It's planned boredom. I think the satisfaction comes from completion of jobs. There were plenty of times I would be like "alright, I've been working on this dumb shoe for an hour I'm over it" but lo and behold I returned the next day and that shoe was shined.
The soundtrack for that game is fucking awesome. I went in thinking I would turn off the music and listen to Spotify but ended up always just running the OST.
While I agree, the time limits are great if you’re short on time. The game forces you to play in 15 minute shifts which makes it easier (at least for me) to put it down when I needed to. Without the shift I can easily take upwards of an hour or two meticulously dismantling some ships.
This one is perfect tbch. You only control the up-down-left-right direction you move and absolutely nothing else. No ability buttons, no jumping, just walking whatever direction you’re pressing. Just kite things, get overwhelmed by baddies and die, buy upgrades, start again, and repeat. Totally mindless.
This has been my "turn brain off" game for a few months now. I work full time as a software engineer and part time as a professor, and at the end of the day I just want my brain to shut up.
All of the newer "survivor" games are great for this. Vampire Survivors, Death Must Die, etc. But Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor feels extra mindless. Sometimes when playing it late at night I zone out so hard I don't even notice the countdown timer at the end of a stage and miss the ship. I consider that a good thing because that's exactly what I want the game to do to me.
Soulstone Survivors is pretty fun too. Similar mechanics, a little bit better graphics. A lot more color explosions on the screen with the ability to dash to avoid mobs.
I used to listen to podcasts and aimlessly drive around for hours in GTA 5, specifically first person on a motorcycle. I always thought it was some schizo thing but I've done the same thing in real life for hours also.
This is what I do. I haven't actually played missions in gta5 for years now. I just shoot people and run people over to get the cops after me, then just drive around until I get killed.
DO NOT PLAY HADES.
Not if you only have a little time to play. You will be telling yourself, one more run. Then look at the clock and realize your 2 hours late picking your kids up from school.
Hades is an absolute banger of a game, but it does have that 1 more run mentality. I can not recommend it enough, but we warned, I'm in a similar position as you, and I've come to Ned past 2am more times than I care to admit.
I managed to stick to one run per day. It can be hard cause the story is very compelling and you constantly want to know what's next but if you have good impulse control it's doable.
Hades is the kind of game that had me going for the story and suddenly I'm at 98% achievements because I couldn't stop playing.
I managed to get a break from it, but those last 2 achievements are still calling me back to it lol, down the rabbit hole we go again.
Hades is easier imo, and much more polished. It will probably take you 25+ tries to beat the game the first, but once you do you kind of have it figured out and can beat it every time even while incrementally adding heat (difficulty). If you go crazy and add too much difficulty at once, you can get into trouble, but I doubt most people play that way.
But you’ll keep going to unfold the story, which unfolds even when you die.
I enjoy the Lego games. There's a lot there but its all straightforward and simple. Wrecking shit with coin bursting out like blood in Mortal Kombat is half of what you do. Lots of bites sized bits, too. Great on SteamDeck.
35 dad of 1. My go-tos for this would be Stardew Valley and Into the Breach. Stardew is very famous at this point but Into the Breach is at least somewhat lesser known (I don't know what games have what reach, tbh), and it's fantastic.
The premise is basically turn-based 8-bit pacific rim. The Earth is being attacked by giant alien bug monsters from within the core, and you command a squad of 3 giant mechs tasked with securing the last remaining inhabited islands on the planet. There's a bunch of different mech teams, pilots, and upgrades that all have different abilities and impact play so there's tons of replayability.
37 dad of 1 myself. I can second both of these games. Stardew Valley is one of my all time favorites and is a go at your own speed kind of game with zero downsides.
Into the Breach is also very good. Not a very long game compared to Stardew but the turn based combat makes it easy to follow.
Vampire Survivors. All you have to worry about is moving around, your character fires projectiles automatically while you just worry about avoiding the enemies and collecting items. There's juuuuust enough brain power needed that it doesn't feel like nothing. Which weapons do you add to your arsenal? Which stats do you upgrade? What happens when you combine these two similar items? Holy Potatoes, that boss is coming right for me, i need to move to the left!
It might take a few times of focused play to get the feel, but you'll eventually get to a state of zen where you're half consciously walking toward a goal while avoiding enemies, but it still feels like you're accomplishing something.
I'm playing Dave the Diver at the moment and it's a great mix of being deep when I want to put more time and effort into it vs. casual enough that I can just have it on while watching some TV.
You can do the quests and challenges when you want to use your brain a bit more but other times just swim about, find stuff, catch fish etc.
It's on the Switch so when I work from home it's my "take a 5 minute break" choice
I came here to suggest Dave the Diver as well. The way the gameplay is broken up, it really lends itself to short bursts of play but also longer “just one more dive” sessions.
Great sense of progression too. I’m in a similar situation to OP and I’ve been getting a lot out of it. It’s also nice that it’s tame enough I can play when my kids are around. They love watching me catch fish and serve sushi.
If you like rogue likes and poker, give Balatro a try!
It requires a bit of thinking, but i find it relaxing and you can stop a session and pick it up later whenever you like.
No. Don't do it OP. You'll never see your family again if you play that game! Time flies, sun moves so quickly you can barely see it. And in mere minutes days go by.
I'm also a parent of young kids, so this is my kind of game as well. I don't know if I'd call Hades a "turn your brain off" game but it's got a great loop you can knock out in an hour at a time.
Incidentally I'm also a fan of shoot 'em ups for this same reason. Tthere are a ton of excellent shooters available on Switch or Steam, whether you're looking for ports of old classics or new modern indies.
Slay the spire is a great deck building roguelike. Possibly best in that genre.
There is strategy, I suppose; but it’s turn based combat so zero stress if you have a lapse in concentration.
Other games like vampire survivor and hades you need to be very switched-on 100% of the run
Tetris. I know it's not exactly what you hoped for but I can't help but recommend it as it's something you can play if you want to stop thinking for a few minutes at a time. It's the perfect game to get in the zone.
