Games that give you comfort

I was just wondering what are some of your favorite games that can always lighten your day up and just make you zone out for a while if you're having a stressful or depressing day.

1. GTASA the soundtrack and atmosphere and some nostalgia.

2. Mirror's Edge the art direction I love the look of this game and the music is very calming.

3.Sleeping Dogs something about Hong Kong that is peaceful also the fighting is really fun and is a good stress reliever.

4.Max Payne the snowy environment and Max's narrative.

5. F.E.A.R. the gun battles are so satisfy and I'm probably the only one that really likes the office levels I find it cool place to have firefights something about this game that gives me comfort.

Binding of Isaac: Rebirth.

Trauma Center: Under the Knife

When I'm feeling down, I usually play Desert Golfing or point and click adventure games. They're relatively stress-free games. I used to play sim games like The Sims or SimCity, but I found they just make me feel worse since they take so much time.

The first half of Halo.

Torin's Passage

Blood

I never realized just how bizarre a list these compose.

Civilization V, although the stress relief usually takes much longer than I should allow it to.

@jec03: I totally agree with you on F.E.A.R. One of the best games of all time, in my opinion. I played through the single player campaign over and over again and put an unspeakable number of hours into the multiplayer (PC version). Some recent comfort games for me include Tekken Tag 2, Dark Souls and XCOM Enemy Within. And then there are the games I seem to end up replaying almost every year - Unreal Tournament GOTY Edition, Eternal Darkness and Mortal Kombat II. I also can't resist going through BioShock and Max Payne again every couple of years or so.

• Wandering around Bethesda's open worlds, ignoring the quests and just exploring the landscape and taking in the sights always worked wonders for taking my mind off of things. I've enjoyed them all, but Morrowind gets the vote here.
• Ever since I discovered source ports for the original Doom many years ago, I tend to play through Knee-Deep In The Dead on autopilot as a stress reliever (now with added Brutal Doom sauce!).
• More recently, Grow Home; There's something zen-like / meditative about making that adorable little robot climb all over the place.
• Dark Souls can also get me in that zoned out / single focus state quite often, but with that game there's always the risk of it switching to frustration at a moment's notice.
• And in the category of simply bringing a warm fuzzy nostalgic smile to my face without fail: Loom, the old LucasArts adventure. Not their most succesful, but my personal favorite from their catalogue. I pretty much know it by heart, yet still play through it about every other year or so.

Just walking around Skyrim but also Civ V.

I don't have a game like this, never have. For me games are transitory experiences and any refuge they may provide will only be temporary. I think VR may provide a more permanent source of comfort for an unfeeling mass such as myself, that would be something I'd welcome with as much verve as I'm able to muster. Take me away from this abrasive world, Palmer, take me away.

Mario Maker has been making me feel happy. It's tapping into my nostalgia as a child while still being kind of an unknown experience playing new levels.

Plants vs. Zombies - something about the music and rythym I find calming.

Final Fantasy XI - I hope someone makes a private server somday where I can just stand around in Ronfaure Forest and listen to the music and hear the wind passing through the trees.

D4....

Animal Crossing New leaf, Captain Toad, and Puzzles and Dragons (Mario edition) are some of my go to games for when I need a pick me up emotionally. I would add Tomodachi Life to that list, but sometimes that game can be a downer. To many divorces in that game lol.

The games that are stress relievers for me are the simple ones that control easily. Rocket League has been a great relaxing game and pallet cleanser.

Metal Gear Rising

Jetstream Sam

Revengeance Difficulty

World of Warcraft is the only game that's ever served as a comfort game for me. It's a game I still play actively today, consuming the content of the new expansion, but running around both old and new areas of the world serves as a nice getaway from life's stresses and anxieties.

These days it's War Thunder, but whatever the latest Battlefield game tends to be also fits the bill pretty nicely

Mirror's Edge is one of my comfort games as well. I just get into the zone and bust through that game. I've beaten it upwards of 15 times.

Harvest Moon Back to Nature or Friends of Mineral Town. Those games are the perfect game to just relax with.

Spider-Man Web of Shadows

Floating Point

Civilization V

Puzzle Agent

Castlevania 1 and Symphony of the Night

Final Fantasy XI

Tetris

Likewise! When I was feeling like a nervous mess shortly after moving out earlier in September, I was surprised in how comforting I found simply playing a few games of Rebirth was. Helped keep my mind off things.

