I haven't seen anyone mentioning this gem:

Vampire Survivors

For me, it’s always Ocarina of Time. The music always improves my mood and there is something oddly comforting about the game.

Try not to have an overly rosy retrospection about this. There were plenty of crappy, cash-grabby games in decades past. We just don't remember them because they were crappy, cash-grabby, and not worth remembering. They hadn't invented microtransactions yet, but that's just one more flavor of crappiness.

Minecraft. It's just a nice game to get lost in.

I can always go for a game of Age of Empires 2. That game takes me back to my childhood.

The last couple of years my comfort games has been Ori and the blind forest and Ori and the will of the wisp.

Stardew Valley is my go-to. I found Firewatch really easy to get lost in too.

Morrowind and Mario Maker 2.

Euro Truck Simulator/American Truck Simulator

It quickly just becomes a virtual road trip simulator, and as someone who generally enjoys driving and road trips its very chill

Star Wars: Racer - I know every track by heart at this point, have it on my Switch and still play quite a bit. Amazing flow state game.

Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 - absolute classic and the nostalgia I get from playing is unmatched

Age of Empires 2 - the music is just muah

KotoR - Best Star Wars game ever made next to Dark Forces 2 and Jedi Outcast

I have a few, Skyrim is my biggest one. I basically maladaptive daydream Skyrim. If I'm feeling bad I play through it in my head. Some others are No Mans Sky, Vampire Survivors, and generally pixel games are always really comforting to me. I also like to go back and play dragon fable sometimes when I need some nostalgia.

Oddly enough I go through phases where I just level up a character on WoW. It's mindless for me and I can just zone out and watch TV while playing.

Deus Ex, Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines, and Cyberpunk 2077. Like you said, they are games I like to get lost in, just walk/drive around in, soak in the ambience. I like to pretend I'm there; it's a great escape, like you said, comforting.

It has been a while, but there was a time when, if I was feeling really anxious and almost panicky, a quick playthrough of Enter the Gungeon would chill me right out.

I could (and have) spent hours in Valhiem just noodling around surviving as a Viking

Chrono Trigger. Always feels like being home with old friends. A joy every time I playthrough

Unraveled (Unraveled 2 is great for 2 players, too), and Hue. Then there's always Slayaway Camp. All good on Steam Deck as well.

But those are for the times when I'm not addicted to RL.

No Man's Sky is a good mix of nice scenery, low stress, and engaging without requiring a lot of mental capacity that can be comforting.

TES Oblivion and Sonic Adventure 2. SA2 was a childhood favorite I got very good at, and the extra mission, game modes, and pet sim aspects makes it fairly re-playable without having to start a new game file. Oblivion is just whacky and fun, and if you know how to exploit mechanics you can get up to some pretty crazy stuff in a matter a minutes after starting the game. While grinding skills could be seen as... Well a grind, it's a grind I personally enjoy. Both games let me dive straight into what I'm feeling like doing, and reward mastery (even if one of them is cheese mastery).

Stardew Valley is amazing for this. Minecraft was it for years and years, but Stardew is just like a nice hug. I adore it.

Hogwarts Legacy has also fallen into this category for me now.

Anyone of my simulation/management games. Whether it's running a hospital, creating an auto manufacturing assembly line or helping some brave adventurers find oxygen I'm always more at peace with a single player goal driven experience.

super Mario galaxy for sure

When I was very young I had something wrong with my nose and I couldn’t breathe so I had to get surgery

When I left the hospital my parents said I could get a game to play while I couldn’t go to school for a week and I chose super Mario galaxy

I played the shit out of that game and it just has such a calming positive vibe, like everything is gonna be ok

That game is a part of me, I love it so much

… that or left 4 dead 2

Stardew Valley comes to mind right away, but I think it applies to all titles after you get the hang of it, with the exception of heavily RNG-based games like Risk of Rain 2, Hades, Dead Cells where you have to be alert almost all the time. Currently I'm enjoying playing Red Dead Redemption 2. Definitely a comfort game just riding your horse around.

Bloons TD 6. Just so incredibly addicting, and there's depth to the different monkeys and how they interact, especially when you think about all the upgrades.

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It'll be an odd one compared to everyone else, but DiRT 3 with some good music playing in the background is awesome.

The physics are awesome, a bit arcady but reasonably realistic and manageable even on keyboard and the replay mode is amazing, makes even the shittiest driver look pro with its camera work.

And the rallycross modes and the montecarlo track are amazing.

With rally cross being high speed dirt circuit racing. Constant bumping and AI cars losing control and messing up if you pressurise then enough makes it a fun experience. Dirt 2 is indeed better in all areas like voice lines in rallycross ,except for the handling and rally but I started with dirt 3 so that's what I am sticking with

I always find myself coming back to Monster Hunter every time I wanna chill and relax.

For me it's No Mans Sky. I love flying around and checking different planets, it's kind of calming for me.

MH Rise (Lance for tank mode) - fighting Melvor - idling Disney Dreamlight Valley - collecting Hardspace Shipbreaker - dismantling

XCOM 2 on the lowest difficulty. Sacrilege, I know, but there's just no better feeling than waltzing through some aliens with my whole squad intact at the end while feeling like a tactical genius. And even the weird Chimera Squad is just fun at times for a bit of a changeup.

lately: against the storm. making a city builder into a roguelite was genius.

Portal. I've played through it enough times that I can complete it in a little under 20 minutes. I'm not very good at games but there are a lot of fun and easy tricks to run through it quickly. Playing it a bunch of times is relaxing and fun for me.

Elite Dangerous in VR. I can really disconnect from the real world and just enjoy being a space-pirate bounty hunter.

OpenTTD is my happy space. It's relaxing to just hop in and start building some railroads.

Trackmania 2020 is great!