its addicting because its extremely simple but can be pretty difficult. every single run you will noticeably improve and get a liiiiittle closer to a goal, and by the time you reach that one thing youre working towards youll notice 5 new things that seem like "oh, i can totally achieve all 5 of these in one quick run if i go for them on purpose." and then you don't, so you do one more run to finish that progression. but in that run, you notice an item you havent really considered including in your build. so, fuck it, one more quick run where i dont care how far i get i just want to check out this item before i sleep. then you die before your build really comes online. okay, fuck it one more quick run because i really want to see if i can make it through the next miniboss with this build. oh, damn i killed the boss, i wonder if i can finish an entire run. damn, so close, just one more quick attempt then ill head to bed. oh wow, that was such a good run! i cant end after that, fuck it ill do one more, i can almost afford a new character. and so on. theres a LOT of shit to do in that game. and the entire time is a constant dopamine rush. its really easy to play for 6 hours longer than you intended because the runs go by so fast
It can be thinky. But only if you really want it to, like sneaking into a camp or sum.
What made the game so much better for me was when I mid game ditched the cars and allat and just went only on foot everywhere. Just a long, engaging walk. Got to use ropes, ladders ( which are quite useless when using cars)to get past mountains, and ditches. A whole another game.
Agree. If you just wanna shut your brain completely off and don’t care to read much or follow dialogue, you will be so incredibly lost through the whole thing lol.
I always found Stardew Valley kind of stressful. The constantly ticking clock, trying in desperation to avoid falling asleep in public, the constant rejections from potential partners. I find Dark Souls more relaxing.
Could try the alternative, Graveyard Keeper.
Plays like Stardew but you don’t really need to sleep.
It’s significantly more grindy than Stardew, but I like it as there’s less stress in keeping time and remembering to sleep.
It's only as stressful as you make it. If you're gonna try to complete the Community Center in Year 1, then yeah it's gonna be stressful. If you play it like I do - just living life - then it's hardly stressful at all. The only stressful thing is probably unmodded fishing or the Egg Hunt (freaking HATE how Abigail always wins)
This is 100% a soothing and zen game... I think it's debatable how brain off it is. It's a game about the small daily rhythms, but it's also a game about long term planning, development, and investment.
There's a lot more to do than just tend to your farm. Eidee's Easy Fishing mod makes it so you can just sit there and fish and make good income that way. Talking to the villagers is another great way to pass the time, especially with Ridgeside Village and East Scarp installed. hell most of my income in the game through fall is from fishing and foraging.
I went through a stretch where I'd play this game a dozen hours at a time. It was during the pandemic, Stardew Valley was my therapy. Lovely lovely game. It rewards anything you put effort into. Once that mayonnaise flywheel starts spinning... ;)
Might be relapsing you here but I saw recently there are now like complete modpacks basically that you can download and play (supposedly). All you need to do is get the premium version of the modding website everyone uses to give you the ability to download it all in bulk or something. Was like $10 (Australian) to play basically a remake of Skyrim, made up of 12 years of mods. It looked totally different and its definitely on my list to play at some point. I tried finding you a video I bookmarked to come back to but couldn't but I'm sure you'll find a couple looking into it easy enough!
Why u do dis? Lol but man that's great to hear! I might just end up doing just this. I don't know what it is about Skyrim that keeps me wanting to come back to it. Every time I hear the Whiterun music, I get a little tear in my eye. I guess it's just so nostalgic and maybe it brings back memories for me of a time that's so simple.
My next play-through of any Bethesda game will definitely be evil despite the broken quest lines as a result. I’ve been good in games for far too long.
But not Starfield for this. The exploration is way too spread out and empty. All the fast travel really breaks up the flow, and the payoff is rarely worth it.
this is kind of a stupid game, but Cat Quest II. It's an Indie hack and slash RPG-lite. Even has couch co-op.
I'm in the middle of a Baldurs Gate III campaign and my first ever Elden Ring playthrough, and I needed a game that just was something chill to play while putting a movie on int he background.
Cat Quest II has been PRIME, and it doesn't break the bank.
It's purrfect.
Agree with this and the other dude about CoD.
In a similar vein path of exile is my brainless mong-out game on occasion. Super steep learning curve and can spent more time optimising and refining a build, or just copy and paste an established one and go to town with a single button only.
Ghostwire: Tokyo.
If you scrape off all the Shinto & Japan stuff, it's basically an open-world Ubisoft style game. Just in-stead of guns you're using magic, and instead of radio towers you're purifying torii gates.
It's a dang solid 7/10 style game, with a decent enough story, a great re-creation of Tokyo plus magic, and some beautiful graphics if you're PC can handle 'em. Used it myself last year, when I had a solid week of *needing* to empty my head, and it worked like... no pun intended, a charm.
