After starting work, I feel so tired every day, so I just want to play some casual games. Recently, I’m playing survivor-like games like Vampire Survivors and Darkchaser. They’re simple and fun, but after a while, they get a bit boring. So, I’m looking for other casual game recommendations, preferably single-player games that can be paused at any time, like Plants vs Zombies. Thanks！
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The ones I’ve played of late are:
Disney Dreamlight Valley
Dungeons of the Endless (Casual, but a tad addictive)
Dungeon Defenders
Slice and dice, a rogurlite played with dice. Huge amount of modes like “demo mode” that makes each run like 40% shorter.
Not only can a run go by pretty fast they last roughly as long as a vs run.One Finger Death Punch 2. You get two buttons & a solid upgrade path for endless kung fu.
I mean cyberpunk2077 you can by and large pause at any time and you can generally save but there are sometimes where it tells you saving is not allowed. So there are certain points in the story where you can be playing for awhile without a save but its not a super lot. Can be sorta annoying though when you get to them though. Still its not much of the game. Its been awhile but I thought harry potter allowed pausing. Don’t recall it putting me in a difficult position where I could not put it down. Technically elden ring has a hidden pause if you go into a menu in a menu. There are youtube videos on it. Its stressful as heck though as a game. If you quite you are by and large fine to but any enemy that is damage will be at full health when you get back but dead ones will stay dead. Its really not much of an issue except for bosses. I think baldurs gate 3 and starfield allow saving pretty much at any time as well and pause, again its been awhile.
I’m going to give a possibly controversial opinion. But my favorite casual game to play is Rogue Legacy.
If you accept that you know you’ll die a lot, it’s a lot less stressful. Outside of that, it’s extremely player friendly. It’s not too complicated. There’s progression. You have runs that end and give you a place to stop. You can turn it off anytime without needing to worry too much about losing progress. It has platforming.
This is how I learned to like shadowbane and elden ring. Death is just a mechanic.
How has noone mentioned Powerwash Simulator yet. There is no pressure (pun not intended), you just walk around dirty scenes and start cleaning them. The amount of satisfaction this produces is incredible. This is mostly because the dirt is actually fairly accurate and washing does not feel like brushing dirt of where the only options is 100% dirt or 0% dirt. All of the intermediates and the complex geometry of the objects makes cleaning a really chilling experience.
im not trying to be provocative
but have you ever considered actually cleaning things
you can get paid to do this
irl power washwers are fun
Same could be said for any game. The value mostly of a game is the controlled progression with little impact. If I go start power washing the driveway and then stop at a moments notice to go take a shower and head to work I’m gonna leave a giant mess laying around and a half done driveway.
Yeah I can see that, but currently that’s not a viable line in my career to take
ah well then laddie you just tell me when youre ready to man the old washer
theres always work down the shipyard for ye
I will also add both of the House Flipper games!
Stardew valley just the most super comfy game I’ve ever played.
Time Management: The Game
Probably the most valuable IRL skill you can learn in a game. Or you can just chill and fish for a whole year, no one’s gonna judge you.
Snowrunner! Take everything at your own pace, drive around in some beautiful and horrible to drive in sceneries, get paid and upgrade and buy more trucks
Stardew Valley is the embodiment of chill
Seconded
I am in a similar situation, I get home tired from work and don’t have much time to myself, I can pick up my steam deck for half an hour or so but not long enough to get very involved with something. I’ve been playing doom 2016, you don’t have to commit much time to it at once. I’m pretty shit at it though.
Sounds like you’re ready for the wonderful universe of TBS games (Turn Based Strategy). There a soo many sub genres but you can filter the steam shop for turn-based and read reviews and recommendations. Some personal highlights:
- Civilization (5 and 6)
- Heroes of Might and Magic (get HoMM 3 on GOG!)
- Old World
- Battle Brothers
- Dorfromantik
- Magic: The Gathering Arena
- RimWorld (with pause)
- Cities Skylines 2 (not rly TBS but you can pause)
- For The King
- Total War: Warhammer III (I do auto battles)
- Wartales
- The Last Spell
- Stoneshard
- Age of Wonders 4
- Mechabellum (semi TBS)
Dave the Diver. I had put down gaming because of tiredness and this game was such an unexpected joy of exploration and cute story for me. Easy to pick up and do a quick dive, decent progression based on a mix of skill and leveling up your character, and the writing was excellent. First game I 100% in forever and it was while playing it 30 minutes at a time.
It’s the perfect combo of cozy but not zero challenge - this would be my pick in op’s shoes
I play Hardspace Shipbreaker when I want to relax.
You are a worker in a spacedock and dismantle ships with a cutting and grappling tool and divide the components into resource bins. It has a chill soundtrack and it’s fun to float around with thrusters and figure out how to separate the different parts.
I started this game but got bored a couple hours in and I can’t really explain why. In theory it felt like a game I should really like but maybe something about the pacing? Do you think it takes a while to get really good and maybe I should try putting more time in or is the way it is at the start pretty much the same the whole way through?
This is really hard to answer, because I think it highly depends what kind of player you are.
I don’t play optimally. Yes, it’s fun to haul yourself around with the grappler at breakneck speeds and stop just in time not to get squished, but I’m not that good at it. I also don’t limit myself to the most valuable parts and move on to another ship, but collect the last metal frame. I would make more money in less time, but don’t like the idea.
Overall the game stays the same with a few mechanics that get added (explosive charges and something that screws with your salvage and has to be solved first). The system in the ships get more complicated and you need to solve several steps before you can “solve” a problem.
Yeah, that’s how I like to play in general as well, yet… I guess maybe the core gameplay just isn’t for me. I might give it another go and see how it is after getting more upgrades though. Thanks for the response!
it gets more complex and fiddly, and your upgrades make you faster and more nimble, but the fundamentals are the same through to the end. did you get to the bigger reactors and cutting coolant lines? because if so you’ve seen more than half of the game and it’s fair to say it didn’t grab you.
also a thought; did you play with or without the time limit? because i feel like the timer helped me stay motivated.
I don’t think I had the timer, I don’t actually remember there being a choice for one. I think I’ll give it another go until I get a few more upgrades, in retrospect I might not have gotten very far at all, I have no recollection of coolant lines. Thanks!
i think you don’t get the timer in free play mode. try doing the story on normal difficulty and see if that hooks you :)
This one is such a gem.
Balatro. Can get it on your phone, Switch, Steam Deck. It’s the poker-based rougelite. Sounds weird, but it works, and super easy to pick up for a hand or two and then back to work.
I asked a similar question quite a while back. What ended up feeling good for me from the recommendations was Oxygen Not Included surprisingly. I thought it would be too much but just trying to figure things out on my own was fun, and I found myself falling asleep to thoughts of plans for my colony. Surprisingly addictive and chill, maybe because I could pause and think anytime things started going wrong.
But I also gotta recommend Outer Wilds if you haven’t played it already. Exploration, mystery solving in a chill solar system environment. Go in blind is the best advice for that game but I found it super chill and relaxing.
I used to love this game but later I found myself optimising little things too much and my PC couldn’t keep up with a well grown colony
Yeah, for me I always end up starting a new colony after getting to rockets. It’s my brain that can’t keep up with the colony past that point
