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What are your feel-good games?

1mon 11d ago by lemmy.world/u/Chezus9247 in gaming@lemmy.ml

Like, games that you have played through multiple times, but you still like to replay them from time to time because you can just relax and have a good time without too much hassle.

For me some are Dark Souls 1&2 and Borderlands 1, I can play them without too much thoughts about what I'm doing, but still be focused enough so no bad thoughts appear.

GTA 4 and cyberpunk 2077 for me. I've played through both of these games so many times I've lost count. I don't quite know what draws me to these two games but whenever I feel like shit playing one of these games just takes my mind off things

Ditto on Cyberpunk. I think the only games I have more hours played on are EQ, TF2, and Rogue Legacy 2.

Currently trying to get 100% on GTA4. It's such a great story-game, but I'm not a big fan of the realism-part. Also, there seems to be soo much missing in comparison to GTA:SA. Still, having a great time and I'm hyped af for the DLCs. Only have to finish the monster jumps and doves. c:

I'm perhaps the outlier in that I felt like San Andreas felt like they'd thrown shit at the wall to see what would stick. Most of the extra mechanics didn't land for me at all and I was pleased to see them gone.

For the longest time growing up it was Baldur's Gate 2. Was such a formative gaming experience for me as a kid and several of those companions feel like reuniting with old friends.

More recently, Civ V on a medium difficulty is like Solitaire for me. You can just kind of go through the motions and enjoy building an empire.

For a different kind of relaxation-through-stimulation I also kind of find myself going back to Ninja Gaiden 2 recently. It's hard to explain why this would be comforting (and the game can also be infuriating at times) but there is just something to the combat and the constant stimulation that can take your mind off things. Especially when you go back and just replay the best parts in chapter challenge as opposed to a full campaign.

More recently, Civ V on a medium difficulty is like Solitaire for me. You can just kind of go through the motions and enjoy building an empire.

I really feel this, in a weird way. I reaaally suck at RTS games, and I don't wanna know how bad I am at those extremely complex games. Not my cup of tea(sadly), but they're definitely interesting af and in my childhood I played a lot of Anno and Stronghold games, so I'd kinda love to check them out.

Unmodded the AI in Civ is pretty bad. On lower difficulties you can have a good time just doing your own thing if that is what you want, just building cities and infrastructure and whatnot. If you're interested you shouldn't be intimidated by them, I'd say. Plus you can regularly pick up Civ for like 2-3 bucks these days.

A short hike.

Katamari Damacy

I love soundtrack

Valheim.

I spin it up every now and then just to go sailing and build some stuff. I would play more often, but pretty much all of the people I used to play with moved on to D4, or just lost interest I think.

Valheim is a great one. I personally have a hatred against those ore-farming stuff, but everything else is just soo much fun and chill.

And I feel ya with D4, most of my friends left for D3 seasons and D4 stuff, so I'm sitting here alone, thinking about what to do. :/

Morrowind, Stardew Valley, Fallout 4

Terraria the goat.

For quite some time was Chrono Trigger, I played almost every year.

I also like to play some Bethesda's games while listening podcasts

I just finished my first Terraria-playthrough on the hardest difficulty as mage, and I'm still chilling in the midgame in my highest-difficulty melee playthrough. I wanted to also say "Terraria", but I kinda stopped playing for many years. It's definitely still my number 1 game that you HAVE to play on Steam, or else you're... well, a stinky non-Terrarian! c:

Mario 64. I have like 4 save files that I am actively playing and it really gets mg head of things

Bloodborne or whatever soulslike I'm feeling at the moment. Fired up DS3 the other day after a couple o weeks with little to no gaming because I wanted something predictable and chill.

You are welcome to join us at soulslike@lemmy.zip

Subnautica, Astroneer, and Powerwash Simulator

I love Powerwash Simulator. As an achievement hunter I just wish those at-best-mediocre DLCs wouldn't cost so much. :/

Paper Mario, Jet Set Radio Future, Oblivion, Valley.

Is Jet Set Radio Future the same as the regular Jet Set Radio? Always wanted to play it, but I didn't had the time. I think it's also pretty short? I should play it asap!

Yes and no.

It's inline skating and grafitti and even some of the same characters, but it's a big sprawling semi-open world with a whole bunch of things to do and find. And it has one of the best soundtracks ever.

