So, I’ve been playing Empyrion, which I enjoyed very much, but I am kind of getting fed up with it. I really want a feel good game, something pretty, possibly even cute. Something like Stardew Valley or Recettear. Failing that, I’d love something absorbing.
Middle Earth: Shadow of War is coming out, and I’m excited for it, but at the same time it is grim as hell, and I’m at the stage where I would dig planting flowers or something. I bought Divinity the Original Sin 2, and it is a great game but I have trouble getting into it. Battle Chaser: Nightwar is out, but I am not sure if it’s good. Desperate for a distraction here.
Suggestions? PC games preferred.
Well, there’s always the Sims. Prolly not what you’re looking for, though.
Pikmin
As Carmen says, Pikmin would be awesome. And as long we are going old school, have you ever played MYST? If not you missed out on an amazing game that is engaging, immersive, gorgeous, and very well written.
Yes!
There is a new game from Cyan that is Myst like called Obduction. I haven’t tried it yet but it looks just just as engaging as Myst and Riven.
Zelda Breath of the Wild. I know it’s not a PC game but the world is beautiful and the monsters are mostly derpy and mellow.
Definitely seconding this. Breath of the Wild is one of the most straightforwardly fun games I’ve ever played, in addition to being beautiful as hell. I was skeptical about whether or not the Switch was worth it, but I’ve more than made up the price with time spent playing BotW. It’s just one of those games you can really enjoy playing.
Have you tried Path of Exile? Its a Diablo-esque game for PC. Its basically what fans wanted Diablo 3 to be. Definitely not cute though, so falls under absorbing category.
I highly recommend Slime Rancher if you want comfort gaming! It is a PC game, and just about everything in the game is adorable. There is a cute little story you can find scattered throughout the game, however it’s mostly a sandbox style game where you get to find, and take care of, adorable little slimes for profit. I think the arwork is pretty nice. It’s not Skyrim spectacular, but it is charming.
You beat me to it. LOL. Seriously though, my son got me into this. Fun!
Slime Rancher?
Portal Knights was a cute fun little game, which also happens to have a multiplayer function if that’s something your are interested in so you can adventure with someone. It was a fun way to spend a weekend with my honey where we got to kill monsters, plant crops, collect cute vanity pets, and craft our little hearts out with weapons, armor and potions.
Washington Post recently had a game review. Didn’t read the whole thing, though, so I’m not sure if they’re for or against it, but I thought I’d point you to it.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2017/09/22/in-the-smart-and-slick-new-game-echo-you-become-your-own-worst-enemy/?utm_term=.e00ff12e276e
Aven Colony is fun too.
I suggest Slime Rancher as well.
I also like Subnautica, just for all the pretty water critters (although some of them do try to kill you), and while it’s a survival game, it’s overall not that grim.
I’ve also recently seen gameplay for Hob, which has some very pretty artwork and music (seriously, love the music), but haven’t had a chance to play it yet, as it just came out.
Or just play The Sims. Very much sandbox and creative, and you can always take your feelings out on your Sims (by killing them in various ways).
The Sims has been my go-to game for over a decade when I just don’t want to deal with violence .
My son loves subnautica but I haven’t played it personally.
I was also going to suggest Slime rancher, the happy slimes always cheer me up.
I admit I also throw them into the slime sea when i just want to destroy things so it has many options
http://slimerancher.com/
Skyrim with mods so you can skip the grind; get a hearthfire home you can build from scratch and gather a family together. 🙂 I went with Lakeview manor!
I also do something similar with rimworld and “prepare carefully”. Just setting up my little crew to have a tiny village makes me happy!
Check out Ori and the Blind Forest on Steam. It’s a really cool platformer, the best I’ve every played. The game is relatively challenging, but very fun nonetheless. And it has a gorgeous art style, and the soundtrack works perfectly with the game as well.
I have been playing a Facebook game called Tonga. It is kind of like Farmville but not as involved.
Paradise Bay, simple little SIM loaded with flowers and fruit punch!.
Dishonored is good to get me out of my head. I spend most of my time being sneaky or running from bugs.
World of goo is fun on phones and it is on PC too.
In counsultation with my husband, we recommend Spore and Subnautica. Good luck, and happy gaming!
