Nowadays I find a lot of games feel like too much work and/or anxiety when I just want to relax for like, 30 minutes to an hour after a long day. On the other hand, the games specifically designed to help you unwind just feel boring imo.
In the past I’ve felt like Outer Wilds scratched this itch, cause the whole experience was engaging but generally relaxed. There was a mystery that kept me hooked and the exploration and movement was fun in and of itself. I also felt like Subnautica filled this role since it was very much at my own pace, with anxiety producing portions which could for the most part be avoided or minimized, and also there was a clear objective to fulfill, get off the planet.
So what games do you play when you just wanna relax?
I hear a lot about this one and it does interest me, but whenever I look at the Steam page I just don’t end up feeling it. What is it about the game that keeps you personally coming back to it?
On this kind of games, I have a preference to Factorio (and the game is released, not in beta). They propose a free demo. So you can rest and see if you have the good feeling. It is definitely not a game for everyone, but it is one of my favourite.
It’s all about how you play in my experience. If you want to get a basic factory up and go slug hunting, super chill. If you want to sink your spreadsheet teeth into optimizing every resource available and build a non-spaghettified factory, plenty of room to go hard core.
Also the graphics are fantastic for all the massive machinery