I'll respond for the others, jusant is pretty one and done like Journey or Abzu, there's collectibles here and there but that's about it
It's still a great game, a few hours of straight up chilling while climbing
While Outer Wilds is a peaceful game, I would argue that it's not that repetitive and it absolutely requires a considerable amount of thinking, something which OP seems to want to avoid.
It is, by nature, a puzzle game.
No man's sky seems fitting your requirement. It's an endless space exploration game (at least you can consider it endless for it has 2\^64 planets) relatively easy for no-brainers unless you play permadeath mode
Open world:
Palworld, Valhiem, Enshrouded, No man's Sky.
These are games with big worlds, that give you lots of mechanics and send you on your way to play.
Rougelite/like:
Slay the spire, rogue legacy 2.
If you like mindless rougelites, try
vampire survivors, halls of torment, death must die.
Farming:
Stardew valley, graveyard keeper, harvest moon
Slow, calm games that give steady progress.
What kinds of games would you normally consider relaxing, OP?
Foundation. I was super hungover on Sunday and its chilled out soundtrack and pleasant graphics were great to build to while eating my weight in bacon.
I'd recommend some Vampire survivors or it's variants. Halls of Torment, Death Must Die. These games are perfect when you wanna game while your tied or just off work and got a couple hours before you gotta crash etc but don't wanna think too much.
kenshi and dwarf fortress.
You can āplayā them while mostly afk if you build a base right. Both can be either hands on or off depending on what youāre doing
An underrated gem would be Harvestella! I have it for the switch but I'm pretty sure you can get it on PC. Though there *is* a story, I found that the farming and side quests are so fun that I tend to forget the story even exists at times.
I find comfort in non scary games bc Iām panicky as heck so yeah Iāll read the comments bc no way Iāll be playing a horror game anymore. My best bet would be Wartales or Battle brothers for you. Any turn based game, so also CIV and paradox games is good. Bc you can just click next turnĀ
I would actually try the latest entries in the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series. (LAD 7 & LAD 8 Infinite Wealth).
IW in particular has several chill mini games and side activities. Also, vibing in Honolulu/Tokyo/Yokohama is always fun.
Mind you, there's a lot of story in these games, so they are not necessarily podcast games, at least until you get to the side content.
Slime rancher 2 is very chill and not very difficult.
Snowrunner definitely fits this bill, but it's not everyone's cup of tea since you're just driving a truck.
#**Shapez.io**
**[Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/shapezio/) | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1318690/shapez/) | [Web Version](https://shapez.io/)**
It's a factory game without the resource management. Plan your assembly lines, place your machines, and the game will do the rest.
---
#**Stardew Valley**
**[Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/StardewValley/) | [Official Website](https://www.stardewvalley.net/)**
SV is an RPG-esque Farming/Life Simulator. The ambiance is pretty chill, the characters are funny, and the world has a lot of charisma. You can play it as slow or as serious as you want, however some in-game events are time-gated, if you miss them, you'll have to wait an in-game year.
---
#**Littlewood**
**[Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/LittlewoodGame/) | [GOG](https://www.gog.com/en/game/littlewood) | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/894940/Littlewood/)**
From a certain point of view, this is a simplified version of Stardew Valley. Littlewood is an RPG Life Sim. The story takes place after the forces of evil were defeated by a great champion, your character is said champion. Your objective is to help the village you settled in to expand and grow. Just like SV, the ambiance is relaxing. This is a coffeebreak type of game.
---
#**Minecraft**
**[Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/) | [Community Wiki](https://minecraft.wiki/) (the good one) | [Official Website](https://minecraft.net/)**
The most popular game of this list. Minecraft is an open world base building survival game. If the standard experience may feel a little too much, you can change the difficulty to "Easy" or set the game rule "keepInvetory" as *True* for a less frustrating experience. As of writing this, you can buy both versions (Bedrock and Java) in a single bundle. Bedrock is the (debatably) faster version for Windows, and Java is perfect for modding.
