit harder, save rooms feel like religious experiences, and the camera angles are straight-up hostile. It’s survival horror, emphasis on survival. Maybe pick something with less, you know, constant dread. | © Capcom

EarthBound (1994)

On paper, EarthBound should be perfect for a high playthrough. It’s quirky! It’s colorful! It’s got a psychedelic battle screen! But then... the weirdness creeps in. The enemies have names like “New Age Retro Hippie” and “Annoying Old Party Man.” You fight piles of puke. The dialogue ranges from charming to subtly unnerving. And the ending? Let’s just say it goes way off the rails into philosophical horror territory. High you might go in expecting cozy nostalgia and leave questioning the nature of time and human emotion. This one’s best left for a clearer head – or a guided tour. | © Ape Inc. / HAL Laboratory / Nintendo