Gaming

Stardew Valley for sure. Sometimes Euro Truck Simulator 2 to chill.

For me it's Skyrim. If need a game to play just to be immersed, it's Skyrim

A Short Hike, definitely. I just wish it was longer.

West of Loathing. The RPG stuff is great and the comedy is great but really the main strength is I just enjoy reading its dialogue. The vocabulary and sentence construction have a real sincerity for the setting contrasted against the silliness of the rest of it that makes both parts hit harder.

Similarly, the first three Monkey Island games which achieve that same injection of the heartfelt into the wacky by way of their gorgeous art and music.

But as far as the joy of just doing something it's hard to beat the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games, to just be dropped into a level and be told "do cool stuff for a while".

Factorio without bitters. The music of desolance, alone on the planet trying to get efficient so you can leave and go home. I don't know why it is so relaxing, but it is... just having time to plan and build exactly what you had in mind is bliss.

On the other hand if you want some adrenaline, play bitters in deathworld.

Spiritfarer.

The soundtrack, art direction, color palette, and gameplay all come together in a relaxing loop. I have spent hours just drifting along spot to spot, taking care of the spirits in my care until their times came to depart, and still go back to it when I just want to have some time to relax.

As a warning, the game does deal with some emotional tones, so there's a bit of melancholy mixed in. My wife and I both had times where we teared up because it felt like saying goodbye to someone again. It's handled well, though. Really gives the feeling of everything being put to rest, and there's still everything they taught you right there as a reminder of the effect they had.

Rollercoaster tycoon and openTTD.

I haven’t seen anyone mention Mirror’s Edge yet! The free running (especially in the first game) is such a unique and rewarding experience. A little janky and frustrating sometimes but when it clicks it just feels so good

Citizen Sleeper had many moments that I just breathed in and smiled about. It is a beautiful game with beautiful stories in it

The Last Campfire feels like you're being read a bedtime story, in the best way. I haven't quite felt anything like it from gaming.

To top up the happy tank, I love playing

• Katamari games
• OpenRA (Red Alert)
• Wrestling games (Smackdown on PS1/2)
• OpenRCT (Rollercoaster Tycoon)
• Baldurs Gate 3
• Mass Effect
• Frog Detective 1, 2, 3
• Game Dev Tycoon

It depends what kind of happy I'm looking for.

Townscaper - this is my go-to for just kind of chilling out. Just plonking down buildings and seeing what configurations they make is just so relaxing. There's no points, no goals, no competition, not even any citizens with needs that must be fulfilled. You just build nice cities.

Slime Rancher - the slimes are cute, and just so happy to be alive. There's something about a bright pink slime bouncing past, with a massive smile on its face as it cries "wheeeee!" that reminds me there are indeed reasons to live.

Maneater - this is a different kind of happy. A cathartic, violent, murderous happiness, as I pop inflatable unicorns, sink yachts, and launch myself at unsuspecting golfers.

Minecraft. Make your own to do list and play at your own pace. I will beat the ender dragon one day but for now I work on my next automated farm lol.

This browser game/toy called Infinite Craft was doing that for me yesterday. It's very neat, you just take different words and combine them to create new things, and then use those to make more things, but its secret is that it uses a low level AI so that if you craft a combination that's never been crafted before it can accommodate that and attributes you as the first discoverer.

You start with the whole basic idea of combining elements like fire and water to make steam and such, but you can relatively quickly end up accidentally creating more complex things, and they dont even have to be objects, they can be named franchises or concepts like Star Wars or Creation.

Eventually I felt like a small kid ripping the limbs off action figures and seeing if the dinosaur head would fit on the Darth vader figure. I ended up first discovering some insane Eldritch shit like Barack Crabwich Vader-car, a part president, part crab, part sandwich, part sith lord cyborg, part car. Or Zombie Muppet Prince Kermie. Or the Jurassic Mecha-Deloreansaur.

It's free and is a ridiculously absurd hoot, I'd recommend it on a PC browser since you get a big space to drag out certain concepts you wanna keep and reuse.

• Persona 5 Royal
• Captain Toad Tracker
• Mario 3D World

I play a lot of boomer shooters, some of the more nostalgic ones give me that feeling.

But the cozy exploration, and childlike wonder of Sable are feelings I yearn for long after completing it. So far nothing else has scratched the itch.

Animal Crossing games for me! Just chilling and catching bugs or fishing or whatever is super relaxing. I also like that nothing feels rushed, you can move at your own pace, and make your town/island look however you want.