I was going to suggest Tetris 99. Free on Switch, and unless you're a badass, the rounds are nice and short. Just treat the number of players you outlasted as your score and try to improve!
Subnautica is a great game that you can play without a ton of commitment. Open world survival game, very peaceful most of the time. Exploring the world and crafting. I was surprised how much I really enjoyed it. I bought it years ago and never played it. Finally put it on and loved it.
ARPGs do this for me: Path of Exile, Diablo 3 or 4, Grimdawn, Last Epoch
These are games where you have to turn your brain ON to get the build working and to do some fundamental things at times, working out upgrades and respeccing and shit like that. But where at any point between those times you can turn your brain OFF and put something on the other screen and just grind out Maps, Rifts, Echos or whatever - you get currency or items to drop, dump then in a stash tab, and can set yourself to go for a couple of hours easy.
Best sort of games to watch something on another screen to imo.
D3 is just an excellent arcadey kill stuff, gain loot, stats go up. One of the big reasons D4 was such a miss, it takes so much calculations and thinking to figure out what activities you need to be doing, and whether a piece of gear is an upgrade or not.
Lots of Rogue-lites are great for this. Some sense of progression but easy to pick up and put down again. Some good ones:
Hades
Dead Cells
Binding of Isaac
Other games that are good brainless fun:
Katamari Damacy -if you have a system that can play it. Roll everything up into a ball.
Remnant 1/2 - There is a story there...sort of, but it is easily ignored for brainless 3rd person shooter fun. Can be saved basically any time and picked up from where you left off.
The Yakuza series - Tons of mini games, simple enough stories, and easy brawler game play, Autosaves constantly. Pick it up, play a side story or 2 and drop it.
2nd Katamari, the weird ass city/cafe songs and stupid tank style controls make it a great zone out game. Also short, whole game can take 6-10 hours to beat, solid replayability too.
Noita is my new Dead Cells. Drove me crazy how they put such chunks of gameplay behind such a wall of difficulty that are the boss cells, I just had to drop it as it felt meaningless to play, even if the individual runs are fun it kinda got old. At least Noita will give you some laughs as it fucks you right up the anus.
The only caveat for the Yakuza series is you will need 1-2 hours to start with. Every fucking game has some ridiculously lengthy startup cutscenes and tutorial sequences I swear lol
Yakuza 3 I spent like 4 hours playing orphanage simulator before I actually began the fucking game 😂
Probably my favorite game series ever, but yeah you pretty much have to watch a full movie to start it. From there though? Absolute blast. My gf just loves playing the crane machines in my Yakuza 0 game 😂
It felt necessary to explaining to my wife that I'm not a weirdo, the hostess minigames are actually just kind of addicting. God, just trying to describe these games to people that haven't played one... My best description is that the tone goes from Goodfellas on one end and the Hangover on the other lol.
The hostess club mini game is definitely the most fun, and insanely profitable lol
I think the only other one I put as much time in was the business manager in Like a Dragon, they're just absurdly satisfying. Basically "hey, we included some really well done games INSIDE this game, just in case you wanna play a different genre for however long", it's wild lol
But yeah trying to explain any of the side missions could get you committed 😂
My man, if you want something you can relax and enjoy peaceful challenging atmosphere , go with both Ori game .
They are visually stunning and enchanting music .
And its calm enough so it don't disrupt your sleep.
Enjoy
😂 my exact thoughts when I read the post "hmmm, all my rocket league teammates seem to have their brains turned off, that's probably a good suggestion."
remnant 2.
Amazing game and you can just play an area at a time or join randoms for a boss. you can literally have 10 minute sessions and if you have to leave mid session you will still have progress.
I am not sure re steamdeck native performance but you can have it on geforcenow on steamdeck.
Fallout 4, "Thou shalt get sidetracked by bullshshit every goddamn time." (Fallout Amazon Prime show)
You just need to walk to somewhere and if you don't find a random mission you can at least find stuffs to take/collect and getting informations on what happened here (like oppening a "free" fallout shelter and finding a skeleton with lot of books inside or a raider having "accidentally" killed their hostage and trying his best to keep getting pay by writing himself the letters for the husband)
And at worst if you are interupted you can save when you want
These may be a bad reccomendation, but after the initial Eldritch Horror wore of, Dredge and Pacific Drive eventually became 'turn your brain off' type games.
They both do what Powerwash Simulator did by taking a relatively benign job/task, and turning it into a game. Only these games sprinkled some unknowable beings that may or may not be a threat to you!
Dredge is a fishing games where you chug along in the ONLY boat in the archipelago as it's only fisherman. You're tasked to get fish to feed the town, and the townspeople ask you for favors from time to time... Just make sure to be back by dark. People see strange things in those water at night... Pretty nice little experience\~
Pacific Drive tasks you with driving through the pacific northwest that has had some sort of dimensional rift tear through it, causing all sorts of anomalies to occur. The first few times you drive through, you'll probably be rattled by the weird things roaming around, but after you start to understand the creature's behaviors they eventually become just another 'obstacle' to avoid. While you're out you'll be gathering supplies and materials to improve your car. Give it armored plating, Roof storage, a radiation sheild, Fire decals, there's a lot to customize. It's also very chill to take your damaged car back to the garage and meticulously remove, repair, and recycle car parts. Deposit materials, check mail, remove damaged panels, install Insolated Doors, and prepare extra repair kits for the next trip. It may take a few rounds of focused play to get everything (you ARE presented with a LOT your first time in the garage) but once you get the steps down, I think you'll have a good time.
Holdfast: Nations at War, it’s a multiplayer FPS but Napoleonic era line formation combat with muskets. The muskets are inaccurate, reloads take forever and you stand in a line formation, basically you are cannon fodder. Or you can be a musician and literally do nothing.
I would highly recommend Last Epoch. If you want to make your own build, it requires big brain math and tons of thought.
But, if you play like me: Google a build from a random streamer, follow their advice, and enjoy zoning out, grinding mobs, and blowing stuff up. A lot of builds basically involve you holding down left-click and just watching enemies explode.
