Favourite 'Blow off steam' game

[LaughingAtlas]

Most any particularly violence-based game will do, I find, such as Dead Rising 2 or Arkham City's violence-only riddler challenges, but of late I find myself using Burnout: Paradise to quickly vent frustrations. It's oddly soothing to hop in a magic, self-fixing car, plow recklessly through the streets until I get to the nearest Road Rage event, and wreck as many of my chums in bad driving as I can manage, swearing incoherently pretty much the whole time. It's probably worth noting that I do this solely in singleplayer, haven't bothered with the online features even once, as it's nice to have a whole city to yourself for that 'It's all mine, bwahahahahaha' feeling.
That last part alone is cathartic in it's own right, actually.

 

[Spider RedNight]

I'm gonna go in a different direction and say that MOST of the Harvest Moon games really soothe me, especially if I play how I feel and I simply don't save - that girl was a jerk to me, I'm gonna give her my weeds that I picked. ALL MY CHICKENS CAN DIE-- okay, not really but the music is peaceful enough to tell me to breathe and say "Shhhhh you had a bad day. It's cool, it happens to everyone. Just... go fishing and it'll all be okay."

Speaking of fishing, Animal Crossing does that to me, too. At least temporarily. Other honourable mentions include Silent Hill 2, Borderlands 2, and Portal 1/2.

 

[Evonisia]

I play Gears of War 3's multiplayer, I enjoy getting those easy kills in such gory ways (most guns tend to just tear limbs off) and after a while I start enjoying it more because I'm settled and ready for the challenge of other players.

Is doing nothing but charging people with the bayonet in GOW3 viable? I only played it at launch for a few months and it was everywhere, Retro Lancer and Sawn Off Shotgun. The rage that combo inspires is great

The Retro Lancer charge is still viable... assuming you know how to combine it with spraying somebody to death at close range. I use it and the Hammerburst all the time because the Lancer is boring. The Sawed Off Shotgun is still pretty balanced yet powerful but most people use Lancer + Gnasher Shotgun. The Retro charge is kinda ruined by Lancers but a good tactic is charge in then spray them before they can Gnasher you.

 

[Macemaster]

I tend to find Dark Souls incredibly soothing. I don't know what it is, but it's one of those games I can just pick up and do something and enjoy doing it rather than it being a chore.

 

[FrozenLaughs]

I've found when I'm stressed competitive games become far worse experiences. I perform waaaaaay worse, resulting in more anger and compounding the stress. For me, building and designing games provide relief. Sim City, Roller-coaster Tycoon, even my wifes Sims 3.

SRPG are also good. Slow, usually story based and more technical than skill based help relaxing. There's something cathartic about move, attack, move, attack, move, buff, move, heal...

 

[mirage202]

Red Faction Guerrilla. Taking a sledgehammer to all manner of buildings/vehicles/evil EDF people can be very relaxing.

More so once you have actually finished the game and unlocked all the cheats. Nothing says fun like smacking an APC sideways through an EDF barracks building and watching the lot explode and crumble.

 

[Moloch Sacrifice]

Team Fortress 2 here. For some reason, Demoknight is catharsis personified for me. Maybe it's the knowledge that no matter what I do, I will have annoyed at least one person on either team simply by being a Demoknight.

 

[AT God]

Killing Floor is what I run to when I want to just shoot lots of enemies. Its the closest thing to the catharsis people used to get from FPS games like Doom and Duke 3D, and it doesn't require any puzzle solving or secret finding, the maps are just arenas and the enemies are coming to get you, not the other way around.

When I want to kill other players, I often load up a TDM match of Battlefield 3, usually on small maps I can get a good KDR going and switch to sniper if I get really frustrated by people using shotguns.

I like Just Cause 2 but the AI is too dumb to be any challenge, and Rico's inability to crouch and shoot gets really annoying when there are too many bad guys to take on in open combat. If someone made an AI mod to JC2 I would be all over it.

