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The 10 Best Ways To Recover Health In Video Games
Health, usually represented as a bar or in numerical fashion, is one of the oldest concepts in games. When you run out of it, you're dead or the game is over in some fashion (at least until you reload your save or restart the game). Luckily there are usually items or mechanics designed to help you keep you from perishing. Sometimes games approach this concept of health recovery in pretty interesting ways, so we decided to shine a light on some of the best ones
From the goofy to the macabre, here are the best ways to get back your health in games.
Drinking Toilet Water - Fallout
Look. The Wasteland is a hard place. You often work up a thirst wandering and sometimes you're in a building and the only way to quench that thirst is by drinking out of the grime-covered toilet in the stall next to you. Okay, okay, it's not as appealing as downing a Fiji bottle but it gets the job done...while also giving you a splash of belly radiation. Oops.
Herbs - Resident Evil
Yeah,
yeah make your 420 jokes and get it out of your system. Regardless of
how goofy it may seem at times, Resident Evil's healing system,
encouraging you to collect and mix herbs to heal higher amounts of
damage, still feels innovative years after the first game's release.
Painkillers - Max Payne
I'm fairly certain that painkillers don't work in real life like they do in Max Payne, a series about diving about in slow motion and filling bad dudes with hot lead, but it sure does thematically fit Payne's seemingly never-ending journey of despair and grief. Bonus: they also add another layer of tension and strategy to firefights, encouraging you to takes chances and expose yourself to danger since you can just pop a few pills after getting gutshot and just keep on going.
Eating People - Alien Vs Predator, Rampage, Legacy Of Kain:Soul Reaver, Infamous
Sometimes
games like to make things really convenient for you and turn your
enemies into walking snack packs for you to kill and devour. Whether
it's sucking the life force from their bodies as they screech in agony
or y'know literally eating them, it's hard not to be amused by the spectacle and efficiency of feasting on foes.
Heart Containers and Fairy Bottles - The Legend of Zelda
Both
the heart containers and fairy bottles in The Legend of Zelda are some
of the most iconic, health recovery-related images in games. Collecting
heart pieces increases Link's maximum health, immediately becoming one
of those rare collectibles that are actually worth pursuing in games and
nabbing a fairy with a bottle and then setting them free later allows
you recover your health while you're deep in a dungeon. A helpful and
creative aid to the player.
Star Power - Guitar Hero
Some people straight up suck at Guitar Hero. I am one of those people, which is probably why I get really into it when I manage to do well enough to activate Star Power and win the crowd back. I mean, I'm still absolute garbage at the game, but it's nice to forget that for a few minutes.
Food - Bishock Infinite, Dead Rising, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Sometimes the best way to restore health in a game is by just munching on a hot dog you grabbed from a trash can during a firefight. Or somehow freezing time during your duel with a dragon to chow down on ten wheels of cheese.
DIY - Metal Gear Solid, Far Cry
Some games have taken a more hardcore approach to healing, forcing you to set your own broken bones and apply bandages to wounded areas yourself before your health will replenish. My personal favorite? Sucking the bullet out of your arm in Far Cry 2 and spitting it out. Extremely gross but also oddly satisfying!
Healing Stations - Half-life, Star Wars: Republic Commando
Health
stations! They're like vending machines that stick you with needles
instead of dispensing expired Oreos and Snickers bars. Wait, that's a
bad pitch. Ok, well they make cool sounds too. Like this.
Getting Some R&R Behind A Chest-High Wall - Games With Guns And Lots Of Yelling And Pew Pew Pew
There's
nothing like recovering from what should most certainly be a fatal
gunshot to the eyeball by resting behind a wall as your enemies continue
executing the same success-guaranteed strategy of unloading their
ammunition on your refuge of concrete and sheet metal instead of
flanking you. You can probably get some knitting done back there while
your wait for your inexplicable Wolverine-like healing powers to kick
in.
Did we miss your favorites? Let us know in the comments below!
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