Castlevania Symphony of the Night is my go to. It has a pretty good pacing, with enough new things being thrown at you. Also since it's Igavania, there's a joy of finding new weapons / equipments, that's kinda lacking in pure metroidvania.

As you grow older, your eyesight worsens, and sore joints are becoming a common occurrence. So, I prefer it to newer waves of souls-like metroidvanias that require too much dexterity or precision platforming.

Half life 2 + Episodes One and Two, Portal, Civ 5. All fantastic games, completely unmonetized (except for the upfront price of course) and each with impeccable storylines (receipt Civ of course).

I just hope Valve make another game like HL2 or Portal sometime in the future. I'll buy it without second thought.

Tropico 6, Cities Skylines, or any city builder. Planet Zoo once I get a less potato PC (CS too). I'll load up a sandbox map and build. And if I need to get up for any reason, I can hit pause.

Minecraft

For me it's Ridge Racer Type 4 for the PS1. I think what comforts me is that soundtrack (listen to it everyone), but also it's the nostalgia kicking in for me

• Quest 64
• The Last Guardian
• Cookie Clicker
• Mario's Picross
• Nanashi no Game
• Silent Hill
• LSD Dream Emulator
• Diablo
• The Hubris Game house demo made for Ben Drowned
• The Father: Reboot

Used to be Test Drive: Unlimited, then the second one. After that, I moved to The Crew 1 and later 2. A big open world and car/motorcycle to ride around is unmatched when it come to just kicking back and relaxing in a game.

For me it's Stardew Valley, Hollow Knight and Rollercoaster 1. Just building up my farm and getting to know every NPC in stardew is fun and I haven't played a game that let me feel progress and level ups as much as this game. Hollow knight is just so chill, the music is awesome and even though the setting seems depressing it spark so much hope for me with every new NPC. And Rollercoaster is just the dream of a child building an amusement park.

One that I can think of is Journey. Another one that is pretty nice to play is Rime. There's a mobile game called sky or something as well that's pretty pretty to play as well.

Civilization 4. Incredible quotes, amazing sound track, deep mechanics

Transport Tycoon, using OpenTTD. If you've never played it you can download OpenTTD and use their graphics, sounds, and music replacement sets to play it for free. However as I own the base game I like to keep the original music as it helps to drive the nostalgia.

I love Doom, and I've been playing it since I first got hold of the shareware episode, but when I really need a comfort game it's almost always Transport Tycoon.

Spore. I love making little creatures. Gameplay is simple but it's still fun!

I always find myself coming back to Monster Hunter every time I wanna chill and relax.

Surprised to be the first one to name it: Europa Universalis 4. Nothing better than to paint the map listening to either the EU4 soundtracks or your playlists.

I simply cannot get over simcity 2000. forever in my heart

Cozy endless games like Minecraft, Stardew Valley, or Sims 4, where I can just get lost in the gameplay and don't have to stress out over objectives or missions.

A Short Hike might be my favorite peacefull one. Or death stranding on a lower difficulty.

Kerbal Space Program and Rain World

Skyrim, fire emblem(anything 3DS and up, I haven't played the older games) and Warframe ❤️ these games always make me happy and comfort me if needed

I recently heard that a Skyrim was a comfy game and I'm one to agree. Now I haven't picked up the game in months, but I know I can go back and pick it up again knowing that I'll be able to get lost in the world of the Dragonborn.

Another one for me is Stardew Valley, and I've also started to play Veloren bit which could also go up there as a cozy game.

For me, for some strange reason, any resource management/city building game really soothes me. There is something about making thing ‘balanced’ and ‘streamlined’ that really puts my mind at ease and can distract me from just about anything.

For me it's the original Wild Arms on PS1. The translation makes the game a bit of a slog to play through. But, the soundtrack alone puts me into a happy place.

A sad story, made lighter by the friends found along the way.

Cities Skylines tends to be the game I return to when I just need to chill for a bit. I'll come up with some silly idea for a city, fire up a map I haven't built on yet, and see what I can make work. There's no endgame, no goals aside from what I feel like doing, just a sandbox and some toys to play with.

Mirrors edge is a series I always go back to. Really easy to fire up catalyst or the original and just focus on running really fast while I have an audiobook or some music on in the background. There is so many speedrunning techniques for each game that there is an endless depth to explore.

Probably FTL. The game and the soundtrack are enthralling. I completely lose track of time playing it. But in a good way.

Edit: also Stardew Valley is my newest obsession.

I like to throw on a Dynasty Warriors game and just mindlessly start cutting down swathes of enemies.

RDR2 Ik it's a little intense at times, but between missions its relaxing to just ride your horse around, craft/cook, and enjoy the beautiful scenery

If I'm just relaxing, probably Arma 3. It's editor is like playing with toys for adults. I love making missions or armies that aren't balanced or made for other people. I do this little mini-game with myself where I build up an army starting with only pistols and a few guys. Then as you beat more competent opponents, like maybe it starts put with poorly equipped pirates and looters and goes up to fighting the United States or PLA, you get more and more equipment and fight on progressivly larger maps. It's very fun, and feels like being a child again. Plus, maybe it has a bit of Metal Gear Peacewalker inspiration.

A Plumber of All Seasons Super Mario World romhack is super fun and beautiful game. One guy spent years to make it, it is a work of love.

Easily Path of Exile. There's something so relaxing about blowing up the entire screen with one flick of my wrist, and it really gets my endorphins flowing to minmax my stats using third party tools like Path of Building and testing out items on the trade site / changes to my skill tree to see how they'd affect my build.

To some people it sounds like work, but for me it hits that sweet spot of minmaxing and complexity that no other game really can.

Edit: I should also mention that lately I've been mostly playing on Steam Deck which has been a revelation for me. Endgame "alch and go" mapping is so perfect for the pick up and play style, only enhanced by having access to it from the couch/toilet.

Slime Rancher 2 is my more recent go-to. Failing that, Super Mario World or Yoshi's Island will always do it for me

Slay the Spire and the digital version of Ascension, solo play. I guess I like deckbulders. Ascension especially is so comforting for me, chill gameplay, no time pressure and I can put it down anytime and resume later on. Or not and just start a new one instead.

Or Isaac if I am in the mood for some action. plop plop plop plop.