Video games are great for fulfilling fantasies of power or taking you on adventures that you could never have in real life. But sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming. When you need to relax after a stressful day and are more in the mood for a meditative experience than a cathartic action, there are still plenty of games available. You can turn the dial down when you're excited, although they're a bit harder to find. In no particular order, here are our 10 favorite games to play to relax.
Stardew Valley
Perhaps the best place to start this list is the game that most people associate with stress-free gambling. Stardew Valley builds on the legacy of farming simulators like Harvest Moon to deliver an experience that involves slowing down, organizing your life, and spending time with friends. You can choose to spend all of your time making your farm as efficient as possible or turning it into a work of art. If the crops get old, you can head to the beach and spend the day fishing or walking around looking for buried treasure.
There's a bit of combat, but it's pretty low-key, and some might just have the in-game clock being too much. Fortunately, if you find something in Stardew Valley that isn't right for you, there's more than likely a mod to change it.
Donut County
Donut County is as hard to describe as it is to describe. You play like a raccoon with a smartphone app that creates holes to gobble up anything nearby. It grows bigger as it devours more things like an inverted Katamari Damacy.
There are challenges to overcome, but most of them are pretty straightforward: you have to think of smart solutions rather than putting your skills to the test. Donut County doesn't push or punish you for doing something wrong. Instead, it lets you enjoy the experience, which is made even better by its charming art style and chill soundtrack.
Untitled Goose Game
While Untitled Goose Game is all about causing chaos, it can still be a relaxing experience. You play as a rampaging goose in a small village with a list of ways to annoy and throw its inhabitants off balance, from trapping them in garages to stealing whole dishes in the pub. Part of what makes it relaxing is that there is no way to fail. The worst thing that can happen to your goose is that it is temporarily hunted and you can reset the whole world at any time without losing any progress.
If you are tired of ruining people's day, you can also just hang out floating in the water or listening to the radio (fly). And finally, destroying an entire village is sometimes a great way to let off steam.
Gray
Some of the more popular platformer games of recent years have been hyper-difficult games like Super Meat Boy, but Gray is confidently heading in the exact opposite direction. Rather than racking up the death toll with high pressure challenges, Gray allows players to take their time to progress through his levels. And that's a good thing, because the game is packed with jaw-dropping art and beautiful music.
Gris takes players on an emotional journey that can be intense at times, but one that aims to overcome difficult times rather than dwell on them. Its puzzles and platforming challenges are just enough to keep you engaged without ever getting frustrating or slowing down.
Elegie for a dead world
If you'd rather chill out writing a story than experience someone else's, Elegie for a Dead World is for you. In Elegy for a Dead World, you play as an astronaut exploring a collection of alien planets not to conquer or colonize them, but to write about them. The game gives you a series of handwriting messages and beautiful background paints for inspiration, then pulls you aside and lets you write. When you're done, you can share what you've written with other players and browse the stories others have created. If you don't count the fear of sharing your work with strangers, you have no enemies or obstacles to overcome. A great way to kickstart your creativity.
Euro Truck Simulator 2
Driving miles and miles behind the wheel of a huge truck might not be everyone's idea of a stress-free afternoon, but for some, nothing better. How do you explain the gigantic success of Euro Truck Simulator 2? Released in 2012, the game still has an impressive number of fans lining up to pay for an experience which, in real life, is very demanding work. In Euro Truck Simulator you customize a large platform and use it to transport goods through dozens of realistically reconstructed European cities. It is more or less that.
Besides the thrill of watching its scenic landscapes scroll by, there is something about focusing on a particular task. You drive incredible distances, making Euro Truck Simulator 2 eerily relaxing.
Wilmot warehouse
Another paradoxically relaxing job based on a stressful job, Wilmot's Warehouse puts you in the role of a warehouse worker. You sort and organize hundreds of products, then pick them up on order when customers arrive to pick them up. Wilmot's Warehouse doesn't give you a lot of rules. Instead, it's up to the player to decide how to organize the plethora of products in their warehouse. If you are aiming for the highest score it can get pretty hectic. But the satisfaction of finding the right logical order for all of your products, or making a plan based on your distinctive sorting method, can be a rewarding experience for some.
Eliza
Visual novels as a whole tend to be more relaxing in that they are all about telling a story rather than testing your skills. Eliza is a prime example of this often overlooked genre, which appeals to even visual novel novices due to its sleek looks and excellent soundtrack. Of course, this is all secondary to its story, which is as compelling, surprising and engaging as any game.
Eliza tells the story of a woman named Evelyn, who works as a “proxy,” serving as the human face of a new application designed to automate processing and collect user data. It's not the kind of game you can play to turn your brain off. But if your idea of relaxing gets lost in a great story, it's worth considering.
The yawhg
Another visual novel, The Yawhg. This one is lighter on the account and heavier on decision making than Eliza. You can play it with four players controlling different characters for collaborative storytelling. The yawhg tells the story of a group of people living the final weeks before the apocalypse in a medieval fantasy city and how their choices affect them in the meantime.
If that sounds a bit too dark, rest assured Yawhg is an entertaining game with a great sense of humor and excellent artwork from comic artist Emily Carroll.
Eastshade
A unique take on an open world game, Eastshade sets you free in a fantasy world, as a painter in search of a subject. As you walk around the island, you are not looking for treasure or enemies to kill, but landscapes to capture on canvas.
Eastshade does not require any artistic talent; the paintings that your character makes appear automatically. Instead, it focuses on the pleasure of finding the perfect landscape and the joy of enjoying an environment with the sole objective of appreciating its beauty. Along the way, you can form friendships with the islanders and take on light quests. But none of this is complicated enough to disturb your calm.