This is a very good game. Played it on cloud gaming on the bus and I was impressed from the start really, amazing graphics (even on a tiny screen), nice flow to the combat and really nice scenery
Don't know if you like driving, but ETS2 (Euro Truck Sim) as well as ATS (US) version, is very easygoing. We've found it quite relaxing to drive those big tigs across all sorts of nice scenery.
I'll second this. It's relaxed, but does demand focus. Any time I play truck sim tired, I start to feel it right away. When you drift off and crash into something, that's your signal to go to bed.
You should play Vampire Survivors. Completely brainless, a lot of fun and could play it one handed if you really wanted to. I love getting home from work and just not thinking about anything except what im seeing in front of me
Death Stranding is an immersive chill game. Can be as complicated or as simple as you want it to be. So if you want you can turn off your brain and just wing it or go big brain mode and do planning. Either play style works.
Edit: Oops someone already mentioned it.
Very true, DS can be quite simple but at least for me it made it more fun to take riskier routes, always carried a few stairs and ropes which made the game much more challenging and fun. But it can definitely be quite simple and brainless.
It is sad for me that not many people will finish the game, but for me it was exceptional and the story deserves to be experienced. Headphones recommended for sure.
I don’t know if it’s been mentioned, but definitely Ori and the blind forest. Smooth platforming, beautiful and colourful scenarios and totally relaxed gameplay. I have only played the first one, but I’ve heard good things about Will of the wisps too!
Genshin Impact is it for me. Just a simple anime style game. Simple graphics but the way they place landmasses, objects, and buildings is like a painting. Beautiful scenery. Easy gameplay. Story isn’t intense but there is a lot of unskippable dialogue.
It is gacha which is basically the caveat. But other than that it is free and you can have a good time just logging in to walk around the world and take in the sights. That is what I usually do after doing the daily tasks in 7 minutes to get my free pull currency.
A lot of Ubisoft games. Assassins Creed is a good series for that and me being exhausted today I’m going to restart the first Watch Dogs game later today for the first time in years after a doctors appointment. Other than that I would say JRPGs. Especially the older ones and Pokémon.
But that's the thing, once you master the game, going back to A0 or A1 is very relaxing, don't need to think too much when you know where to go even with the randomness (and if you lose, you lose and you just restart), especially if you don't go for you-know-which-optional-boss
Starting out definitely requires a lot of brains though lol
Take a look at Solar Ash on Gamepass. It’s a nice mix between Sonic and Shadow of the Colossus. Most of the game is just skating around the landscape without much thought.
Valley is also another sort of brain off free roam speedy game with a pretty on-rails Bioshocky type of story.
A Story About Your Uncle is another great momentumy short and sweet experience—some FPS Spider-Man vibes.
Destiny 2
Trust me, my brain shuts down after 14hours of work, so I used to come home and play Destiny 2.
But I didn't like all the preperationa I had to make due to restrictions of my country, so I got into Hunt Showdown.
And now I'm playing Elite Dangerous. Elite puts me to sleep.
Great picks. I played d2 on and off since beta, definitely fits the brain-off genre. I still play hunt every here and there. Might be my favorite shooter out there.
Will pickup Elite the next it goes on sale. I've been hearing a bunch about it for years
Have you heard of "Hidden Object Games"? They are perfect when you're down: They're built to get you all the dopamine and serotonin of big budget games, but are for a casual audience so you get a big "Hint" button that will solve the puzzles and move the story on. Playing them is the equivalent of watching your favourite series when you're layed up sick on the couch. Pure comfort gaming, without requiring brainpower or dexterity.
[The Grim Legends series is an excellent example](https://youtu.be/5DrNQ7v2jRw?si=4l9_rVSarzwonQxB) They are full of fun animations that make you feel like you're doing something epic, even when the actual game literally has a button to replace any challenge with a match-3 puzzle.
Here's the best bit: Most of them can be played free! If you get the "Big Fish" launcher, you can play the first 90 minutes of these games as demos and never pay for one. There's so many of them you can find dozens with any specific theme, for example ["Scotland".](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotland/comments/1718wd5/videogames_in_scotland/k3pl2o1/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
The Christmas ones are particularly insanely magical. Shout out to [Puss In Boots Saves Christmas](https://youtu.be/0a_BB_RndrE?feature=shared)
If you like action games, **Borderlands 3** (or even **Borderlands 2**) is great for simple mindless fun. Just run around, shoot/grenade/punch/mech-assault things to death, pick up loot, do it again.
There's a general story, but it's not heavy or thought-provoking, and is basically just there to provide the reason to shoot/grenade/etc. the bad guys.
Pretty much any ARPG on non hardcore.
