Hello all! I would like to know what games give you that cozy, fuzzy feeling of simple happiness.
I’m currently experiencing this with Tchia, a wholesome game about a girl doing fun stuff on an island.
Weirdly enough I have a similar thing going with Doom (2016) at the moment. Something about the intensity of the levels and the interesting map design make me feel really satisfied and immersed.
Lastly, Super Mario 3D World really has a similar effect to Tchia, we’re I immediately get a happy feeling just by booting it up and looking at the wonderful colors en design.
What is your go-to game for feeling relaxes or happy?
I haven’t seen anyone mention Mirror’s Edge yet! The free running (especially in the first game) is such a unique and rewarding experience. A little janky and frustrating sometimes but when it clicks it just feels so good
Outer Wilds can get similar when you have transcended beyond the existential dread of lonely death in space. It’s spooky at times, but death is cheap, so you just look forward to the next attempt.
As a newbie, I was rushing to figure out all the mechanics fast enough to unlock the greenhouse in year 1. It was a bit of a stressful optimization game trying to max out every single day.
Since I unlocked it, cash is rolling in so fast I don’t even know what to do with it anymore. I just hit Spring in t year 2 and it’s really chill, now. I’m thinking of selling most of my animals since It’s repetitive needing to pet them and make cheese/mayo every day. I might just cheat and get a couple auto-petters to make it even more relaxed…
The soundtrack, art direction, color palette, and gameplay all come together in a relaxing loop. I have spent hours just drifting along spot to spot, taking care of the spirits in my care until their times came to depart, and still go back to it when I just want to have some time to relax.
As a warning, the game does deal with some emotional tones, so there’s a bit of melancholy mixed in. My wife and I both had times where we teared up because it felt like saying goodbye to someone again. It’s handled well, though. Really gives the feeling of everything being put to rest, and there’s still everything they taught you right there as a reminder of the effect they had.
I remember just sitting there after helping the first spirit depart and thinking - wow. Which doesn’t happen a lot in games, but the combination of the music, the storylines for each spirit and the time when I started playing (early in the pandemic) cemented the game in my mind as a piece of art.
This browser game/toy called Infinite Craft was doing that for me yesterday. It’s very neat, you just take different words and combine them to create new things, and then use those to make more things, but its secret is that it uses a low level AI so that if you craft a combination that’s never been crafted before it can accommodate that and attributes you as the first discoverer.
You start with the whole basic idea of combining elements like fire and water to make steam and such, but you can relatively quickly end up accidentally creating more complex things, and they dont even have to be objects, they can be named franchises or concepts like Star Wars or Creation.
Eventually I felt like a small kid ripping the limbs off action figures and seeing if the dinosaur head would fit on the Darth vader figure. I ended up first discovering some insane Eldritch shit like Barack Crabwich Vader-car, a part president, part crab, part sandwich, part sith lord cyborg, part car. Or Zombie Muppet Prince Kermie. Or the Jurassic Mecha-Deloreansaur.
It’s free and is a ridiculously absurd hoot, I’d recommend it on a PC browser since you get a big space to drag out certain concepts you wanna keep and reuse.
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To top up the happy tank, I love playing
I haven’t seen anyone mention Mirror’s Edge yet! The free running (especially in the first game) is such a unique and rewarding experience. A little janky and frustrating sometimes but when it clicks it just feels so good
VIntage Story one of the coziest games around.
If I want relaxation it’s Disney Dreamlight Valley.
The first fantasy life is super cozy. Very excited for the sequel
I play a lot of boomer shooters, some of the more nostalgic ones give me that feeling.
But the cozy exploration, and childlike wonder of Sable are feelings I yearn for long after completing it. So far nothing else has scratched the itch.
Outer Wilds can get similar when you have transcended beyond the existential dread of lonely death in space. It’s spooky at times, but death is cheap, so you just look forward to the next attempt.
A Short Hike, definitely. I just wish it was longer.
I just do the hikes irl, nothing’s more relaxing than being in the mountains alone or with a good friend.
I do both, because people can do more than one thing. This is called a false dichotomy, and in this case with an unsubtle whiff of moralizing.
Perhaps they’ll make a sequel, A Slightly Longer Hike.
Stardew Valley for sure. Sometimes Euro Truck Simulator 2 to chill.
As a newbie, I was rushing to figure out all the mechanics fast enough to unlock the greenhouse in year 1. It was a bit of a stressful optimization game trying to max out every single day.
Since I unlocked it, cash is rolling in so fast I don’t even know what to do with it anymore. I just hit Spring in t year 2 and it’s really chill, now. I’m thinking of selling most of my animals since It’s repetitive needing to pet them and make cheese/mayo every day. I might just cheat and get a couple auto-petters to make it even more relaxed…
For me it’s Skyrim. If need a game to play just to be immersed, it’s Skyrim
Minecraft. Make your own to do list and play at your own pace. I will beat the ender dragon one day but for now I work on my next automated farm lol.
On the SNES: Star Fox and TMNT 4 turned in time.
On PC it’s probably gonna be Space Quest 3 and Star Wars X-WING Alliance.
Citizen Sleeper had many moments that I just breathed in and smiled about. It is a beautiful game with beautiful stories in it
The Last Campfire feels like you’re being read a bedtime story, in the best way. I haven’t quite felt anything like it from gaming.
Spiritfarer.
The soundtrack, art direction, color palette, and gameplay all come together in a relaxing loop. I have spent hours just drifting along spot to spot, taking care of the spirits in my care until their times came to depart, and still go back to it when I just want to have some time to relax.
As a warning, the game does deal with some emotional tones, so there’s a bit of melancholy mixed in. My wife and I both had times where we teared up because it felt like saying goodbye to someone again. It’s handled well, though. Really gives the feeling of everything being put to rest, and there’s still everything they taught you right there as a reminder of the effect they had.
I remember just sitting there after helping the first spirit depart and thinking - wow. Which doesn’t happen a lot in games, but the combination of the music, the storylines for each spirit and the time when I started playing (early in the pandemic) cemented the game in my mind as a piece of art.
This browser game/toy called Infinite Craft was doing that for me yesterday. It’s very neat, you just take different words and combine them to create new things, and then use those to make more things, but its secret is that it uses a low level AI so that if you craft a combination that’s never been crafted before it can accommodate that and attributes you as the first discoverer.
You start with the whole basic idea of combining elements like fire and water to make steam and such, but you can relatively quickly end up accidentally creating more complex things, and they dont even have to be objects, they can be named franchises or concepts like Star Wars or Creation.
Eventually I felt like a small kid ripping the limbs off action figures and seeing if the dinosaur head would fit on the Darth vader figure. I ended up first discovering some insane Eldritch shit like Barack Crabwich Vader-car, a part president, part crab, part sandwich, part sith lord cyborg, part car. Or Zombie Muppet Prince Kermie. Or the Jurassic Mecha-Deloreansaur.
It’s free and is a ridiculously absurd hoot, I’d recommend it on a PC browser since you get a big space to drag out certain concepts you wanna keep and reuse.