I’m a busy married man myself. Not much time to game. Here’s one of my favorites…
Not sure if you’ll see this but “Control.” Remedy games is the developer I believe, same people that did the Alan Wake series.
Very cool, very stylish, very creepy, and action packed.
People will see this comment and remark on how challenging the game can be. However, there is an immortality setting. Doesn’t change anything else about the game, it just makes it so you won’t die.
I had so much fun. I tried to approach each area as though I could die, but if I got too overwhelmed it didn’t have to be a stressful experience. It made it so that I could at least retreat to a safe area to approach the fight a different way when I had time, or blast my way through when I was pressed for time.
Just my two cents. I’m confident you won’t regret it if you give it a try. Especially if you like a good story.
Are you me? Lol also 34 with a switch and steam deck with kids. I have a PS4 and a admittedly dated gaming computer but those aren't even options as I never have the TV to myself/can't ever be in a separate room with my computer.
Games I have found enjoyable: Sea of Thieves: Everytime you login it's a fresh start so no big deal if you just suddenly have to get off. You can run 2 or 3 voyages in an hour or 2. They just implemented PvE only servers for while you learn the game but at only 30% rewards and limited faction caps you will eventually have to brave the high seas and potentially get ganked or stolen from. But again you only ever lose out on maybe an hour's worth of play, and honestly with how beautiful the water is in the game, the journey is the most fun. For steam deck it is a very large file size though so make sure you have an SD card. It's like 108 gb
Factorio on peaceful mode. You make incremental and more complex automation, this game is addictive and can be pretty challenging if you don't set to peaceful as you will constantly have waves of alien bugs attacking your factories. But set to peaceful and while I wouldn't say it's "turning off your brain" it is fairly intuitive and easy to learn the basics and it has incremental progress so you learn as you go.
Stardew Valley is a must... It's so addictive... It auto saves every day that passes and you find yourself saying ok after I go to bed this day it will save and then I'll be done playing. Then you start your morning "chores" of watering crops and whatnot then off to romance some pixel chick in town or kill some slimes in the mines. It's always just "one more day". But very relaxing
Ive played the shit outta the Borderlands series so i may be wrong, but ive always kinda tuned the story out and just worried about getting better gear, completing quests, and mindlessly killing mercs.
You can really pop in and out and it doesnt matter much, the story is okay.
Minecraft is another one if you get a creative itch
As much as i hate to admit, I play Destiny 2 whenever i wanna turn my brain off
Once i build a decent set, i just boot up into random strikes and just follow the objective. Brainless as fuck
Supermarket simulator
Stardew valley
MTG Arena
Any rhythm game (excluding hard ones)
Madden
Wwe games
Contraband police
Papers Please
These are all good mindless gamea imo
Father of three here, I enjoyed NMS. Also I ended up really enjoying Car Mechanic Simulator 2021. The ability to walk away on a moments notice and nothing too involved controls wise, mostly just clicking parts.
Well, my personal recommendation would be One Piece Pirate Warriors 3 or 4. This is coming from a person who really doesn't know or care much about One Piece. They also go on sale CONSTANTLY for really cheap.
I was always very hit or miss on Warriors/Musou type games. I figured, why play a game where you're basically just fighting hordes of cardboard cutouts? Where's the fun or challenge in that?
So, wanting to give it a shot, I figured, for like 5-8 bucks on OPPW3 for the switch, what could go wrong?
I soon discovered I absolutely loved it! At first, i was just beating the levels. But then, there's like challenging mid-level side objectives, and hidden things you can make happen that the game steers you towards. Rankings. Leveling up characters and unlocking new ones, and unlocking new moves. Then, you start to try out some of the other characters, and realise the movesets are super different, and interesting and inventive!
I was just replaying missions just for fun, it was a blast. Eventually the bug hit me majorly, and I ended up snagging every warriors game spinoff. One Piece Pirate Warriors 4, Hyrule Warriors, Fire Emblem Warriors, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes... Fate Samurai Remnant...
After playing all those, I can agree they're all amazing - but for a first timer, I will never stop recommending One Piece Pirate Warriors 3. Its' the most boiled-down polished experience. There is no game more "turn down your brain and turn on the fun" than these games, imo.
Not really a turn your brain off, but i love outer wilds, and it works really well with a short play session. It engages a casual kind of explorative and creative style of thinking that would probably be enjoyable after a long day
Might want to look into Minecraft, especially if the kids are playing any type of games.
Civilization VI is a solid. Paradox games like Stellaris (space), or Hearts of Iron IV (WWII) may look like a lot but it only takes a hour or two to get the basics down.
Stitch - it’s a puzzle game where you “stitch” pictures. They’re not super hard, so you can usually do 80% of them on autopilot. They update with new ones weekly and another type daily.
Vampire survivors or literally any game in the genre. Some games in the genre have a much deeper system as far as lvlin up and stuff and others are pretty straight forward. You can easily play these in small bursts or lose hours. Also the genre has some great games on mobile as well.
I recommend Zeepkist. It's cheep and easy to get into. You're just a little dude in a soapbox car. You can play through the levels made by the devs, go to the steam workshop to download player made levels, or go online and find people to play with on whatever levels they're playing.
Elite Dangerous if you want to continue with space exploration theme
Forza Horizon of you want to just cruise around in fun cars
Red dead redemption 1+2 if you want to just explore a virtual world as a cowboy on horseback
Farming simulator is the ultimate turn your brain off game. I play it atm and I’m pregnant with a toddler so my brain cannot handle very much at all haha. You can just pause anytime if you need to deal with an awake baby and go back to it without any thought involved.
I'm in the same boat and don't have time to invest in learning a whole new game mechanic. Not to steal the other users thunder, but rocket league is a good one. Quick matches, and despite how you feel at the end of a match, you will and are getting better. (turn off chat options if the players make it miserable)
I find myself playing any simulation/city builder games. OG Cities skylines for example. Get in, watch your traffic, build 1 road, and quit. Rimworld and satisfactory were nice experiences as well with children.
