Spyke

I listen to audiobooks or podcasts while playing so it doesn't feel like I "wasted" all that time cleaning pixels.

I work from home and it's also great for helping me focus during meetings.

5

It was a flash game called flOw. You're just a microbe wandering around eating things, and you occasionally evolve, based on what you ate. I can't find an instance that works properly with a flash emulator, but that game would actually lower my heart rate.

17
brapreply

Damn I forgot about that. I think I had that on the PS3!

4
lemmy.world

Firewatch, the walking simulator.

Truck simulator either the American or European version.

17
gramathyreply
lemmy.ml

Dear Esther, the original walking simulator

3
livus
kbin.social

I just like wandering around in Skyrim picking flowers and not doing any quests.

15
livusreply
kbin.social

My partner goes around collecting books and fungi instead, does that count?

9
bananaghostreply
kbin.social

Of course, anything is fine, except... God forgive me... doing the main quest.

4
livusreply
kbin.social

I agree. To this day I have never yet joined Stormcloaks or Imperials.

I also stopped meeting up with that lady Delphine after it was pointed out to me that it increases the frequency of dragon attacks.

5
bananaghostreply
kbin.social

Yeah, me neither. I'm always like... you two can have your stupid war, but if anyone tries to mess with me and my 163 pieces of cheese, you're screwed.

5
livusreply
kbin.social

How do you manage to amass that much cheese? #goals, I always eat mine. Bet yours is nicely aged.

I do have a drawer full of jewels because I tell myself one day I will take up jewellery making. That will get my life on track.

1

I haven't played it in a while but, it was aged for sure but I carried it with me in every cave and bandit camp... so I'm not sure about nicely part.
After a while, I would sometimes set random goals for myself like just regenerate life by resting in a bed, so I would end up with a lot of food.

Ah yes, making jewelry was a good source of income during a game. At one point I had so much gold and rings that I didn't know what to do with them so I started putting them in random people's pockets.

1
neidu2
feddit.nl

Factorio. It is as relaxing or as stressful as you want it to be.

13
fossphireply

Oh god, factorio drives me so crazy. I lose all sense of time from the pressure and get sucked in. It really is like crack.

5

I'm in the Animal Crossing boat. It's the right kind of cozy.

A Short Hike and A Little To The Left were also pretty chill.

13
lemmy.world

Monument Valley. No rush, no timer, pretty puzzles. I keep replaying it now and then.

10

Seconded! This is the one I was gonna add, if I didn't see it.

3

Atmospheric and visually pleasing yes. The few moments where you had to sneak around the monsters was a bit stressful.

2

I've never been into gaming, mostly due to this stress thing. The suggestions in this thread makes me want to try taking it up.

I have a jailbroken PS3 that was handed down to me few years ago and is lying unused. Can someone suggest me a simple tutorial on how to find and load games onto it. I would prefer to try the games out before I buy them. High seas are familiar to me, but what exactly am I looking for?

Thank you.

6
bruhbeansreply
lemmy.ml

This one right here. It's basically BoTW but no combat, no weapons, no enemies, no health meter. Explore, find stuff, craft stuff. The game intro explains you're on a journey to discover your path and enjoy your youth.

4

Sable is great! Apart from the city quests, everything is exploration.

2
Lmaydev
programming.dev

Stardew valley.

As long as you don't try to min/max. I also make the days longer.

It's just got such an amazing vibe. One of my favourites.

5
lemmy.world

Played it when it came out but gave up shortly after, I found the super short days stressful!

6

I installed a mod to slow down time. Still haven't played it because of the concept of having to follow the calendar.

2
lemmy.world

It's not 100% pure relaxation, but 1010 Klooni is nice once you get good at it. It's available on f-droid; you should be able to find alternative versions if you search for Tenten.

5

I play Merge Dragons which is just a game where you endlessly merge and build worlds. It's relaxing.

4

There are some good games mentioned already but I'd like to pitch in Planet Crafter. No enemies, no time pressure beyond an oxygen/food/water system, just you and the long-term goal of terraforming a planet by yourself.

The award for almost-but-not-quite-relaxing goes to Hardspace: Shipbreaker, where you can fall into a comfortable trot after you figure things out โ€“ and then the storyline makes you want to strangle someone with their own necktie. But the gameplay can be very relaxing.

4

I personally find it relaxing sometimes to just boot up the mahjong or solitaire game on my laptop. Absolutely no pressure to perform well, unlike how I sometimes feel in most other games.

4

Anyone play "the longing" ? It looks like it ought to be really chill. I guess I will have to find out.

4

Picross 3D and Picross 3D 2 are among my favs for chill games. There is technically a timer, but once you get the flow of the game the timer really doesn't impact anything at all.

4

The long dark. The game drips with atmosphere, sleeping when there is a blizzard outside your little cabin is just fantastic. Hearing the snow crunch as you're exploring, or the haunting sound of wolves howling as they follow you while you're hauling your latest kill of fresh meat.

The feeling when you come across a rare find that saves your life, like a nice jacket or leggings.

Oh! Once you learn to navigate in a blizzard? You can't see and it can be so hypnotic. Walking until you find a landmark and adjusting your path, crunching along while the wind howls hoping you find shelter before you die.

The feeling of seeing the Aurora borealis in that gorgeous sky at night?

It all almost makes you forget that you're probably starving/freezing to death.

3

Tetris attack (panel de pon) on easy difficulty, the soundtrack is absolute catharsis,

It gets intense when the screen starts to fill, can give you that jolt of adrenaline (it can be a really intense jolt, that soundtrack gets intense), but you're not in any real danger of losing because it's so very simple. Swapping the blocks gives a very satisfying swish sound, the bubble popping noise as blocks remove themselves, the character noises as the combo counter goes up.

Poochy imo is the best character, but all of them have great backing tracks and unique combo noises.

2

Bastion was really relaxing for me but I think that had more to do with the context of when I played it vs. the actual game. It's still a very slow and calming game regardless

1

Lake. Just driving around delivering mail and parcels and communicating with the residents, whilst listening to the soundtrack is so soothing.

1

I always loved Canaster for its chill. But the most relaxing was actually Mers (a Pen and Paper Game).

Boccia is relaxed as well, but you have to remember the balls.

1

I feel like I've been recommending this game a lot lately, but: A Short Hike.

1

Rock Band 4/Rivals is my zen time. Nothing like listening to music I like while rhythmically clicking plastic buttons.

1

Littlewood, World End Diner, Tales of Autumn and Stardew Valley.

1