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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Honestly, I fire up the Xbox and play the original Halo on easy difficulty. It’s like hanging out with an old friend.
Same, either Halo and the Silent Cartographer or Halo 2 and Metropolis. Those two levels are my video game comfort food.
It’s like hanging out with an old friend.
Interesting analogy, as this can be taken as an anxiety trigger as well.
Halo on easy is so fun. I love fucking around in Halo 3
You should check out Stardew Valley. Super chill game that evolves at your own pace.
Don’t like to fish on the game? Don’t fish.
Don’t like to go in the mines and fight stuff? Don’t go in the caves.
Play on a PC and want to spend hours just modding the hell out of the game? Go for it.
I couldn’t get into it. Felt very stressful to me. Like I had to do something productive every day before night. It’s probably more my fault than the game’s fault though.
I get like this in any sort of “real time passes” games, with some exceptions. If you have a limited amount of time to do a limited amount of things in game, my mind starts min/maxing what I should be doing every moment in game. In Outer Wilds the passage of time matters less cause you always start back at zero, what you gain each run is just knowledge, you don’t lose out and fall behind on any resources, points or whatever cause you didn’t do certain things that day.
I love these types of games, and I’ve tried to get into it multiple times… But everything feels like it’s on such a strict timer. I just want to chill and farm/explore/talk to people without worrying if I spent too much time enjoying myself doing any one particular thing. If it had some kind of sandbox mode or if you could slow down the time, I’d give it another go.
You should defs try My Time At Sandrock then, with friends or the story alone. Absolutely great for exactly what you want, without the overbearing timer having really any effect on gameplay.
The game is like that for the first game month. When you get to summer you tend to relax a bit more so after your tool upgrades.
I 100% agree. There’s just so much to do and too much of your day is spent as a time tax maintaining what you already have. There are several unlocks to reduce this, but they come far too late in a playthrough in my opinion.
I find a time control/clock-stopping on demand mod almost mandatory for me to be able to play without stressing, especially when playing with expansion mods that more than double the amount of content in the game.
Stardew valley is way too stressful to me, I have to make the most of each day and if I’m not I’m wasting it
You mentioned things you might not like to do, I wonder what you like to do in Stardew Valley (my knowledge on that game is very little).
Don’t overthink it. Minecraft. Vanilla survival world. Don’t try to optimize and automate everything (unless you find that relaxing). Make your farm look like a farm. Mine until until your inventory is full. Build towards an Ender Dragon or Wither fight if you have time. Go mining or fishing or do base chores or a beautification project if you don’t.
I tried Minecraft way back, so maybe it’s changed, but I don’t do to well in setting my own goals in a game. I liked Subnautica because there was an interesting story element and mystery that kept you engaged as you moved towards your goal of getting off planet. In the process of reaching the goal, yeah, I wanna make my base look nice, wanna build some cool things, but my overall actions were still being compelled by the storytelling and world-building of the game. I don’t see those elements in Minecraft but again, it’s been a long time since I played.
Modpacks with a good quest line might be something you’re into
The two big boss fights are the closest thing to a “goal,” but yeah, even in survival mode I guess it’s as much lego as it is video game. In your case, maybe a Bethesda game but focusing on side and companion quests until you’re so overpowered that wrapping up the main plot will feel like one more.
I used to love doing a weird automated laboratory under my classic farm, but yeah it did suck out the fun once I could reliably do it again and again.
I used to specifically farm the ingredients for pumpkin pie, this was just after hoppers and repeaters were added which meant you could use those and pistons to make an automatic egg collector, sugare cane breaker and pumpkin breaker. I’d build the most picturesque farm with a secret trapdoor somewhere that would lead to my food automation zone. I haven’t really played properly since 2017 though, with a brief comeback in 2020.
Solitaire oddly enough. Just sit there, throw up a YouTube playlist on my second monitor, open up the game on my main, and just unwind.
Absolutely. I have a ton of games and solitaire is one of the ones I play to chill.
To be fair though, you can get same relaxation by doing any mindless task with music.
Hell, one of the highlights of my week is putting on a history podcast and then just cleaning the hell out of the bathroom, bedroom, mopping the floors, etc.
Its a relaxing personal moment where you’re lost in your own world, you learn something new, and your apartment looks great at the end.