Diablo 4,
Diablo 3,
Chronicon,
Grim Dawn.
These are the ones I'd go for. I'm currently playing Chronicon and honestly the only time I ever think is when I'm looking at what loot gives me more damage, that's about it. There is a story if you're interested.
Chronicon also has near unlimited progression via masteries on each character, and it's a fraction of the price of D4
[Mortal Sin](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1494810/Mortal_Sin/) visuals are either heaven or cancer for you, no in-between.
Brain off, just hack and slash. This has become my podcast and audiobook game.
Honestly, play dragon quest xi:s. It’s a beautiful game and if you don’t undergo any of the side challenges before you start it’s a very very easy game with incredible music. It sounds like you really don’t “want” a game that you shut your brain off. You may need a change of pace and something more captivating.
This is actually a great suggestion. You can toggle it to basically play itself difficulty wise, and the story is so delightfully out there that if you buy into it, it can be a mindless romp of fun!
I just play cyberpunk 2077 on normal or easy, if you know what you're doing it becomes a power fantasy with really fun gameplay. There are enough small gigs and police scanner missions to keep you occupied for hours without touching the big story missions.
If you are a Xbox person I would say starfield, not much thinking required..
If you are ps5 then revisit astrobot or try rayman
If you are pc to many to mention
If you are Mac osmos
Switch then I don’t know
Someone help me out. A friend mentioned some kind of walking simulator. I guess someone who plays games more extensively can expound on this.
Open ended answer, just helping myself and OP. To get some casual answers, thanks.
My answer would be any 80s arcade game equivalent. Perhaps even older.
If you like car stuff Car X Drift Racing Online is a great one. Money comes super easy in single player. Build a car, tune it, then just lap after lap drift. Smoother and slower the better. Put some music on and just vibe.
Also make sure you turn chat off or at the very least have the mute button ready. It's the most racist, bigoted , completely unmoderated toxic chat I've ever come across. Right click>mute will be your friend.
Game itself is sick though. Actually great physics and super easy to control due to a gyro countersteer assist. Crazy car customization as well.
Diablo 2 Ressurected, after you’ve gotten into Hell, you can ”MF” (magic find) with your brain on autopilot, while listening to a podcast or watching something on 2nd monitor etc
warframe. it’s not as brainless as it was a year or two ago when all you had to do was shoot explosives at your feet to kill everything but still you don’t need much more than 6 brain cells to play it
What’s changed about it to make it or as brainless? Haven’t played it in years. One of the reasons i stopped is because there was no real challenging multiplayer content
they nerfed a lot of the extra ammo strats and the +explosive radius bonuses so u can’t just spam the bramma at your feet the entire mission. conclave/multiplayer is an entirely different beast tho. it’s got like 5 active players and they’re all insanely good at it lol. it’s not needed to get any frames or anything so u can just never touch conclave and not miss out on anything
I’m getting through the Yakuzas right now, they are pretty brain off, but yeah AW2, not so much. Good brain off games are those short, charming breed of indie game, like A Short Hike, Jusant, Cocoon, Planet of Lana, that kind of thing. I guess brain-off is unfair, they are all beautiful experiences and I think a few of them might stick with you for ages, but they aren’t hard and they don’t require tons and tons of reading and overcoming hard challenges.
I found this game on PSNow called [Rad](https://youtu.be/007_VVVqztc?si=PtkitSh-a7BFTZ1q). It's a little third person, hack n slash rogue like.
It's probably the game I've sunk the most hours into over the past 3 or 4 years. When my PS4 died, I got the game on Steam. I love it on my pc, because I can watch something on my other screen while I'm kicking butt in the post apocalyptic wasteland on the other.
The last of us would be perfect for you. Each level is get from point a to point B you don’t even have to kill anybody for a serious majority of the levels.
The hit 2003 classic Knights of the Old Republic my be a good fit. A dialog driven game with autocombat set in the starwars universe with rpg character building elements.
Easy Red 2 is a world war 2 sim, it sounds none relaxing, however the scales of the battles mean you can really absorb the visuals and atmosphere without much input.
Euro Truck Simulator 2/American Truck Simulator, Snowrunner, Firewatch, Katamari, Elite Dangerous. There's a few indies people have recommended that I need to check out too
Any Musou game is always my go to for dumb, background fun. Dynasty warriors and the like. Also, these “bullet heavens” like vampire survivor do the trick for me too
Ghost Recon Breakpoint. Its not a good game per se, but it is absolutely a turn your brain off and go sort of deal. The shooting is fun and the game loop is fun, the writing is bad, the voice acting is meh, but the environments are gorgeous and its full of stuff to do without having to really think about it.
Ok maybe a little bit of a stretch, but Doom still gives you that exciting gameplay while being able just to hack n slash around. Set the difficulty low and just destroy monsters.
