Gaming

Minecraft. It's just a nice game to get lost in.

I haven't seen anyone mentioning this gem:

Vampire Survivors

I'm surprised Katamari Damacy hasn't been mentioned yet. Both that game and its sequel, "We Love Katamari," have been remastered in recent years (in fact, the sequel just came out last week) and they're a joy to play.

The game has all that OP mentions... Quirky art style, awesome music, simple tactile gameplay, and just overall a relaxing and fun time.

Stardew Valley comes to mind right away, but I think it applies to all titles after you get the hang of it, with the exception of heavily RNG-based games like Risk of Rain 2, Hades, Dead Cells where you have to be alert almost all the time. Currently I'm enjoying playing Red Dead Redemption 2. Definitely a comfort game just riding your horse around.

As others have already touched upon, I think the Zelda series is masterful (pun semi-intended) at this.

I can't count how many times I've replayed through Ocarina of Time just to relax and vibe. These games really excel at creating little moments of catharsis.

I used to spend hours in OOT just hanging around Kakariko or Lon Lon Ranch or soaking in the ambiance of the Forest Temple.

Or hanging outside the Stock Pot Inn in the morning, waiting for it to open in Majora's Mask.

Or floating around on the Great Sea in Wind Waker.

Or taking Marin down to the beach in Link's Awakening.

And so on, up through the BotW/TotK era.

Satisfactory ! This game is an addiction for, I can play for hours, for me it's very relaxing to build factory with no timer and great graphics !

Slay the Spire for me. Got all the characters to A20 with multiple heart wins, 700+ hours in across phone and steam deck, still having a blast with every run. The awesome thing is that every run is so distinct, every card in the game can be good in the right scenario.

Euro Truck Simulator/American Truck Simulator

It quickly just becomes a virtual road trip simulator, and as someone who generally enjoys driving and road trips its very chill

Diablo games. It's nice being able to slay demons and not put much thought into it.

GTA, online friends mode, cruise on my motorcycle checking out scenery, ride the coasters.

There are a lot of games I've spent a lot of time in, but none come close to Fallout New Vegas.

I left my heart in the Sierra Madre.

Slay the Spire is a big one. Casually smacking out wacky runs during a lunch break is the bee knees.

Brotato is good for this too, even if the game can be a bit repetitive. I wish it would grow even bigger with more items, more deep mechanics, more everything. Thank goodness there's modding.

As a kid, Alien versus Predator co-op survival maps were a big one. Mindless mayhem clears the mind like nothing else.

It is still Guild Wars 2 for me.

It is very chill to play and only explore and it also has more challenging content if i feel like it. Best MMO out there. At least for me personally.

If anyone can show me the way to a guild wars 2 community here i would be grateful btw.

Factorio. The factory must grow.

Power wash simulator. Feels good to clean.

Portal. I've played through it enough times that I can complete it in a little under 20 minutes. I'm not very good at games but there are a lot of fun and easy tricks to run through it quickly. Playing it a bunch of times is relaxing and fun for me.

Over the past years I've played a lot of relaxing indie- and open source games. The ones that really stuck with me were Eqilinox (Steam), Endless Sky (homepage, open source) and Veloren (homepage, open source).

Bonus game which just came to my mind: Slime Rancher (Steam) was a really fun, too!

OpenTTD is my happy space. It's relaxing to just hop in and start building some railroads.

Stardew valley. Its not the type.of game I usually play, but for some reason whenever I feel down, just the sinple game play and music is very soothing.

Definitely minecraft. It's a great game to relax

Minecraft and Stardew Valley.

Subnautica.

When I'm not running for my life from creatures trying to kill me then ambiance is actually very chill. Something about being in a giant ocean. Not to mention the soundtrack is pretty chill. And the environments are cool as heck!

Valheim's pretty great especially when you spend long hours just gathering resources. I like to put on long form video essays in the background while chopping down trees and mining ore.

Fallout: NV

Transport Tycoon, using OpenTTD. If you've never played it you can download OpenTTD and use their graphics, sounds, and music replacement sets to play it for free. However as I own the base game I like to keep the original music as it helps to drive the nostalgia.

I love Doom, and I've been playing it since I first got hold of the shareware episode, but when I really need a comfort game it's almost always Transport Tycoon.

Journey (PS3, PS4, PS5)

A perfect emotional escape for a couple of hours, I have lost count of how many "journeys" i have done, and its made all the richer if you meet another traveller along the way and complete the journey with them.

Pure comfort? Pokemon Crystal Clear - it's like healing for the soul after a long day of marking.

Less pure comfort? Darkest Dungeon - because sometimes you need to feel pain to really relax!

Me and my wife just finished It Takes Two. What an incredible game and story!

Animal Crossing New Horizons. Extremely chill, no pressure to do anything in particular, just a very “go at your own pace” type of game.

Trackmania 2020 is great!

Im gonna be "that guy" and say dark souls 1. Subsequent playthroughs of the game are surprisingly relaxing, when you know where everything is and you're just putting together a build and steamrolling bosses.

Elite Dangerous in VR. I can really disconnect from the real world and just enjoy being a space-pirate bounty hunter.

No Man's Sky is a good mix of nice scenery, low stress, and engaging without requiring a lot of mental capacity that can be comforting.

Minecraft and No Man’s Sky. Explore a little; build a little; shoot a few baddies; chill; repeat 😊

honestly any shoot em up or bullet heaven game. its nice and cathartic to blow up a fleet of spaceships in super galaxy squadron or mow down a thousand monsters in vampire survivors.

My two most frequented games would be Stardew valley or Animal crossing. Specifically the GameCube version (emulation if you don't have one) or New Horizons (been surprisingly refreshing)

Nothing against the other versions I just haven't tried them.

This is going to sound silly, but Clicker Heroes. There's nothing necessarily "comforting" about it in the classic sense, but I have ADD, depression, and anxiety. Putting that on and just mindlessly clicking and resource-managing allows me to focus just enough on that, without it needing my full attention, to be able to also sort through my otherwise incoherent strands of thoughts.

But going by art, music, experience, gameplay, etc, I guess I'd have to say Bastion from Supergiant Games. It's definitely up there as one of my favorite games of all time.

Lego Batman, the first one. God, I love that game. I just feel so cozy when I play it.

Anything based on Kirby! The music, aesthetic, everything just makes me happy

Stardew Valley is amazing for this. Minecraft was it for years and years, but Stardew is just like a nice hug. I adore it.

Hogwarts Legacy has also fallen into this category for me now.

Tetris is an all time go to for getting out of my head.

Outer Wilds. But I already know everything that happens. So I prefer watching a stream/VOD of someone playing it for the first time.

Super Mario kart and the original doom. I can play either of those games at any point and always have fun. There are newer games in both of those series, and I do love them too, but if I want some comfort gaming it's the originals for me.

Currently it's Tears of the Kingdom. The music, the atmosphere, stable side quests etc. make it so chill and comforting. Some others are Ori and the will of the wisps, My time at Portia, Spiritfarer, Crosscode. Witcher 3 is also great to get lost in and forget about real life.