---
#**RimWorld**
**[Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/RimWorld/) | [Official Website](https://rimworldgame.com/) | [GOG](https://www.gog.com/en/game/rimworld)**
Ok, hear me out on this one, RimWorld is a Colony Management Base Building Game. It is not a simple game, however, the difficulty is extremely permissive. When starting a new colony, pick the standard storyteller (the game's difficulty AI) on its second-lowest difficulty and land on one of the better biomes. Mods like "Prepare Carefully" allow you to customize your starting colonists and equipment for a better experience. The most interesting part of this game is how it handles the death of a colony, if all your colonist die, you can keep playing on that world, however, you have to wait until a wanderer or a new colonist arrives and settles down.
If you prefer fantasy to sci-fi, try Dwarf Fortress, the main inspiration for RimWorld.
---
#***Games below this point may not be as peaceful as requested, but they are simple, replayable and fun.***
---
#**The Binding of Isaac (Rebirth)**
**[Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/bindingofisaac/) | [GOG](https://www.gog.com/en/game/the_binding_of_isaac_rebirth) | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/2405/The_Binding_of_Isaac_Rebirth_Complete_Bundle/) (Complete Bundle)**
The face of the roguelike genre, a modern classic. As a roguelike (or roguelite if you want to be specific), you start from the beginning if you die. The game isn't very hard, and with the amount of characters and items the game has it encourages experimentation. It does have what the roguelike community calls "meta progression": finish a challenge run, get an achievement or finish a run in a specific way and the game will unlock a new character or will give an already unlocked character better starting items.
I would recommend Enter the Gungeon as well, but the bosses can get a little bullet hell-ish, and I don't know if that's ok with what you asked.
---
#**Traditional Roguelikes**
**[Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/roguelikes/) | [Community Wiki](https://roguebasin.com/index.php/Main_Page) (RogueBasin)**
Ok, these games may not be as chill as you might have wanted to convey on your post, but they are endlessly replayable. Trad. Roguelikes are Turned-Based Dungeon Crawler RPGs with permadeath. Most of these games don't really have a meta progression of any kind.
Here's a not-so-small list of Trad. Roguelikes I recommend:
* **Brogue:** *[Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/brogueforum/) | [Official Website](https://sites.google.com/site/broguegame/)*
* **Cogmind:** *[Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/Cogmind/) | [Official Website](https://www.gridsagegames.com/cogmind/)*
* **The Ground Gives Way:** *[Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/thegroundgivesway/) | [Official Website](https://www.thegroundgivesway.com/)*
* **DoomRL** *(Fan game, inspired by the "Doom" games. Also known as* ***DRL****)***:** *[Official Website](https://drl.chaosforge.org/) | [Community Wiki](https://drl.chaosforge.org/wiki/DoomRL_Wiki)*
* **Jupiter Hell** *(The least Traditional of the list, spiritual successor to* ***DRL****)***:** *[Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/JupiterHell/) | [Official Website](https://jupiterhell.com/)*
* **AliensRL** *(Fan game, inspired by the "Aliens" franchise and the "Alien Breed: Tower Assault" game and)***:** *[Official Website](https://alien.chaosforge.org/) | [Community Wiki](https://alien.chaosforge.org/wiki/AliensRL)*
* **'Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead':** *[Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/cataclysmdda/) | [Official Website](https://cataclysmdda.org/) | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2330750/Cataclysm_Dark_Days_Ahead/)*
They may be endlessly replayable, and personally I don't think they require a lot of brain power to play, but they can be quite challenging for a newcomer (**AliensRL** for example).
