Your favorite "chill out" games

[ManutheBloodedge]

Final Fantasy XIII. I played through it twice just because the battle system was very relaxing for me. And combinded with the linear nature, which meant less effort for exploring, and the gorgeous enviroments I had fun, but in a low effort kind of way. Perfect to rewind after a hard day.

More generally, I like to start any RPG or games I can play slowly, do some menial tasks or grinding I don't need much mental capacity for, watch some videos on youtube on the side and relax. Dynasty Warrior clones fall into the same category now that I think about it.

That's just when I need to chill though. When I have more energy, I follow the main quest, stay invested in the story, do some hard boss fight or play something more fast and reflex-challenging.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Currently Stellaris and Earthbound.

Stellaris I take extremely slowly, I'm perhaps paused more often than I'm not. Earthbound is simply so...low-key. It has this childlike wonder feel to it, makes it very relaxed even though it can get quite freaky. That whole Happy-Happy cult, yikes.

 

[Ryallen]

Stardew Valley and Rebel Galaxy.

Stardew Valley for obvious reasons. It's a farming sim. What's not to be chill about?

Rebel Galaxy is slightly different. Yeah, there's combat. But it's surprisingly chill a lot of the time. You don't move very fast and you basically aim one way or the other. With the turret, you mostly just chill out and aim. Not to mention that I like the space cowboy aesthetic that it tries and fails to have with its soundtrack, which is really good regardless. Now if only playing the game made me feel like Spike Speigel, I would have no real complaints.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

The most casul third person shooter I can get my hands on.

 

[FPLOON]

Currently, it's between Splatoon and Star Fox Zero... The formal's "Turf War" mode keeps me from losing any skill I have for that particular game in the most casual way possible and the latter's replayable sections (even before you beat the game) helps "gradually" improve my observational skills like when I played The World Ends With You... There's a bit of Steam in this lineup, however it's more geared towards the insomnia-based afterhours filled with either horror-esque elements or it's fucking Peggle again...

Other than that, before, it used to be the games I had on my PS3 (like Rayman, Child of Eden, and God of War) alongside The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, Burnout Dominator, and Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix... I really should get back to playing some of those games again...

 

[Dalisclock]

Sunless Sea, weirdly enough. Something about taking long boat voyages with the prospect of discovering something new and not having to worry too much about getting jumped every five minutes.

Kerbal Space Program has also done this for me as well, since 90% of the game is drifting until you're ready to do something, like change your orbit/trajectory or some kind of docking. Also, neither has a proper ending.

On break from both right now, because I've become slightly addicted to Dark Souls.

 

[Chanticoblues]

Mostly logic games. I love Minesweeper and all the different grid-based puzzle games on Conceptis (minesweeper/picross variants). I also like playing shmups and seeing how far I can get on one credit. I'm not very good at them, but I find it gratifying and relaxing.

I really like listening to a podcast while doing this.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Let see-
Animal Cossing
Tomodachi Life
The fishing minigame from LoZ:OoT

 

[MythicMatt]

I usually do my chillin' with a weekly dose of 100% Orange Juice. The community is fantastic, if you can get more talkative ones in your lobby. Plus, it's just a cool game to sit down with for a morning and oops, is it dark already?

To a lesser degree of chill, Forza Motorsport. Nothing like weaving between backmarkers in 50 laps of the Daytona Oval at over 200 in a Ferrari F40 with a ridiculous anime design on it.

 

[DeliveryGodNoah_v1legacy]

Not sure if anyone else will get it, but, Guitar Hero, or at least it used to be until one day I ran out of batteries for the guitar and never replaced them.

Everytime a new game in the series came out, I'd buy it and play through all the songs. Shortly after I'd literally play the game to zone out. I became so proficient at the game that it's literally nothing to me, I just feel the music and how I'm interacting with it. It's a bit like zoning out to music normally, except you feel the rhythm.

Don't misunderstand, I'm not the greatest player of the game or anything, but since Guitar Hero 2 I've always played the game on Expert and rarely get anything less than a 95% regardless of song.

Other than that, the classic, Tetris. Something about carefully placing blocks to fit snuggly with other blocks makes my brain feel nice, and I feel relaxed and happy. At least briefly.

 

[EscapeGoat_v1legacy]

Might not be a terrible popular choice here but for me it's Fifa or Pro Evolution Soccer. Those kind of sports games are just so easy for me to relax and unwind with, just boot up a career mode and play a few games of an evening and I'm good. Either that I just mess about in RPGs I've beaten, like Skyrim or Fallout or I do replays of stuff like Knights of the Old Republic.

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

Rolling a new alt in WoW, or Pokemon. These are endlessly relaxing scenarios for me since I can do them while also watching TV since it's basically autopilot.

 

[BrawlMan]

Streets of Rage 2, Final Fight, Transformers Devastation, Time Crisis 2 & 3, Rayman Legends (the easier or more relaxing levels), and Dynasty Warriors 8 or Hyrule Warriors.

 

[Gamerpalooza]

Mainly Rhythm games
Katamari
DJ Max portable
Pump it up
Stepmania

to name a few

 

[beyondbrainmatter]

Giga Wing
Dodonpachi
ESPGaluda

Street Fighter Alpha 3
Last Blade 2
King of Fighters 2002
Ultra Street Fighter 4

Jagged Alliance 2 1.13
ROTK XI

 

[happyninja42]

Driving around the countryside in first person in GTA V is one of my favorite ways to decompress. The scale, design, and smoothness of the driving is just so on point. The more rickety the vehicle, the better the experience for some reason.

Spoiler

Trine 2 is the other game I let my hair down with. Pure and total beauty every which way. My play style is much more sedate than what's in the video. I like to soak in as much of the music, sounds, and visual beauty as I can.

Spoiler

IMO GTA has always been most entertaining when I'm out doing random things, just seeing what else Rockstar tucked away in its vast, detailed spaces.

I need to get back to Trine 2 sometime soon. It has that feel that makes the rest of the world melt away and brings out the kid in me again. The Puppeteer was another one like that.

I've also been meaning to try Soundshapes. It seems like one of those rainy day games that could make me wonder where the afternoon went.

 

[MrCalavera_v1legacy]

Nowadays it's probably just Hearthstone.

Used to be:
Mirror's Edge
TBoI
Paradox strategies
some GTA
MGR Revengeance aside some boss battles and those damn VR missions.

 

[The Eupho Guy_v1legacy]

Really, anything that doesn't require too much thought to bash through turns into a chill out game for me. My all time favourite game for this is Soul Nomad & The World Eaters (Room inspections for days!), but Tales of Xillia 1 & 2, Star Ocean 4 and whichever Disgaea game I'm interested in at the time (5 at the moment) have also filled that role.