Gaming

Chrono Trigger. Always feels like being home with old friends. A joy every time I playthrough

Project Zomboid for me. It's kind of strange since the game can be super stressful at times, but once you get past the initial stage of the game and have a good base setup, you can spend a lot of time just surviving. Farming, reading books you've found, cooking things, it can be a very relaxing and meditative experience.

Outside of that, I guess a more typical response would be just about any JRPG, particularly the Final Fantasy series. Some of my most comforting memories are just me getting back from work, sitting back in my chair and slowly playing through Final Fantasy X or XII.

I could (and have) spent hours in Valhiem just noodling around surviving as a Viking

For me that would be Stellaris - after so many hours, playing it just feels natural and it is a very relaxing exercise!

It has been a while, but there was a time when, if I was feeling really anxious and almost panicky, a quick playthrough of Enter the Gungeon would chill me right out.

Valheim is very chill and fun. Good playing solo, and good playing with friends casually.

Gravity Rush 2 for me. I have save I've kept for years now to fly around and explore the city. I already have done everything, but it's still so fun and relaxing to find new landmarks or walk through the different districts. Feels like the kind of game world I'd love to live in (assuming a gravity girl didn't pull me into her orbit and launch me into space)

Unraveled (Unraveled 2 is great for 2 players, too), and Hue. Then there's always Slayaway Camp. All good on Steam Deck as well.

But those are for the times when I'm not addicted to RL.

3.5k hours in EU4 and counting. Removing Kebap never gets old.

Final Fantasy 15 in the beginning for the bro-adtrip and RDR2

I've got my fair share of games, kinda depends on the mood though. What I'm feeling, too. Sad, anger. Ect.

But to name a few, Doom 2 /Duke Nukem 3d, any of the driver games (except driv3r), Wwf No Mercy/WCW no revenge or any of the aki wrestling games or the mods for no mercy, The Long Dark, streets of rage 2.

I‘m on PlayStation and enjoyed games like Knack, Diablo 3, Spider-Man and Ratchet & Clank in those cases, because they keep me busy at all times. All of them are loud and tiring though. Other games like Assassins Creed, Ghost of Tsushima and Red Dead Redemption 2 are calmer, but they give my mind time to wander and think about stuff. Sometimes this suits me better, sometimes that.

Everquest, Rimworld and Final Fantasy Tactics.

Harvest Moon 64. Impossible to have negative feelings while playing it.

For me it’s definitely Pokémon. When I was a kid I used to spend so much time just going through a million sapphire playthroughs. Even now if I’m having a bad day I’ll boot it up and play it a little.

Also special shoutout to factorio and stardew valley. It’s so easy to just lose all sense of time with those games lol

Persona 4 or 5. Love them.

TES Oblivion and Sonic Adventure 2. SA2 was a childhood favorite I got very good at, and the extra mission, game modes, and pet sim aspects makes it fairly re-playable without having to start a new game file. Oblivion is just whacky and fun, and if you know how to exploit mechanics you can get up to some pretty crazy stuff in a matter a minutes after starting the game. While grinding skills could be seen as... Well a grind, it's a grind I personally enjoy. Both games let me dive straight into what I'm feeling like doing, and reward mastery (even if one of them is cheese mastery).

For me my comfort games are either Satisfactory or Forgotten Hope 2 (WW2 mod for Battlefield 2 which is still maintained)

Warframe is a nice one, at least once you're past the initial learning curve. I'm at the point where I can just zone out and play casually, no need to farm much of anything. There's so much content, so many weapons and frames to unlock, that once you're in the endgame you can really just jump around and passively collect stuff. Plus making your character look cool is something I enjoy doing in games, I can just spend an hour messing with loadouts like that.

Old arcade are always fun too. And Kirby's Pinball Land on my GBC. There's definitely a charm to a lot of them, lots of unique choices being made before things got a little more standardized within each genre.

Animal Crossing was surprisingly relaxing for that kind of task oriented approach and the conversations with islanders are chill and entertaining.