With the shelter-at-home order in place and with very little to do outside other than catch Coronavirus, many are finding themselves stuck at home unable to find ways to entertain themselves.

While some are taking the time to catch up on their Netflix backlog or watch the new hit Tiger King, gamers are using the opportunity to stay inside with some of the new releases that have dropped over the past few weeks.

Late March brought us four big releases, Doom Eternal, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Half-Life: Alyx and Persona 5 Royal. Due to my lack of VR equipment and a decent computer, I’ll ignore discussing Half-Life for now.

In a wild development, Modern Warfare 2 Remastered was leaked on Mar. 30 and then released on PS4 the next day. And on April 3  Resident Evil 3 remake was out and Final Fantasy VII Remake followed soon after.

Doom Eternal is Bethesda’s follow-up to its 2016 reboot of Doom. It’s fast, bloody, and many say it’s painfully hard. Speed is important in Doom Eternal and players must be quick on their feet and smart with combat if they want to survive the deluge of demons thrown at them.

This game is a lot faster and much more brutal than its predecessor, with some even finding it too hard at times. But those that get the hang of it, like COD student Phoenix Duarte-Commandeur, have found themselves enjoying what Doom Eternal has to offer.

“As someone who really didn’t like the previous installment in the franchise Doom Eternal is a breath of fresh air,” Phoenix said in an online interview. “It feels faster-paced, less sluggish, and  all-around more entertaining to play, I would recommend this game to veterans of the Doom franchise and new players alike,” said Duarte-Commandeur.

On the other end of the spectrum is Animal Crossing: New Horizons; a slow and calm game in which players build a community from scratch on their own deserted island. They craft tools, shelter, and other useful items to aid them as they explore, and can visit their friend’s islands as well. With a completely blank canvas to work on and new tools and techniques that can be used to build the town, New Horizons offers players a new level of freedom in order to make their dream island.

Video game player Cody Schieferstein is enjoying the game very much, “Animal Crossing is a very relaxing and peaceful game. You do a lot of resource gathering, but it doesn’t feel tedious or annoying.”

The rest of the games are all some kind of re-release, remaster, or similar. Persona 5 Royal is the definitive edition of the original Persona 5 released back in 2017. This new version of the turn-based JRPG and social simulator adds a bunch of new content, including story development, a new playable character, a new location and a number of new features.

Some may prefer not to play along with game-like persona again knowing the twists, but for those that missed Persona the first time around or were itching for new content, this is their game.

The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Remaster dropped out of nowhere, but fans aren’t complaining. The new version consists of just the military shooter’s campaign with upped graphics, sound and gameplay. For twenty bucks, many are happy to replay a modern classic on current-gen consoles.

Horror-classic Resident Evil 3 and beloved the JRPG Final Fantasy 7 Remake, on the other hand, are complete overhauls of their original games. Both have been fully upgraded from their low quality or polygonal graphics to some of the best available today.

Their gameplay and combat have been similarly revamped for speed and fluidity.

Final Fantasy VII abandons turn-based combat for the faster and more action-packed active-time battle system, and Resident Evil 3 adopts a third person that completely changes the feel of the game from its original fixed camera angles.

For many COD students stuck at home, these games are not only helping to pass the time but help them cope with the current situation. With a consistent stream of good games to play and more on the way, some think the quarantine may not be so bad after all.