Gaming

Slay the Spire for me. Got all the characters to A20 with multiple heart wins, 700+ hours in across phone and steam deck, still having a blast with every run. The awesome thing is that every run is so distinct, every card in the game can be good in the right scenario.

OpenTTD is my happy space. It's relaxing to just hop in and start building some railroads.

Bloons TD 6. Just so incredibly addicting, and there's depth to the different monkeys and how they interact, especially when you think about all the upgrades.

Stardew Valley comes to mind right away, but I think it applies to all titles after you get the hang of it, with the exception of heavily RNG-based games like Risk of Rain 2, Hades, Dead Cells where you have to be alert almost all the time. Currently I'm enjoying playing Red Dead Redemption 2. Definitely a comfort game just riding your horse around.

For me it's No Mans Sky. I love flying around and checking different planets, it's kind of calming for me.

Deep Rock Galactic and (believe it or not) Crusader Kings

XCOM 2 on the lowest difficulty. Sacrilege, I know, but there's just no better feeling than waltzing through some aliens with my whole squad intact at the end while feeling like a tactical genius. And even the weird Chimera Squad is just fun at times for a bit of a changeup.

Slay the Spire and the digital version of Ascension, solo play. I guess I like deckbulders. Ascension especially is so comforting for me, chill gameplay, no time pressure and I can put it down anytime and resume later on. Or not and just start a new one instead.

Or Isaac if I am in the mood for some action. plop plop plop plop.

Easily Path of Exile. There's something so relaxing about blowing up the entire screen with one flick of my wrist, and it really gets my endorphins flowing to minmax my stats using third party tools like Path of Building and testing out items on the trade site / changes to my skill tree to see how they'd affect my build.

To some people it sounds like work, but for me it hits that sweet spot of minmaxing and complexity that no other game really can.

Edit: I should also mention that lately I've been mostly playing on Steam Deck which has been a revelation for me. Endgame "alch and go" mapping is so perfect for the pick up and play style, only enhanced by having access to it from the couch/toilet.

It'll be an odd one compared to everyone else, but DiRT 3 with some good music playing in the background is awesome.

The physics are awesome, a bit arcady but reasonably realistic and manageable even on keyboard and the replay mode is amazing, makes even the shittiest driver look pro with its camera work.

And the rallycross modes and the montecarlo track are amazing.

With rally cross being high speed dirt circuit racing. Constant bumping and AI cars losing control and messing up if you pressurise then enough makes it a fun experience. Dirt 2 is indeed better in all areas like voice lines in rallycross ,except for the handling and rally but I started with dirt 3 so that's what I am sticking with

Stardew Valley is amazing for this. Minecraft was it for years and years, but Stardew is just like a nice hug. I adore it.

Hogwarts Legacy has also fallen into this category for me now.

I always find myself coming back to Monster Hunter every time I wanna chill and relax.

lately: against the storm. making a city builder into a roguelite was genius.

Elite Dangerous in VR. I can really disconnect from the real world and just enjoy being a space-pirate bounty hunter.

super Mario galaxy for sure

When I was very young I had something wrong with my nose and I couldn’t breathe so I had to get surgery

When I left the hospital my parents said I could get a game to play while I couldn’t go to school for a week and I chose super Mario galaxy

I played the shit out of that game and it just has such a calming positive vibe, like everything is gonna be ok

That game is a part of me, I love it so much

… that or left 4 dead 2

My personal ones:

• Euro Truck Simulator 2, with some heavy country music blasting on the radio
• Gnome Mahjongg
• Dorfromantik
• On my arcade machine lately VS Dr Mario and Tapper

Hardspace: Shipbreaker can be a super relaxing game. You sit back and slowly disassemble massive spaceships in a salvaging yard. I love playing it when I want something mindless but relaxing. It's nice sitting alone in the salvaging yard with the catchy music and slicing apart a bulkhead.

I recently discovered Moonglow Bay and this was perfect for this.

Fishing and cooking, sailing around, and just the chill soundtrack.

Trackmania! So many user made maps you never have to see the same map twice, and every map looks unique. You have a simple task: go from start to finish after collecting all checkpoints. Endlessly trying to get random bounces on "LOL" maps just never gets old.

Vintage Story.

Its basically what minecraft survival mode could have been if they went in a slower paced and realism inspired direction.

Its very relaxing to hammer out some tools, make some clay pottery, liaten to your windmill grind away at some grain, etc.

For me it's Terraria. When I don't feel like fighting bosses, I just go explore and dig or build a new settling for my NPCs. I can also set my own goals and try to collect as much as I can for example.

Im gonna be "that guy" and say dark souls 1. Subsequent playthroughs of the game are surprisingly relaxing, when you know where everything is and you're just putting together a build and steamrolling bosses.

I like to throw on a Dynasty Warriors game and just mindlessly start cutting down swathes of enemies.