Games that make you feel good!

I talking about games with positive atmosphere, games they while playing it just lighten your mood and make you feel better.

For me recently it's Forza Horizon 2, I remember the first time i put in the game and the intro played i had goosebumps and a big smile on my face. Probably my favorite intro to a game since ME2 which was on the complete opposite spectrum of emotion. I'm not the biggest car guy, i appreciate good looking cars that about it, so the fact that I enjoy this game so much is a bit of an anomaly. I do love EDM and have some fond memories of trips to Italy and France so maybe that's why i love the world of Horizon 2 so much. Not sure why but i decided to put the game in today again and damn this game is perfect for me.

That just make you feel great while and after playing? I'm not talking about cute games like Kirby, Viva Pinata etc, I'm talking about games out there that feel were made specifically for you?

Burnout Paradise is one of the best games I've ever played. There's nothing better than turning it on and just driving.

Burnout Paradise and GTA V are both games I love driving in. It's just relaxing to drive around the scenic vistas.

Spelunky is a game that I play just for fun now. I've done almost everything there is to do in the game, so I just play it casually now. If I die, I don't get frustrated like I used to since I'm not really trying to accomplish any goals. Occasionally I will try to get the achievement for collecting no gold on a run, but I'm not spending hours every day trying to get it.

Minecraft, yeah it's super hyped and most of the community are barely double digits in age but I like architecture so putting effort and time in feels rewarding when I get back something I genuinely like. Oh yeah and I better add Kirby to the list XD

If you are talking driving games, Driveclub had it's moments though they were few and far between, The Crew had a bit of a feel good feeling too when you just put on a seriously good album and hit the open road but like Driveclub had so many issues that the fun didn't last too long.

Not exactly something I can go back to and replay a lot but the only game in the last few years that gave me a "this was made just for me" feeling was Fez. All the stuff that happened around that game was really unfortunate and depressing but I'm glad it came out at least, especially on PC so I can go back to it years from now if I ever feel like it.

Katamari Damacy, man. Just the soundtrack is enough to cheer me up. I love that game. I don't even have a PS2, though. Now I wish I did...

Child of Eden, something I played through again a month ago. But I think the whole point of that game is to make you feel like you're on ecstasy.

PS1 era RPGs always make me happy. Especially games like Grandia, Star Ocean 2nd Story, and Suikoden 2. Also Metal Gear Solid 1, 2, and 3 playthroughs do the trick. So basically anything that makes me feel 14 again.

In terms of immediate pleasure games, I'm not sure it gets much better than Pac-man Championship edition DX.

SNES games I played as a kid. Especially Super Metroid, Lufia 2 and Secret of Mana.

Kirby, any of them. The art, the music, the dancing, it's all so happy and I absolutely adore them.

Any Clover/Platinum game puts a smile on my face pretty much instantly.

bit.trip Runner 2 is really up lifting. love playing it. pac-man championship dx of course. that shit gets me high.

I really don't know why but my number one fell good game is Doki Doki Universe. I guess I just like the message and all the hugging and shit that's going on in that game constantly.

Aside from that Chrono Trigger, because it's just perfect.

This, and similarly, the Skate series. Any game you can just hang out in is a cool time.
Earthbound similarly makes me feel good because the world is so weird and well-realized.

I always get a lift from indulging my nostalgia and playing 90s PC games.

As for games that just exude happiness for me, LittleBigPlanet comes to mind. Those games are so charming that I could shit Sackboys for days. (less charming are the rows and rows of unpurchased DLC costumes in the Popit, but hey)

And although I've never actually played it, I find it impossible to feel sad while watching footage of Kirby's Epic Yarn. I've never wanted to straight up hug a game before.

As for non-cute games, I love a good physics sandbox. GTA V is a great recent one where I can just play with the physics for hours and feel great doing so.

EDIT: Oh! And Hydro/Arctic Thunder in arcades always made me literally feel good thanks to the fans mounted in the cabinets. :P

@sessh: i adored doki doki universe for an hour. the dialogue, the music, the sound effects, the psychological tests, everything was so warmhearted but playing a game so mechanically shallow for another 7 hours made me despise it. that and the game would literally full lock every session.

Games like Skyrim and MineCraft make me fool good. Sometimes I enjoy just chilling out and wandering around a video game world. I'm hoping No Man's Sky will be similar in that regard.

Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

After those lost runs you must be a masochist.

:P It's certainly a love/hate relationship. Mainly love.

