Ask Lemmy

Slay the spire

Skyrim was my chill game for years, but now I'd say Elder Scrolls Online. Everyone I know who plays ESO is super non-competitive and chill. It's just got a great vibe.

Kerbal Space Program

I only played it to try it out, and it isn't 100% in my range of games I'd care that much for, but I've gathered that Pokémon Mystery Dungeon (especially the first few pairs of games in the series) is the king when it comes to escapism. If someone said a psychologist made the games, I'd believe them.

Forza and Rocket League

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.

I find most games can be relaxing if Ive already played them a lot, even comp shooters. Quake Champions is relaxing for me at this point

Minecraft. Sky Factory 3 - a void world modpack. Nothing exists without my having created it. I can allow mobs to spawn on my platform or not, depending on how I feel.

Shattered Pixel Dungeon. Which is weird because it's actually quite frustrating, but super rewarding if you win.

Brotato

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

I think I understand what you mean lol.

Lately for me it's been: Mass Effect legendary edition, Mount & Blade 2, Crusader Kings 3, Dishonored 1 and 2, and Hitman 3.

Splatoon. Don't ask why, I don't know. My gf calls it "yelling at 12 year olds"

But seriously it's like watching your own team score against you in soccer ;___;

I play high intensity first person shooters, mostly Battlefield, to unwind.

The faster paced the better because it allows me to escape.

It used to be I’d get so worked up over competitive games. I had to be doing PvE to relax. Not so any more.

Weirdly, this happened after I had a completely horrible medical experience that left me with permanent (figurative) scars on my nervous system. Like, I still have stress problems four years after the event.

But at that moment, suddenly competitive games became refreshing to me.

I’ve gotten really into Grand Theft Auto San Andreas for unwinding after a long day. Something about the low poly graphics while I can just be a menace in the game feels right.

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.

DOTA2 turbo mode, done in 20-30 minutes, and the try bards that take the mode serious are hilarious

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

Any of the building/management games like Factorio or Dyson Sphere Program or RimWorld. You can definitely make those games extremely challenging (speed runs, achievements, ultra hard modes/challenges). But for me they're cozy games where I can chip away at a small project or part of a larger project, like, I don't know, slowly building a scale model or something.

World of Warcraft Retail.

Mars First Logistics & Animal Crossing

Dead Cells. I can just... Zone out and go. It's really cathartic, and if I do particularly bad during a run, I just... Die and start over. You don't lose anything you've gained, (unless you pick something up in a biome and don't make it to the exit), and each run is practically a new game that requires nothing to learn it. It's my Zen game.

I play Hades, but I cheat.

It's super fun to see what kind of ridiculous combinations of powers and weapons you can create when you aren't worried about money or resources in any way shape or form.

I had a Hermes Build for Max speed that did bonus damage based on speed bonuses, Ares for Blade rift when dodging, and some Athena for some invulnerability.

Sprinting around the levels like the flash and absolutely nuking everybody with blade rifts is just too much fun.

Timberborn is always nice,

so is Minecraft.

Subnautica is also very relaxing after you know your way around it.

But Red Dead Redemption 2 is the most "chill" game for me. You can simply go out to hunt, enjoy the nature, etc.

I don't play Tetris usually but when I get bored or just wanna relax then I play Tetris[Highest Score: 500k in 8 Hours]

Dwarf Fortress.

Theme Hospital.

The Sims.

Games that I can mostly play hands off.

Elder Scrolls Online for me.

Harvest Moon /Story of Season games.

Stardew Valley.

Diner Dash series of games.