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！
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.
Yeah. I would probably start with Dave the Diver, in their case.
It’s so good. Decently chill. Great vibe throughout. The Boss fights each have a simple gimmick to win, and they don’t try to be clever about it. (Nothing pisses me off like “we changed the pattern of interaction five to turn a narrow victory win into a loss”. Game designers need to cut that out.) Thankfully Dave the Diver has the classic two patterns per battle, and aims for predictable fun. And the Boss fights are rare, anyway.
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 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.
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.
I started this game but got bored a couple hours in and I can’t really explain why. In theory it felt like a game I should really like but maybe something about the pacing? Do you think it takes a while to get really good and maybe I should try putting more time in or is the way it is at the start pretty much the same the whole way through?
This is really hard to answer, because I think it highly depends what kind of player you are.
I don’t play optimally. Yes, it’s fun to haul yourself around with the grappler at breakneck speeds and stop just in time not to get squished, but I’m not that good at it. I also don’t limit myself to the most valuable parts and move on to another ship, but collect the last metal frame. I would make more money in less time, but don’t like the idea.
Overall the game stays the same with a few mechanics that get added (explosive charges and something that screws with your salvage and has to be solved first). The system in the ships get more complicated and you need to solve several steps before you can “solve” a problem.
Yeah, that’s how I like to play in general as well, yet… I guess maybe the core gameplay just isn’t for me. I might give it another go and see how it is after getting more upgrades though. Thanks for the response!
it gets more complex and fiddly, and your upgrades make you faster and more nimble, but the fundamentals are the same through to the end. did you get to the bigger reactors and cutting coolant lines? because if so you’ve seen more than half of the game and it’s fair to say it didn’t grab you.
also a thought; did you play with or without the time limit? because i feel like the timer helped me stay motivated.
I don’t think I had the timer, I don’t actually remember there being a choice for one. I think I’ll give it another go until I get a few more upgrades, in retrospect I might not have gotten very far at all, I have no recollection of coolant lines. Thanks!
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 ?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
so, uh… it really couldnt be said of any game at all… the idea that the game makes it better than real power washing because you can stop at any time with out leaving a half finished driveway is cracking me up dude i love it
Instead of playing games, go outside, touch grass, undergo the series of organ implantations that are required to become a Space Marine. The only thing holding you back is yourself.
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.
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
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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.
Sounds chill.
It’s the perfect combo of cozy but not zero challenge - this would be my pick in op’s shoes
Yeah. I would probably start with Dave the Diver, in their case.
It’s so good. Decently chill. Great vibe throughout. The Boss fights each have a simple gimmick to win, and they don’t try to be clever about it. (Nothing pisses me off like “we changed the pattern of interaction five to turn a narrow victory win into a loss”. Game designers need to cut that out.) Thankfully Dave the Diver has the classic two patterns per battle, and aims for predictable fun. And the Boss fights are rare, anyway.
UFO 50
If you enjoyed arcade or NES style games
UFO50
Casual
NO
Stardew valley just the most super comfy game I’ve ever played.
I tried liking this game but its just not my taste.
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.
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!
Balatro in addition to Slay the Spire, gaming crack (and game of the year).
Hard as shit and also my favorite musical artist ever
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.
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.
I started this game but got bored a couple hours in and I can’t really explain why. In theory it felt like a game I should really like but maybe something about the pacing? Do you think it takes a while to get really good and maybe I should try putting more time in or is the way it is at the start pretty much the same the whole way through?
This is really hard to answer, because I think it highly depends what kind of player you are.
I don’t play optimally. Yes, it’s fun to haul yourself around with the grappler at breakneck speeds and stop just in time not to get squished, but I’m not that good at it. I also don’t limit myself to the most valuable parts and move on to another ship, but collect the last metal frame. I would make more money in less time, but don’t like the idea.
Overall the game stays the same with a few mechanics that get added (explosive charges and something that screws with your salvage and has to be solved first). The system in the ships get more complicated and you need to solve several steps before you can “solve” a problem.
Yeah, that’s how I like to play in general as well, yet… I guess maybe the core gameplay just isn’t for me. I might give it another go and see how it is after getting more upgrades though. Thanks for the response!
it gets more complex and fiddly, and your upgrades make you faster and more nimble, but the fundamentals are the same through to the end. did you get to the bigger reactors and cutting coolant lines? because if so you’ve seen more than half of the game and it’s fair to say it didn’t grab you.
also a thought; did you play with or without the time limit? because i feel like the timer helped me stay motivated.
I don’t think I had the timer, I don’t actually remember there being a choice for one. I think I’ll give it another go until I get a few more upgrades, in retrospect I might not have gotten very far at all, I have no recollection of coolant lines. Thanks!
i think you don’t get the timer in free play mode. try doing the story on normal difficulty and see if that hooks you :)
This one is such a gem.
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 realize you don’t have to eat and the time constraints aren’t as tough as it first seems.
As long as you have enough monitors for all the spreadsheets and wiki pages you need to consult!
Seconded
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.
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.
I used to love this game but later I found myself optimising little things too much and my PC couldn’t keep up with a well grown colony
Yeah, for me I always end up starting a new colony after getting to rockets. It’s my brain that can’t keep up with the colony past that point
Yeah mid game the cpu load gets bad. Some tips.
Cleaning up debris into piles to simplify physics calculations.
Removing gasses you don’t need that are floating around the map.
Walling off sections of the map with only one door to simplify path planning.
Killing off or consolidating the wild creatures.
Setting dups (like cooks) that don’t need to leave your base to not be able to leave.
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.
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.
My only complain about Balatro and being available in multiple media is that (AFAIK) the progress doesn’t sync, does it?
If I were to buy it I’d get it for mobile.
I don’t think it does. A lot of memes when the phone version came out of people who have already mastered the game sitting through the tutorial.
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.
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.
I will also add both of the House Flipper games!
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
Yeah I can see that, but currently that’s not a viable line in my career to take
ah well then laddie you just tell me when youre ready to man the old washer
theres always work down the shipyard for ye
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.
so, uh… it really couldnt be said of any game at all… the idea that the game makes it better than real power washing because you can stop at any time with out leaving a half finished driveway is cracking me up dude i love it
No. No, it really couldn’t.
Instead of playing games, go outside, touch grass, undergo the series of organ implantations that are required to become a Space Marine. The only thing holding you back is yourself.
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.
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