Gaming

Fallout: NV

This may sound odd as a comforting game, but I fired up Fallout 3 a year or so ago, and it really made me feel good to be back in the Capitol Wasteland.

Me and my wife just finished It Takes Two. What an incredible game and story!

This is going to sound silly, but Clicker Heroes. There's nothing necessarily "comforting" about it in the classic sense, but I have ADD, depression, and anxiety. Putting that on and just mindlessly clicking and resource-managing allows me to focus just enough on that, without it needing my full attention, to be able to also sort through my otherwise incoherent strands of thoughts.

But going by art, music, experience, gameplay, etc, I guess I'd have to say Bastion from Supergiant Games. It's definitely up there as one of my favorite games of all time.

This might sound weird but Dark Souls 1 does give me a certain level of comfort, not sure what that says about me lol. I haven't played it in a while but back then, creating new builds and trying out new weapons was really fun, and I got very accustomed to the game's mechanics and it's general progression and pathing. I could run through the whole game without even thinking about it. I'll still go back to it every now and again and it still gives me that comfortable nostalgic feeling.

My two most frequented games would be Stardew valley or Animal crossing. Specifically the GameCube version (emulation if you don't have one) or New Horizons (been surprisingly refreshing)

Nothing against the other versions I just haven't tried them.

Spelunky 2, Streets of Rogue, Angband (open source and runs on most systems!).

Harry Potter PC games. Particularly the first two - I played them a lot when I was younger so there's a nostalgia about them that I love. Fliiiipendo!

Deus Ex, Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines, and Cyberpunk 2077. Like you said, they are games I like to get lost in, just walk/drive around in, soak in the ambience. I like to pretend I'm there; it's a great escape, like you said, comforting.

Cozy Grove or Wingspan, both pretty chill games with nice music.

• Quest 64
• The Last Guardian
• Cookie Clicker
• Mario's Picross
• Nanashi no Game
• Silent Hill
• LSD Dream Emulator
• Diablo
• The Hubris Game house demo made for Ben Drowned
• The Father: Reboot

Depends on my mood, Stardew Valley is high on my list if I need a calm game to relax. Hotline Miami 1 & 2 if I need to get all my anger out, and Racing Sims like Assetto Corsa and iRacing for if I want to clear my mind driving cool cars around.

Trackmania 2020 is great!

Animal Crossing New Horizons. Extremely chill, no pressure to do anything in particular, just a very “go at your own pace” type of game.

Lego Batman, the first one. God, I love that game. I just feel so cozy when I play it.

I can always go for a game of Age of Empires 2. That game takes me back to my childhood.

Not so much any one game, as a genre: action adventure games. Games like Tomb Raider, God of War, stuff like that. I love playing through a really immersive, well-told story.

Tetris is an all time go to for getting out of my head.

Anything based on Kirby! The music, aesthetic, everything just makes me happy

A Short Hike might be my favorite peacefull one. Or death stranding on a lower difficulty.

It's not exactly cozy or anything but mine is probably Mini Metro. It's just a perfectly crafted puzzle game in every single way, I can play it on my laptop or my phone or my Steam Deck depending on the situation, it's always there and takes enough focus that there's no room to be worrying about life at the same time. Absolute masterclass in audio design which makes it very immersive considering you're just looking at lines and basic shapes.

Or or course as someone else already said, sometimes you just need to blast some bugs in Deep Rock Galactic. For rock and stone!

Big pro of both of these games is you can feel happy about supporting the devs as they're both genuinely awesome, which might help with the whole depressive headspace thing.

Minecraft and No Man’s Sky. Explore a little; build a little; shoot a few baddies; chill; repeat 😊

honestly any shoot em up or bullet heaven game. its nice and cathartic to blow up a fleet of spaceships in super galaxy squadron or mow down a thousand monsters in vampire survivors.

Mine was Diablo 2 for the longest time. I could get my summon necromancer out and play fairly mindlessly. He'd have so many minions that nothing ever really hit me. He wasn't super overpowered, so he didn't kill fast, but it was a nice, lazy walkthrough kind of build. He did better in big open areas rather than corridors, so I'd play him in those even if that meant a lower chance of finding good gear.

Elder Scrolls games, especially Oblivion. But for all of them counts that after thousands of hours I still find new things, walking around the world is just great, the music amazing, the quality issues and bugs feel more silly in a fun way than breaking, and the lore feels like it is never ending.

Otherwise there is also the Sims. Similar weird lore, funky cartoony animation, and otherwise just a do whatever you feel like.

Skyrim for sure. I have an embarrassing number of hours thanks to the modding community.

Pure comfort? Pokemon Crystal Clear - it's like healing for the soul after a long day of marking.

Less pure comfort? Darkest Dungeon - because sometimes you need to feel pain to really relax!

Bloons td 6

Definitely Minecraft. Old Pokemon games as well. Just something about the grind is therapeutic

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.

Minecraft, oblivion, fable, shadow of the colossus, dkc trilogy on SNES, virtually any Zelda game, final fantasy tactics

Civilization 2 on PC. Play on easy, small map, raging barbarians, and just stomp on the PC.

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

Dragon Age: Origins, Mass Effect, and the NHL/MLB games are always my go-to when I just want to chill out and be comfortable. There's lots of comfort in being "with" some of your favorite characters time and time again. There's a different comfort (more of a zen feeling) in booting up my favorite sports games, turning off my brain and just letting instinct and reflex take over. Most Friday nights at the end of a tough week, I play MLB with some beers until late in the night after my friends log off.

If I'm just relaxing, probably Arma 3. It's editor is like playing with toys for adults. I love making missions or armies that aren't balanced or made for other people. I do this little mini-game with myself where I build up an army starting with only pistols and a few guys. Then as you beat more competent opponents, like maybe it starts put with poorly equipped pirates and looters and goes up to fighting the United States or PLA, you get more and more equipment and fight on progressivly larger maps. It's very fun, and feels like being a child again. Plus, maybe it has a bit of Metal Gear Peacewalker inspiration.

Zelda games are this for me (except Twilight princess, its environment and visuals were depressive to me). Particularly, botw is peak to get lost in.

I simply cannot get over simcity 2000. forever in my heart

Minecraft