RimWorld. It’s so fun watching your colonists at work, peacefully farming, and suddenly one of them gets hit by a chunk of steel followed by a hundred bear raid.
Very relaxing.
War crime simulator is apparently quite relaxing.
You can also play in builder mode where there are no raids (or very little challenge to them i cant remember exactly)
Especially in the winter,I like to fire up The Long Dark. I put on the exploration setting where the wildlife doesn’t attack. You still have to deal with the need for food and warmth, so there are still stakes. Just not the anxiety inducing animal attacks. There’s a sort of bleak beauty to the game.
Top shelf game
I’ve forgotten about this! I played it way back when there wasn’t even a real story, but I believed that’s changed.
Constantly finding resources to survive was quite anxiety inducing, lol.
I just realized, if there was ever a wildlife photography mode in that game, I would play the shit out of it. RP-ing as an ‘extreme’ wildlife photographer trying to shoot around blizzards and keeping your gear in working order would be a really cool way to shake up the gameplay. Would easily get another 200 hours of play out of me.
Breath of the Wild. I mean, yes, there are quests, bosses, temples, shrines, minigames and whatnot, but it is also completely fine to just fetch your favorite horse from the stable and ride across Hyrule, hunting wildlife, watching the sunset, cooking food for your character, maybe have Wolf Link accompany you on a hunt, just taking in the scenery, foarge for mushrooms, looking for shooting stars at night … a little bit of reality escape helps to unwind after a long, hectic day. And this game is unreasonably beautiful as well, despite the simplyfied graphics.
I’m going to go with Satisfactory.
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?
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
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.
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
No Man’s Sky has a very chill vibe. I don’t play it super often, but it’s probably the chillest game I play semi-regularly.
And by its very nature, it’s forgiving of long absences. It’s so easy to just pick it back up, probably take some time to admire the 10 new updates Hello Games has released since you last played, and then settle in for some chill gameplay.
I’ll never finish No Man’s Sky, and I wouldn’t even say I play it, exactly. But it’s one of my very favorite places to visit, and I will probably continue to visit for years and years to come.
Skyrim. Meme mods aside, the vibe and soundtrack are just…chef’s kiss
Oblivion for me
The latest Zelda games for me, I just wander around aimlessly and it helps me relax.
I’m reminded that I used to do exactly this in Ocarina of Time back when I was a kid. Maybe it’s time to relive those days.
I’m way overdue for an Ocarina of Time replay, thanks for the reminder!
That game has a lot of peaceful moments when not in combat. One time I was playing while tired from work and I was gliding from a high place towards the direction of one of those symbols that’s etched on the land. I wound up microsleeping mid-glide because of how peaceful it was up there with the rain and the sound of the air gently moving. Had woke up when the air got louder and noticed that I didn’t have any more stamina.
Check out Jacob Gellar’s YouTube review about it
Same. One of my fav ways to spend an evening.
Stardew Valley. It’s chill if you let it be. There aren’t really hard time limits and you can always farm things and complete challenges on your own time
Roguelikes.
I played Rogue Legacy 1 and 2 for the longest time. Some dead cells. Enter the gungeon, and currently testing the humble roguelikes bundle, really digging Wall World.
I’m just getting into Enter the Gungeon. I heard it was good but I had no idea
Are roguelikes chill? I haven’t played much in that genre but hades made me situp and focus every time.
Yes, Shattered Pixel Dungeon is chill.
Once you learn to surprise attack from behind doors and kite the mobs, it is pretty much on rails.
Calm and Zen.
https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.shatteredpixel.shatteredpixeldungeon/
Could someone please cure me of my Dredmor addiction? 12 years later and I’m still rolling random builds. Diggles are my only friends.
Skyrim. I played vanilla a bunch and now I’m working through the Living Skyrim 4 mod. I had to tweak a bunch of the settings, but I really enjoy it. I also love the Witcher 3, both actively playing quests and just wandering across the map listening to the howling wind and the soundtrack. I’ve loaded into that game after a long day with every intention of playing and just sat there with my headphones on and stared into space while the trees crackle together in the wind and the music plays.
Witcher 3, I love riding roach around and exploring and listening to the music. I like cruising in cyberpunk 2077 listening to the radio stations. There’s also spiritifarer.