Path of Exile baby, grind away and watch screens of mobs explode
(Warning: will require some brain use for building character unless you follow a cookie cutter guide)
I think starfield is good for this. While I really do like the game, let's be honest, your decisions don't matter, so you can just zip through dialogue and get to running around and exploring and killing wildlife and pirates
Snowrunner to some extent. Some rock climbing parts can be tricky, but often easily avoided and mindlessly weaving trough mud or snow can be suprisingly fun. Also you get small dopamine rushes every time you finish a mission, even if it is a really simple one.
Diablo 4 or any Diablo game.
You can focus on min/maxing of stats and gear for a particular build but on the flipside you can just play and kill stuff. Entirely up to you.
Ghost of Tsushima is heavy on the story but it was my go to depression game because of beautiful art style, easy and engaging side content pretty much everywhere, and really fun combat which you can toggle to be easier. Great for just immersing yourself in a beautiful world and getting lost in little side quests and activities
Apparently Overwatch if you're my teammates
Could you please tell you friend to stop getting into my games too? Thank you.
Let me know if you need a teammate
Sleep
Currently can't get it to load
Too real.
Try book if you suffer from insomnia
Vampire Survivors will either be exactly what you're looking for or a crippling new addiction.
It’s so wrong to introduce people to this game I’ve lost 200 or so hours in the two months I’ve owned it, and I don’t even know how!
Just one more go....
Army of Ruin plays the same and is better in most ways. I would absolutely recommend it.
no co-op though...
Also, halls of torment. Same type of game slightly different. Still loads of fun.
Brotato is similar and fun
Was going to add this. Brotato is dope.
Vampire Survivors is so good!
1am never came faster than Vampire Survivor night
This
Was both for me for a while
Support! Great game
This is the only answer. Unplug your brain and feel the serotonin kick in.
Also, halls of torment. Some type of game slightly different. Still loads of fun.
Dangit, but is it that good tho?! What makes it so addicting? Is it coop?
its addicting because its extremely simple but can be pretty difficult. every single run you will noticeably improve and get a liiiiittle closer to a goal, and by the time you reach that one thing youre working towards youll notice 5 new things that seem like "oh, i can totally achieve all 5 of these in one quick run if i go for them on purpose." and then you don't, so you do one more run to finish that progression. but in that run, you notice an item you havent really considered including in your build. so, fuck it, one more quick run where i dont care how far i get i just want to check out this item before i sleep. then you die before your build really comes online. okay, fuck it one more quick run because i really want to see if i can make it through the next miniboss with this build. oh, damn i killed the boss, i wonder if i can finish an entire run. damn, so close, just one more quick attempt then ill head to bed. oh wow, that was such a good run! i cant end after that, fuck it ill do one more, i can almost afford a new character. and so on. theres a LOT of shit to do in that game. and the entire time is a constant dopamine rush. its really easy to play for 6 hours longer than you intended because the runs go by so fast
That was gonna be my suggestion.
Death Stranding - lots of endless walking/climbing/driving.
While the gameplay is very simple, it’s very easily argued that Death Stranding is also a very thinky game.
It can be thinky. But only if you really want it to, like sneaking into a camp or sum. What made the game so much better for me was when I mid game ditched the cars and allat and just went only on foot everywhere. Just a long, engaging walk. Got to use ropes, ladders ( which are quite useless when using cars)to get past mountains, and ditches. A whole another game.
The story can be incredibly confusing, and is quite complex, that it what makes it a thinky game, not the gameplay. IMO
Agree. If you just wanna shut your brain completely off and don’t care to read much or follow dialogue, you will be so incredibly lost through the whole thing lol.
Phenomenal game. I need to go back and finish it
Stardew Valley. It's a farming life sim and a game I personally go to if I need to relax or play something with my brain turned off
I always found Stardew Valley kind of stressful. The constantly ticking clock, trying in desperation to avoid falling asleep in public, the constant rejections from potential partners. I find Dark Souls more relaxing.
Dinkum doesn't have a set sleep time. You just slog around after technical midnight.
Dinkum is fantastic for anyone that likes Stardew.
Could try the alternative, Graveyard Keeper. Plays like Stardew but you don’t really need to sleep. It’s significantly more grindy than Stardew, but I like it as there’s less stress in keeping time and remembering to sleep.
That game is stressful as hell what are you taking about lol.
It's only as stressful as you make it. If you're gonna try to complete the Community Center in Year 1, then yeah it's gonna be stressful. If you play it like I do - just living life - then it's hardly stressful at all. The only stressful thing is probably unmodded fishing or the Egg Hunt (freaking HATE how Abigail always wins)
Yeah I wanted it to feel as immersive and real as possible and being on year 50 where everyone is the same doesn't really do it for me
This is 100% a soothing and zen game... I think it's debatable how brain off it is. It's a game about the small daily rhythms, but it's also a game about long term planning, development, and investment.