Any of the Shadowrun games by Harebrained Games – they really make me want to read something set in the world.
Begin with “Never deal with Dragon” from Robert N. Charrette, those books are still available on net in shops or p. bay like sites too, if you don´t the money.
My husband actually owns the first 40 or so novels.. in German. I tried reading them but they really did not hold up well, haha. He actually read the beginning of 2XS to me the other evening and sigh.. I actually loved Silver Shark for being quite similar to SR in tone and feel and it’s one of the reasons why I totally dig the Hidden Legacy series so much. ?
It’s an oldie but I think it’s still on Steam… Curse of Monkey island. You are Guybrush Threepwood and are married to a pirate. You have to navigate until you have a giant mecha monkey battle at the end. It’s an illogic game and you don’t have to have any hand-eye coordination.
I second Ori and the Blind Forest. Gorgeous graphics, the music is beautiful, and the game is fun.
So, and bear with me here, but have you thought about Spyro the Dragon? There’s some PC mods, but it’s one of the original playstation games (now available on PS3): you play a small purple dragon who needs to save the bigger dragons, save a magical homeworld, or save the baby dragons respectively (there are three games).
It is my ultimate feel-good escape-the-world game. Because small purple dragon!
Terraria is very fun if you haven’t played it before!
It’s not a PC game, but Animal Crossing (New Leaf for the 3DS is my favorite) is great for relaxing. The only computer games I’ve played in the past five years are MMOs (Spiral Knights and Guild Wars 2) which are probably not what you’re looking for right now… (Even though Spiral Knights is super cute.)
I’ve been playing Divinity: Original Sin II as my game diversion therapy of choice. So far it’s been great.
I was about to recommend this. I don’t play but have quite a few friends who do and say it’s just enjoyable as heck, and you can party with up to 4 total people I think? Which makes it nice if you want to play with a friend or spouse!
I’ve been playing Elder Scrolls Online for aong while, which I love. But recently I started Black Desert Online, and have been loving the game. It’s got a great combat system and even greater skills and life skills system. You can easily spend all day farming and brewing beer instead of fighting if you wanted.
My only warning about BDO is that the server chat can get very vile. I turn it off and go my merry way alone.
For comfort, my gamer son recommends Goat Simulator. “Fun and quite hilarious” was his review. He also recommends Terraria, which is 2D semi-open world where you can mine and fight monsters, or The Yawhg, which is a sort of “choose your own adventure”. In that one, your character can plant things, meditate, dance, become a vampire or werewolf, help the sick, or go to the tavern and drink!
Come back to WoW. Legion has been the best xpac since WOTLK
ToonTown is one of our additions. The World Ends With You is another.
I second Terraria. I also love Aquaria, Spelunky, Shovel Knight (I got it on 3DS, but it is also available on multiple platforms including Steam), Rogue Legacy, Cosmic Star Heroine (if you like retro JRPG-likes). My computer is not up to super graphics heavy games anymore, so I play a lot of retro indie titles on it. Hollow Knight is pretty, too.
Oh, I forgot; I love Recettear. You could check out the other games by the company that localized that, as they’re pretty cute. I loved Fortune Summoners, but it needs a sequel it is likely to never have.
Don’t Starve on Steam or Don’t Starve Together.
Not sure what system you’re on, but The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is gorgeous and never grim. Ni no Kuni is another gorgeous/ cute game, but that one’s more typical Jrpg
Whoops, missed the final line about pc games ?
If you have a Nintendo system, anything Legend of Zelda is fantastic. Wind Waker and Skyward Sword are both pretty lighthearted. Twilight Princess is darker but the story and graphics are pretty great.
Minecraft on ‘peaceful’ or in creative mode? If you want to explore or build things and plant a pretty garden.
In the vein of the Curse of Monkey Island suggestion above, what about the old point-and-click adventure games? You’d have to get dosbox (free!) and find the old game files (many of which are either abandonware or available on the good old games site for cheap), but they’re fun and the violence level is far less than any modern FPS. I suggest the Kyrandia or King’s Quest games- like Monkey Island, they’ve got a sense of humor and poke fun at themselves constantly. The graphics are nothing to write home about but they still manage to be quite pretty.