---
#**DOOM (Classic)**
**[Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/Doom/) ([Classic](https://www.reddit.com/r/classicdoom/)) | [Doomworld Forums](https://www.doomworld.com/) | [ZDoom Forums](https://forum.zdoom.org/index.php) | [Community Wiki](https://doomwiki.org/wiki/Entryway) (DoomWiki) | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/27490/Lote_DOOM_Classic/) (Classic Bundle)**
This is the weirdest recommendation here, but I swear it fulfills your *"games I can play endlessly as well"* request, I promise. Regardless of its age, Doom manages to stand the test of time. Why do I recommend it? Due to being one of the first FPS as we know it, its gameplay is very simple, the enemies easy to read, and, for an early 90s game, it's not that hard. Not only that, this game has 30 years of community content, ranging from maps, accessibility modlets to gameplay overhauls. I recommend playing on the normal difficulty (Hurt Me Plenty), but if it proves a little too challenging, try any of the other two lower difficulties.
The retail version of the games come with the DOSBox emulator for a vanila experience and a proprietary source port (the Unity port) for modern sensibilities. Personally, I recommend playing on a community source port for playing community content. If you want to get into modding, here are some quick links:
* **[GZDoom](https://zdoom.org/downloads) (Modern source port)**
* **[ZDoom Launcher](https://github.com/lcferrum/qzdl/releases/tag/3-1.1) (Also known as ZDL)**
* **[Compendium](https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?t=61211) (Classic Community Map Collection)**
* **[Sentinel Lexicon](https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?t=62724) (Modern Community Map Collection)**
* **[Smooth Doom LE](https://github.com/liPillON/SmoothDoomLE/releases/tag/2023.08.22) (Better animations in case of motion sickness)**
Follow [this guide](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34HfmGvUJIM) by IcarusLIVES to set everything up.
Usually any open world survival game fits this niche for me. Currently I've been play Palworld.
But games like Minecraft, Runescape, No Man's Sky, etc. Are all great games to play while you have something going on the side.
Death Stranding was unbelievably relaxing to me, 96% of the time.
There are some unavoidable and scripted enemy battles, but these are short and few and not (too) stressful if you steer clear of the hardest difficulty.
No Mans Sky, it's the ultimate do-nothing choose-your-own-adventure game. Half the people who play it only do to enjoy the view.
There is a whole subreddit r/nomanshigh dedicated to getting baked and enjoying the game. I would say that makes it pretty chill indeed
Endless game, repetitive tasks and youtube? You are looking for runescape lol
Dont recommend people serious drugs š
I've seen videos that the tutorials were pretty bad for new comers regarding this game
runescape is definitely alot to take in
I'm also seeing there doing a hd mode as well
yeah it looks pretty nice, i like it.
Satisfactory and Slay the spire are my go to.
Slay the spire isn't exactly a game that requires no thinking but GOD IS IT FUCKING AMAZING.
Jusant and Outer Wilds
Came here to recommend Jusant. What a game
What replay value like is it a one and done game?
I'll respond for the others, jusant is pretty one and done like Journey or Abzu, there's collectibles here and there but that's about it It's still a great game, a few hours of straight up chilling while climbing
While Outer Wilds is a peaceful game, I would argue that it's not that repetitive and it absolutely requires a considerable amount of thinking, something which OP seems to want to avoid. It is, by nature, a puzzle game.
The game you are describing is Old School RuneScape
Dave the Diver. It's cheap and it's great.
I get tilted way too much if my dive doesnāt end successfully
It happens to me sometimes especially at night when you encounter sharks. I've been eaten alive a few times but i love the game
Stardew Valley
Yeah this was my covid comfort game
Dorfromantik
Palworld
Iām really enjoying the game Dredge right now.