 

[Angry Camel]

Batman Arkham City's combat challenge maps. They're like stress balls. The combat is so well tuned and feels great. I used to do the same with Asylum. Wish I could I could do the same with Origins, but the combat just doesn't feel right in that game.

I second this. Also, there's nothing quite as soothing as playing 'Mr Blue Sky' while beating up people in Arkham Asylum (along with a multitude of ill-fitting songs).

 

[Artina89]

At the moment, I am really enjoying playing the Lego Harry Potter games, I just find them fun to play and they are quite relaxing. I can play it for hours just collecting things and not actually making that much progress in the story mode, which I find really quite nice. I am not really a fan of first person shooters in general, so I tend to avoid them.

 

[Vigormortis]

I have several, actually. Which one I use depends on my mood, what's bothering me, and/or what's readily available at the time.

These would include, but aren't necessarily limited to:
Dota 2
Prototype
Crackdown
Super Smash Bros
Sven Coop
Doom 2
Quake 3
MechCommander 2
Left 4 Dead 2
Team Fortress 2
Half-Life
Torchlight 2
Diablo 2

All of these are, for me, easy to play. They almost never cause me any undue aggravation or annoyance. And their familiarity to me is comforting.

Helps too that they are included in my list of "favorite games ever". If I ever need to unwind, calm down, or relieve myself of any stress, these almost never fail.

 

[CarlsonAndPeeters]

Just Cause 2 is a great one for exploring and causing random mayhem (and Mercenaries before it).

I find just skating around in Skate 2 really relaxing in a zen way.

I love Gun Game in Black Ops. Haven't bought a CoD game since, but I'll still fire up Gun Game every once in a while. Just silly, stupid, and challenging.

Binding of Isaac is a good one because each playthrough takes max one hour, so I'll often listen to a podcast or YouTube video while playing through it again and again.

 

[DoomyMcDoom]

I find any game that isn't horribly designed to be cathartic, it really depends on my mood, it could be anything from a total war game, to borderlands, or maybe some oldschool commander keen action.

but then again, I'm one of those gamers who doesn't have a favoured genre, I just play a little of everything, always have.

 

[babinro]

Rock Band (drums) was my go to for several years. I used that game to kill short bursts of time, to blow off steam or even just to warm up in the winter. Play a few quick songs and you'll work up sweat while having a blast

These days it's mostly Diablo 3 though.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Usually, Unreal Tournament 1999. Just sitting down for a few rounds of Lightning deathmatch (first to 15 kills wins) is enough to vent my frustration.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

There are a few actually...

Dynasty Warriors (insert anime here). Preferably Ken's Rage but Gundam was also freaking awesome (haven't played the two sequel games). I haven't played the One Piece ones but I really want to if only to play as Sanji, who is awesome.

Just Cause 2...but only if I don't have Saint's Row 2 handy. JC2 to blow shit up and SR2 to douse things in semi-liquid feces.

Back in the past, I would play Assault on the Control Room in Halo. Ever since the original game, those vehicle sections have kept me going back to Halo.

 

[Harpalyce]

It used to be Saints Row 3, and now it's Saints Row 4.

There's just something about running up the tallest skyscraper in the city and then gliding over all the boroughs with smiling serenity that completely lifts the soul of its burdens. Also shooting people in the face. Can't forget that part.

There's a different kind of blowing off steam those games aren't as good for, though. There's anger and then there's tired, frizzled anxiety that I often get at the end of the day, too. For that it's absolutely Animal Crossing: New Leaf, which is just a sugar-sweet little game that demands very little of you and is just the thing after a day when I feel like everyone's been interrupting me with more stuff for me to do every five seconds. Also playing it can be nicely combined with snuggling a dog or two.

 

[Rariow]

Either Team Fortress 2 (fly, my gibs, fly) or, surprisingly enough, the XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Just put on a podcast in the background, and the constant failing becomes almost unnoticeable, and all that's left is a number-crunch. I actually managed to almost beat it on Classic Ironman without even noticing this way.