With gaming often bringing me into a really depressive headspace sometimes with how the markets are developing, whats a game you can always go to and just be lost in, or just be happy with?
Personally i would go for advance wars 1 and 2 on the gba (there is no remake and never will be)
the artstyle, the music, the game-play is just simple, yet effective, a sublime experience of very fun times.
Whats yours?
Minecraft. It’s just a nice game to get lost in.
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Second this. Outer Wilds is amazing. If you do play, try not to look up anything as the satisfaction of exploring and figuring things out is so cool. The sound track is very good as is the DLC.
Ooo heavy second Outer Wilds. Very fantastic game and comforting.
How would you sell that game to someone? I keep hearing about it but know nothing about it? What makes you love it?
The outer wilds is an exploration game of the highest pedigree. You’re in an intricate solar system with lots to discover and puzzle out to solve the central mystery of the game. The atmosphere is quite fun and calming. The music is pretty catchy too. I appreciate the big revelations, the moments where you immediately feel big brained by putting 2 and 2 together. It’s genuinely a really good time if you want game about the wonder of discovery.
Thank you, sounds like it’d be up my alley.
There’s a reason you keep hearing how good the game is but still don’t know much about it. The community is great in letting everyone experience it themselves.
It’s best if you know nothing about Outer Wilds before playing it, trust me. I know this is a cliché way of recommending stuff, but in this case it can’t be overstated. Just give it an honest try for at least 1-2 hours.
It’s a game that gives you “2”, “plus”, and “two” separately, instead of telling you the answer is 4. Some people don’t like it and prefer handholding. Half of the game is done in your head when you’re not playing it.
So basically a game that’s heavy on exploration and puzzles? It’s not open world is it?
Not in the way BOTW is, it’s closer to Myst in that there’s a world (solar system) to explore with lots clues and lore but not a lot of irrelevant fluff.
Gotcha, I prefer a bit of structure (BOTW being one of few exception) so that works out for me.
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I haven’t seen anyone mentioning this gem:
Vampire Survivors
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.
undefined> o 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.
I tried Stardew Valley one time, and it killed me. I would probably call myself a completionist and all the stuff I have to remember from the get go and dates and times I need to be somewhere to don’t miss out just made me stressed out. But I haven’t looked into it if you really miss out or you can do the stuff later, too. It was I while ago… perhaps I will give it another try.
Stardew Valley is as stressful as you wanna make it lol
I don’t think you can actually permanently fail anything. If you want to just farm and ignore socializing with people that’s totally fine, you can always raise your friendship with them later, once the farm is more established. Having sprinklers installed really cuts down on tedium.
Adventuring in the mines is another way to go, you can ignore farming for a while if you like, or just do it on rainy days.
Or you can just spend all your time socializing until you are maxed out and don’t need to anymore (stardew wiki required if you want to keep your sanity figuring out how to max socialize).
It’s all valid.
Don’t get me wrong, it can get stressful at times, but I’m on my fourth playthrough and this time, I suddenly stopped caring so much about the story, I just like doing the tasks. Fishing is trance-like, I love that mini game so much.
I see. I will probably try it again some day.
I’m surprised Katamari Damacy hasn’t been mentioned yet. Both that game and its sequel, “We Love Katamari,” have been remastered in recent years (in fact, the sequel just came out last week) and they’re a joy to play.
The game has all that OP mentions… Quirky art style, awesome music, simple tactile gameplay, and just overall a relaxing and fun time.
i tried the remake of the first one and personally, i didnt like it, it felt like they added minutes to the timers and generally feels off, but im glad you like the remakes
Interesting. I played the original ages ago (like, as a Japanese bootleg before it got localized for Western markets) and only played the remake last year… Can’t say I noticed a difference in difficulty, and hunting down 100% Achievements was QUITE the challenge.
“We Love Katamari” DOES feel off to me, though. Like, I get kind of frustrated at the density of objects, and it’s never a feel I’ve experienced with the original or its remaster.
i see, let me give you an example than, in the original, as we are surely both familiar with, one very early level has you transition from a room to a garden and than the outside of the house. In the ps2 version i have roughly, a minute between finishing the level and it actually ending most of the time. In the remaster, on my first try i sat there for several minutes before it actually ended, so idk what they did, but they changed something.
As others have already touched upon, I think the Zelda series is masterful (pun semi-intended) at this.
I can’t count how many times I’ve replayed through Ocarina of Time just to relax and vibe. These games really excel at creating little moments of catharsis.
I used to spend hours in OOT just hanging around Kakariko or Lon Lon Ranch or soaking in the ambiance of the Forest Temple.
