Does anyone else experience a strong adrenaline rush sometimes when playing videogames?
I had my most adrenaline-pumped gaming session today during Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League. I could feel my body tense and my hands become sweaty as I tried to defeat the Braniac-brainwashed Batman whilst he was exposed to the fear toxin in the Batcave. It’s the most adrenaline I have ever felt whilst playing a videogame because of how intense that battle is.
Maybe that time i played Tetris and the blocks started falling very quickly comes close to what you describe
Yeah, it definitely can happen, if I’m fighting a difficult boss or such.
Yeah, I think difficulty does have a bearing. I have felt adrenaline during Rainbow Road when playing Mario Kart games, for instance.
For Honor, Bloodborne, Dark Souls, some competitive shooters, yeah.
Recently finished AstroBot Rescue Mission on VR after putting it off for 4 years because it was too difficult for 16 year old me. And I was able to beat the game, but still took me a few retries. It still was tense though. You have time limits but can’t see them until you’ve finished.
What I’ve found though is if I’m listening to Paul McGann’s voice on audio while gaming, I’m instantly less tense.
Dark Souls for sure had this effect on me. 
When I was laddering in Brood War and Starcraft 2 I definitely got a bump in my heart rate and blood pressure. Occasionally when playing Street Fighter I still get it, but mostly I don’t place value on my W/L stats so it doesn’t bother me any more.
Yes I can get like this with certain games. I used to be much more of a gamer but haven’t played any in ages (spend most of my free time working on this site now lol).
Then ever since I got VR (Valve Index), I’ve never had such intense gaming sessions. Half-Life: Alyx is incredible, and some of the levels are so tense and so lifelike that you really feel you are there.
The one with the monster who cannot see is especially scary as you have to move around and solve puzzles trying not to make a sound - you find yourself actually holding your breath even though that’s not necessary (I just thought, they should have used the mic to record your breathing lol).
And any time you’re in pitch black with just a flashlight and there are monsters… I’ve “Nope’d” out of many of those situations, pulling the headset off, because it was too intense lol.
Oh and another game which absolutely freaks me out and I get so worked up is Subnautica. You’re on an alien world and have to scuba dive underwater and collect resources and build a base. But there are some terrifying alien sea monsters down there, and the deeper you go the bigger and scarier they get. I also played that in VR at first, but I’m quite scared of fish, so as it got more and more intense I had to play it in “flat” mode because I couldn’t bear it!
Sounds like it would genuinely make an excellent Doctor Who episode.
[cough] Phantoms of the Deep [cough]
I’ve always gotten it when playing games, but when I used to play competitive Smash I really really got adrenaline rushes. Maybe a bit too much and it exhausted me a lot, so much healthier for me now that I don’t really compete lol!
Aren’t there actual Smash Bros tournaments you can watch too, that are like proper sporting events?
100%. E-Sports are a big deal.
Yup! The ones I went to were much smaller scale but it was that kinda thing.