It's sort of short. Since there are so many things to find and unlock and places to explore, the first time through it will likely take a while, but once you learn where everything is, it's pretty short.

Anything souls, factorio, subnautica, cities skylines 1, humanity, journey, og doom.

Roller coaster tycoon

Balatro and New Super Mario Bros.

Retro games from my formative years:

  • Super Mario RPG
  • Forgotten Worlds
  • Any Sierra adventure game from the EGA/VGA era
  • Animal Crossing

Newer games:

  • Assassin's Creed Odyssey
  • Fallout 4
  • GTA5

I realize those are divisive entries in each of their franchises, but they're the ones that hit for me and just let me wander off and do whatever I feel like.

I just wanted to play Super Mario RPG, but my 8bitdo gamepad had problems, even after opening everything up and cleaning that shit. :(

But I wanna know more about the Sierre adventures you like. I only watched Let's Plays of my favorite old-ish LPer that helped bring me those game closer(GronkhRetro)... I really love the "Leisure Suit Larry" series, anything else you recommend to watch? AND! also anything you'd like to recommend to some younger guys like me, who'd like to play those good old games? c: <3

In the late 80s/early 90s, my parents wouldn't let us have a game console, but somehow trying to bed hookers in Leisure Suit Larry was okay for their pre-teen. IDK.

If it's the humor that made LSL good for you, the Space Quest series is an easy leap. Or Freddy Pharkas. Plus lots of Lucasarts games like Monkey Island, Indiana Jones, Maniac Mansion...

The Police Quest series is my favorite. PQ1 is easily in my top games of all time. Followed very closely by the first Gabriel Knight game. I went to New Orleans years back for work and the best thing I got to do was look out over Lafayette Park and St Louis Cathedral from the same vantage point as in the game. Maybe silly, but it was a really fulfilling moment.

Oh, I always really liked the Quest for Glory games too, though I don't think I ever finished any of them. Maybe I should work on that this year.

@Chezus9247 Custom Robo on the Gamecube. Mario Kart 64.

I kept finding myself coming back to No Man's Sky. Just peaceful dopamine from numbers go up

Super Tux Kart. Saved my life when I had nothing else but suicidal thoughts.

I feel ya, for me it was Terraria in those times. Since currently everything sucks, I might give it a shot(again). <3 Thank you. :3

The important word is "currently". Hang in there, I hope it'll suck less soon!

Chrono Trigger

Final Fantasy Tactics

Shadowrun Returns

River City Ransom

Altered Beast

To a lesser extent:

Gauntlet

Rampage

Factorio. Always. Others depends on mods. Minecraft, rimworld and satisfactory are great if mods are good for them. Well mods for Factorio too but playing space age without added content is just always so relaxing to me. Only 5k hours sadly in Factorio.

Valheim

The Outer Wilds.

Just makes me weep typing that.

This is still sitting in my "to play" bin, I really need to get to it.

It'll throw you through a loop at first, but stick with it and don't look up any spoilers or cheat guides. It's my all time favorite game, and I've been playing games since I had an Atari 2600.

My issue is that the game is supposed to take like 10-15 hours, and I was at like 30 hours and so lost. I ended up feeling like an idiot and eventually lost interest.

I need to restart sometime...

If you sunk that much time into it, it's at least worth watching someone play it on YouTube. You'll get the same point.

I think for me it's usually an old 3d platformer or something, rayman 2 & 3, but i also like the ps2/3 ratchet & clank games. I replayed those a ton as a kid, and as an adult i still like to boot them up every now and then.

The Witcher 1. It's been a while since I've replayed it, but I know it like the back of my hand. Just thinking about the first chapter - gathering some White Myrtle accompanied by that lovely soundtrack - calms me down.

Dungeon keeper has been a go to fix for many years. I usually play through the base game campaign at least once a year. Just peak comfy gaming for me.

I play the Uncharted series over and over again.

  • A Good Snowman is Hard to Build
  • Alba: A Wildlife Adventure
  • Epiphany City
  • Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor
  • Among Trees

I'm always down for another Slay The Spire run.

Nethack

Hard Space: Shipbreaker

It's nigh meditative.