Any Pokemon game, Arkham game. Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 and Symphony of the night.

I'm not quite sure why but Elder Scrolls Oblivion. I like Skyrim and Fallout better for lots of obvious reasons, but there's something about Oblivion's music and lush green fields that are just... nice. I also just started college so maybe I associate it with that time in my life. It just puts a smile on my face.

Fez for me, might need to play it after just finishing Soma.

Banjo-Kazooie is a huge one, Halo, Donkey Kong, Mario.

Skyrim and Oblivion are two games that I play to calm down. Less often, it's Persona 4 or Minecraft. Nothing quite like building something in Minecraft after a day where you felt like nothing fucking went right or you couldn't get anywhere.

Destiny is probably that game for me right now. I can just log in, do some dailies, knock out a strike or two. I really just enjoy playing it and find the world/art direction exactlyto my tastes.

But then I can also PvP or raid if I'm looking for more thought provoking gameplay.

Minecraft, Terraria, Spelunky and both of the Binding of Isaac games are prime examples. My choice for the last few months has been Nuclear Throne. It is super easy to just do some quick runs and zone out.

Breath of Fire III just running around with Rei and pilfering things while listening to the games soudntrack.

Kicking that can in Megaman Legends to build up my Zenny coffers and become a little...darker......

PSO ep 1/2 everything except fucking caves.

Persona 4. Phoenix Wright. I think it's mostly the music.

Civ V

Super Mario World

GTA V

Mario 64

Chrono Trigger

Skyrim

Garrys Mod

Prince of Persia. This especially includes The Forgotten Sands on the 350 and the Wii version which is brilliant and also just a relax-a-long. I really don't like the term 'flow' but they do encourage it. You run, wallrun, jump to a pole, turn turn jump, turn jump swing land... relax.

Of course you can't include A Link to the Past in this. It is above all.

Ratchet and Clank

Euro Truck Simulator 2

Matter of fact if you see me playing Euro Truck Simulator 2 chances are I'm having a pretty bad day.

You're a good person.

Super Hexagon

Red Dead Redemption

LittleBigPlanet

Saints Row

Skyrim

Minecraft

They're all games that I can just hang out in their respective worlds and do fuck all. Super Hexagon is a simple game that redirects my full attention from elsewhere.

Usually start up Skryim if I'm looking to kill time or just not think about anything for while. Armello is a close second.

Mario 3. Takes me back to the care free kid state of mind.

Diablo 3, Path of Exile, Guild Wars 2, Dynasty Warriors, are more recent releases that I play for that comfort/ zone out time. Diablo 2 back in the day, same deal. Boot it up, turn on netflix in the other monitor and just click on stuff until it's health bar is gone for a couple hours. Borderlands works pretty good, but requires a little more focus because of the aiming.

I pick Skyrim and similar games for more exploration and less mindless busy work. Starbound, Terraria and Minecraft are good for exploration and just wandering as well.

Same here, something about it I can't put my finger on.

Also for nostalgic reasons I find Mario 3 and World pretty comforting as well as MGS1. There are definitely more I can't think of right now.

Forza Horizon 2, just driving around those big open environments ignoring all of the road.

Wahammer 40k: Space Marine. Don't have to think much. Just sit back and slaughter some Orks.

THUG - farting around in Moscow listening to that incredible soundtrack

SSB Melee - Stomping dudes as Ganon can be very relaxing

fight night champions. I get to beat on suspected long time steroid and HGH user Manny Pacquiao.

Feels good

I find the insurmountable randomness of death and despair in FTL weirdly comforting when I'm also feeling shitty. And then sometimes things go your way and you suddenly feel a lot better and everything is cool :)

Bindimg of Isacc: Rebirth, as said above. I had an interview today and playing a few games on the train helped calm me a lot before then. It has also helped a lot in general with anxiety in the last year, a way to relax.

Minecraft, Doom and Team Fortress 2.

I think the main thing that makes it so 'comforting' is that it's a unpredictable game that requires a lot of complex thought/decisions (e.g. Where are the secret rooms likely to be located? How is this item going to interact with the other items I currently have? What is the best way to defeat these enemies with my current character build?). Basically, a sense of flow.