Nowadays I find a lot of games feel like too much work and/or anxiety when I just want to relax for like, 30 minutes to an hour after a long day. On the other hand, the games specifically designed to help you unwind just feel boring imo.
In the past I’ve felt like Outer Wilds scratched this itch, cause the whole experience was engaging but generally relaxed. There was a mystery that kept me hooked and the exploration and movement was fun in and of itself. I also felt like Subnautica filled this role since it was very much at my own pace, with anxiety producing portions which could for the most part be avoided or minimized, and also there was a clear objective to fulfill, get off the planet.
So what games do you play when you just wanna relax?
Genshin impact on PC is a masterpiece. The colors on my 4k monitor are just out of this world. I don’t even do hard missions, I just go around the wild collect foods and stuff. So relaxing.
What would you define as a hard mission?
They could be low level. I certainly remember when a Ruin Guard was a big scary monster that could kill my whole party.
And later when I was playing pretty seriously I still stayed out of Abyss Floor 12 because it wasn’t worth the effort (literally - I never got enough stars to get a reward from it even when I technically defeated it)
There are challenges where you have like 45 seconds to defeat a bunch of creatures to just open a chest. I hate those
Man, those “into the frey” fights where you have 45 seconds to defeat 69474783748 creatures are so stressful. Also, those big ass monsters are very hard to beat. That’s stressful. That’s why I just go around the wild to collect foods and stuff. Lol
And even more casual than that is their latest game, Honkai: Star Rail. The combat is turn based, so you can just look away and come back later as you wish and don’t need gamer reflexes at all*
I love it.
(* There’s one minor exception - an Ultimate move can be launched after your turn, but before the enemy’s turn or between two enemies’ turns, which does require some speed. It’s not usually important though.)
They have another game? Damn, I’ll need to check it out. Thanks for bringing it up.