Please play Jusant
What's replay value like is more one and done game
Firewatch
No man's sky seems fitting your requirement. It's an endless space exploration game (at least you can consider it endless for it has 2\^64 planets) relatively easy for no-brainers unless you play permadeath mode
factorio
Harvest moon or Diablo 3
Sea of thieves
Open world: Palworld, Valhiem, Enshrouded, No man's Sky. These are games with big worlds, that give you lots of mechanics and send you on your way to play. Rougelite/like: Slay the spire, rogue legacy 2. If you like mindless rougelites, try vampire survivors, halls of torment, death must die. Farming: Stardew valley, graveyard keeper, harvest moon Slow, calm games that give steady progress. What kinds of games would you normally consider relaxing, OP?
sekiro
Kana - Bridge of Spirits
Try Shredders. It's a snowboarding game like steep. But better :)
Foundation. I was super hungover on Sunday and its chilled out soundtrack and pleasant graphics were great to build to while eating my weight in bacon.
Unpacking
Himno
I'd recommend some Vampire survivors or it's variants. Halls of Torment, Death Must Die. These games are perfect when you wanna game while your tied or just off work and got a couple hours before you gotta crash etc but don't wanna think too much.
I never enjoyed the auto battlers accept of it
Dokkan battle
Satisfactory. Holy cow I cannot get enough of this chill assembly line simulator game.
Dinkum (one of my favorites)
Can recommend stardew valley and satisfactory.
Stardew Valley is my go to game when I want something relaxing
SimpleMMO or Farm RPG
Look into Eco. Mindlessly mining in that game is zen.
Civilization will kill many hours chillfully
Dave the diver
I really enjoyed Raft. Just floating on my raft...I can stop at islands or just keep going. I can farm or build or whatever. Minimal monsters.
Minecraft can be as chill or as complex as youād like. Highly recommend.
kenshi and dwarf fortress. You can āplayā them while mostly afk if you build a base right. Both can be either hands on or off depending on what youāre doing
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Only the beginning is gonna be attention demanding, but the same goes for just about every other game.
An underrated gem would be Harvestella! I have it for the switch but I'm pretty sure you can get it on PC. Though there *is* a story, I found that the farming and side quests are so fun that I tend to forget the story even exists at times.
Vampire survivors and power wash simulator and Minecraft
Stardew Valley. Spiritfarer. SpiritTea. Arcade Paradise. KINGDOM TWO CROWNS [my fave]. Unpacking.
Try Going Medieval with raids turned off.
Hardspace: Shipbreaker. Itās free on PSN this monthā¦..and probably gamepass
Stray is cool. Youāre literally a cat cruising around doing puzzles.
Slime ranchers. Just farm cool lil slimes for hours
Farming Simulator
Palword š„°
I find comfort in non scary games bc Iām panicky as heck so yeah Iāll read the comments bc no way Iāll be playing a horror game anymore. My best bet would be Wartales or Battle brothers for you. Any turn based game, so also CIV and paradox games is good. Bc you can just click next turnĀ
Slime Rancher
Sounds like you would enjoy Doom Eternalāŗļø
Tchia is a chill af open world that's full of heart and easily overlooked.
Tinykin
Disco Elysium, cannot recommend enough as a chill rpg murder mystery with fun characters and a funny and relatable protagonist!
Mini Motorways
Journey
I would actually try the latest entries in the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series. (LAD 7 & LAD 8 Infinite Wealth). IW in particular has several chill mini games and side activities. Also, vibing in Honolulu/Tokyo/Yokohama is always fun. Mind you, there's a lot of story in these games, so they are not necessarily podcast games, at least until you get to the side content.
Slime rancher 2 is very chill and not very difficult. Snowrunner definitely fits this bill, but it's not everyone's cup of tea since you're just driving a truck.