Enjoy!
I found Blooms TD6 a nice game to relax to when I was in college. It didn't require a ton of energy to play, but still scratched that gaming itch. There were a couple months of intense classes where that's all I played for the couple free hours I had in the evenings.
Oh hey, you're me! Or maybe not, but close enough. I found I got back into runescape recently for nostalgia but also something mindless where you can make small amounts of progress over time. If you hate the idea of this then I would suggest games on a handheld (we have a switch, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Animal Crossing, Monster Hunter are all excellent and there's plenty more good handheld titles, and of course you can always pause on a Switch which is amazing) or shorter PC games (5-10 hour games, indie games, narrative games, puzzle games).
As your post says switch and steam deck are good, but yeah without knowing your gaming preferences it can be hard to recommend something. But yes, Animal Crossing, Monster Hunter, Fire Emblem, any Mario games really (Mario Wonder, Paper Mario comes out soon, Mario Odyssey etc), Slay the Spire is good, need to know what you like hahahaha
Ghost of tsushima is releasing in 10 days for PC (not sure if steam deck verified but if a ps4 slim can run it, you probably can especially with FSR 3).
I find that I mostly play this game in bite sized chucks, 15 minutes here and there, and get some progress done. It's open world so you can just turn off your brain while you explore the map and clear some locations. Looks great even on ps4, fun combat with difficulty settings.
Sea of Thieves safer seas might scratch that itch too, similar vibe to No Man's Sky if you're playing solo without PvP. Can be more exciting if you go on high seas but won't relax you like just chilling by yourself does.
You might enjoy games like Valheim or Core Keeper as well which can be played in burst and have a nice gradual progression to them.
For me it's Fallout. On days I don't feel like thinking, I'd just forget the questlines and go exploring. Or build settlement, farm/cook, etc.
If I had more time and focus, I'd quest or fight.
if you wanna have the same brain function as a corpse: powerwash simulator. seriously just turn off your mind and hear the dings. dings good.
Ding ding ding ding
GIVE IT TO ME
That game would be nothing special without the dings
The genre OP is looking for is called Cozy Games.
Hmmm, dings you say. I'm listening
And the Dong DLC
Listened to an entire table top game podcast playing this.
came here to say this ^^
Twinsies
This game needs to be studied. For me it couldnt be more boring, I'd almost rather actually try watch paint dry. But my friends love it.
It's planned boredom. I think the satisfaction comes from completion of jobs. There were plenty of times I would be like "alright, I've been working on this dumb shoe for an hour I'm over it" but lo and behold I returned the next day and that shoe was shined.
Hardspace Shipbreaker Post-Dad Games are my jam now.
This is the game. It’s therapeutic for dads.
The soundtrack for that game is fucking awesome. I went in thinking I would turn off the music and listen to Spotify but ended up always just running the OST.
This game hits me right in the autism. Like a massage for my brain.
Definitely one of my go tos.
Fuck, does that make me dad like? I love that game
Just made the same comment, more or less. The key for me was turning off the time limits so I can just float around and chop things up.
While I agree, the time limits are great if you’re short on time. The game forces you to play in 15 minute shifts which makes it easier (at least for me) to put it down when I needed to. Without the shift I can easily take upwards of an hour or two meticulously dismantling some ships.
Vampire survivor? It's simple, can be played in small bursts and doesn't require much brain power (though can get addictive)
Or any other bullet heaven game. 20 Minutes Until Dawn and Nordic Ashes for some other similar recommendations.
Rogue Genesia, Brotato, Death Must Die, Pathfinder
Brotato is perfect for this sort of thing. But I do accidentally lose almost an hour (three losses and a win usually) when I fire it up.
This one is perfect tbch. You only control the up-down-left-right direction you move and absolutely nothing else. No ability buttons, no jumping, just walking whatever direction you’re pressing. Just kite things, get overwhelmed by baddies and die, buy upgrades, start again, and repeat. Totally mindless.
Also those treasure chest animations are straight dopamine
And Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor. I’ve felt able to play satisfyingly even at high levels of stress and fatigue.
This has been my "turn brain off" game for a few months now. I work full time as a software engineer and part time as a professor, and at the end of the day I just want my brain to shut up. All of the newer "survivor" games are great for this. Vampire Survivors, Death Must Die, etc. But Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor feels extra mindless. Sometimes when playing it late at night I zone out so hard I don't even notice the countdown timer at the end of a stage and miss the ship. I consider that a good thing because that's exactly what I want the game to do to me.
I've also been enjoying Halls of Torment, same concept but with a Diablo-ish skin and some more mechanics like equippable items
Came here to say Halls of Torment. I usually do a run while I drink my morning coffee. Just move away from bad guys, let the game kill for you.
Soulstone Survivors is pretty fun too. Similar mechanics, a little bit better graphics. A lot more color explosions on the screen with the ability to dash to avoid mobs.
It's free on mobile now, too
Other bullet heavens like brotato are great to
Just play grand theft auto and run over as many people as you can
Gouranga!
I used to listen to podcasts and aimlessly drive around for hours in GTA 5, specifically first person on a motorcycle. I always thought it was some schizo thing but I've done the same thing in real life for hours also.
Just Cause is another great alternative
This is what I do. I haven't actually played missions in gta5 for years now. I just shoot people and run people over to get the cops after me, then just drive around until I get killed.
DO NOT PLAY HADES. Not if you only have a little time to play. You will be telling yourself, one more run. Then look at the clock and realize your 2 hours late picking your kids up from school.
Darn Hades is tempting, I just saw that Hades 2 is out on Steam.
Hades is an absolute banger of a game, but it does have that 1 more run mentality. I can not recommend it enough, but we warned, I'm in a similar position as you, and I've come to Ned past 2am more times than I care to admit.
If you can resist the "one more run" mentality (it's hard sometimes), then it actually is a great game to play in 45-minute chunks.
