Your favorite "chill out" games

[wings012]

Dark Souls 3 at one point. I beat the game and was basically grinding souls so I could buy all the Titanite Scales to upgrade everything with. To ready myself for NG+ and for a ready armoury of PvP options.

And it was kinda soothing just going up to the roofs of the Grand Archives. Casting Rapport on the Winged Knights and having them murder each other and profiting. I'd go in there and shank the the last one and begin the cycle anew.

Also I find it okay to just plop Red Soapstone outside the pontiff and haphazardly duel people. Sure it can be frustrating sometimes, but just go in without much expectation and its a sorta relaxing way to play. Just beat up other people or get beaten, don't really lose anything. Get your Pale Tongues and Vertebrae Shackles.

 

[Vigormortis]

There've been many over the years. From Half-Life or one of it's myriad of mods (notably Sven Co-op), to FTL, to Team Fortress 2, to Left 4 Dead 2, to Sins of a Solar Empire, to Doom I or II, to Worms, to Terraria, to Dota 2, to Super Smash Bros, to Quake 3, to...well, you get the point. There has been many.

Most recently, it's been Battleborn. It's got a great mix of intense team-based tactical play and good, lighthearted fun. My extensive knowledge of[footnote]No shame. NO SHAME.[/footnote], and my skill at playing, games like Dota and first person shooters means I can just instinctively play without having to concentrate all that hard. It's a good game for me to play to unwind at the end of an especially tough day.

 

[darkcalling]

lately this would be Battleborn or Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate. Finally unlocked Ghalt today on Battleborn and he has a few of the funniest lines in the game to me.

 

[default]

Yeah, I don't care how popular it's become, Minecraft still does the job for me.

Creative mode, no flying, deep cave exploration has a certain amount of inherent relaxation that few other games can compete with.

Yeah, I'm very similar. I like to ride around and hunt in Shadow of the Colossus or download Gmod maps and just wander around taking in the architecture and design. Just slow, atmospheric exploration. Sometimes I'll turn on the zombie spawner with a limit of 5 and give myself a revolver, just to add a bit of an edge.

Also not really a game per se, but I do also very much enjoy using Google Earth's flight simulator with a podcast or ambient album on in the background.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

Path of Exile at the moment.

 

[Hieronymusgoa]

On my smartphone it is the made-into-mobilegame-was-boardgame version of "Elder Sign:Omens". The music is pretty chilled while still being haunting, the gameplay is not hard but still a bit challenging "influence the odds"-mechanics and I just love Cthulhu-stuff in general. And the boardgame is actually not the better version because in spite of the pseudo "four player" thing in the original version, you best play all the investigators by yourself. I actually feel a bit like meditating while playing it

 

[happyninja42]

Thought of some more:

Red Dead: Redemption - Especially Undead Nightmare. Not much is more relaxing than roaming a beautifully vast frontier on the back of a horse name Death.

GT6 - Put on your favorite music and just drive the best roads this earth has to offer, all in the comfort of your own home.

Witcher - The music, characters and lore often make the game feel like one giant daydream, even with what little combat here is.

 

[Madmatty]

Proteus, Journey,Flow, and Flower to name a few. Proteus is a game that I use to unwind and think things through

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I had a lot of fun playing Huniepop. Yeah there's TNA in it but the actual game part of the game is pretty calming in itself since there isn't really a time limit and the music is really mellow. There's also the inherent satisfaction of one seemingly-simple combo turning into a cascade of points.

Other than that, I like playing some Dynasty and Hyrule Warriors. I tried playing Ken's Rage (Fist of the North Star - Warriors) but it absolutely hasn't aged as well as something like DW3 or DW4...somehow. I also like walking around in open-world games so long as they're city-based. Far Cry 3 may be set on a pretty island but in Watch_Dogs I don't have to worry about being speared by a Tiger who happens to be a fan of Edge. Finally (and speaking of Edge) I found it really calming and satisfying to create characters in WWF Smackdown and, Attitude. I really need to pick up more recent WWE games...I hear good things about Here Comes the Pain.

