These are my picks when I need a game to relax. Sadly a lot are not “while away the time” kinds of games, but they do make up a catalog that I revisit from time to time based on my mood.

• Flower (short but good)

• Spiritfarer (maybe avoid if you’ve lost a loved one recently)

• Tetris Effect (if you aren’t stressed out by intevitable failure)

• Donut County (mindless fun)

• Journey (does have a couple of mild chase scenes but is consequence-free and can be finished in one sitting)

• Slime Rancher (colorful and productive)

• The Witness (chill puzzle game)

• Firewatch (some dark parts but is very peaceful and meditative)

• 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (a basic RTS propped up by a very rich narrarive)

• Unravel (cute and beautiful platformer)

• Untitled Goose Game (if your idea of “relaxing” means being the living incarnation of Satan)

• Abzu (relaxing scuba game, maybe not relaxing if you’re thalassophobic)

• Civilization VI (just one more turn…)

Stardew is absolutely worth the full price. I haven’t played it in over two years and the soundtrack and memories from the game are still very much present in my life. If you’re a nostalgic person, it has a wonderful way of making you feel things.

I’m a big fan of factorio on peaceful when I need to relax. All I have to do is figure out how to get ore into a state usable by the base.

I would suggest Death Stranding. Great game with a beautiful soundtrack.

Stardew is only 15 bucks so I would say it’s worth the proce when you realize how much time you will sink into it.

Stray!

No Man’s Sky has always been my mild escape. Play a game on creative mode (or normal, if you don’t mind a little survival pressure), find a mild planet and just walk around to see stuff nobody irl, not even the developers themselves, have really seen before (exempting the assets used, of course).

Start from there and you can move onto making a base, exploring the stars, founding a settlement, buying and customizing your own freighter, trading goods between systems… whatever you just kind of feel like doing for the day.

It’s a fairly quick game, but Superliminal is super chill and uplifting. Not many games say “hey, feel good about yourself”, but I feel this one does. It’s truly about perspective.

Riders Republic. Bike through the open world on endless roads. Jump off a cliff every now and then.

Stardew Valley is great, a different “building” game that I liked was Planet Coaster (free if you’re a PSN subscriber). I have been looking at Skylines too though, that looks pretty fun!

On sale right now on steam, and I see you mention Stardew Valley:

Paleo Pines.

It’s a dinosaur taming/farming game that plays very similarly to Animal Crossing/Stardew Valley, and a tiny bit of Ark: Survival Evolved. You have a ranch that you steadily clear out and open up with the help of your tamed dino friends, there are villagers that will have little quests for you to do, a simple and sweet narrative, and it’s all tied together by an extremely adorable aesthetic. There’s also a demo available that lets you play through the first 12 days, but that’s plenty of time (at my pace it would have taken me about 8-10 hours to get there) for you to sink your teeth into it and find out if you’ll like it or not. It’s super casual, and there’s no real penalty for failing anything.

If you like puzzle games, I’m enjoying Humanity right now

Outer Wilds, 100%. It might be missing the mark a little bit by the end, but it never demands anything more than your curiosity to discover. More than likely, it will make you want to explore every nook and cranny.

And definitely go in completely blind and enjoy the story.

Cozy Grove is quite chill, it’s more of a stop in each real world day and do some bits and pieces rather than a binge for hours deal like Sims or Stardew though

I only have a PC

The Sims is on PC (and PS5; Sims 4 base game is even free). Animal Crossing can be emulated on PC (literally any of them, too).