If you can find it and get it to work, there’s also Pandora’s Box. It’s a puzzle game where you reassemble various pieces of art (some famous, some not). And there’s Creatures (along the same line as the Sims or Spore)– certainly cute and mostly not violent.
You can get the King’s Quest (and Quest for Glory) games on GOG. They include the dosbox in the install, so you shouldn’t have to fiddle with much.
The newer prequel of King’s Quest on Steam is also pretty good and pretty.
The cutest game I’ve ever played is Child of Light. It’s gorgeous, the music is fantastic and the story is very fun. (Okay, I admit, I cried at the end. It was great.) Ori and the Blind Forest is also really cute with great music. Song of the Deep too, it’s all underwater, the colors are very pretty and the narrator has a really beautiful voice. Firewatch is absolutely gorgeous, but a bit on the sad side scenario-wise ? Would still recommend. Some of my friends told me that Life is Strange is a very good game, but I have yet to try it. They’re all on Steam :).
I really enjoyed Odin’s Sphere: Leifthrasir. It’s a beautiful side scroller for ps3 and ps4 based on Norse mythology. You play through story lines as different characters. The game is gorgeous and I loved the story lines
Sorry – I can recommend several PS3/4 games, but haven’t played PC games in several years… Good luck finding a game though!!!
I’m currently playing Caesar 3 to remember the 90’s when I played it first. On my tablet I’m addicted to Plant Vs Zombies 2, and my game of choice is usually any of the Total War Games namely medieval total war 2, or rome but not Rome 2
I second Caesar. Age of empires 2 or pharaoh are also classics in my opinion.
I like the new CIV as well.
one i have found to be great fun is called pillars of eternity… it does get very grim however…
alternately i have always found borderlands to be great for some meaningless idle pillaging
I play Torchlight II when I want to work out some anger issues.
Cohhcarnage iš a streamer. He plays games on twitch.tv and I like to shop for games on his channel. Two kinda cute recent games he played were Cuphead and Hob. Both games are platformers, but both have cute animation, especially Cuphead.
My husband and I just started playing “Thimbleweed Park”. It’s a silly point-and-click adventure game by Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick (guys who developed “The Secret of Money Island” and “Maniac Mansion”). I think “Day of the Tentacle” was just remastered, too, so if you haven’t played that, I remember it as being very silly and very funny. (But I did play it a long time ago.)
I liked the first 3 snippets better than the last (Phhht) snippet, The last snippet obviously had missing context. The first 3 snippets were extremely engaging standalone snippets.
There is a company called Gamehouse which lets you play the unlocked Windows 10 games. It has a monthly fee but I can burn through a couple of their games a month which makes it worthwhile. Covers strategy, time management, card games, hidden object, and puzzles. Obviously not multiple players or games needing updates.
Probably too kid-ish but I recently discovered the Logical World of Zoombinis which came out in 1998 (so I was 10) has been updated for mobile devices and tablets! Helping little blue people make their way through different challenges to a new homeland called Zoombiniville because their old homeland was overrun by the evil Bloats (I’m taking this from Wikipedia because I definitely don’t remember this). My favorite challenge was definitely the pizza challenge (you have to figure out what toppings the pizza troll wants to let the Zoombinis pass), they were all challenges based on logic. Definitely light hearted and you don’t have think too much. Turns out there were two follow up games to the original but I had no idea. Spent many hours in elementary/middle school playing on my father’s old 1995 Toshiba laptop. If I ever get around to getting an iPad, will definitely check out the updated version.
I played Battle chasers yesterday for about an hour befor sleep and i liked it. Very good atmosphere. But who knows is its holds up later in the game.
I really enjoy Forge of Empires & Elvenar. The Secret Society is also fun.
If you want something short and sweet, then I would recommend Samorost games. They are cute and full of logical puzzles. 🙂
Oooh, these are so good!
From Dust. It’s a puzzle/strategy game with different levels. It’s a very engrossing game and is beautifully done.
Haven’t played it yet (personally hoping for a Xbox One release) but Yonder: Cloud Catcher Chronicle’s seems very much a beautiful peaceful game. Other than that I can definitely second (or fifth) the Slime Rancher one.
Try Don’t Starve. Very addicting but still cute and kinda casual