5 Games To Give Your Brain A Real Hard Exercise
Whenever you see news about the effects of video games, the news often tries to shine a negative light on video games. With games blamed for violence, laziness and time-wasting, many people see them as having no positive effect. In reality, games can be very complex and require a lot of concentration and practice. One of the most significant differences between players can be how well they use their brains.
Video games can be great at improving your cognitive abilities. We will look at five games that can challenge your brain and require a lot of your mental skills.
Portal

Release Date:
10 Oct, 2007
The portal series is still, to date, considered one of the best puzzle platform games to be launched. With the first part of the installment launched in 2007 and the second in 2011, Portal has one of the highest ratings on meta critics. The game’s premise is simple; you solve puzzles to advance to the next level. You are equipped with a portal gun and have to defeat robots, move through platforms and use your surroundings and objects to solve the puzzles. The game is a very well-designed puzzle game as it offers challenging and different puzzles, along with a terrific story engaging the player. The latest game launched a decade ago but still holds up pretty well.
Age of Empires

Age of Empires (Online Version)
First Release: October 15, 1997
Age of Empires is a franchise that spans back more than two decades, with the first game released in 1997, yet it remains one of the most popular real-time strategy(RTS) games out there. Like most RTS games, Age of Empires gives you complete control of how you approach building your empire. You are required to develop your army and empire using resources and building to defeat the other empires. Building your empire and developing them to defeat other empires involves a lot of thinking and strategy on the players’ part to make it work.
Age of Empires has a multiplayer mode in which players can play against other players online and battle it out to see who wins out.
Digital card games – Hearthstone

First Release: March 11, 2014
There are so many on the market with digital card games, with each offering such a different experience that it is hard to single one out. In most card games, the player’s objective is to build their deck and battle out against other players in a head-to-head match. One of the most popular card games is Hearthstone, in which you make a 30-card deck and battle against other players until one player’s hero dies. Each player takes turns playing their cards based on how much mana they have, with the objective being to deal 30 damage to the enemy hero.
In a game like Hearthstone, you can take many different approaches to the game, ranging from slow decks to very aggressive decks.
Most turn-based card games require a lot of strategy from both players. They are all about outplaying and anticipating your opponent’s next move. Other popular games like Hearthstone include Shadowverse, Magic the Gathering, and Gwent.
Rainbow Six Siege

Initial Release Date: November 26, 2015
Rainbow Six Siege is a tactical first-person shooter in which two teams of five play against each other. The game has two teams, of which one is the attackers and the other defenders. The game’s primary objective is for the attackers to tactically and strategically defuse a bomb defended by the defending team. The game is purely online and is five real people vs five real people, with team play playing a big part. A game like Rainbow Six Siege requires players to be good at the shooting aspect of the game and the tactical element. They have to devise strategies in which they will attack or defend. The game is very competitive, and mental play becomes as essential as anything else at the game’s highest levels.
Team-based games are very effective in engaging players with other players and help the players improve their communication with each other and their synergy.
Chess

Chess is not solely a digital game, unlike the other games mentioned here. Still, it has risen in popularity online and lured in many new young players over the last decade. Chess is well known to be a game that requires players to be very good thinkers and is probably the game with the most strategies to it. Chess online is the same as traditional chess, but it offers you a much more comprehensive range of players and is much more friendly to new players looking to learn the game. Anyone can get a chess class online or play against other players and learn from there. Chess online gives all players the ability to learn and get into the game.