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After starting work, I feel so tired every day, so I just want to play some casual games. Recently, I'm playing survivor-like games like Vampire Survivors and Darkchaser. They're simple and fun, but after a while, they get a bit boring. So, I'm looking for other casual game recommendations, preferably single-player games that can be paused at any time, like Plants vs Zombies. Thanks！
Stardew Valley is the embodiment of chill
This really depends on the type of person you are. I find with the time pressure each in-game day that every time I launch it I get caught up in a mess of wiki pages and spreadsheets figuring out the ideal crops to plant and when, what gifts people like and when to gift them, etcetera etcetera. It became stressful and I stopped playing it after finishing most of the main objectives.
You can play it, at your rythm,
Performance isnt mandatory,
You can learn the game before going "meta", discovering things by yourself, etc.
Do not compare yourself to others or directly going on a wiki, to start paying it..
Perfection is fun with time. Its a solo game, why you should run it for real ?
As long as you have enough monitors for all the spreadsheets and wiki pages you need to consult!
Dave the Diver. I had put down gaming because of tiredness and this game was such an unexpected joy of exploration and cute story for me. Easy to pick up and do a quick dive, decent progression based on a mix of skill and leveling up your character, and the writing was excellent. First game I 100% in forever and it was while playing it 30 minutes at a time.
How has noone mentioned Powerwash Simulator yet. There is no pressure (pun not intended), you just walk around dirty scenes and start cleaning them. The amount of satisfaction this produces is incredible. This is mostly because the dirt is actually fairly accurate and washing does not feel like brushing dirt of where the only options is 100% dirt or 0% dirt. All of the intermediates and the complex geometry of the objects makes cleaning a really chilling experience.
im not trying to be provocative
but have you ever considered actually cleaning things
you can get paid to do this
irl power washwers are fun
Same could be said for any game. The value mostly of a game is the controlled progression with little impact. If I go start power washing the driveway and then stop at a moments notice to go take a shower and head to work I'm gonna leave a giant mess laying around and a half done driveway.
Enter the Gungeon is another good bullet hell game. Slay the Spire if you like deck building. Both easy to pick up and stop.
Gungeon is not casual though, one of the hardest games I've played!
Jumping off Vampire Survivor I highly recommend Halls of Torment! Similar vibe, easier, very satisfying. The aesthetic is very similar to Diablo 1 but with vampire survivor gameplay. I'm in love with it
Stardew valley just the most super comfy game I’ve ever played.
Time Management: The Game
Probably the most valuable IRL skill you can learn in a game. Or you can just chill and fish for a whole year, no one's gonna judge you.
I asked a similar question quite a while back. What ended up feeling good for me from the recommendations was Oxygen Not Included surprisingly. I thought it would be too much but just trying to figure things out on my own was fun, and I found myself falling asleep to thoughts of plans for my colony. Surprisingly addictive and chill, maybe because I could pause and think anytime things started going wrong.
But I also gotta recommend Outer Wilds if you haven't played it already. Exploration, mystery solving in a chill solar system environment. Go in blind is the best advice for that game but I found it super chill and relaxing.
Halls of Torment and Brotato are both similar to Vampire Survivors, but better in my opinion. Great art styles and the weapon system in Brotato is really fun.
Casual-wise, story-based games are nice, like Frog Detective, Florence and the like.
I will always recommend Into The Breach to everyone. Perfect mechanics, easy to jump in and out of, satisfying aesthetics, balanced difficulty
Loved FTL, hated ITB.
I'm in the same boat. FTL is where it's at (for me).
Isn't that quite the hard game though?
Yeah. The Breach is fantastic. Ready to pick up and set down. Utterly fantastic tactical gameplay. Cool tech, interesting progression options.
All that said, it's not my go-to cozy game, because it's atmosphere is too well done.
They only thing about "The Breach" is that it's so dang well done that I can't take a turn not seriously. It regularly makes me make movie heroism level of decisions. Do I make the safe play, or try to save everyone? Am I willing to sacrifice my pilot for this win?
The vibe is fantastic, but decidedly not cozy.
I play Hardspace Shipbreaker when I want to relax.
You are a worker in a spacedock and dismantle ships with a cutting and grappling tool and divide the components into resource bins. It has a chill soundtrack and it's fun to float around with thrusters and figure out how to separate the different parts.
A great auto-battler released just this year named The Gnorp Apologue!
Your role is relatively passive, but a little time investment is required for progress.
