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Chill games to play (for after work and stuff)

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Benzychenz

Member
I need some recommendations for some nice relaxing games because I came home from a long day of work and couldn't be bothered going into my current Dark Souls 2 playthrough so wasted 5 hours on GAF and Youtube instead.

Stuff I've played that is what I'm thinking about: Hohokum, Flower, all kinds of adventure and visual novel games (played Danganronpa, Zero Escape, Hatoful Boyfriend, will be doing Ace Attorney, Steins;Gate and Life is Strange soon).
Even just lighthearted turn based RPGs would be cool.
 
Drop 7 Hard Mode
Proteus
Machinarium
Puzzle Agent
Dyad
Puzzle Quest
Audiosurf
Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes
Kentucky Route Zero
Banner Saga
Pixel Junk Eden
 
My 'Chill Game' for a while has been Steam Bandits Outpost OP.

Game is cross-play on PC & Mobile. I should mention that the game is still in active development i.e. Early Access if that sort of thing bothers you.

It really is a super relaxing/casual RPG + Town building game.
 
Hearthstone is a good chill-out game for me, it's perfect for just playing a few matches every night. As is minecraft if your into it.
 
Crashlands is amazing, i love building a base and crafting stuff for it while winding down after work.

Animal Crossing & Cities Skylines also works.
 
Animal Crossing is my go to game when I want to chill out. I could fish, catch bugs and do villager requests all afternoon when I'm tired. Especially with that night time music :)
 
I am playing Soma right now, as I can't put in the hours into Bloodborne after work. While it is a horror game, it is nicely paced and a good game.
 
Even though it's combat isn't turn-based, for me Dark Cloud 2 (Dark Chronicle) is now that game. Besides the (relatively slowly paced) combat, there's just so much optional stuff to do at your own pace: taking pictures, inventing, crafting, fishing, golf. Plus, the music in towns and the atmosphere in most of the game is very relaxing. The story is not complex at all, but still quite good and lighthearted.
 
If you are a WiiU owner (guessing from your avatar) then try zen art of balance and pushmo - those are my go to chillout games.
 
Picross. Any Picross. Pokémon Picross is great, but you should just buy it as a $30 eShop game and not as a F2P game. The Picross e series is also amazing.

And Box Boy!

Box Boy! is incredible.
 
I play rocket league and it stresses me out a lot so I'm playing through Grim Fandango to chill. Using a guide as I just want to enjoy it for the story. Worth a shot if you have PS Plus as its free this month!
 
Talos Priciple has really hit the mark for me when I want to chill. I find as I get older I can't be arsed playing games that require a lot from you after work, so I get where you're coming from OP.
 
KaoteK said:
Talos Priciple has really hit the mark for me when I want to chill. I find as I get older I can't be arsed playing games that require a lot from you after work, so I get where you're coming from OP.
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Gotta second this, also the music in The Talos Principle is super relaxing.
 
I feel like I don't give these story focused games enough attention if I'm exhausted, so my chill game is honestly Bloodborne, or Dark Souls. I know them by heart now, and there's not really that much challenge after you've played for more than 200 hours, so I spend a lot of time looking at the architecture, reading item descriptions again, doing some random questlines, using different weapons. It's very relaxing.

If I really don't feel like playing Souls, though, then I'll probably be just watching something on Netflix or Crunchyroll. I can pay attention if I'm not in control, even if I wouldn't if it was a story-focused game, for whatever reason. Might be the genre, too, not enough chill games, perhaps. I used to really look forward to mondays when Non Non Biyori was airing. All my worries just vanish after the 20 minutes healing session. You should try it.
 
KaoteK said:
Talos Priciple has really hit the mark for me when I want to chill. I find as I get older I can't be arsed playing games that require a lot from you after work, so I get where you're coming from OP.
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Man I 100% disagree with this, trying to figure out some of the puzzles in that game takes so much of my mental energy.
 
I once played Civilization V to relax after a stressful day, and I lost 7 hours to it.

It was pretty fun! I haven't played it since, though. Not much time to invest. But I found it relaxing.

Cities: Skylines is a good one, too. And Animal Crossing!!!

When I was younger I used to play The Sims. The original one, with all the expansions. So much fun.
 
from the looks of the OP and review thread, The Witness might fit the bill?

My personal favorite right now is Velocity 2X. If you like awesome level design and really good music you should check it out.
 
Civ V is great for this, but hooks me too much - I end up playing for longer than I intended.

Sleight of Jam said:
Grow Home! Such a relaxing fun game to play and chill to. It's one of my personal best gaming experiences to date.
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Grow Home was trendous - surprise hit of 2015.
 
Another vote for Animal Crossing.

Lately, Binding of Isaac or Rogue Legacy has been my go to. Death is expected so it isn't tense, and you never know what you're going to get.
 
At the minute for me it's Diablo 3: ROS in adventure mode.

You can just switch off and do some rifts and bounties without really having to concentrate too much. That plus the screen filling with enemies and then all getting annihilated is just amazingly therapeutic.

Rasko said:
Diablo 3 always does it for me, there's just something super relaxing about the gameplay and atmosphere.
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Bingo!

h3ro said:
diablo 3
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Dude!
 
Dawn of War for me, I like to turtle shell until I get to full strength and unleash my overpowered army upon the map.
 
I always found the deBlob games relaxing. All those colours and porn jazz music.

Like the others have mentioned, try Diablo 3 in adventure mode and just keep your finger on the A / X button.
 
Outside of VNs/adventure games, the easy to play open world games are neat too

I like walking around in skyrim, and driving around punching thugs in Mad max is great too
 
TTP_DLC_Screenshot_1.jpg
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Talos Principle has been great to come back to after work. Doing a couple of puzzles with a cup of coffee has a calming effect. The backdrop of the seemingly pristine environment and serene background music has a lot to do with it too.

It is a puzzle game though and I got stuck on a puzzle many times but put it down and returned to it the next day after work to solve it within 5 minutes, which always felt rewarding. The story is quite philosophical too and makes you think about the nature of the self and what makes us human but if you're not interested in that sort of thing, you don't have to engage with it as the story beats are mostly told through optional computer terminals that you interact with.

Regardless, hope you find a game with a chilled out atmosphere be it Talos Principle or another game.
 
Thanks for all the replies, The Witness and Talos Principle seem like nice choices. They're both $55 on PSN here though and I can't spend that much on a digital game @____@
Though Talos has a physical copy it seems so maybe I'll check that out.

Anteater said:
Outside of VNs/adventure games, the easy to play open world games are neat too

I like walking around in skyrim, and driving around punching thugs in Mad max is great too
Click to expand...

I think the fact I just put over 150 hours into Xenoblade X is why I'm having a hard time adjusting to Dark Souls 2 :p

Flying around exploring after work was so good.
 
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