It's not clear to me that I could ever listen to podcasts while playing most of my library, but I'll do my best to list some with which I might try:

• Euro Truck Simulator 2 (and, by corollary, American Truck Simulator). If you can listen to podcasts in your car, this is basically a similar experience :)
• Super Hexagon. This is not a game about making conscious decisions, it's too fast for that. You'd have to turn off the music, and determine whether you can retain stuff you're listening to at the same time.
• Race The Sun. This is somewhere in the middle of the above two.
• Solace Crafting. This is a relatively bare-bones sandbox RPG with harvesting, crafting, and building elements, that doesn't require all that much decision making, and can be played at any pace.
• Minecraft (the Java edition). You've probably heard of it! I recommend the Java edition due to the rich modding ecosystem; you can usually find a flavor of content that suits any purpose.
• Cities: Skylines (and, by corollary, SimCity 4). These are both world-class genre-defining city builders, which can be played at your own pace, don't require a whole lot of active involvement, and pair well with background listening of your choice.

Many roguelites could fall into this category, and are generally cheap to boot (i.e. vampire survivors).

Vampire Survivors.

I’ve actually gotten back into Guild Wars 2 for the first time since its release over a decade ago, and I’m really enjoying all the new content they added. It SEEMS complicated with all the MMO-style currencies but you can honestly ignore most of them and go at your own pace because there’s so much to do but none of it is required to have fun. It’s even more casual if I’m using a low intensity character build, aka just left click in combat to win

Powerwash Simulator is perfect for this.

Stardew Valley is a really chill and fun game. You can talk to the towns people but don't have to and the dialogue is all very short if you do.

Stardew valley is pretty good

If you stick to the lower, less intense hazard difficulty levels, I find Deep Rock Galactic to be an excellent game to chill to. Can’t go wrong with badass Space Dwarven miners on a hostile alien planet. I only play with randoms via co-op, and it’s been nothing but a pleasant experience each time.

Try Dorfromantik. It's a hexagonal puzzle game where you build a map using different tiles and connecting like with like. Very relaxing, doesn't require sounds or full attention.

https://classic-mahjong.com/ is free, entirely browser based, has no ads or other nonsense, and has the pleasant waterfall cascading effect when you clear all the tiles.

My father really likes Mini Motorways. You could try something like that

He's a big fan of sim cities and zoo tychoon and stuff too

If you're into simulation games I highly recommend American Truck Simulator.

It requires little to no thought. Pick a truck, find a job, and hit the road. Perfect for zoning out to some music or a podcast.

I use Shattered Pixel Dungeon for this. Nice and simple open source game without any bullshit. It's a roguelike.

Power wash simulator will be your best friend. No spoken dialogue, no important cutscenes, just you and a power wash gun. The only thing you'll miss out on listening to podcasts is the admittedly very soothing sound of PSSSSHHHHHHHHHH from the washer itself.

The answer to your question is Factorio

FTL is fun and hard.

Also mindustry

Mine is currently Civilization 6 and I don’t think I have anything else that could possibly fit; I occasionally have to step back and decide what to do next as it still is a strategy game, but since turns can take awhile (especially in late game since the AIs have to take their turns), having something else to pass the time helps. The dialogue is pretty inconsequential, and turning the game’s sound off won’t really change anything. I usually have music/podcasts going while I play.

Skyrim. You CAN pay attention to what's going on but you don't have to, just look at the pretty landscapes while listening to your podcast and follow the questmarkers.

Monster train is my go to right now. If you like the deck building genre such as Slay the Spire etc. You can put as much brain in as you want and it's still pretty fun.

I have a Steam collection just for that purpose, called "zone-out games":

• Factorio
• Euro Truck Simulator
• Viscera Cleanup Detail
• Satisfactory
• Space Engineers
• Hardspace Shipbreaker
• Rift Breaker
• Monster Train
• Jupiter Hell
• Vampire Survivors
• Dorf Romantik
• DOOM (any)
• Nethack

Some advice I want to give is that "games that require a lot of skill" is only a temporary blocker. If you enjoy a hard game enough to play through it repeatedly, it can become a podcast game. Many people play Bloodborne or Binding of Isaac to audiobooks, and roguelikes are generally like this.

That in mind, I have a list of games that are valid podcast games but I haven't built enough familiarity with them yet:

• FTL
• Binding of Isaac
• Terraria
• Risk of Rain
• Against the Storm

Someone already mentionned Dorfromantik. I'm doubling this. I also have a recommandation. It's not exactly what you asked for. But maybe give Superflight a shot. It's been one of my go to "I'm listenning to something but needs something to keep busy" game for me for years now.

EDIT: *Oh no! Someone already mentionned this game as well! Oh well. Doubling that too. *

Minecraft creative mode can be very relaxing but time consuming, it takes a while to build a big project but looks awesome when completed, you can go for a small hobbit home too and give in some detail, it takes your mind off of things sometimes, especially when doing the math to even builds out.

Dorfromantik is a very chill puzzle game that runs great on Steam Deck if that’s your thing, a favourite of mine while the TV is going in the background.

If you’re into factory games I 1000% recommend Shapez, which is a shape-building game that doesn’t have the notion of grinding or currency or running out of resources. It’s immensely satisfying when you get the perfect mechanism together and you’re churning out shapes. Definitely one for mouse and keyboard though.

Vampire Survivors. Run in circles killing enemies until you die. Buy upgrades. Repeat.

vampire survivors

Oldschool Runescape. The perfect game for watching something on the side. Just get into a rhythm and grind away

The first game that popped into mind for this title was Dave the Diver. It is a lovely game where you fish in the morning, then serve up the fish at the sushi restaurant you work for in the evenings. I recommend you check out a video on it! It's technically early access, but the full game is set to release on the 28th.

Loop Hero might be one to check out. The game has an auto-battle mechanic, and you basically just manage the map and the base.

Also in the truck driving bucket - Snowrunner. The focus is on off road trucking, mud and snow physics, with a winch that you can use to unstick yourself.

Not exactly an easy game, but Don't Starve has quite a lot of downtime that makes it great for listening to podcasts.

Hades has been pretty fun

Turmoil:

It's a 2d game where you drill for oil, then have some light logistics management to do to load it in to barrels on horse waggons and then sell it. It's a lot of fun.