Balatro. Can get it on your phone, Switch, Steam Deck. It's the poker-based rougelite. Sounds weird, but it works, and super easy to pick up for a hand or two and then back to work.
Available on PC, Steam (if you're willing to pay), and android (through F-droid, not sure about play store or any of the others):
Shattered Pixel Dungeon. Run though randomly generated dungeon floors. Every 5th floor, fight a boss. I suck at it, so I've only gotten past the 2nd boss once, but that's because I suck. Currently 5 different classes with a 6th in development (unless I'm wrong and it's already out), each playing differently for the most part. You've got a warrior, rogue, huntress, mage, and duelist, with all but warrior being locked until you do easy enough requirements to unlock them for subsequent runs.
Can pause, exit, and come back to a run whenever during a run.
Available on PC and android (both F-droid and play store);
SuperTuxKart. Cart racer with a lot of fan made content like maps and carts. Has varying difficulties, but the lower the difficulty the lower the max speed in a race, if that matters to anyone else besides me. Not exactly full-on single-player since there is the option of online play, either against friends or random players if you find an open lobby.
Can pause pretty much any time offline but backing out makes you have to restart a race from the beginning. Same thing applies to the multi-race cup things.
I think Burnout Paradise can be good for this, you can just start the game, drive around, have fun and leave whenever you want.
I'm going to give a possibly controversial opinion. But my favorite casual game to play is Rogue Legacy.
If you accept that you know you'll die a lot, it's a lot less stressful. Outside of that, it's extremely player friendly. It's not too complicated. There's progression. You have runs that end and give you a place to stop. You can turn it off anytime without needing to worry too much about losing progress. It has platforming.
I love Rogue Legacy as a casual game. In the early game, it's decidedly not cozy, due to missing mechanics and how common unwinnable rooms are.
Rogue Legacy 2 fixes these issues, and adds a ton of difficulty sliders, and can be tuned to be fantasticly cozy,
I kind of love the early game. If I see a particularly difficult room, usually it's a treasure room and you can back out or take the challenge. The two real objectives are get gold or kill a boss.
RL2 feels a lot bigger and more dependent on longer marathon runs and more strategic builds. For me it's still a lot of fun, but not nearly the same cozy feel. Plus there are other challenges that seem mandatory for progression. Having said that, I have not touched the difficulty sliders.
This is how I learned to like shadowbane and elden ring. Death is just a mechanic.
First thing's first: you're allowed to play on easy mode if you want. Took me too long to realize this.
Emulators let you save anywhere, so if you wanna play Crono Trigger or Donkey Kong Country, go for it!
Holocure is a free bullet heaven with lots of characters to unlock. Recommend boosting your coins first.
Terra Nil (it's like an anti Sim City) is only as stressful as you make it. Clean the planet and max out the flora and fauna, or just vibe. It even has an appreciation option once you've cleansed the area, zooming in to certain sections and letting you see the animals.
I am in a similar situation, I get home tired from work and don't have much time to myself, I can pick up my steam deck for half an hour or so but not long enough to get very involved with something. I've been playing doom 2016, you don't have to commit much time to it at once. I'm pretty shit at it though.
Factorio, it can be casual, but eventually it will steal your sleep
factorio is not casual. now that i have space age, I actually haven't played because i know ill be sucked in.
Peggle
peglin as well.
Pegging as well... Wait, what?
Try some cozy games, like Animal Crossing, or any of the dozens of other farming / crafting games. If you want 3D, Slime Rancher is a good option in this category.
Destide has already mentioned Stardew Valley, which is also a great choice.
You can also try some not-difficult side-scrolling game, like Rayman Legends, it has some difficult levels, but most of the game is very chill.
Dredge has been one of my favourites. Just be aware that the game starts harder than when it ends.
bloons td 6 and super auto pets (on mobile and PC)
also mindustry
One Finger Death Punch 2. You get two buttons & a solid upgrade path for endless kung fu.
Tetris :)
I am running Tetris for the PSP on my Steam Deck and I love it!
Noita - Action 2D platformer
Ale & Tale Tavern - survival food service
Satisfactory - Open world Factory builder (my current addiction)
IMO your selections are a weird fit for the term "chill" as they seem to be more action games but the above should have a similar "intense at times, with breaks" vibe i get from yours.
Snowrunner! Take everything at your own pace, drive around in some beautiful and horrible to drive in sceneries, get paid and upgrade and buy more trucks
Any City Building game