Someone else mentioned Skyrim and that’s another one for me. I have it on practically every platform and I drop back into it every so often.

Halls Of Torment. It's a simple game on the surface, but has some surprising depth I wasn't expecting that I like. Plus when you do a completely broken build and your frame rate drops because of all the damage your causing to the entire screen, it makes me laugh.

Plus killing the skeletons makes the most satisfying crunchy sound. Similar satisfaction to Vampire Survivors when you have enough garlic to "pop" enemies by walking into them.

If I want relaxation it's Disney Dreamlight Valley.

Probably Civilization V (with the difficulty set below maximum so you're not too restricted and don't have to play so sweaty). I like just seeing whatever the Planet Simulator map spits out, putz around with half my brain turned off, trying out niche civs and basically just playing it like solitaire.

I don't play it even every week anymore, but when I need some distraction and relaxation that's a comfort game go-to.

Dave the Dive was a blast. Definitely has that ocean community vibe of everyone supporting each other and contributing in their own unique way. Super laid back and just relaxing, even though there's plenty of things to do.

The first fantasy life is super cozy. Very excited for the sequel

Wandersong is a game about happiness that made me really happy while I was playing it. Not all the way through; there are parts that are sad too. But I'm thinking of replaying it because it made me feel really happy when I played it the first time.

Alba is a really sweet game with a photography mechanic. It's short and usually cheap and well worth the time you'll spend with it if it sends like something you'd like.

• Minecraft, sometimes.
• Garden of the Sea, when I first played it
• Walkabout mini golf
• Lumber Tycoon 2 on Roblox

Shattered Pixel Dungeon. rouge likes are tough as all fuck, but there's something about the level of detail in this game, and the way I get to build characters that I find very relaxing

Hi-Fi Rush

Pure joy and happiness from start to finish.

• Book of Hours. It's a strange game, set in the Secret Histories, the same setting that Cultist Simulator had. Unlike Cultist Simulator, which was rather gruesome, Book of Hours is a relaxed game, about cleaning out and restoring an abandoned library, reading the occult books left in it, and drinking tea with your guests.
• Potionomics. While it's primarily a puzzle game about brewing potions, it has a lot of heartwarming dialogue.
• Settlers 2 (the original DOS game, not the remake). The Settlers series was what brought up the term "Wuselfaktor" (No clue how to translate this. There is an English explanation of the term in this article.), and imho Settlers 2 is (by far) the best part of that series.
• Kerbal Space Program. I can't say why this game makes me happy, but it does. There's something strangely relaxing about drifting through space in free-fall, seeing the planetary surface pass by at high speed below.

Fallout: New Vegas, with mods, is one game I always return to. Same with Borderlands 2. They never get old, for me!

For general games with very happy and uplifting messages, Outer Wilds, In Stars and Time and Celeste are wonderful experiences.

Minecraft with friends

I love going back and replaying Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy on my PS2; awesome memories there. I really want to try out the OpenGOAL project

On the SNES: Star Fox and TMNT 4 turned in time.

On PC it's probably gonna be Space Quest 3 and Star Wars X-WING Alliance.

VIntage Story one of the coziest games around.

Toy Story 2 PSX

Super Mario 64

New Super Mario Bros DS

Mario Kart DS, 7, and 8 Deluxe

Subnautica and Raft are my go-to relaxed-fuzzy-happy games. Being able to do things at my own pace and just noodle around with whatever I feel like is nice.

Heat VR. Not even for the adult content; just staring into the character's eyes or mussing their hair is incredibly relaxing.

VRChat, too, but since those are all real people you can't just necessarily go around admiring them up close since it would disrupt their experience. Just as rude IRL, imo.

Slime rancher and Subnautica for sure.

I always say that the Mad Max video game is my comfort game, and it's very much true. For me there's just something so relaxing and enjoyable about just driving across the wasteland, going from site to site gathering scrap and taking down camps. It always puts me in a better mood.

@knokelmaat Not sure if it's a certain category, but here are some that really made me so:

• Stardew Valley
• Life is Strange (for now I only played the first series)
• Memoranda
• Tiny Echo

I'll edit the list when I remember more.

Forza Horizon 5 is my comfort game, but lately Rocket league is making me all extatic

I was playing Sanibi yesterday, my heart was warmed by the introduction with his daughter playing with the main character. Now I’m just crying all tears, but the game is amazing

I'm like that with OG Doom. Its half nostalgia and half it just being a fun game to play.