Nowadays I find a lot of games feel like too much work and/or anxiety when I just want to relax for like, 30 minutes to an hour after a long day. On the other hand, the games specifically designed to help you unwind just feel boring imo.
In the past I’ve felt like Outer Wilds scratched this itch, cause the whole experience was engaging but generally relaxed. There was a mystery that kept me hooked and the exploration and movement was fun in and of itself. I also felt like Subnautica filled this role since it was very much at my own pace, with anxiety producing portions which could for the most part be avoided or minimized, and also there was a clear objective to fulfill, get off the planet.
So what games do you play when you just wanna relax?
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Weirdly, Yakuza. Not even to thrash thugs, just to have a virtual night out with some karaoke, pool, darts… sexy bug-lady wrestling… I love most of the mini games in the series.
The Hunter: Call of the Wild. I have nothing to do with hunting. I’d never thought a hunting simulation could be my type of game, but putting headphones on and running through the woods is so relaxing.
Either ACNH or TotK
I really liked playing Talos Principle 2 the past days. makes you think not just about logic but also some aspects of philosophy. which, at least to me, is pretty relaxing.
Elder Scrolls Online for me.
Oh interesting. I’ve eyed it over the years, but I think this is the one and only instance of positive word-of-mouth I’ve heard for it.
I heard it has Elsweyr, which I’ve always wanted to see portrayed.
I like it, it’s open world so you can grind or play as casually as you can. I like to explore the maps and kill enemies on my way. Some days I grind somedays I just chill.
Edit: I believe North and south Elsweyr are not in The base game. It’s available as a subscription to ESO+
Animal Crossing New Leaf, Stardew Valley, Starfiled, Minecraft and Fortza Horazion 3,4 or 5.
Good ol’ vanilla survival Minecraft. Very fun with friends.
I miss old. Old vanilla minecraft on the xbox 360 some Good memories
Forza and Rocket League
iOS / iPad game called “Flight Pilot”. Dumb, not even a simulator, just get off the ground and hit hot air baloons for points kind of game. It’s just a mindless time for me to relax a bit. You can run “missions” if you want, but you don’t have to, and if you’re patient, you can level up without making any purchases using real money. It’s really great.
Caves of Qud is something I love to relax with. It’s full of stuff to explore and you can take your time since its turn based. I don’t even mind so much when I die, because you get to create a completely new weird mutant and try again.
Rimworld for me.
I’m going to go with Satisfactory.
Factorio for me, the interesting part is that I usually want tonlay the game after a day of mindless tasks at work.
On the other hand if I’ve been busy at work and had to solve a lot of issues I’m prefer other games.
It’s my brain gym
I hear a lot about this one and it does interest me, but whenever I look at the Steam page I just don’t end up feeling it. What is it about the game that keeps you personally coming back to it?
On this kind of games, I have a preference to Factorio (and the game is released, not in beta). They propose a free demo. So you can rest and see if you have the good feeling. It is definitely not a game for everyone, but it is one of my favourite.
It’s all about how you play in my experience. If you want to get a basic factory up and go slug hunting, super chill. If you want to sink your spreadsheet teeth into optimizing every resource available and build a non-spaghettified factory, plenty of room to go hard core.
Also the graphics are fantastic for all the massive machinery
I play farming games on emulators on my phone usually.
But when I’m too stressed or tired, I don’t really have the energy to play games, just lay on my bed, put something on in the background, and sleep.
Path of exile for a few weeks every league
But I’m enjoying rogue lites / vampire survivors like games. There’s a billion of them so you can just chill with one of them. I usually find a new one every other day too, some demo or whatever
Risk of rain 2 is also not something I would call a chill game. But it’s definitely something you can just fire up and play for an hour
Recently got back into my childhood favorite, Simcity 2000.
It’s just a classic for me. Amazing city builder with a chill soundtrack. Super rewarding planning out your city and watching it develop across the map. And it’s super stress free if you just play with disasters off
