With gaming often bringing me into a really depressive headspace sometimes with how the markets are developing, whats a game you can always go to and just be lost in, or just be happy with?
Personally i would go for advance wars 1 and 2 on the gba (there is no remake and never will be)
the artstyle, the music, the game-play is just simple, yet effective, a sublime experience of very fun times.
Whats yours?
Easily Path of Exile. There’s something so relaxing about blowing up the entire screen with one flick of my wrist, and it really gets my endorphins flowing to minmax my stats using third party tools like Path of Building and testing out items on the trade site / changes to my skill tree to see how they’d affect my build.
To some people it sounds like work, but for me it hits that sweet spot of minmaxing and complexity that no other game really can.
Edit: I should also mention that I’ve been mostly playing on Steam Deck which has been a revelation for me. Endgame “alch and go” mapping is so perfect for the pick up and play style, only enhanced by having access to it from the couch/toilet.
The map system is so good for this. If you manage to get the bewildering learning curve, it’s so nice to come home from work and spin a few maps to relax and pick up loot. PoE is so overwhelmingly easily my choice as well.
Honestly the learning curve isn’t that atrocious. I’ve always advocated for following a build guide then start looking at ways to personalize it at level ~70 (and with Exarch altars you can farm regrets to respec.)
Learning the skill tree is hard but it’s made much easier when you have a base to modify.
The learning curve gets really bad when you start trying to craft though. And expensive.