Great relaxing games

Life's been tough lately, and I've been looking to my games for relaxation. But, often games are too complex or "mature" or fast paced to help bail you out of a really wound up mindset. What are you favorite games to relax to?

I have PC, PS4, PS3, and PSP - I'd prefer something on PC or PS4, but results are more important than platform.

Some good examples: Flower, Journey

Thanks for your thoughts!

I did enjoy Submerged. Very slow, no ennemies, just exploration. I also enjoy Mega Man

@xantufrog: Shadow of the Colossus has relatively easy controls. If you perform well, then it becomes a very cinematic experience. It is on the PS3 in the Ico & Shadow of the Colossus collection.

Cities: Skylines is what I play to relax. You can even turn on an unlimited money/all buildings unlocked mode and just build, build, build if you don't want any challenge. Turn on some nice mellow music and watch (or rather, don't watch) the hours roll by.

If you get used to your rockets blowing up, Kerbal Space Program can be fun. Just let your imagination go for a ride and build whatever rockets you like; once you're in space, it is a pretty majestic, surreal, peaceful experience.

Basically any sandbox building experience is what I crave when I need to unwind; they generally have an option to turn off any sort of hostile action or overall challenge so you can really just do what you like with little consequence.

Hope your life gets better :) I know how you feel (or don't, people always have it worse! remember that) I just worked 56 hours in 4 days of graveyard shifts because my coworkers are a bunch of stupid slackers and my bosses (yes, plural) don't give a shit. I really do want to set the world on fire right now, just to watch it burn lol.

I find the PSX generation Square-Enix games relaxing.

1. Xenogears
2. Final Fantasy VII
3. Final Fantasy Tactics
4. Final Fantasy VIII
5. Final Fantasy IX
6. Chrono Cross

These are all on the PlayStation Network or you can play the original discs on your PS3.

I always found that the PS1 Spyro games were quite relaxing.

great suggestions folks! I am definitely leaning towards Cities: Skylines right now, because I still enjoy firing up Sim City and Sim City 2000 from time to time.

But feel free to keep them coming! I imagine I am not the only one in this mindset, as @mrbojangles25 noted

Flower and Flow.

I recently played Everybody's Gone to the Rapture on PC (also on PS4) and I found it very chill. There is no combat in the game and it is nice to just explore and discover what happened to the town and the people. It is a beautiful game too, which doesn't hurt. :)

ratchet and clank

Any Katamari game is something that fits the relaxing category. Theres one called Katamari Forever on the ps3. Its not very hard and fun. Just avoid the mobile version, its literally trash.

Theme Hospital on PC is a fun relaxing game also with great music and funny sense of humor.

Day of the Tentacle is another good one if you want to sit back and relax and play a really funny adventure game.

I also found Saints Row 3 and 4 really relaxing because its so easy and entertaining to play.

Seems like you're looking for something relaxing in an atmospheric way

Proteus.
Botanicula
FEZ
Prince of Persia 2008
Osmos
Terraria
World of Goo
Reus
Most 4X strategy games (Look up either Civilization V or Endless Legend)

And i'll give a nod to Cities Skylines and other management games (Anno 2070, Anno 1404 or Tropico 4/5)

Populous 3, soundtrack will put you into zen mode.

https://youtu.be/-pqgrQmlyFQ

Ever want a game that just lest you put your feet up and wind down at the end of a stressful day? Here are a few that will let you do just that.

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is a great game to immerse yourself into and explore at your own pace. You hardly do anything other than trigger little events by walking near them. I found much of the experience to be relaxed and soothing. Not a game for everyone but it sounds like something you might want to play at the moment.

I've found Pinball Arcade on the PS4 to be quite peaceful - all you have to do is chase a high score. You can buy a disc version with some tables or opt to buy them digitally individually or in sets.

The Golf Club on the PS4 is a another peaceful experience - don't both with the new PGA Tour game as it's inferior.

Open world games can be fun to if you just want to wander around - GTA V on the PS4 is great for just exploring.

Pure Pool on the PS4 is an excellent pool game that's got a nice mellow vibe going on.

Ah yes, Katamari games are indeed great. Sounds like Everybody's Gone to Rapture is getting a few votes here as well - I might have to give it a go here at some point as well. In the vein of Day of the Tentacle (which I have not played) I would also throw Grim Fandango out there as a good soothing adventure game. As much of a classic as it is, the arbitrariness of the puzzles did get to me at times - I prefer puzzles with more of a shared conceptual basis which allow you to use logic rather than wacky trial and error more often (e.g., Riven, although brutally more difficult than Grim Fandango / less zen).

i like to play Marvel Heroes for this reason. It's an ARPG with light MMO elements from the director and lead designer of Diablo 2. Really easy to play for a month or two when the new games slowdown, stop, then come back. Great community, not really incredibly difficult, 57 heroes presently. It's a great free to play model, too. They're also giving out a free Cap or Iron Man at the start of the Civil War events this week, whichever side you choose, so given the beginner incentives you can walk out of this weekend with 4-5 heroes for nothing if you start now.

They really make an effort to make the characters feel like their comic counterparts while also feeling unique from other characters with respect to gameplay. For example, Rogue builds her power set by touching other friendly or hostile heroes and adding one of their abilities to her power memory, Storm is pure AoE havoc with tornadoes and hail storms covering the screen, Winter Soldier dips in and out of stealth, Doom summons an army of robots, etc. Continual content updates, weekly events and an expanding character list that for this year includes Nick Fury, Ultron, Black Bolt, Angela (from Spawn), and Beast.

stardew valley on the PC. its a farming game like harvest moon. i havent played it myself but i hear nothing but good things. its on my to get list.

the long dark. play it on easy mode so animals wont attack you. then you can just explore and forage at your leisure. only the weather is trying to kill you :).

I once had a stretch of a couple weeks that I anticipated being very difficult to endure. Not sure if you have a DS, but I ended up picking up a Professor Layton game (Unwound Future in my case) and got totally sucked into it. The weeks went by very quickly and I actually look back on them somewhat fondly because that game was not only relaxing, but made it easy to forget about everything else. Definitely recommend any of the Layton games.

@d_parker: So I'm trying to get back to gaming. Own an XBox 360 (making noise!) but thinking of getting a new console. But I really only like Train Sims, Golf (as in EA PGA - Tiger Woods, etc.) So I'm trying to get suggestions on XBox One or PS3 or 4 and what are the best games available for Train Sim and Golf?

just cause 3 is so relaxing

Just fire up a flight sim and enjoy the view.

Dat necro thread

Love my thread, but we already had the funeral...