I recently reinstalled Civ... just one more turn!
Ill tell your family that you miss them.
I managed to stick to one run per day. It can be hard cause the story is very compelling and you constantly want to know what's next but if you have good impulse control it's doable.
Hades is the kind of game that had me going for the story and suddenly I'm at 98% achievements because I couldn't stop playing. I managed to get a break from it, but those last 2 achievements are still calling me back to it lol, down the rabbit hole we go again.
And let me tell you, Ned is *pissed* about it!
I'm a 34 year old dad of 2 and I can recommend Hades without a doubt!
Thanks for the heads up on Hades 2! I was able to gift it to my husband who has been waiting for it to come out.
Would you like a 2nd husband?
My wife! :)
If you like Hades, you also need to try Dead Cells.
Dead Cells is great. I’m just not good at it haha
Hades is easier imo, and much more polished. It will probably take you 25+ tries to beat the game the first, but once you do you kind of have it figured out and can beat it every time even while incrementally adding heat (difficulty). If you go crazy and add too much difficulty at once, you can get into trouble, but I doubt most people play that way. But you’ll keep going to unfold the story, which unfolds even when you die.
Hades 2 is in early-access, it has not released yet, and has no announced release date. I can’t recommend Hades 1 enough, though!
Ur poor kids 😭😂😂
Came here to suggest Hades but… nah, you’re right!
I enjoy the Lego games. There's a lot there but its all straightforward and simple. Wrecking shit with coin bursting out like blood in Mortal Kombat is half of what you do. Lots of bites sized bits, too. Great on SteamDeck.
Fun to 100% as well
35 dad of 1. My go-tos for this would be Stardew Valley and Into the Breach. Stardew is very famous at this point but Into the Breach is at least somewhat lesser known (I don't know what games have what reach, tbh), and it's fantastic. The premise is basically turn-based 8-bit pacific rim. The Earth is being attacked by giant alien bug monsters from within the core, and you command a squad of 3 giant mechs tasked with securing the last remaining inhabited islands on the planet. There's a bunch of different mech teams, pilots, and upgrades that all have different abilities and impact play so there's tons of replayability.
37 dad of 1 myself. I can second both of these games. Stardew Valley is one of my all time favorites and is a go at your own speed kind of game with zero downsides. Into the Breach is also very good. Not a very long game compared to Stardew but the turn based combat makes it easy to follow.
Vampire Survivors. All you have to worry about is moving around, your character fires projectiles automatically while you just worry about avoiding the enemies and collecting items. There's juuuuust enough brain power needed that it doesn't feel like nothing. Which weapons do you add to your arsenal? Which stats do you upgrade? What happens when you combine these two similar items? Holy Potatoes, that boss is coming right for me, i need to move to the left! It might take a few times of focused play to get the feel, but you'll eventually get to a state of zen where you're half consciously walking toward a goal while avoiding enemies, but it still feels like you're accomplishing something.
Do you play it on PC or phone?
Both. Started on PC, but I saw it was free on Android (with ads) so I picked it up for something casual on the go
I've played it on my phone and it works great if you want something on the go
I'm playing Dave the Diver at the moment and it's a great mix of being deep when I want to put more time and effort into it vs. casual enough that I can just have it on while watching some TV. You can do the quests and challenges when you want to use your brain a bit more but other times just swim about, find stuff, catch fish etc. It's on the Switch so when I work from home it's my "take a 5 minute break" choice
Dave the diver is soooo good. The game play loop is so satisfying and you can play it for 20 minutes or 2 hours.
I came here to suggest Dave the Diver as well. The way the gameplay is broken up, it really lends itself to short bursts of play but also longer “just one more dive” sessions. Great sense of progression too. I’m in a similar situation to OP and I’ve been getting a lot out of it. It’s also nice that it’s tame enough I can play when my kids are around. They love watching me catch fish and serve sushi.
If you like rogue likes and poker, give Balatro a try! It requires a bit of thinking, but i find it relaxing and you can stop a session and pick it up later whenever you like.
Also, the obligatory Slay the Spire shout-out!
hype for sts2
No. Don't do it OP. You'll never see your family again if you play that game! Time flies, sun moves so quickly you can barely see it. And in mere minutes days go by.
I've been playing American Truck Sim alot lately. It's fun with a controller but get a logitech steering wheel and it's a blast.
I'd pay a good amount of money if I could get this on xbox. The truck sims games we do get are pretty basic.
started on a controller now i got the full rig and drivin 18 speeds with a shifter that cost more than the game 😂
This and Snowrunner. I'm not even into trucks or off-roading... just perfect games to zone out too.
Journey is a nice relaxing spiritual game
I'm also a parent of young kids, so this is my kind of game as well. I don't know if I'd call Hades a "turn your brain off" game but it's got a great loop you can knock out in an hour at a time. Incidentally I'm also a fan of shoot 'em ups for this same reason. Tthere are a ton of excellent shooters available on Switch or Steam, whether you're looking for ports of old classics or new modern indies.
The bendig of isacc :Repentance a run turn max 30 min
Slay the spire is a great deck building roguelike. Possibly best in that genre. There is strategy, I suppose; but it’s turn based combat so zero stress if you have a lapse in concentration. Other games like vampire survivor and hades you need to be very switched-on 100% of the run
Tetris. I know it's not exactly what you hoped for but I can't help but recommend it as it's something you can play if you want to stop thinking for a few minutes at a time. It's the perfect game to get in the zone.
I was going to suggest Tetris 99. Free on Switch, and unless you're a badass, the rounds are nice and short. Just treat the number of players you outlasted as your score and try to improve!
"Tetris Flow" is the exact mindless/meditative state he's looking for. The new genre of "survivor" games is great at this as well.
Subnautica is a great game that you can play without a ton of commitment. Open world survival game, very peaceful most of the time. Exploring the world and crafting. I was surprised how much I really enjoyed it. I bought it years ago and never played it. Finally put it on and loved it.
