Oftentimes, people reach for video games in order to escape the tiring routine of their day-to-day lives to find themselves in a fantasy-like world where their work life no longer bears any importance. However, some developers try to challenge this norm by highlighting the beauty and little pleasures that can be found in everyday life.

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Working a 9-5 after an actual 9-5 may not sound like the ideal way to relax, but one would be surprised to see how many developers are so talented at creating a fun game out of a straightforward desk job or simple routine. Here are some video games that make players take typical (and some not as typical) 9-5 jobs that would normally be mundane and turn them into a surprisingly engaging experience.

8 Coffee Talk

Player's Job: Barista

Although not a typical 9-5 job that takes place in the office, Coffee Talk still revolves around the player's role as the city's beloved (and well-trusted) barista at the local cafe in a fantasy version of Seattle. The game involves mixing and preparing drinks for all the interesting patrons who frequent the nighttime-only cafe.

The player can look through their device to scroll through all the different coffee recipes to keep track of what is needed for each drink; there, they also have access to their friend list to keep up with the people they've met. Coffee Talk isn't only about the preparation of drinks and cleaning up after customers, it focuses on the relationships between the many patrons of Coffee Talk and keeps players invested by allowing them to watch each of their favorite characters flourish and grow over time.

7 Mortuary Assistant

Player's Job: Embalmer

The Mortuary Assistant puts players in the shoes of Rebecca as she takes on her new job as the nighttime embalmer at River Fields Mortuary. Rebecca's job isn't exactly the typical office-like 9-5, and more so a 9 PM to 5 AM graveyard shift instead.

The Mortuary Assistant is incredibly detail-oriented and brings players through a fairly comprehensive procedure for embalming dead bodies. Aside from the occasional haunting (it is a horror game, after all), Rebecca's duties are all procedural and require players to be incredibly meticulous about completing each client's embalming process. Carefully inspecting each body, mixing the right chemicals, and draining any unneeded fluid are all to be done perfectly, regardless of any spooky ghosts that may try their best to hinder the process!

6 Night Of The Consumer

Player's Job: Stock Clerk

• Platform: Microsoft Windows
• Released: March 7, 2020
• Developer: Germfood
• Genre(s): Adventure game, Horror Comedy

Night Of The Consumer may resonate with many gamers who once worked at their local supermarket for their very first job. Retail workers are incredibly underappreciated for the work they do; their workload may seem mundane, but stores would fall apart if there was no one to do it!

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Night Of The Consumer allows players to relive their teenage years as stock clerk in their local supermarket, tasked with the simple duty of restocking items on the store shelves. Despite that sounding like a rather easy task, the many (very insistent) customers roaming around the store make stocking shelves a difficult feat to complete. Just like in real life, customers bombard the player left, right, and center, asking for help finding a cool drink, a hot meal, or even their lost baby.

5 Five Nights At Freddy's

Player's Job: Overnight Security Guard

Five Nights At Freddy's is yet another job that isn't the typical 9-5 but still involves the same mundane undertones. The player takes the role of the newly hired security guard who takes the night shift at Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. While the daytime security guard may have an uneventful shift, the player's midnight shift isn't quite as innocuous.

The animatronics at the pizzeria aren't as harmless as they seem and can attack the player in the safety of their office. The player's entire shift is dedicated to keeping Freddy and his friends at bay and surviving until the clock strikes 6 AM.

4 Job Simulator

Player's Job: Auto Mechanic, Gourmet Chef, Store Clerk, Office Worker

• Platform: PlayStation 5, Meta Quest, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, Oculus Quest
• Released: March 31, 2016
• Developer: Owlchemy Labs
• Genre(s): Simulation, Action, Indie, Casual

Job Simulator is exactly what it sounds like and allows players to take a step into the life of four separate 9-5 jobs via the wonder of VR. The player can experience working as an office worker, a gourmet chef, a store clerk, and an auto mechanic in a world full of AI bots, devoid of any other human life.

While the real-life versions of these jobs may not be eventful, the world of Job Simulator has rather loose rules and leaves tons of room for creative freedom to slack off or get tasks done in the most obtuse and ridiculous way possible.

3 That's Not My Neighbor

Player's Job: Apartment Doorman

• Platform: Microsoft Windows
• Released: February 24, 2024
• Developer: Nacho Sama
• Genre(s): Horror, Simulator, Thriller, Puzzle

That's Not My Neighbor takes place in a world where dangerous doppelgängers roam among regular human beings and prey on those around them once they have them fooled. That's Not My Neighbor takes the otherwise mundane job of apartment doorman and makes it a game of life or death.

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The doorman player must carefully inspect every single person who requests entry into the building, checking every detail of their appearance as well as their papers. Finding inconsistencies (no matter how big or small) can make a world of difference: a day where all tenants are let in safely, or a shift cut early by a dangerous doppelgänger that slipped through the cracks.

2 Return of the Obra Dinn

Player's Job: Chief Inspector

In Return Of The Obra Dinn, players take the role of a chief inspector, on the hunt for clues about what tragic events unfolded on the ship of the now-abandoned Obra Dinn. While it may seem a bit too exciting for a normal 9-5, all of the player's investigations aren't primarily to solve the curious mystery behind the ship and its crew, but instead to record the fates of each crew member for purely insurance purposes.

On behalf of the Honourable East India Company, the player is employed to perform what is usually a simple insurance assessment; however, Obra Dinn's case is much more complicated than the average appraisal.

1 Papers, Please

Player's Job: Immigration Officer

Papers, Please takes place in the fictional communist country of Arstotzka and focuses on a nameless player character who is assigned the position of immigration officer at a newly opened border checkpoint. This game takes players into an authentic office-like 9-5 job where there truly is no glitz and glam of skill checks, leveling up characters, or fast-paced boss battles like other games have.

However, despite doing the same meticulous tasks of checking documents and questioning traveling citizens day to day, Papers, Please manages to do the seemingly impossible and make this 9-5 a genuinely engaging and fun experience by upping the stakes each day and focusing on the dire family situation at the main character's broken home.

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