Yeah Rebirth is my main game right now, but those Lost runs combined with a really annoying glitch that keeps happening makes it a love-hate relationship for me. But it's definitely my most played game of 2014, so that's something.

Pretty much anything Mario can put me in a good mood. Skyrim, Fallout, Fable II, and Forza 4 certainly dounless I'm overbinging on them.

Anything in the 'arcade games on ecstasy' category; geometry wars, resogun, pac man ce dx. Any game that involves bouncing on things heads.

Fable Anniversary, 2 and 3, for their humour and magical world built.

Uncharted 1, 2 and 3 for it makes me experience the Indiana Jones fantasy.

Also Alan Wake, Alan Wake: American Nightmare, and The Last of Us, for the incredible world built and the solid characters and voice (mostly!) performances.

They are my go to games.

Euro Truck Simulator 2, with some cargo-mods and a map mod installed. There is nothing like cruising somewhere in Africa, with a 18 ton heavy tank right behind you listening to french hip hop or norwegian talk-radio. Awh yeah, #thatfeeling.

Barely eking out a tough win in Dota. Finding a jetpack in Spelunky.

But I'd be hard-pressed to find moment that gets me as instantly pumped as Luftrausers does when That Part of the music hits. You know what I mean.

Civilian flight simulators like X-Plane and Microsoft Flight Simulator (I own just about every game in the series from 4 to X), Frontier: Elite II (having a similar feeling with Elite: Dangerous when it's not down for maintenance) and Descent.

I never get tired of these views:

Most recently for me, it was Bayonetta 2. I just loved it.

Games like Animal Crossing always put me in a good mood. Either fishing, digging up fossils, or checking out the stores always make me feel good.

Suplexing in RE4 feels pretty damn good... Parrying in Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike takes the cake though.

Dungeon Keeper 2. It's like a soft pillow.

SMW2: Yoshi's Island

Super Mario 3, Super Mario World, Mario 64, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Super Mario 3d Land, Super Mario 3d World, Captain Toad Treasure Tracker.

Just pure unadultered bliss in video game form, they are all fantastic, very few things out there can even compare.

Minecraft, Forza Horizon, Horizon 2, Need for Speed Most Wanted (2005), Kirby Epic Yarn, Need for Speed Underground 2 (some of the best handling in a racing game), and nowadays it's Destiny.

Although Destiny needs your undivided attention if you're doing a raid or a nightfall strike. Every other PvE battle in that game, however, is now relaxing to me.

Minecraft, Civ V, CoD 4, Viva Pinata, and Earthbound seem to do the trick.

If playing Minecraft, Chrono Trigger, Persona 4, or Skyrim doesn't cheer me up, then something is seriously wrong and I am in need of a hug.

Surprised to see so many people say Forza Horizon in here. I have the first one and I really enjoy it, but I don't leave my 360 plugged in all that often these days so I don't play it too much. I imagine it might also fit into the above list if I did leave my 360 plugged up. There's something about driving around in a beautiful open-world racing game that feels good to play that's just extremely relaxing. GTA V can have the same effect on me.

EDIT: I'm surprised to see Forza Horizon because I never get the feeling that these boards have a lot of racing game fans. But hey, I don't have a problem with being wrong in this case.

I'll second Forza Horizon 2. It's incredibly pleasant to fire that game up. It's a bit of a sensory overload in the best possible way. The Turn 10 logo comes up and you hear a car zoom past. And you think, "Oh snap; it's about to be race time, bitches." Then you hear some soft piano music as the fancy Lamborghini Huracan comes on the screen. "Ooh, pretty graphics." You hit start, and the load screen cycles through some more pretty pictures while listing some of your accomplishments/bests. "I jumped that far?" Then your car comes on screen; that one you spent a few hours painting the livery on to make it yours. It looks fucking sweet, and you hop in. You change the radio to Levante FM, and then you just take it for a drive wherever the hell you feel like it.

Works every time.

The first three Spyro games are definitely up there for me. The soundtracks are generally either super relaxing or super upbeat, and the environments have a certain feel to them that make you feel satisfied with being there no matter what you're doing. I always escape to one of those three games when I'm wanting to play a game that has some depth to it but also allows you to relax and chill out in a unique world.

Lovely Planet all the way. The music and aesthetic do wonders.

Also, winning games of Hearthstone makes me feel smart, and that's always a good feeling.

JSRF: Jet Set Radio Future

Kerbal Space Program for me. I like when you get out of the atmosphere of Kerbin, just floating in space, and the music kicks in. It is really serene.