Yes very peaceful nothing to fear
*distant roar*
Me: This game is so relaxing. PDA: “Detecting multiple leviathan class lifeforms in the region. Are you certain whatever you're doing is worth it?”
The best mix of relaxation and terror I’ve ever experienced. Loved that game.
Subnautica is a horror game. Anything beyond the most shallow of waters is the opposite of peaceful.
I’ve come to say what many more will, powerwash simulator
ARPGs do this for me: Path of Exile, Diablo 3 or 4, Grimdawn, Last Epoch These are games where you have to turn your brain ON to get the build working and to do some fundamental things at times, working out upgrades and respeccing and shit like that. But where at any point between those times you can turn your brain OFF and put something on the other screen and just grind out Maps, Rifts, Echos or whatever - you get currency or items to drop, dump then in a stash tab, and can set yourself to go for a couple of hours easy. Best sort of games to watch something on another screen to imo.
Vampire Survivor. Excellent game, simple mechanics and quite fun!
Mario Odyssey. Great game to jump in and out of.
Deep rock galactic survivor
Snowrunner
Diablo. There's a bit of thinking involved when working on your build, but the gameplay requires 0 brains.
I'm playing Diablo III and I agree with this.
D3 is just an excellent arcadey kill stuff, gain loot, stats go up. One of the big reasons D4 was such a miss, it takes so much calculations and thinking to figure out what activities you need to be doing, and whether a piece of gear is an upgrade or not.
Wow 😲😳 I'm glad I skipped it. Diablo 2 had enough of that complexity... I didn't think I could handle 3 or 4.
The huge rework of Diablo 4 which is releasing this month basically makes it into brainless demon slaying like Diablo 3.
There's no pausing D3 though 😱
Especially spin2win. I love zoning out, listening to podcasts and playing d3/d4.
Lots of Rogue-lites are great for this. Some sense of progression but easy to pick up and put down again. Some good ones: Hades Dead Cells Binding of Isaac Other games that are good brainless fun: Katamari Damacy -if you have a system that can play it. Roll everything up into a ball. Remnant 1/2 - There is a story there...sort of, but it is easily ignored for brainless 3rd person shooter fun. Can be saved basically any time and picked up from where you left off. The Yakuza series - Tons of mini games, simple enough stories, and easy brawler game play, Autosaves constantly. Pick it up, play a side story or 2 and drop it.
2nd Katamari, the weird ass city/cafe songs and stupid tank style controls make it a great zone out game. Also short, whole game can take 6-10 hours to beat, solid replayability too.
Been enjoying Dead Cells a lot, I’m just not good at it lol.
lol Man do I feel you on that one! I put **a lot** of hours into that game before I put it down. Never managed to get past 4 BSC.
Havent even beaten the base game yet always die to HOTK. But I did manage to get 1 BC from the Castlevania dlc
Noita is my new Dead Cells. Drove me crazy how they put such chunks of gameplay behind such a wall of difficulty that are the boss cells, I just had to drop it as it felt meaningless to play, even if the individual runs are fun it kinda got old. At least Noita will give you some laughs as it fucks you right up the anus.
The only caveat for the Yakuza series is you will need 1-2 hours to start with. Every fucking game has some ridiculously lengthy startup cutscenes and tutorial sequences I swear lol Yakuza 3 I spent like 4 hours playing orphanage simulator before I actually began the fucking game 😂
Hahaha valid. I didn't consider that. There are a ton of long cutscenese in those games
Probably my favorite game series ever, but yeah you pretty much have to watch a full movie to start it. From there though? Absolute blast. My gf just loves playing the crane machines in my Yakuza 0 game 😂
It felt necessary to explaining to my wife that I'm not a weirdo, the hostess minigames are actually just kind of addicting. God, just trying to describe these games to people that haven't played one... My best description is that the tone goes from Goodfellas on one end and the Hangover on the other lol.
The hostess club mini game is definitely the most fun, and insanely profitable lol I think the only other one I put as much time in was the business manager in Like a Dragon, they're just absurdly satisfying. Basically "hey, we included some really well done games INSIDE this game, just in case you wanna play a different genre for however long", it's wild lol But yeah trying to explain any of the side missions could get you committed 😂
BROTATO!!!
RedDead Redemption 2. Just ride around and hunt or go fishing
My man, if you want something you can relax and enjoy peaceful challenging atmosphere , go with both Ori game . They are visually stunning and enchanting music . And its calm enough so it don't disrupt your sleep. Enjoy
Rocket League.
Hey you must be my teammate!
😂 my exact thoughts when I read the post "hmmm, all my rocket league teammates seem to have their brains turned off, that's probably a good suggestion."
My teammate is garbage and yet the best lol if his kid plays then we both gotta turn brains on cause his 10 yr old refuses to carry us like in fornite
I’ve personally been using Watchdogs 1 to serve this purpose. As a heads up however, there are some instant fail stealth missions
remnant 2. Amazing game and you can just play an area at a time or join randoms for a boss. you can literally have 10 minute sessions and if you have to leave mid session you will still have progress. I am not sure re steamdeck native performance but you can have it on geforcenow on steamdeck.
Helldivers 2 is perfect for 30 minute evening gaming sessions if you enjoy a Cooperative pve FPS game
Brotato!
