With gaming often bringing me into a really depressive headspace sometimes with how the markets are developing, whats a game you can always go to and just be lost in, or just be happy with?
Personally i would go for advance wars 1 and 2 on the gba (there is no remake and never will be)
the artstyle, the music, the game-play is just simple, yet effective, a sublime experience of very fun times.
Whats yours?
I haven’t seen anyone mentioning this gem:
Vampire Survivors
For me, it’s always Ocarina of Time. The music always improves my mood and there is something oddly comforting about the game.
Morrowind and Mario Maker 2.
MH Rise (Lance for tank mode) - fighting Melvor - idling Disney Dreamlight Valley - collecting Hardspace Shipbreaker - dismantling
I can always go for a game of Age of Empires 2. That game takes me back to my childhood.
Minecraft. It’s just a nice game to get lost in.
Stardew Valley is amazing for this. Minecraft was it for years and years, but Stardew is just like a nice hug. I adore it.
Hogwarts Legacy has also fallen into this category for me now.
Anyone of my simulation/management games. Whether it’s running a hospital, creating an auto manufacturing assembly line or helping some brave adventurers find oxygen I’m always more at peace with a single player goal driven experience.
Try not to have an overly rosy retrospection about this. There were plenty of crappy, cash-grabby games in decades past. We just don’t remember them because they were crappy, cash-grabby, and not worth remembering. They hadn’t invented microtransactions yet, but that’s just one more flavor of crappiness.
The last couple of years my comfort games has been Ori and the blind forest and Ori and the will of the wisp.
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).
No Man’s Sky is a good mix of nice scenery, low stress, and engaging without requiring a lot of mental capacity that can be comforting.
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.
Chrono Trigger. Always feels like being home with old friends. A joy every time I playthrough
I could (and have) spent hours in Valhiem just noodling around surviving as a Viking