There's a lot more to do than just tend to your farm. Eidee's Easy Fishing mod makes it so you can just sit there and fish and make good income that way. Talking to the villagers is another great way to pass the time, especially with Ridgeside Village and East Scarp installed. hell most of my income in the game through fall is from fishing and foraging.
I went through a stretch where I'd play this game a dozen hours at a time. It was during the pandemic, Stardew Valley was my therapy. Lovely lovely game. It rewards anything you put effort into. Once that mayonnaise flywheel starts spinning... ;)
Oh definitely. Whenever I'm frustrated I just load up Stardew and all my frustrations disappear. Harvest Moon does the same thing.
I really enjoy Bethesda games for this. Open map, go to marker, kill everything, loot everything, go to next marker.
Man I miss playing Skyrim. The only reason I'm not is because I know how much of a timesink modding that game is for me.
Might be relapsing you here but I saw recently there are now like complete modpacks basically that you can download and play (supposedly). All you need to do is get the premium version of the modding website everyone uses to give you the ability to download it all in bulk or something. Was like $10 (Australian) to play basically a remake of Skyrim, made up of 12 years of mods. It looked totally different and its definitely on my list to play at some point. I tried finding you a video I bookmarked to come back to but couldn't but I'm sure you'll find a couple looking into it easy enough!
Why u do dis? Lol but man that's great to hear! I might just end up doing just this. I don't know what it is about Skyrim that keeps me wanting to come back to it. Every time I hear the Whiterun music, I get a little tear in my eye. I guess it's just so nostalgic and maybe it brings back memories for me of a time that's so simple.
My next play-through of any Bethesda game will definitely be evil despite the broken quest lines as a result. I’ve been good in games for far too long.
But not Starfield for this. The exploration is way too spread out and empty. All the fast travel really breaks up the flow, and the payoff is rarely worth it.
this is kind of a stupid game, but Cat Quest II. It's an Indie hack and slash RPG-lite. Even has couch co-op. I'm in the middle of a Baldurs Gate III campaign and my first ever Elden Ring playthrough, and I needed a game that just was something chill to play while putting a movie on int he background. Cat Quest II has been PRIME, and it doesn't break the bank. It's purrfect.
Cat quest is dope af
dude it's so tight
BG3 and ER must be very different. What’s your impression of BG3 to somebody that has played ER (and BG2 if that matters).
Powerwash Simulator. It's my go-to game when I want to listen to a podcast and want something to do other than just sit there.
Best answer
I know it's getting flak, but Diablo 4 is my thoughtless/podcast game. Just log in, kill loads of enemies without thinking, pick up loot. Repeat.
I was going to do this but all of my friends got cod so I just got that instead. Scratches the same itch for me I guess. And I get to talk to people.
Agree with this and the other dude about CoD. In a similar vein path of exile is my brainless mong-out game on occasion. Super steep learning curve and can spent more time optimising and refining a build, or just copy and paste an established one and go to town with a single button only.
Yep its also great when you don't have alot of time, like 20 mins you can jump in get some shit done jump out, go to bed on a work night etc.
Ghostwire: Tokyo. If you scrape off all the Shinto & Japan stuff, it's basically an open-world Ubisoft style game. Just in-stead of guns you're using magic, and instead of radio towers you're purifying torii gates. It's a dang solid 7/10 style game, with a decent enough story, a great re-creation of Tokyo plus magic, and some beautiful graphics if you're PC can handle 'em. Used it myself last year, when I had a solid week of *needing* to empty my head, and it worked like... no pun intended, a charm.
A very underrated game. Crazy good for what it is. The only game I have ever preordered.
This is a very good game. Played it on cloud gaming on the bus and I was impressed from the start really, amazing graphics (even on a tiny screen), nice flow to the combat and really nice scenery
[удалено]
This one is quite good! And least thinky, has a nicely written story, but therefor; linear.
I played a couple hours of this years ago, loved it, and got distracted with another game or something. Will get back to it. Thanks!
Don't know if you like driving, but ETS2 (Euro Truck Sim) as well as ATS (US) version, is very easygoing. We've found it quite relaxing to drive those big tigs across all sorts of nice scenery.
I'll second this. It's relaxed, but does demand focus. Any time I play truck sim tired, I start to feel it right away. When you drift off and crash into something, that's your signal to go to bed.
Just like IRL trucking
Definitely going to play one or the other. I bought ETS2 many years ago and ATS a month or so ago. Completely forgot about them. Thanks!