 

[retsupurae yahtsee]

Adventure games like those made by Sierra, legend, Lucasarts and Infocom, Dropsy, Time Gentlemen Please and Space Quest Incinerations and Vohaul Strikes Back; classic Nintendo games like Zelda, Mario, Metroid, Xenoblade and Splatoon, although most of them are very difficult so I cannot relax too much; puzzle games like Tetris, Puyo Puyo, Puzzle Bobble, Puzzle Fighter; Contra and Castlevania, which are very difficulty but put me in a nice groove; Metal gear Solid games, which can be difficult but also have plenty of downtime with all the cutscenes; Grand Theft Auto Vice City and Chinatown Wars; Joe and Mac.

 

[Pheo1386]

Final Fantasy 14 online, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 or (and I might get funny looks for this) any of the souls series, I've played these games so much I can comfortably leave my brain at home when playing them.

 

[PurplePonyArcade]

Elder Scrolls in general yes. Skyrim the most because if you can get the higher graphic settings going it really just is wonderfully relaxing to explore everything and it still fills me with joy and wonder to this day. Long before I had DLC and mods it did that for me so with that additional content its like the joy and relaxation of that never ends.
Dust: An Elysian Tail oh my love that games always puts me at ease. There have been times where I just sit there and stare and the scenery and music just keep me satisfied to no end.

 

[Jandau]

Europa Universalis 4. While it might not seem like it would be a very relaxing game, once you get a handle on it, it really does get pretty chill. A competent player piloting one of the larger nations is a forgone conclusion for the most part and can be a really zen experience...

 

[Level 7 Dragon]

Terraria - Grind, build base, this castle is lacking a swimming pool.

Minecraft - Let's try to build a working calculator.

Just Cause 2 - Let's get into a plane and simply fry around tropical locations.

 

[SweetShark]

VA-11 HALL-A.
At this point I am obsessed with the game. This how much I love this game.
You can literally take any kind of drink with you and enjoy the story unfolds in front of you while you mix some drinks fornyour cusromers and friends.
Relax and enjoy the ride.....aaaahhhh....

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Elite Beat Agents
Soundodger
Civ V

Terraria - Grind, build base, this castle is lacking a swimming pool.

Hehe, I get that. I spent many hours building all kinds of stuff, like a big (albeit non-functional) windmill, a floating chinese palace with hanging gardens, Bowsers Castle, a giant hollowed-out tree/home. Oh, and recreations of sprites from various video game characters.

 

[DOOM GUY]

Typically The Ultimate Doom or Quake, just love those games to death.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Oh a few, a few.
Past chilling joys;

Starfox Adventures

Kameo: Elements of power

Viva Pinata

Any 3D Zelda

Trine series

Puzzle quest 2

Clash of heroes.

---

Le more recent examples;

Hand of Fate (hey, it's just nice to have a guy dealing out cards, making all the decisions for you for your game fix, though he is a bit pushy at times.)

Flow

Flower

Journey

Rebel Galaxy

Infamous: first light

Transistor (It's actually quite easy once you learn to utilise the moves, the soundtrack, soft voice acting and visuals lull me into a trance. Love it!)

Dying light: Enhanced edition (Now hear me out, there is something about freerunning from house to house, looting people's unused possessions while leaping gayly over zombie heads like an R rated Mario that calms me away from killing sprees. Although those fast screaming zombies can seriously fuck right off. Always ruining my peaceful cleptomania sessions.)

Far Cry type stealthing of enemy bases. (Lying down in a bush with a high powered sniper rifle, marking enemies while watching their movement patterns is a Zen moment to admire, before it all goes to shit because of an angry honey badger nipping at your your balls.)

Dust: An Elysian Tail

I...err, like calming games. It eases a few problems. Though I used to assume tower defense games would be a chill out experience, being that all you do is build defenses and wait. But hell no. They are stressful little turdcakes of condensed anger and anxiety disguised as something calm. Like a placid lake housing a vast school of vicious piranhas.

 

[Too Many Secrets]

Prison Architect soothes me.

 

[TheMigrantSoldier]

Mount and Blade: Warband. Starting a new character, picking an easy starting area and slaughtering looters and bandits on horseback is strangely cathartic.