LocoRoco

Unresolved childhood trauma - Bully
Rockstar Games | PS2

If you're like a lot of hardcore gamers, school was/is a harrowing experience for you. Maybe you got picked on a lot. Maybe girls/boys didn't like you. Maybe you've got no idea what we're talking about, in which case you can skip this one.

Above: So you say you never actually did this in real life? Well, now's your chance

If you're still reading, we're betting you've got years of angry resentment shoved away in some dark corner of your soul. Now, you could spend thousands of dollars and years of your life working through it with a therapist, or you could play Bully and confront it all in one cathartic blast.

Lots of games let you do that on some level, but Bully is about more than just dishing out beatings. Follow its storyline, and antihero Jimmy Hopkins will go on a quest to restore order to a chaotic school, keeping its gangs from causing trouble by bringing them under his control. He's also a lot better at romance than you were/are, so there's another source of humiliation you can vicariously redress.

Even without all the tertiary benefits, Bully is the only game that lets you pick a fistfight with an entire high school football team and win. Realistic? Nah. But it'll do wonders for your self-esteem.