Like, games that you have played through multiple times, but you still like to replay them from time to time because you can just relax and have a good time without too much hassle.
For me some are Dark Souls 1&2 and Borderlands 1, I can play them without too much thoughts about what I’m doing, but still be focused enough so no bad thoughts appear.


For the longest time growing up it was Baldur’s Gate 2. Was such a formative gaming experience for me as a kid and several of those companions feel like reuniting with old friends.
More recently, Civ V on a medium difficulty is like Solitaire for me. You can just kind of go through the motions and enjoy building an empire.
For a different kind of relaxation-through-stimulation I also kind of find myself going back to Ninja Gaiden 2 recently. It’s hard to explain why this would be comforting (and the game can also be infuriating at times) but there is just something to the combat and the constant stimulation that can take your mind off things. Especially when you go back and just replay the best parts in chapter challenge as opposed to a full campaign.
I really feel this, in a weird way. I reaaally suck at RTS games, and I don’t wanna know how bad I am at those extremely complex games. Not my cup of tea(sadly), but they’re definitely interesting af and in my childhood I played a lot of Anno and Stronghold games, so I’d kinda love to check them out.