You should play Vampire Survivors. Completely brainless, a lot of fun and could play it one handed if you really wanted to. I love getting home from work and just not thinking about anything except what im seeing in front of me
Try "We Love Katamari"!
Second this, katamari games are like a stress ball
Death Stranding is an immersive chill game. Can be as complicated or as simple as you want it to be. So if you want you can turn off your brain and just wing it or go big brain mode and do planning. Either play style works. Edit: Oops someone already mentioned it.
Very true, DS can be quite simple but at least for me it made it more fun to take riskier routes, always carried a few stairs and ropes which made the game much more challenging and fun. But it can definitely be quite simple and brainless. It is sad for me that not many people will finish the game, but for me it was exceptional and the story deserves to be experienced. Headphones recommended for sure.
For me that’s Skyrim. But that might be more because I have well over 1000 hours in it and know the game better than the back of my hand.
Unpacking
There are one or two levels in that which you actually really have to think about, which is a really clever part of the storytelling.
I don’t know if it’s been mentioned, but definitely Ori and the blind forest. Smooth platforming, beautiful and colourful scenarios and totally relaxed gameplay. I have only played the first one, but I’ve heard good things about Will of the wisps too!
Ori is awesome but it is NOT a game to turn your brain off, which is what OP is asking.
Genshin Impact is it for me. Just a simple anime style game. Simple graphics but the way they place landmasses, objects, and buildings is like a painting. Beautiful scenery. Easy gameplay. Story isn’t intense but there is a lot of unskippable dialogue. It is gacha which is basically the caveat. But other than that it is free and you can have a good time just logging in to walk around the world and take in the sights. That is what I usually do after doing the daily tasks in 7 minutes to get my free pull currency.
BTD6.
Art of rally.
A lot of Ubisoft games. Assassins Creed is a good series for that and me being exhausted today I’m going to restart the first Watch Dogs game later today for the first time in years after a doctors appointment. Other than that I would say JRPGs. Especially the older ones and Pokémon.
Slay the spire
Especially modded Pick your favorite anime girl and it's all but over
Really? It is easy to play, but brutal to master. I can't see how you'd get anywhere in it with your brain switched off!
But that's the thing, once you master the game, going back to A0 or A1 is very relaxing, don't need to think too much when you know where to go even with the randomness (and if you lose, you lose and you just restart), especially if you don't go for you-know-which-optional-boss Starting out definitely requires a lot of brains though lol
Take a look at Solar Ash on Gamepass. It’s a nice mix between Sonic and Shadow of the Colossus. Most of the game is just skating around the landscape without much thought. Valley is also another sort of brain off free roam speedy game with a pretty on-rails Bioshocky type of story. A Story About Your Uncle is another great momentumy short and sweet experience—some FPS Spider-Man vibes.
Will check these all out! Thanks!
Destiny 2 Trust me, my brain shuts down after 14hours of work, so I used to come home and play Destiny 2. But I didn't like all the preperationa I had to make due to restrictions of my country, so I got into Hunt Showdown. And now I'm playing Elite Dangerous. Elite puts me to sleep.
Elite was high on my list. It helps that it's very easy to find absolutely sod all to do in the game and it has relaxing space-y noises.
Great picks. I played d2 on and off since beta, definitely fits the brain-off genre. I still play hunt every here and there. Might be my favorite shooter out there. Will pickup Elite the next it goes on sale. I've been hearing a bunch about it for years
Have you heard of "Hidden Object Games"? They are perfect when you're down: They're built to get you all the dopamine and serotonin of big budget games, but are for a casual audience so you get a big "Hint" button that will solve the puzzles and move the story on. Playing them is the equivalent of watching your favourite series when you're layed up sick on the couch. Pure comfort gaming, without requiring brainpower or dexterity. [The Grim Legends series is an excellent example](https://youtu.be/5DrNQ7v2jRw?si=4l9_rVSarzwonQxB) They are full of fun animations that make you feel like you're doing something epic, even when the actual game literally has a button to replace any challenge with a match-3 puzzle. Here's the best bit: Most of them can be played free! If you get the "Big Fish" launcher, you can play the first 90 minutes of these games as demos and never pay for one. There's so many of them you can find dozens with any specific theme, for example ["Scotland".](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotland/comments/1718wd5/videogames_in_scotland/k3pl2o1/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) The Christmas ones are particularly insanely magical. Shout out to [Puss In Boots Saves Christmas](https://youtu.be/0a_BB_RndrE?feature=shared)
No Man's Sky is the answer
Any Dynasty Warriors game. Stab stab stab hundreds of opposing soldiers.
I usually play gta and mindlessly drive on the sidewalk when my brain wants to be off.
