Suggestions for "calm" games?

[Nim]

Superbrothers: Sword and Sorcery EP, a nice little adventure game and one of the more calming games I've played in a while. Really (really, really, really) good music!

Sanitarium, it's got some puzzle solving, but it's the story and atmosphere that keeps it interesting.

 

[Rheinmetall]

Check out bigfishgames.com. Tons of casual games, including plenty of the hidden object/adventure hybrid. The Mystery Case Files are particularly well done, offering a decent challenge without putting on too much pressure. Puzzles are skippable, should you plain not feel like hammering away on them, and collectors' editions typically come with walkthroughs.

I find them to be extremely relaxing, as they offer just enough difficulty to be engaging, but not so much that you truly need to flex your gaming muscles too strenuously.

Thanks for the tip! Seems like I can find dozens of cool games in there.

The really good part is you can play all of them for an hour before you buy, which makes it easy to find the ones that really work for you. There are a bazillion games on BigFish, but they vary in quality dramatically.

Oh, one last suggestion: Emerald City Confidential. Fantastic point and click adventure game, but rather laid back.

As it seems I already had an account there, I had downloaded Virtual City and The Island Castaway some time ago and spent some good time with them. I really like the style of these games, and it's better to play them on the pc, than in the tiny mobile phone screen. I'm downloading now the Emerald City to play the trial.
Thanks again for reminding me of bigfish games.

 

[Rheinmetall]

Thanks!
I will try The Longest Journey, I'm in the mood for classic point n' click.
Myst: either I'm a complete idiot, or it is very hard...,or both (lol) I have tried Myst 4 and couldn't make any progress.
Katamari: too hard also. I have tried Beautiful Katamari for the X360, and couldn't go far also. I think I only cleared the first two stages, after that it was impossibe.

That's why I recommended the katamari games for the ps2: the difficulty curve for the 360 shot through the roof to accommodate the achievement system and I have to admit I hated it to the point that every minute I was playing I was thinking of my ps2.

Steam has The Longest Journey for pretty cheap and has a free demo to try out; I hope you enjoy it.

Thanks for telling me that for the PS2 games, because I really loved the concept of the game, but I was very disappointed that I couldn't actually play it.

 

[Rheinmetall]

If you're into ponit and click, go for Sam and Max

Thanks a lot, I will check it.

 

[DanielBrown]

Perhaps not the best game for the purpose, but I've been playing L.A Noire for the past few days and damn is it slow.
Cutscenes, drive a bit, cutscenes, walk around a small area and inspect stuff, cutscene, drive a bit, cutscene, interview, inspection time etc etc.
There's some action. Sometimes you gotta chase a suspect or shoot some people, but it mainly takes care of itself.

 

[flying_whimsy]

Thanks for telling me that for the PS2 games, because I really loved the concept of the game, but I was very disappointed that I couldn't actually play it.

You're welcome; I hope your quest for relaxing games pays off (on more than one occasion I've made similar efforts to find non-violent games and come up short).

Also, I could never get into the Myst games, either; they always struck me as a bit full of themselves.

 

[Rheinmetall]

Thanks for telling me that for the PS2 games, because I really loved the concept of the game, but I was very disappointed that I couldn't actually play it.

You're welcome; I hope your quest for relaxing games pays off (on more than one occasion I've made similar efforts to find non-violent games and come up short).

Also, I could never get into the Myst games, either; they always struck me as a bit full of themselves.

Yeah, as I see it now, I think I will never play violent games again. I'm totally sick of this madness. Well, I will only make a small exception in the future for the next Dead Rising game, which basically is a comedy.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Anyone of the Professor Layton games unless you get really frustracted with a puzzle.
Even then this music being played would calm you anyway

 

[Chknboy]

Audiosurf with relaxing music is always pleasant, or Osmos, I couldn't really get into that game as much but I remember the soundtrack being super relaxing.

 

[Rheinmetall]

Perhaps not the best game for the purpose, but I've been playing L.A Noire for the past few days and damn is it slow.
Cutscenes, drive a bit, cutscenes, walk around a small area and inspect stuff, cutscene, drive a bit, cutscene, interview, inspection time etc etc.
There's some action. Sometimes you gotta chase a suspect or shoot some people, but it mainly takes care of itself.

