Ask Lemmy

Chrono Trigger. I have a save that I just load up, do some things on, and then turn off when I'm done. I've beaten the game dozens of times, and I know every aspect in and out, so it's like flipping on the TV and catching an episode of a sitcom, I just roll with it and mellow out.

It might be more catharsis than unwinding, but dark souls/sekiro. I've been through them enough times that it's just comfortable.

BeamNG. Logged hundreds of hours just mindlessly driving around crashing into stuff and fucking around with vehicle customisations.

Rocket League. And then I'm not chilled.

Forza Horizon 5. I like to just drive around the map for a while, and maybe do a race or two, until I inevitably get bored after an hour or so. Repeat every week.

(until I bought a real life motorcycle to scratch that itch, and no, I'm not racing or being dangerous on my motorcycle)

Minecraft, Doom (first two), Cities Skylines, and more recently, Unpacking.

OpenTTD

I play Trackmania at least once a day. The community is so nice and friendly and the racing at high speed is so calming for me.

It's my bike, I ride my bike. Indoors, I've got Zwift, which looks a bit like a game.

But outdoors the resolution is better but the NPCs can be belligerent.

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.

Potion craft is great for this, just running a little potion shop making potions to order.

Blast some bots in Quake 3.

Genshin impact on PC is a masterpiece. The colors on my 4k monitor are just out of this world. I don't even do hard missions, I just go around the wild collect foods and stuff. So relaxing.

Terraria

Celeste

Dwarf Fortress

Terraria. I started a new character/world probably 200 times. Music is also bang on.

Brotato

Oxygen Not Included. - !oxygennotincluded@lemmy.world

Just started a new colony yesterday because an update was released with new tools and content. The colony I was playing up until that point was almost 3000 cycles old.

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.

Persona 5 Royal.

I love the social element, characters and such.

I'm really in the same boat. Lately it's been these:

Dorfromantik

Mini Motorways

Halls of Torment

Vampire Survivors

Brotato

Firewatch was great but it's really a one or two sitting game. Same with Unpacking.

What I'm REALLY looking for but having trouble finding is something like a city builder or house builder that there is no money, nothing like that. Just creativity in building. Way back when I first tried the Sims, I loved the house building part more than anything.

I've been searching for something new though. I tried Satisfactory but really just wish it had a creative mode. I tried Terraria but I can't get the Minecraft allegory out of my head so this game infuriates me.

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

openRCT2.

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 ;___;

Since everyone has already said more well known games, here are my Indie/small games

Islanders

Race the Sun

Skye

Superflight

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

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

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.

Tetris.

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.