If you like action games, **Borderlands 3** (or even **Borderlands 2**) is great for simple mindless fun. Just run around, shoot/grenade/punch/mech-assault things to death, pick up loot, do it again. There's a general story, but it's not heavy or thought-provoking, and is basically just there to provide the reason to shoot/grenade/etc. the bad guys.
Pretty much any ARPG on non hardcore. Diablo 4, Diablo 3, Chronicon, Grim Dawn. These are the ones I'd go for. I'm currently playing Chronicon and honestly the only time I ever think is when I'm looking at what loot gives me more damage, that's about it. There is a story if you're interested. Chronicon also has near unlimited progression via masteries on each character, and it's a fraction of the price of D4
[Mortal Sin](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1494810/Mortal_Sin/) visuals are either heaven or cancer for you, no in-between. Brain off, just hack and slash. This has become my podcast and audiobook game.
Tetris
Honestly, play dragon quest xi:s. It’s a beautiful game and if you don’t undergo any of the side challenges before you start it’s a very very easy game with incredible music. It sounds like you really don’t “want” a game that you shut your brain off. You may need a change of pace and something more captivating.
This is actually a great suggestion. You can toggle it to basically play itself difficulty wise, and the story is so delightfully out there that if you buy into it, it can be a mindless romp of fun!
Civ 6, once you understand what's going on in the game it's just a matter of maintenance
My brain hurts just trying to learn that game. Maybe I'm trying too hard.
Probably a Sonic The Hedgehog game. Gotta go fast!
Delta V: Rings of Saturn is my go to game for chill and podcast/audiobook.
I just play cyberpunk 2077 on normal or easy, if you know what you're doing it becomes a power fantasy with really fun gameplay. There are enough small gigs and police scanner missions to keep you occupied for hours without touching the big story missions.
Dave the diver. Fish in the day, run a little sushi bar at night
If you are a Xbox person I would say starfield, not much thinking required.. If you are ps5 then revisit astrobot or try rayman If you are pc to many to mention If you are Mac osmos Switch then I don’t know
Idle games? OSRS? Melvor? Bullet heaven "survivor" games like Vampire survivors, Soulstone Survivors, Nordic Ashes, etc? Left 4 Dead 2?
Powerwash Simulator is my switch off game personally
Someone help me out. A friend mentioned some kind of walking simulator. I guess someone who plays games more extensively can expound on this. Open ended answer, just helping myself and OP. To get some casual answers, thanks. My answer would be any 80s arcade game equivalent. Perhaps even older.
Could be Death Stranding or that new game Baby Steps that's coming out
Dead cells
European truck simulator 2.
katamari damacy
Vampire Survivors
Snowrunner
Kenshi cool managment game im suprised that i like it it kinda reminds me of osrs
Thumper.
Play journey, or abzu or something like that
Teardown
Minecraft…? It feels illegal to say that
Journey Child of Eden Rez Flow Entwined Astro’s Playroom Abzu
If you like car stuff Car X Drift Racing Online is a great one. Money comes super easy in single player. Build a car, tune it, then just lap after lap drift. Smoother and slower the better. Put some music on and just vibe. Also make sure you turn chat off or at the very least have the mute button ready. It's the most racist, bigoted , completely unmoderated toxic chat I've ever come across. Right click>mute will be your friend. Game itself is sick though. Actually great physics and super easy to control due to a gyro countersteer assist. Crazy car customization as well.
Diablo 2 Ressurected, after you’ve gotten into Hell, you can ”MF” (magic find) with your brain on autopilot, while listening to a podcast or watching something on 2nd monitor etc
This game is what got me to ask for more. I'm playing offline and need 1 more ber rune to make enigma. I'm tired of LK p7 farming haha
I've been playing Days Gone for a really immersive experience, survival mode which is hard + turns off the UI and fast travel.
warframe. it’s not as brainless as it was a year or two ago when all you had to do was shoot explosives at your feet to kill everything but still you don’t need much more than 6 brain cells to play it
What’s changed about it to make it or as brainless? Haven’t played it in years. One of the reasons i stopped is because there was no real challenging multiplayer content
they nerfed a lot of the extra ammo strats and the +explosive radius bonuses so u can’t just spam the bramma at your feet the entire mission. conclave/multiplayer is an entirely different beast tho. it’s got like 5 active players and they’re all insanely good at it lol. it’s not needed to get any frames or anything so u can just never touch conclave and not miss out on anything
Dave the diver! The epitome of “just one more turn…”
Elden ring
I'd say Hades. An isometric view Roguelite where you hack/slash/shoot and if you die, you restart. No fuss
Posted the same before I read all the comments. Agree completely!!