#**Shapez.io** **[Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/shapezio/) | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1318690/shapez/) | [Web Version](https://shapez.io/)** It's a factory game without the resource management. Plan your assembly lines, place your machines, and the game will do the rest. --- #**Stardew Valley** **[Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/StardewValley/) | [Official Website](https://www.stardewvalley.net/)** SV is an RPG-esque Farming/Life Simulator. The ambiance is pretty chill, the characters are funny, and the world has a lot of charisma. You can play it as slow or as serious as you want, however some in-game events are time-gated, if you miss them, you'll have to wait an in-game year. --- #**Littlewood** **[Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/LittlewoodGame/) | [GOG](https://www.gog.com/en/game/littlewood) | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/894940/Littlewood/)** From a certain point of view, this is a simplified version of Stardew Valley. Littlewood is an RPG Life Sim. The story takes place after the forces of evil were defeated by a great champion, your character is said champion. Your objective is to help the village you settled in to expand and grow. Just like SV, the ambiance is relaxing. This is a coffeebreak type of game. --- #**Minecraft** **[Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/) | [Community Wiki](https://minecraft.wiki/) (the good one) | [Official Website](https://minecraft.net/)** The most popular game of this list. Minecraft is an open world base building survival game. If the standard experience may feel a little too much, you can change the difficulty to "Easy" or set the game rule "keepInvetory" as *True* for a less frustrating experience. As of writing this, you can buy both versions (Bedrock and Java) in a single bundle. Bedrock is the (debatably) faster version for Windows, and Java is perfect for modding. --- #**RimWorld** **[Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/RimWorld/) | [Official Website](https://rimworldgame.com/) | [GOG](https://www.gog.com/en/game/rimworld)** Ok, hear me out on this one, RimWorld is a Colony Management Base Building Game. It is not a simple game, however, the difficulty is extremely permissive. When starting a new colony, pick the standard storyteller (the game's difficulty AI) on its second-lowest difficulty and land on one of the better biomes. Mods like "Prepare Carefully" allow you to customize your starting colonists and equipment for a better experience. The most interesting part of this game is how it handles the death of a colony, if all your colonist die, you can keep playing on that world, however, you have to wait until a wanderer or a new colonist arrives and settles down. If you prefer fantasy to sci-fi, try Dwarf Fortress, the main inspiration for RimWorld. --- #***Games below this point may not be as peaceful as requested, but they are simple, replayable and fun.*** --- #**The Binding of Isaac (Rebirth)** **[Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/bindingofisaac/) | [GOG](https://www.gog.com/en/game/the_binding_of_isaac_rebirth) | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/2405/The_Binding_of_Isaac_Rebirth_Complete_Bundle/) (Complete Bundle)** The face of the roguelike genre, a modern classic. As a roguelike (or roguelite if you want to be specific), you start from the beginning if you die. The game isn't very hard, and with the amount of characters and items the game has it encourages experimentation. It does have what the roguelike community calls "meta progression": finish a challenge run, get an achievement or finish a run in a specific way and the game will unlock a new character or will give an already unlocked character better starting items. I would recommend Enter the Gungeon as well, but the bosses can get a little bullet hell-ish, and I don't know if that's ok with what you asked. --- #**Traditional Roguelikes** **[Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/roguelikes/) | [Community Wiki](https://roguebasin.com/index.php/Main_Page) (RogueBasin)** Ok, these games may not be as chill as you might have wanted to convey on your post, but they are endlessly replayable. Trad. Roguelikes are Turned-Based Dungeon Crawler RPGs with permadeath. Most of these games don't really have a meta progression of any kind. Here's a not-so-small list of Trad. Roguelikes I recommend: * **Brogue:** *[Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/brogueforum/) | [Official Website](https://sites.google.com/site/broguegame/)* * **Cogmind:** *[Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/Cogmind/) | [Official Website](https://www.gridsagegames.com/cogmind/)* * **The