Gaming

I really enjoy basebuilders for relaxing. It's often just the right mix between just enjoying watching how stuff works, or solving problems at my own pace (being able to slow down, speed up or pause whenever needed). If you're interested in this genre I can recommend Timberborn, Against the Storm, Factorio - ascending by complexity.

Hades has been pretty fun

You should try House Flipper

Cookie Clicker

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1454400/Cookie_Clicker/

But then, to be a crazy person, you can learn some python and automate the clicking so you get more cookies

I'm using farming simulator for this.

Diablo games are easy to play while listening/watching other things. Diablo 4 does have a story, but you don't need to watch it if you don't want to. And after it's beaten, the story will never bother you again. Diablo 2 Remaster is also great if you're feeling a bit more old school.

Unpacking, Everything, A Little to the Left, Gorogoa (if puzzles are chill for ya), and Spiritfarer are a few that come to mind.

vampire survivors

• Nobody mentioned Kerbal Space Program yet? While it's no longer indie, it was during most of the development. It's the space game. While it's not claiming to be a perfectly accurate simulation, it captures the essence of orbital mechanics pretty well. The xkcd comic about it is on point.
• Cultist Simulator. It is a card game that lives from the cards' flavour text. The core gameplay is simple, but the mood the game creates is extremely captivating. You only get served small bits of information at once, and you have to connet the dots yourself (or get spoilers online...). Also, it's not an easy game, and unless you are really lucky you will not succeed in your first few playthroughs.
• Unreal World. This is roguelike survival game set in a fantasy version of ancient Finland.

Vampire Survivors for sure! It's a very chill arcade game and it's like 2-3€ when on sale.

Racing games, once you are good at them, fit this bill. I can win online races while watching YouTube videos in Forza Horizon.

But I'd say Farming Simulator is my favorite game to play while listening to podcasts or watching YouTube videos on the side. It's got enough going on to keep you engaged but you aren't doing any actions that are time critical or require deep focus.

If you're a fan of Stardew Valley and games like that, might I suggest Disney Dreamlight Valley? While there is a story (and there are extra character-specific quests you can do), you don't have to do them (or indeed anything). You're free to do what you like.

It's currently my go-to game when I want to play something but I'm just not sure what. Running around collecting materials to craft new items to decorate my Valley (or even just seeing what my residents are doing) brings me joy and whiles away the hours before I know what's happening!

Another suggestion would be Slime Rancher, which is another low stakes (potentially no stakes, you can turn off the one 'enemy' in the game that might disrupt your cosy experience - the Tarr slimes) game which has you running (and renovating) a slime ranch (funnily enough). The slimes are adorable, the music is very chill, and the world is so colourful I often enjoy just roaming around enjoying the scenery.

Turmoil:

It's a 2d game where you drill for oil, then have some light logistics management to do to load it in to barrels on horse waggons and then sell it. It's a lot of fun.

A Short Hike has dialog and a shorter play time but you can just ignore that and soar around the island. It's got an isometric view with a pixel art style. I really enjoy it. I play it when I'm hung over.

Satisfactory.

If you want to "beat" it, then it requires a bit of thinking and planning, but honestly it's such a fantastic go-at-your-own-pace kinda game. It's an open world factory building/sandbox building game. There are objectives and missions, but you have no time limit, and there is some freedom in choosing what you want to work on next.

It's also multiplayer, so you could invite a friend(s) to join and help you explore or find resources. I frequently will watch streams/youtube while playing.

Snow Runner! Very chill if you like driving and nice sceneries. But it becomes Dark Souls real quick.

I love ARPGs for this. Path of Exile and Last Epoch both have a highly repeatable endgame where you can just put on your media and blast maps/monoliths mindlessly for a few hours

Warframe is good for this. Lots of ways to tune your level of engagement through build choices. Most content rarely requires your full attention and story it’s only progressed in specific story missions that you usually play only once.

Astroneer is pretty low stakes, I played it mostly while listening or watching other things

Two casual-adjecent games I played a lot over the past week are Mini Motorways and Inscryption: Kacey's Mod.

The first one is like a simplified city building simulator that works more like an evolving puzzle, you just build roads to connect houses and buildings of the same color while trying to keep traffic moving along. It might sound overly simple but it gets hectic and intense incredibly fast.

The other is an expansion to the original Inscryption game, which was a roguelike deckbuilder with a horror-ish spin that, no spoilers, went places lmao. What the expansion does is essentially take out all the story and convert a specific part of the game into an actual endlessly repeatable roguelike. It's challenging, but very engaging, and the presentation is just 10/10.

Far Lone Sails

Superflight