Or hanging outside the Stock Pot Inn in the morning, waiting for it to open in Majora’s Mask.
Or floating around on the Great Sea in Wind Waker.
Or taking Marin down to the beach in Link’s Awakening.
And so on, up through the BotW/TotK era.
Satisfactory ! This game is an addiction for, I can play for hours, for me it’s very relaxing to build factory with no timer and great graphics !
+1 for satisfactory Not hard to learn, but extremely hard to master ^^ Trying to create as effective factories as possible is time consuming but rewarding
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.
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And then you add mods…
I love playing Spire on my iPad! It’s such a fun and strategic game!! I love how every run is different and getting OP feels so fun!
Euro Truck Simulator/American Truck Simulator
It quickly just becomes a virtual road trip simulator, and as someone who generally enjoys driving and road trips its very chill
Yes. Podcasts and ets/ats is very zen.
There are a lot of games I’ve spent a lot of time in, but none come close to Fallout New Vegas.
I left my heart in the Sierra Madre.
What are your feelings on the other fallout games?
The top-downs are classics.
The Bethesda games don’t really do a lot for me personally, mainly because I really like to get into the lore of games, and Bethesda games usually break the lore a lot. That, and I just haven’t found the world’s they made as interesting. That said, lots of people love them, so don’t let some grump on the internet talk you out of enjoying something.
Diablo games. It’s nice being able to slay demons and not put much thought into it.
GTA, online friends mode, cruise on my motorcycle checking out scenery, ride the coasters.
Which diablo game would you recommend for someone trying to get into it? Sounds up my alley from how you describe it
The new diablo 4 just released and it’s perfectly fine to skip the others and go straight to 4!
While not Diablo, Path of Exile, Grim Dawn, and Last Epoch are some others that are basically Diablo in everything but name.
I’ve played a ton of Path of Exile; it’s free to play and has major feature updates every few months. I haven’t played Last Epoch but I’ve heard good things.
You can try Diablo 3 for free and see if that style of gameplay is fun to you.
Diablo 4 is certainly a better game (so far) in my opinion though. Micro txn bullshit aside it’s a good balance between mindless demon slaying and some story.
I don’t get the mtx hate, it’s purely cosmetic, just ignore it?
I wasn’t saying I have a problem with it. Others do though.
Over the past years I’ve played a lot of relaxing indie- and open source games. The ones that really stuck with me were Eqilinox (Steam), Endless Sky (homepage, open source) and Veloren (homepage, open source).
Bonus game which just came to my mind: Slime Rancher (Steam) was a really fun, too!
I’ve never tried Veloren, is it pretty enjoyable to play as it is now?
It has developed a LOT during the past 1 or 2 years, to the point that you can easily spend hundreds even thousands of hours in this game without it getting boring. Veloren is slowly becoming one of my favourite games of all time. So… yeah, it is. Be aware that it is still an alpha though and the learning courve is quite steep. But you can always get help on the Veloren Discord Server.
If it’s that far along I’ll definitely have to check it out then! Thanks for the info, and I’ll make sure to check the discord as well 👍
Slime Rancher is great. My 4 year old loves it, Slime Rancher 2 is out on early access and is just as great.
Ooh, I didn’t even know about Slime Rancher 2, thanks for the tip!
It is still Guild Wars 2 for me.
It is very chill to play and only explore and it also has more challenging content if i feel like it. Best MMO out there. At least for me personally.
If anyone can show me the way to a guild wars 2 community here i would be grateful btw.
Power wash simulator. Feels good to clean.
This game, and a podcast or some music, is the perfect way to unwind.
OpenTTD is my happy space. It’s relaxing to just hop in and start building some railroads.
I’ve got OpenTTD downloaded, but always end up going down the rabbit hole of looking at mods, and then sort of giving up on the idea :p
Is it worth it vanilla or do you have any other tips at all for trying to get into it?
Vanilla is pretty good. I think the only mod I really used was the one to add trams to the game.
Cool:) I’ll definitely give it a try when I next get the chance^^
Oh, I remember checking this out! It’s a very cool project, although I’m not very good with these types of games
I love the look and stuff but just could never get into it, any tips for a newcomer?
The wiki is pretty good at introducing the concepts and basic gameplay strategy. Overall I’d say just learn by doing. Half the fun is building crazy train networks and seeing if they actually work.
My usual strategy is to just build out bus routes at first to generate a steady income stream, and then from there start to go wild with the trains.
Thanks for the tip
Oh wow, I love openTTD, I never thought I’d see another person who played it in the wild.
