Your favorite "chill out" games

[Wrex Brogan]

Shipping runs in Sunless Sea - normally I play the game exploring everything, fighting Zee monsters or doing quests, but when I want to relax I just sail around, pick shit up from various ports and head back to London.
Fun fact: I've been dealing with Some Shit(tm) recently, and doing a lot of shipping runs in Sunless as a result. I now have something like... 45,000 echoes because of it. The silver lining to these things!

Also leveling random characters in World of Warcraft. Or fishing. Quite peaceful, though it's now resulted in me having... uhhh... 13 max level characters, with 2 more on the way. Man, Legion is going to be a ***** to get all these guys to 110.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Depends on my mood. Any given day I could chill with any of the Bioshock games. Yes, even 2. A wildly underrated game that's head and shoulders above most FPS these days.

If I'm feeling carefree and chipper, then Roller Coaster Tycoon.

If I'm feeling Nostalgic, then maybe FF6 or Pokemon? Maybe Turok or my all time favorite, Conker's Bad Fur Day.

However some times I'm so angry that, in lieu of kicking a puppy, I just want an insanely bloody brutal game of blood lust and berserker violence. Shame no one has made a 40k game where you play Kharn the Bloody at the Gates of Terra during the Great Siege.

Here's a chainaxe, a plasma pistol and 1,000 World Eaters to command. Come back when you've killed a million people. That's a game I could really get behind.

 

[BarryMcCociner]

Oh I've got tonnes, son.

GTA V - All I do is drive fast cars and deep sea adventure with the submarine.

Any Warriors game - Mindless combos fun wa-hey.

Pokemon - Because my full team of Eeveeloutions is too satisfying in competitive.

Total War - There's something about watching 500 of your dudes defend a gate while you slip another 500 out a side gate to squash an assault on your castle that won't ever get old. Very disappointed with the sieges in Warhammer though.

Euro Truck Simulator - Obviously

Elite Dangerous - I'M AN EARTH ROCKER!

HuniePop - Addictive Puzzle Degeneracy Simulator

Metal Gear Solid V - It relaxes me so I guess it more than counts.

 

[Zenja]

Currently it is Wasteland 2. (Although it is irritating me sometimes admittedly.)

However, usually it is city builders. Anno 1503, Banished, and Tropico are my current cycles. I also do enjoy Civ and am currently excited for Civ 6. Hopefully we see more at E3.

If I'm feeling carefree and chipper, then Roller Coaster Tycoon.

This one has been out of my rotation for a while. I may need to put it back in seeing you mention it. I always debate between playing RCT1 and RCT3 and can never decide. As well, I am excited about Planet Coaster awaiting its release.

 

[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.