Gaming

Trackmania, The Witness, and recently Age of Wonders 4

For me it's the binding of isaac, I'm not sure that it woukd work for everyone, but the game is just so large that it never gets old. 1500hrs, 100% the game and I still find myself diving into it after a stressful day.

Microsoft Flight Simulator. Flying Cessna around my town.

It's very short, but if you need a small (big) dosage of weirdness - try The Good Time Garden. It's an experience that I like to go back to from time to time, always gets some chuckles out of me!

Factorio. The base must grow

World of Warships. It is the game I play for years with friends. In times that is hard for us to meet face to face we jump on the game for some battles, during which we share our news and chat. It's almost like a coffee or a beer.

Fallout 76. Nice community, and I really enjoy the open world game and the dark humor that's Fallout.

Pajama Sam! That was my introduction to gaming and I still run through them every once in a while. Pure nostalgia

Every few months, I will do a randomizer run of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. I've played it so much that it's like taking a relaxing walk through a familiar neighborhood. It also has a great soundtrack.

Ace Combat 2 for me. It always makes me happy to pick it up again.

Believe it or not, Warcraft 2. There are three scenarios I like to play through. They are pretty mindless, have varying degrees of challenge, and are very low stress.

Just cruising around some cars listening to the radio in Forza Horizon. Fishing in Shadowprey Village in World of Warcraft. Improving flow of traffic in City Skylines or Transport Fever 2.

MS Flight Simulator (Xbox Gamepass) - I often fire it up, pick a place in the world I've never been but would like to go and fly around. I never take off or land, just get low to the ground and buzz.

Knytt Underground

You play as a little Sprite with two fairy companions. You're left to explore 1000 rooms of a sprawling underground labyrinth, discovering all sorts of secrets that humanity left behind.

Portal (and 2). Replayed them so many times.

I have several comfort games to put my mind at ease sometimes.

At least once a year it is Skyrim with mods to improve the scenery.

But I love playing the Atelier series too. Crafting and optimizing stuff in these games is great.

And then there are puzzle games like Baba is You where I often just close the game and think about solving the problems for a long time. Helps to keep your mind occupied.

For me it's Ridge Racer Type 4 for the PS1. I think what comforts me is that soundtrack (listen to it everyone), but also it's the nostalgia kicking in for me

Through the years the one game I keep going back to when I just need a place to lose time

Elder Scrolls Online

Man I wish I had better tastes

Oddly enough I go through phases where I just level up a character on WoW. It's mindless for me and I can just zone out and watch TV while playing.

Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, and puzzle games like Myst, Riven, or The Witness. I love these escape-type games.

I get the headspace thing. It's been really hard for me to devote my mental energy and time to playing games recently. I've picked up the new Zelda game and have barely touched it.

Slay the spire and BTD6 are games I play when I don't know what to play.

Mass Effect, Dragon Age:Origins, Fallout 4 and Skyrim are a must when I need to play something for a few days without being worried about not having enough time to finish the game, or missing something when playing while watching the kids.

I've played thousands of hours on them.

MH Rise (Lance for tank mode) - fighting Melvor - idling Disney Dreamlight Valley - collecting Hardspace Shipbreaker - dismantling

The Way of the Hunter and theHunter: Call of the Wild. Starting a podcast and then slowly walk through beautiful nature and taking in the ambience. Or free roam in Firewatch. Next best to actually going outside 🙃.

Then Sailwind (sailing around delivering cargo with navigation as challenge). Also, Call of the Wild: The Angler and Fishing: North Atlantic.

Lake is also a beautiful game — delivering packages and enjoying the story.

I think you get the theme 🙃.

The good old Flight Simulators (MSFS 2020, X-Plane, DCS World) — problem here is to first get use to the many keys again after a longer break.

I don't play this often enough lately but Jigsaw Puzzle Dreams is a super simple & cosy game. It's jigsaw puzzles, yes, but you also get to decorate the apartment where you're doing the puzzles. It is just a very chill, no-pressure time and often I will just mess around doing the decor side of it so I have a few different apartment vibes to choose from for when I finally decide to do a puzzle. When I get super sad & unmotivated I will do a really small easy puzzle on the bedroom desk and it helps me to get the feeling that I have completed a thing, which is sometimes enough to help get me moving on non-game things.