Mindless Game

Guys,

I need to relieve some stress...I have recently started having anxiety and some mild depression which I am seeing a dr about but am trying to also give my self time to relax and get lost in a video game...problem is I want a game that is kind of mindless so I can have netflix running on my tv and kind of go through the game. Any suggestions of such games?

@nickydubz: Platform(s)?

@nickydubz: Oh sorry I have everything but PC pref

Racing games have always been my go thing for fun turn off your brain action. Gran Turismo in single player is my personal favorite because the game is so stupid easy against the AI if you fix your car up. I often times will listen to a podcast while racing around. That said just about any racing game would do the trick.

However you mentioned having Netflix in the background so I assume you want something slower paced that you can turn away from at a moments notice. In that case maybe something like an RPG on the Vita or 3DS would be better. I honestly don't know to many other than Pokemon but Pokemon is pretty easy and stress free.

Do you have any genre in particular you are prefer?

@nickydubz: I think Goat Simulator or Don't Starve could serve that purpose. Maybe even Terraria. You could also try something turn based so tv isn't too distracting (Shadowrun Returns or Xcom), though that technically doesn't qualify as mindless I guess. Whatever you choose, I hope it helps. And never be afraid to lean on or talk to people. May the power of games help you overcome.

Jeff has recently been enamoured with Marvel Heroes which is pretty easy and is on Steam for the high price of free.

Diablo 3 as a Wizard or Demon Hunter is also pretty leisurely just holding down right mouse until everything dies (Arcane Torrent with Wiz and Rapid Fire with DH), then hitting other buttons when you feel like it.

LYNE.

Minecraft is the ultimate cruise control game.

Any Warriors game, Floating Point, Spider-Man Web of Shadows (just swing around and unwind). Play Skyrim with a timestop mod and be an archer. Of course combat is completely trivial at that point, but it's fun to enter a room, stop time, and line up a dozen arrows to hit each enemy at the same time while they're getting out of their seats to come attack you.

Shit, I'm totally gonna reinstall Skyrim now. Fuck.

As a person who had to do just this when I had a family member get super sick, I highly recommend Skyrim.

Or Forza or something. Forza is super tranquil for me.

Euro Truck Simulator, not even kidding.

Any decent ARPG like Diablo 3, Titan Quest, the first Van Helsing, etc.

Animal Crossing

I'm just going to throw out some names here: Proteus, Terraria, Starbound, Minecraft, Mount and Blade Warband, Dungeons of dredmor, Skryrim.

This would be my choice as well.

Minecraft is probably the last thing a guy who's going through depression and anxiety should be playing due to its hyper-addictive nature, unless our man here is good at moderating his intake. As a duder who has seen his fair share of depression and anxiety, I found the amount of time I spent on minecraft only ever ended up exacerbating the issues. It's too easy to totally lose yourself in a Minecraft binge and forget to take care of yourself in the real world. YMMV I guess!

Goat simulator perhaps? Or if you're not easily offended and are down with some seriously low brow humour, Postal 2 is great fun in a goat simulator kind of way. Skyrim is pretty brainless if you approach it in the right way. Just wandering around and seeing what happens can be the right blend of engaging and distracting. I second all the recommendations for Diablo 3.

I've been playing Dead Rising 3 for just that and I love it. There's also the Warriors series or Diablo III, like others have suggested.

The Secret World (just stay clear of the investigation missions) is an awesome MMO. By nature of it being an MMO, it is sort of mindless.

Kingdoms of Amalur also comes to mind. As does Skyrim actually.

Euro Truck Sim 2 is great for switching your brain off and it's a really relaxing game.

For something with a quicker pace Diablo 3 is great. You get big groups of creatures and you run in pressing buttons and things blow up.

@jesus_phish already mentioned Diablo III, which is a great choice. Beyond that, I've always liked pairing up MMOs with TV watching, so WoW or Wildstar might be up your alley.

I love trackmania to unwind (canyon's my jam at the moment). I'll often work through my rdio queue or listen to podcasts whilst playing. Also, the ui looks like geocities which makes me giggle.