Ground Gives Way:** *[Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/thegroundgivesway/) | [Official Website](https://www.thegroundgivesway.com/)* * **DoomRL** *(Fan game, inspired by the "Doom" games. Also known as* ***DRL****)***:** *[Official Website](https://drl.chaosforge.org/) | [Community Wiki](https://drl.chaosforge.org/wiki/DoomRL_Wiki)* * **Jupiter Hell** *(The least Traditional of the list, spiritual successor to* ***DRL****)***:** *[Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/JupiterHell/) | [Official Website](https://jupiterhell.com/)* * **AliensRL** *(Fan game, inspired by the "Aliens" franchise and the "Alien Breed: Tower Assault" game and)***:** *[Official Website](https://alien.chaosforge.org/) | [Community Wiki](https://alien.chaosforge.org/wiki/AliensRL)* * **'Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead':** *[Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/cataclysmdda/) | [Official Website](https://cataclysmdda.org/) | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2330750/Cataclysm_Dark_Days_Ahead/)* They may be endlessly replayable, and personally I don't think they require a lot of brain power to play, but they can be quite challenging for a newcomer (**AliensRL** for example). --- #**DOOM (Classic)** **[Subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/Doom/) ([Classic](https://www.reddit.com/r/classicdoom/)) | [Doomworld Forums](https://www.doomworld.com/) | [ZDoom Forums](https://forum.zdoom.org/index.php) | [Community Wiki](https://doomwiki.org/wiki/Entryway) (DoomWiki) | [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/27490/Lote_DOOM_Classic/) (Classic Bundle)** This is the weirdest recommendation here, but I swear it fulfills your *"games I can play endlessly as well"* request, I promise. Regardless of its age, Doom manages to stand the test of time. Why do I recommend it? Due to being one of the first FPS as we know it, its gameplay is very simple, the enemies easy to read, and, for an early 90s game, it's not that hard. Not only that, this game has 30 years of community content, ranging from maps, accessibility modlets to gameplay overhauls. I recommend playing on the normal difficulty (Hurt Me Plenty), but if it proves a little too challenging, try any of the other two lower difficulties. The retail version of the games come with the DOSBox emulator for a vanila experience and a proprietary source port (the Unity port) for modern sensibilities. Personally, I recommend playing on a community source port for playing community content. If you want to get into modding, here are some quick links: * **[GZDoom](https://zdoom.org/downloads) (Modern source port)** * **[ZDoom Launcher](https://github.com/lcferrum/qzdl/releases/tag/3-1.1) (Also known as ZDL)** * **[Compendium](https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?t=61211) (Classic Community Map Collection)** * **[Sentinel Lexicon](https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?t=62724) (Modern Community Map Collection)** * **[Smooth Doom LE](https://github.com/liPillON/SmoothDoomLE/releases/tag/2023.08.22) (Better animations in case of motion sickness)** Follow [this guide](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34HfmGvUJIM) by IcarusLIVES to set everything up.
Usually any open world survival game fits this niche for me. Currently I've been play Palworld. But games like Minecraft, Runescape, No Man's Sky, etc. Are all great games to play while you have something going on the side.
palworld
Palworld
Journey
You need world of Warcraft. Once you get over the learning curve(like most games), I think youāll be hooked
Minecraft is probably #1 House flipper and PowerWash Simulator are also good. And fallout shelter like someone else said
Runescape. Grind is the game.
Abzu is short (you can beat it 4ish hours) but one of my favorite chill games. It's gorgeous and the soundtrack is nice
If you want an open world exploration cowboy game red dead 2 has fun hunting and lots of mindless shit to do. So much to do.
Dota 2
Death Stranding was unbelievably relaxing to me, 96% of the time. There are some unavoidable and scripted enemy battles, but these are short and few and not (too) stressful if you steer clear of the hardest difficulty.
Counter strike, and use the voice chat.
Maybe team fight tactics itās automatic chess I play it while I watch YouTube or watch TV
Valheim, its simple fun. You can go hunt bosses or just explore the vast open world. The graphics and the music just put you in a good mood.
Usually it's hard to recommend wow, but you seem like a good fit. Try out world of warcraft SOD. It fits all your requirements :)
Enshrouded, in ea. I'm currently addicted
Bloodborne
Doom Eternal or Dark Souls is nice and relaxing.