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.

Every now and then I play Endless Space 2, and I find it pretty comforting. Great music, ambience, etc.

Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, and puzzle games like Myst, Riven, or The Witness. I love these escape-type games.

I get the headspace thing. It's been really hard for me to devote my mental energy and time to playing games recently. I've picked up the new Zelda game and have barely touched it.

Oddly enough I go through phases where I just level up a character on WoW. It's mindless for me and I can just zone out and watch TV while playing.

Not so much any one game, as a genre: action adventure games. Games like Tomb Raider, God of War, stuff like that. I love playing through a really immersive, well-told story.

Through the years the one game I keep going back to when I just need a place to lose time

Elder Scrolls Online

Man I wish I had better tastes

It's very short, but if you need a small (big) dosage of weirdness - try The Good Time Garden. It's an experience that I like to go back to from time to time, always gets some chuckles out of me!

Black Ops Zombies games.... at least until I found out every game has very well known hacks that allow for remote code execution of your PC. Yikes! Not touching those games anymore sadly

Streets of Rogue.. I don't know what it is about that game, but I always find myself picking back up and getting lost in all the different ways you can play. I can't wait for the sequel, definitely, the game I am anticipating the most.

It's a browser game, not a video game per se, but Flight Rising. I play it when I need to do something with my hands or distract myself.

Haven't put any time into it for a little while, but TF2 (the one with the hats) has always been my go-to.

Ori and the Blind Forest

I found gaming exacerbated my feelings of loneliness after many years of gaming daily. I also found the FOMO nature of a lot of games I was playing really took the enjoyment out of gaming.

Took a break in April (To watch lots of Star Trek) and only recently have had a few urges.

Hunt: Showdown may get picked up again and there are a couple of games coming that could be fun but we shall see.

Bloons td 6

Believe it or not, Warcraft 2. There are three scenarios I like to play through. They are pretty mindless, have varying degrees of challenge, and are very low stress.

Valheim and Stardew Valley. Both make me forget time exists.

Microsoft Flight Simulator. Flying Cessna around my town.

Portal (and 2). Replayed them so many times.

Lately, mine has been Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour on the GameCube.

For me it's the binding of isaac, I'm not sure that it woukd work for everyone, but the game is just so large that it never gets old. 1500hrs, 100% the game and I still find myself diving into it after a stressful day.

Knytt Underground

You play as a little Sprite with two fairy companions. You're left to explore 1000 rooms of a sprawling underground labyrinth, discovering all sorts of secrets that humanity left behind.

Probably World of Warcraft for. Feels like pulling on a pair of worn comfortable jeans when you haven't touched it in ages.

Every few months, I will do a randomizer run of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. I've played it so much that it's like taking a relaxing walk through a familiar neighborhood. It also has a great soundtrack.

A great deal of SNES games do this for me. Super Mario RPG, Mega Man X, Donkey Kong Country 1 and 2, Chrono Trigger, even the Mario All-Star games to a point. It's all likely because it's such a great system and developers really hit their stride with what they could do with 16-bit gaming on that console.

I have several comfort games to put my mind at ease sometimes.

At least once a year it is Skyrim with mods to improve the scenery.

But I love playing the Atelier series too. Crafting and optimizing stuff in these games is great.

And then there are puzzle games like Baba is You where I often just close the game and think about solving the problems for a long time. Helps to keep your mind occupied.

Just cruising around some cars listening to the radio in Forza Horizon. Fishing in Shadowprey Village in World of Warcraft. Improving flow of traffic in City Skylines or Transport Fever 2.

Im barely on Reddit anyway but when I do replys always feel like they take ages

So this is a pleasent surprise already here on the lemmyverse