8 Flower-Picking Simulators for Your ADHD Enjoyment
Written By Danny Sharp
August 2, 2024
I have ADHD and OCD. You’d think they’d cancel out–involuntary chaos vs compulsive order–but the cognitive dissonance tends to make each other worse. This world has a shortage of things that can sate both at the same time, but I’ve found a peculiar niche that’s just right for satisfying these two conflicting conditions.
My favorite video game genre is something I call a “flower-picking simulator.” I’ve found (via my own experiences and the conversations I’ve had) that people with ADHD hyperfixate on these games faster than you can blink. To make things better/worse, my OCD gives me a peculiar playstyle where every area I enter must be completely picked clean, so I’ll veer off the path solely to collect every last resource in sight. It’s much less destructive than trichotillomania or dermatillomania (hair-pulling and skin-picking respectively), but gives the same feeling of relief. The player is given a wide-open world to do as they please, roam around at their own pace, and collect little bits of dopamine along the way. A treasure chest here, a pretty rock there… and always flowers. I need something that will reward my no-rock-unturned tendencies, but that level of detail on such huge projects is hard to come by.
There is no greater fun to me than playing a new flower-picking simulator for the first time: as meaningless as it seems from the outside, it feels deeply fulfilling from within, which makes it a relaxing reward for a hard day’s work if handled responsibly. If any of this sounds relatable to you, then I present a ranked list of ADHD-OCD crack. Be sure to set a timer so you don’t forget to eat during your digital adventures.
6. SUBNAUTICA
2/5 flower-picking
Via SteamYou crash-land on an ocean planet and must scavenge the sea for food, drink, and materials to get back home. The inventory is too small for true mindless flower-picking, but it does have an open world and a good story that incentivizes the player to explore. High risk makes certain flowers high-reward, and the tiny inventory is a good motive to use your items instead of just hoarding them. Warning: this game can imbue, improve, or worsen thalassophobia.
5. STARDEW VALLEY
3/5 flower-picking
Via SteamYou inherit a farm surrounded by wilderness just across the road from a charming little town full of potential friends, romantic partners, and secrets. Unlike the other entries to this collection, this is not an open world. The confines are set in stone, but that also means that every inch is curated for your exploration and harvest. The limited time in the day means that foraging is a stressful endeavor if you have other farm chores to tend to. However, gathering crops, preserves, and wine bottles gives the same intoxicating feeling. The sound design is tailor-made for your satisfaction and subsequent addiction.
4. ELDEN RING
4/5 flower-picking
Via SteamYou are an undead knight roaming a magical and deadly countryside, searching for shards of the titular ring. There are many, many flowers and shiny rocks to find, which you can sell to level up or craft useful tools. This game comes from a studio notorious for making maddeningly difficult games with punishing combat. This can get in the way of flower-picking, but you won’t lose your inventory upon death, and you can run away from almost any fight. Pick some more flowers, sell them until you’re strong enough to pick flowers in more difficult areas… rinse and repeat. I’ve deducted points because much of the set dressing is unobtainable: unopenable crates everywhere, loose bits and bobs clutter tables just out of my grubby reach, and valuables glitter tantalizingly in my raven’s eye. Sometimes it makes me want to play a different game where I’m actually allowed to fill my pockets with random garbage. More frustratingly, the flowers regrow every time I leave and re-enter the area, which drives my OCD up the wall if I have to turn around too quickly: “I just cleaned up this mess,” it shouts, “can’t you at least give me the illusion of my hard work having some impact?”
3. SKYRIM
4/5 flower-picking
Via SteamMagical powers manifest within you roughly around the same time as your impending execution and the re-emergence of dragons. It was while I was taking a stroll through the countryside and picking flowers that I came up with this genre’s name, especially since I’d realized I was enjoying myself much more right then than I was during any kind of combat or conversation. Skyrim is old, buggy, and the stories are middling, but the rich open world and caring details make the environment feel lived-in. This studio excels with leaving bits, bobs, and trinkets everywhere for you to squirrel out and stow away. The end result is intensely rewarding, but I’ve deducted a point due to an unforgiving weight-restricted inventory system.
2. LARIAN STUDIOS GAMES: BALDUR’S GATE 3, DIVINITY 2
5/5 flower-picking
Via SteamYou select or create a character that awakens as a prisoner on an enemy ship (which capsizes), wash up on shore, and gather a merry band of weirdos to go kill a god. The player can pick up everything that fits in a pocket (as well as several things that really shouldn’t). Cutlery. Candles. Nick-knacks. Snacks. Readable books. Entire barrels of gunpowder. Rotten food. And, of course, flowers. If you can’t have it, then you can likely move it. Your limit is your character’s strength: the size of your pack is never an issue, only the character’s ability to carry it, and you can instantly send unessential valuables off to your hoard in the home base. The mechanics, character design, and stories are different from each other, but the flower-picking of both games are both deliciously similar. The many regions, dungeons, and buildings are closed loops for your exploration: constricting, but rewarding. Anything you pick up will never come back, however, so there’s the closure, satisfaction, and disappointment of realizing a room’s been completely picked clean.
1. LEGEND OF ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD, TEARS OF THE KINGDOM
6/5 flower-picking
Via NintendoYou (a semi-mute young knight), the princess, and the world-ending main villain are trapped in an endless cycle of reincarnation; you botched it last time and have to fix your mistakes in the post-apocalypse. Both games are beautiful, relaxing, richly designed, open-world, and carefully crafted to guide your progress. Everything you collect is useful, the upper limit for the amount of any given resource is 999, and the only limited inventory space is for weapons or shields. Most resources will regrow after one in-game month, which is a good balance for long-term flower-picking.
Be careful. I present this as a source of joy to people like me, but (like any reward) these require moderation. Part of enjoying life, in my opinion, is to find things that bring you happiness in spite of (or because of) the very things that cause you pain, yet that relief can be intoxicating. That said, please enjoy! Play games. Pick fictional flowers, not at your skin. May they scratch that itch in your brain in a way that’s so hard to come by.
Written by: Danny Sharp
About the Author:
Danny Sharp is an intern on the Necessary Behavior editorial team. They hope you take the warnings about moderation seriously, they’ve been known to play a game for 8 hours straight without eating or drinking. Don’t be like Danny.
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