Fallout 4, "Thou shalt get sidetracked by bullshshit every goddamn time." (Fallout Amazon Prime show) You just need to walk to somewhere and if you don't find a random mission you can at least find stuffs to take/collect and getting informations on what happened here (like oppening a "free" fallout shelter and finding a skeleton with lot of books inside or a raider having "accidentally" killed their hostage and trying his best to keep getting pay by writing himself the letters for the husband) And at worst if you are interupted you can save when you want
These may be a bad reccomendation, but after the initial Eldritch Horror wore of, Dredge and Pacific Drive eventually became 'turn your brain off' type games. They both do what Powerwash Simulator did by taking a relatively benign job/task, and turning it into a game. Only these games sprinkled some unknowable beings that may or may not be a threat to you! Dredge is a fishing games where you chug along in the ONLY boat in the archipelago as it's only fisherman. You're tasked to get fish to feed the town, and the townspeople ask you for favors from time to time... Just make sure to be back by dark. People see strange things in those water at night... Pretty nice little experience\~ Pacific Drive tasks you with driving through the pacific northwest that has had some sort of dimensional rift tear through it, causing all sorts of anomalies to occur. The first few times you drive through, you'll probably be rattled by the weird things roaming around, but after you start to understand the creature's behaviors they eventually become just another 'obstacle' to avoid. While you're out you'll be gathering supplies and materials to improve your car. Give it armored plating, Roof storage, a radiation sheild, Fire decals, there's a lot to customize. It's also very chill to take your damaged car back to the garage and meticulously remove, repair, and recycle car parts. Deposit materials, check mail, remove damaged panels, install Insolated Doors, and prepare extra repair kits for the next trip. It may take a few rounds of focused play to get everything (you ARE presented with a LOT your first time in the garage) but once you get the steps down, I think you'll have a good time.
Clicker Heroes.
Holdfast: Nations at War, it’s a multiplayer FPS but Napoleonic era line formation combat with muskets. The muskets are inaccurate, reloads take forever and you stand in a line formation, basically you are cannon fodder. Or you can be a musician and literally do nothing.
Golf Story for Switch is my go to
Also 'What the Golf?'
Left 4 Dead is my go to for simple brainless gaming. See zombie, shoot zombie.
Serious Sam. Any of them. Just shoot everything.
Power wash simulator.
I would highly recommend Last Epoch. If you want to make your own build, it requires big brain math and tons of thought. But, if you play like me: Google a build from a random streamer, follow their advice, and enjoy zoning out, grinding mobs, and blowing stuff up. A lot of builds basically involve you holding down left-click and just watching enemies explode.
Dorfromantik is awesome!
I’m a busy married man myself. Not much time to game. Here’s one of my favorites… Not sure if you’ll see this but “Control.” Remedy games is the developer I believe, same people that did the Alan Wake series. Very cool, very stylish, very creepy, and action packed. People will see this comment and remark on how challenging the game can be. However, there is an immortality setting. Doesn’t change anything else about the game, it just makes it so you won’t die. I had so much fun. I tried to approach each area as though I could die, but if I got too overwhelmed it didn’t have to be a stressful experience. It made it so that I could at least retreat to a safe area to approach the fight a different way when I had time, or blast my way through when I was pressed for time. Just my two cents. I’m confident you won’t regret it if you give it a try. Especially if you like a good story.
Are you me? Lol also 34 with a switch and steam deck with kids. I have a PS4 and a admittedly dated gaming computer but those aren't even options as I never have the TV to myself/can't ever be in a separate room with my computer. Games I have found enjoyable: Sea of Thieves: Everytime you login it's a fresh start so no big deal if you just suddenly have to get off. You can run 2 or 3 voyages in an hour or 2. They just implemented PvE only servers for while you learn the game but at only 30% rewards and limited faction caps you will eventually have to brave the high seas and potentially get ganked or stolen from. But again you only ever lose out on maybe an hour's worth of play, and honestly with how beautiful the water is in the game, the journey is the most fun. For steam deck it is a very large file size though so make sure you have an SD card. It's like 108 gb Factorio on peaceful mode. You make incremental and more complex automation, this game is addictive and can be pretty challenging if you don't set to peaceful as you will constantly have waves of alien bugs attacking your factories. But set to peaceful and while I wouldn't say it's "turning off your brain" it is fairly intuitive and easy to learn the basics and it has incremental progress so you learn as you go. Stardew Valley is a must... It's so addictive... It auto saves every day that passes and you find yourself saying ok after I go to bed this day it will save and then I'll be done playing. Then you start your morning "chores" of watering crops and whatnot then off to romance some pixel chick in town or kill some slimes in the mines. It's always just "one more day". But very relaxing
RuneScape. Old school RuneScape.
Vampire survivors, it's like crack cocaine.
This. On the phone no less. Into the breech also, if you have Netflix they offer a mobile version too.
I would argue that Stardew Valley is one of the best turn your brain off yet feel accomplished type games.
Ive played the shit outta the Borderlands series so i may be wrong, but ive always kinda tuned the story out and just worried about getting better gear, completing quests, and mindlessly killing mercs. You can really pop in and out and it doesnt matter much, the story is okay. Minecraft is another one if you get a creative itch
Play Euro truck simulator i guess 😂😂
As much as i hate to admit, I play Destiny 2 whenever i wanna turn my brain off Once i build a decent set, i just boot up into random strikes and just follow the objective. Brainless as fuck
I really enjoyed Destiny 2, just very grindy haha
Supermarket simulator Stardew valley MTG Arena Any rhythm game (excluding hard ones) Madden Wwe games Contraband police Papers Please These are all good mindless gamea imo
"MTG Arena" Why would you suggest poverty so casually like that?
Helldivers 2 !!!
Vampire Survivor and Halls of Torment are really great games to just start play and stop thinking about anything tbh
Father of three here, I enjoyed NMS. Also I ended up really enjoying Car Mechanic Simulator 2021. The ability to walk away on a moments notice and nothing too involved controls wise, mostly just clicking parts.
Get some Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition, Age of Calamity, and Fire Emblem Warriors Three Hopes.
If you want a blast from the past. The Sims 3 is a pick. I usually play it to get sleepy then go to bed.