Cozy Caravan

Ff14

Stardew

Okami

Harvesrt moon/story of season

Doom and DoomII. I've been playing those for 30 years. It's like meditation I love 'em.

I like to replay The Last of Us (1) every couple of years - though it's always emotionally taxing.

Other than that I enjoy diving into Ultima 7 every here and then, though I tend to lose sight somewhere along the road, so technically speaking it doesn't fit the original post... but it's much fun/relaxing, following certain quest lines or just exploring.

Oh, Air Traffic Chaos on the DS is sometimes on the menu as well. Though I usually don't play it through, just some missions (i.e. airports and difficulties).

I was recently reminded of Shining in the Darkness for the Mega Drive and got super nostalgic. I might have to play that again.

The same thing recently happened to me with Descent 3. I'd never played Descent 1 or 2, so I figured if I was going to replay Descent 3, I ought to play the other two first, so I'm currently working my way through Descent 1.

But more to the heart of your question:

  • Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force
  • SimCopter (super buggy, but fun none-the-less.)
  • OpenTTD
  • Mindustry
  • Luanti

If I recall correctly, Descent 3 was made by another developer team and it was quite a different game. But Descent 1 and 2 are favorites of mine. Some of the original developers made Overload. Try it, if you haven't already.

  • Age of empires 2
  • Morrowind
  • Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri

I do not think i can ever play minecraft ever again, i feel like I am wasting my life mining a new diamond block for the millionth time. New indy games like Everwind or Abiotic Factor far better satisfy that creative adventure for me, and i enjoy trying new cheaper titles of the survival adventure type.

I miss playing COD, Halo, and Mario Kart at lan parties but those don't happen as much anymore. I think party games are great with friends.

Red Dead Redemption 2 - played all the way through 3 times. Now I'll just load up in a random chapter and just enjoy the game and atmosphere. Sometimes I'll go a play a mission where I get you go nuts, or just load up go camping with my horse and explore the map. Or I'll make up my own challenges. Like hijacking a train to see how far around the map I could make it before getting shot. Or seeing how many racist/KKK members I can burn alive.

Sea Power: Naval Combat in the Missile Age. No more beautiful sight than a sinking carrier.

Mario Golf on N64

Tropico 4, Anno 1404, Stronghold Crusader, Battlefield 2 (with Forgotten Hope 2 in it)

For competitive relaxation: Starcraft 2

God of war, entire series and horizon

Kingdom 2chainz

I replay the Star Craft campaigns once a year. Wings of liberty in particular is always fun.

Mega man 2. It was my first Mega Man fame back in the day and I played the shit out of it. So I just play it every so often and it is just so comfortable for me.

Honorable mentions: soul blazer on SNES, the first few levels of the original DOOM, the first TMNT game on Gameboy, it is terrible but just so mindless and short.

Journey, Stray, Animal Crossing

Dark souls 1 & 2 doesnt sound too relaxing :D Mmm Probably Cyberpunk, because of the world they created, fun to hang in. And the newer persona games 3-5 as its just fun characters to hang out with.

DS1&2 are pretty relaxing ones you have like 2 playthroughs. Especially DS1, it's a really short game. :D I'd love to check out Persona, but I have to start with the first game. Same for me in music, I'd have to start with the first album, I'm probably just a weirdo. :D

Wandersong

Chess. (lichess)

Reaching 1000 hours in Elite:Dangerous. There’s something special about being able to hop in your ship, pick a system anywhere in the Milky Way and be able to go there, given enough time. I’ve barely left the starting area in all this time and only going halfway across for the first time later this year with a few friends.

It’s a wildly big game and I’ll probably never run out of things to do.

Monster hunter 3 u , dragon quest lx minecraft

Pre renewal ragnarok online

Webfishing, Sword of the Sea, and PO3 modded Minecraft.

Webfishing with other people, like it's a chatroom - or just solo? I like the game solo, so I tried to talk to other people and get more social, but it always felt like they just wanted to be with their own. :/ Probably just because I'm too antisocial or uninteresting or something, but after some hours of trying to get to talk to someone I got literally 0 people to talk to...

I usually chill with an open lobby and all tags, so whoever comes in my lobby I talk to. Well I kinda shit post but its in good fun. I just recently destroyed my save so I'll be on it. But yeah it seems most are there to chill and dont want to type, even most joining my lobby.