L.A Noir sounds cool. I have seen screenshots of the interogation with the facial expression of the witnesses. It's surely a technical achievement. To be frank I'm not too crazy about the action parts, basically I'm not much into Rockstar games in general. They all start with the most impressive way, but at the end I always find myself cursing about the controls and about other things too: the discouraging difficulty, the pain to drive/ride for miles to find that specific room where you can save your progress etc...

 

[Rheinmetall]

Anyone of the Professor Layton games unless you get really frustracted with a puzzle.
Even then this music being played would calm you anyway

Thanks,
Ha ha, it may sound strange but what really frustrated me in the game was the music. It drove me crazy after listening so much of it. But I loved the puzzles for sure, except the last set of them where I got stuck for good. I'm reffering to the first Professor Layton game.

 

[DanielBrown]

Perhaps not the best game for the purpose, but I've been playing L.A Noire for the past few days and damn is it slow.
Cutscenes, drive a bit, cutscenes, walk around a small area and inspect stuff, cutscene, drive a bit, cutscene, interview, inspection time etc etc.
There's some action. Sometimes you gotta chase a suspect or shoot some people, but it mainly takes care of itself.

L.A Noir sounds cool. I have seen screenshots of the interogation with the facial expression of the witnesses. It's surely a technical achievement. To be frank I'm not too crazy about the action parts, basically I'm not much into Rockstar games in general. They all start with the most impressive way, but at the end I always find myself cursing about the controls and about other things too: the discouraging difficulty, the pain to drive/ride for miles to find that specific room where you can save your progress etc...

Aye, the controls are actually pretty annoying and driving feels about as clunky as in GTA IV iirc. You get used to them, but it could've been done better. This game shouldn't really be compared to games like GTA or RDR though.
It has it's good sides as well. You don't ever have to drive the car if it's not part of the quest. Hold down the enter vehicle button and your partner will take over and it'll take you to the destination quickly. So far(I'm over halfway through) the difficulty has been the same, which is pretty much non existant. If you take a few bullets in the face you'll have to start over, but the bad guys all die in three-four shots unless you get a headshot. There's also an auto save system.

If you're somewhat intrested there is a review you can watch by Angry Joe that's rather funny.

 

[Phishfood]

Really old, but: Have you tried playing the King's Quest/Space Quest series? They're decent enough.

Most Turn-Based Strategy games will fit your description pretty well, as well. How about Civ IV? (I've heard that Civ V is a lot more action based, so yeah...)
Age of Wonders (1 - 2 - Shadow Magic) (again, really old) is pretty relaxed, too.

You should look up the word "churlish" before you do anything "stupid".

There are also the modern monkey island games on steam, worth a look. Heck, go get dosbox and a copy of theme park. Can't go wrong with the classics.

 

[AntiChrist]

Have you heard about Jour- oh...

Well have you heard about Auditorium [http://www.playauditorium.com/]? It's awesome.

Wow, that game is surprisingly addictive! Thanks for the link!

 

[Jitters Caffeine]

Viva Pinata Pocket Paradise. Or any Viva Pinata game really.

It's great fun and it's extremely calming. Everything about it just makes it perfect for winding down or relaxing. The music is smooth, the animals are all adorable, and the puns are usually pretty funny.

 

[Buizel91]

Viva Pinata.

Visually beautiful and all you have to be aware of is the Sours and Ruffians

 

[Guffe]

Harvest Moon?
If you can't find that a relaxing game I believe you're one of those poeple who'll have a heartattack if you play tetris.

 

[Buizel91]

Viva Pinata Pocket Paradise. Or any Viva Pinata game really.

It's great fun and it's extremely calming. Everything about it just makes it perfect for winding down or relaxing. The music is smooth, the animals are all adorable, and the puns are usually pretty funny.

1 hour later and i realise that we have a ninja among us. -.-

DAMN YOU TO HELL!

 

[OpticalJunction]

Lucid. It's a block-matching puzzle game, super easy but relaxing too. I recommend it if you're in the mood to chill out.