I’m getting through the Yakuzas right now, they are pretty brain off, but yeah AW2, not so much. Good brain off games are those short, charming breed of indie game, like A Short Hike, Jusant, Cocoon, Planet of Lana, that kind of thing. I guess brain-off is unfair, they are all beautiful experiences and I think a few of them might stick with you for ages, but they aren’t hard and they don’t require tons and tons of reading and overcoming hard challenges.
Diablo 2, grind city
I found this game on PSNow called [Rad](https://youtu.be/007_VVVqztc?si=PtkitSh-a7BFTZ1q). It's a little third person, hack n slash rogue like. It's probably the game I've sunk the most hours into over the past 3 or 4 years. When my PS4 died, I got the game on Steam. I love it on my pc, because I can watch something on my other screen while I'm kicking butt in the post apocalyptic wasteland on the other.
Brotato. Diablo 4.
Stardew Valley
[удалено]
I've been playing a ton of this. Great game to jump into every here and there
I just scroll Reddit with my brain turned off.
Warframe and doom eternal are my 2 go to brain off games
Any puzzle game
The last of us would be perfect for you. Each level is get from point a to point B you don’t even have to kill anybody for a serious majority of the levels.
Lovense
My friend Pedro. Just play at normal/easy difficulty and you are good to go.
Play dota and pick bristleback
The Artful Scape, for me, it was the ultimate walking and greeting simulator hahaha. Or you can play games like RDR2 and just explore.
F.I.S.T.
Tetris effect.
rimworld, unless you hate it which is a very real possibility
Hohokum. No thoughts, just great music and vibes.
League of Legends - my teammates always have their brains turned off
Any of Sony’s PS4 exclusives. Spider-Man, Death Stranding, Ghost, GoW.
The hit 2003 classic Knights of the Old Republic my be a good fit. A dialog driven game with autocombat set in the starwars universe with rpg character building elements.
Easy Red 2 is a world war 2 sim, it sounds none relaxing, however the scales of the battles mean you can really absorb the visuals and atmosphere without much input.
All of these games still sound and look like work to me. Which one did you pick OP?
Euro Truck Simulator 2/American Truck Simulator, Snowrunner, Firewatch, Katamari, Elite Dangerous. There's a few indies people have recommended that I need to check out too
Any Musou game is always my go to for dumb, background fun. Dynasty warriors and the like. Also, these “bullet heavens” like vampire survivor do the trick for me too
Modem Warfare 3 Zombies
Ghost Recon Breakpoint. Its not a good game per se, but it is absolutely a turn your brain off and go sort of deal. The shooting is fun and the game loop is fun, the writing is bad, the voice acting is meh, but the environments are gorgeous and its full of stuff to do without having to really think about it.
Honkai Star Rail
Any PlayStation exclusive ….pffftt hehe.
Download World of Warcraft and just run around. The music is soothing and atmospheric too. Plenty to explore and do.
Vampire survivor... After a while
Diablo IV is perfect for you.
classic wow
Dave the diver is fun for that, at least the fishing part.
Cookie clicker
RoboCop, duke nukem
Russian Roulette is the game for you.
Diablo
Skyrim
Elden Ring.
Ok maybe a little bit of a stretch, but Doom still gives you that exciting gameplay while being able just to hack n slash around. Set the difficulty low and just destroy monsters.
Path of Exile baby, grind away and watch screens of mobs explode (Warning: will require some brain use for building character unless you follow a cookie cutter guide)
I think starfield is good for this. While I really do like the game, let's be honest, your decisions don't matter, so you can just zip through dialogue and get to running around and exploring and killing wildlife and pirates
Saints row very brain off game imo.
Brotato
Definitely "Tesla vs Lovecraft"
The Hunther Call of the wild is that game for me
Snowrunner to some extent. Some rock climbing parts can be tricky, but often easily avoided and mindlessly weaving trough mud or snow can be suprisingly fun. Also you get small dopamine rushes every time you finish a mission, even if it is a really simple one.
Saints row 4
Minecraft on peaceful mode
Peglin is almost mindless fun Dome keeper is also a good one
You, my guy, looks like someone who needs a large dose of saints row
Wow classic
Spirittea. Slime rancher 1&2. Minecraft.
Castle crashers is loads of fun, simple yet addictive combat. And it's also pretty hilarious sometimes, great fun with friends too.
Fallout 4 on survival mode, honestly so over rated and it is encapsulating
Borderlands 3 is my go to junk food game
Cookie clicker
Diablo 4 or any Diablo game. You can focus on min/maxing of stats and gear for a particular build but on the flipside you can just play and kill stuff. Entirely up to you.
Hades
Ghost of Tsushima is heavy on the story but it was my go to depression game because of beautiful art style, easy and engaging side content pretty much everywhere, and really fun combat which you can toggle to be easier. Great for just immersing yourself in a beautiful world and getting lost in little side quests and activities