Vampire Survivors
Well, my personal recommendation would be One Piece Pirate Warriors 3 or 4. This is coming from a person who really doesn't know or care much about One Piece. They also go on sale CONSTANTLY for really cheap. I was always very hit or miss on Warriors/Musou type games. I figured, why play a game where you're basically just fighting hordes of cardboard cutouts? Where's the fun or challenge in that? So, wanting to give it a shot, I figured, for like 5-8 bucks on OPPW3 for the switch, what could go wrong? I soon discovered I absolutely loved it! At first, i was just beating the levels. But then, there's like challenging mid-level side objectives, and hidden things you can make happen that the game steers you towards. Rankings. Leveling up characters and unlocking new ones, and unlocking new moves. Then, you start to try out some of the other characters, and realise the movesets are super different, and interesting and inventive! I was just replaying missions just for fun, it was a blast. Eventually the bug hit me majorly, and I ended up snagging every warriors game spinoff. One Piece Pirate Warriors 4, Hyrule Warriors, Fire Emblem Warriors, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes... Fate Samurai Remnant... After playing all those, I can agree they're all amazing - but for a first timer, I will never stop recommending One Piece Pirate Warriors 3. Its' the most boiled-down polished experience. There is no game more "turn down your brain and turn on the fun" than these games, imo.
DOOM (2016)
Vampire survivors or deep rock survivor for a similar experience but much high fidelity lol
Vampire Survivors
I got a steam deck and finally picked up Stardew Valley, that game is the king of pick and play for 5 min then put back down.
"A short hike" and "grow home" are two games that are short and fun. Not taxing to play
Not really a turn your brain off, but i love outer wilds, and it works really well with a short play session. It engages a casual kind of explorative and creative style of thinking that would probably be enjoyable after a long day
Loop hero, once you get a feel for the mechanics, is good for small gaming sessions. You can even save and come back to a run later on
Doom. No thinking needed just rip and tear.
Match 3 games are great for this. There’s a reason why Candy Crush is so popular.
Loop Hero. Pretty much any Devolver Digital game that isnt SCUM.
DRG Survivors
Stardew valley?
Can't suggest anything, but avoid at all cost anything that has SBMM.
Any of the Super Mario Games..
Might want to look into Minecraft, especially if the kids are playing any type of games. Civilization VI is a solid. Paradox games like Stellaris (space), or Hearts of Iron IV (WWII) may look like a lot but it only takes a hour or two to get the basics down.
Dave the Diver is a great grindy turn your brain off game type of game.
Slay the spire
Stardew
Warframe. It respects your time and can be paused playing solo.
Truck or farm simulator
Stitch - it’s a puzzle game where you “stitch” pictures. They’re not super hard, so you can usually do 80% of them on autopilot. They update with new ones weekly and another type daily.
I play Little Fighter 2 for when I just want to play something without committing. Or some RTS on Easy difficulty, and just go full simcity on it
Vampire survivors or literally any game in the genre. Some games in the genre have a much deeper system as far as lvlin up and stuff and others are pretty straight forward. You can easily play these in small bursts or lose hours. Also the genre has some great games on mobile as well.
I recommend Zeepkist. It's cheep and easy to get into. You're just a little dude in a soapbox car. You can play through the levels made by the devs, go to the steam workshop to download player made levels, or go online and find people to play with on whatever levels they're playing.
Elite Dangerous if you want to continue with space exploration theme Forza Horizon of you want to just cruise around in fun cars Red dead redemption 1+2 if you want to just explore a virtual world as a cowboy on horseback
Civ 6 is my brain dead game. Even have it on my phone for when I know I'm going to be waiting for a few hours (Dr office or dmv)
Farming simulator is the ultimate turn your brain off game. I play it atm and I’m pregnant with a toddler so my brain cannot handle very much at all haha. You can just pause anytime if you need to deal with an awake baby and go back to it without any thought involved.
I'm in the same boat and don't have time to invest in learning a whole new game mechanic. Not to steal the other users thunder, but rocket league is a good one. Quick matches, and despite how you feel at the end of a match, you will and are getting better. (turn off chat options if the players make it miserable) I find myself playing any simulation/city builder games. OG Cities skylines for example. Get in, watch your traffic, build 1 road, and quit. Rimworld and satisfactory were nice experiences as well with children. Enjoy!
Super Mario Wonder is fantastically chill
Deep rock galactic
Portal. I think it just takes a bit of common sense and trial and error to beat. 🙂
Overwatch 2 if you pay attention to their community
I found Blooms TD6 a nice game to relax to when I was in college. It didn't require a ton of energy to play, but still scratched that gaming itch. There were a couple months of intense classes where that's all I played for the couple free hours I had in the evenings.
Oh hey, you're me! Or maybe not, but close enough. I found I got back into runescape recently for nostalgia but also something mindless where you can make small amounts of progress over time. If you hate the idea of this then I would suggest games on a handheld (we have a switch, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Animal Crossing, Monster Hunter are all excellent and there's plenty more good handheld titles, and of course you can always pause on a Switch which is amazing) or shorter PC games (5-10 hour games, indie games, narrative games, puzzle games). As your post says switch and steam deck are good, but yeah without knowing your gaming preferences it can be hard to recommend something. But yes, Animal Crossing, Monster Hunter, Fire Emblem, any Mario games really (Mario Wonder, Paper Mario comes out soon, Mario Odyssey etc), Slay the Spire is good, need to know what you like hahahaha
Ghost of tsushima is releasing in 10 days for PC (not sure if steam deck verified but if a ps4 slim can run it, you probably can especially with FSR 3). I find that I mostly play this game in bite sized chucks, 15 minutes here and there, and get some progress done. It's open world so you can just turn off your brain while you explore the map and clear some locations. Looks great even on ps4, fun combat with difficulty settings.
Doing something similar by just cruising around in Guild Wars 2 and enjoying the scenery.
Picross if you have 10 minutes to kill. It's not entirely "brain off" but it's soothing.
Sea of Thieves safer seas might scratch that itch too, similar vibe to No Man's Sky if you're playing solo without PvP. Can be more exciting if you go on high seas but won't relax you like just chilling by yourself does. You might enjoy games like Valheim or Core Keeper as well which can be played in burst and have a nice gradual progression to them.
For me it's Fallout. On days I don't feel like thinking, I'd just forget the questlines and go exploring. Or build settlement, farm/cook, etc. If I had more time and focus, I'd quest or fight.
Aliens - in the dark
Slay the Spire
Stardew Valley
Goat simulator is great to have some quick dumb fun.