All posts tagged in relaxing game
Feb 22, 2024
Welcome to Minami Lane! This lovely little life sim by indie developers Doot and Blibloop is a short, but wholesome play. It lets you build your very own street where you can decorate and manage shops. Build cozy homes to attract villagers to your street. Choose from a number of different colors for the roof and walls to create the perfect look. Your villagers need more than just a comfortable place to live, though!
Keep the villagers of Minami Lane happy by meeting several of their needs. Beautify the neighborhood with decorations, shops, and attractions. Parks add a beautiful pop of natural color and provide the perfect spot to relax. Ramen shops serve up delicious steaming bowls of food. Boba shops give villagers tasty treats to boost their mood. There are other shops your villagers may want, too. Plus, each shop has its own inventory and effects on the neighborhood. Play missions for a challenge or sandbox mode to focus on the creative side of building.
Release Date
Minami Lane releases in just 5 short days on Steam! Grab the demo now to prepare for the release on February 28th.
If you prefer a free-form building game with no objectives, try Tiny Glade!
- Feb 1, 2024
Play as the adorable raccoon Rocco as he prepares for winter in Seasons of Rocco by developer Vivid Visions Studios. Rocco looks to you for guidance, so you’ll need to spend the fall seasons assisting him in gathering what he needs to survive the winters. Explore a tranquil world searching for fruit amid the colorful leaf piles. Take them back to his Tree House to sort them for later use. Be sure to gather enough to sustain Rocco over a long winter!
When spring comes in Seasons of Rocco, venture out as Rocco to explore a landscape now exploding with blooms and growth. Plant seeds you collected from the fruit eaten over the winter so you can have a bounty come next fall. That’s it! This game is a chance to step back and relax while you explore gorgeous landscapes and relish the beauty of different seasons while preparing for them.
Release Date
Seasons of Rocco is currently available on Steam and is free to play!
This game reminds me a lot of Smushi Come Home, which is another cute and relaxing game that focuses on exploring and gathering.
- Jan 10, 2024
The year is 1986 and you play as Meredith Weiss as she takes a step back from her busy tech career to deliver mail in her hometown. Lake follows Meredith as she returns to her lovely home town of Providence Oaks, Oregon, a sleepy lake-side town with just a few residents. You’re filling in for your dad for the next two weeks as you explore the town and get to know the residents. Some are friendly new faces, and some are familiar pals you grew up with. Deliver mail during the day, then spend your after work hours keeping to yourself or hanging out with friends. There are no wrong or right answers in this game, but they all shape your experience!
Gameplay
I found Lake to be somewhat frustrating at first. You walk SO slowly, and there’s not a ton to do besides deliver mail and talk to people. Then I realized, that’s the point. In a world full of high adrenaline platformers and fighting games, this one forces you to slow down and enjoy the simple things in the world around you. There are no cell phones or modern computers to distract you. You deliver mail in a gorgeous town, build relationships with the townspeople, and just take in the scenery. Plus, driving around is fun, and the autopilot feature allows for some great sightseeing.
This is an ideal walking simulator, really. The mountains in the distance paired with the lovely wooded areas of town, and the idyllic small-town are so peaceful and perfect to just stroll through. The sun shining adds a relaxing atmosphere to the unhurried little town. Plus, there’s no timer or clock to compete with. Lake doesn’t have you on a schedule to deliver to each house by a certain time or within a certain limit. You can just get to it when you get to it, so take the scenic route around the lake! When you’ve finished your mail route and any side tasks you want to complete, you can return to the post office to end the day. Then, you’ll have the chance to hang out with friends or chill out at home. Rinse and repeat.
Graphics and Audio
The graphics in the game aren’t top tier, mind-blowing by any means. However, the scenery is still beautiful. Providence Oaks is adorable, and driving through some of the tree-lined roads is highly cathartic. Lake’s homes and their yards border on perfection, which makes them a little too cookie-cutter, but they’re well designed. The character’s facial features seem a little plastic as only the eyes and mouth move, but they’re always well dressed. The clothing choices often scream ‘80s, which helps with setting the time period. Otherwise, there isn’t a ton that makes the game feel like it’s in the ‘80s besides some of the movie posters at the rental store.
As for the audio, Lake’s mail truck is equipped with a radio that plays country-pop songs. Thankfully, you can toggle the radio on and off, because the songs are far from my idea of enjoyable. They often were too loud for my tastes, too. I would have much preferred some ambient muzak or lo-fi jams, but these songs are fairly on-brand for the time. They felt overpowering, though. The music didn’t fade into the background and mix with the scenery to create the perfect relaxing experience.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I really enjoyed Lake. It was relaxing and set in a gorgeous area. I know many people had issues with glitches early on, but I’m guessing they’ve been patched out by now as I had no issues. Engaging in a short story delivered through character interactions made it easy to learn who people were while getting some backstory on Meredith, too. Plus, no timer or clock lets me chill out and explore and get things done at my own pace. It really allowed me to just take in the scenery.
If you enjoy walking simulators with little to do gameplay-wise, and enjoy slower games, this is for you!
I give it:
You can find Lake on Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation.
- Dec 20, 2023
We’re another week closer to Christmas and I can’t wait! I love going around the neighborhood looking at people’s decorations. I think that’s part of why ACNH having lights in trees feels so satisfying to me. What else is super exciting about the Christmas season, is the new gaming systems and games you get! And with Steam Decks being fairly popular, what better way to celebrate the approach of the holiday with some gift ideas for that system?
The following list only features games that have been Steam Deck verified, to save the gamer in your life some troubles and heartache!
My Time at Sandrock
My Time at Sandrock is the long awaited sequel to My Time at Portia. And just like the prequel, this one takes place in a post-apocalyptic world 330 years after the Day of Calamity destroyed a lot of modern technology. You accept the role as a builder of Sandrock, a desert community. Gather resources to build machines, befriend locals, fight enemies, and lead the town to economic prosperity! Uncover the backstories for over 30 NPCs while you forge friendships with them. Complete side quests, play fun minigames, and even team up with a friend to play the game together!
APICO
APICO is a lovely game where you leave your boring city job and return to Port APICO, where you grew up, and return to your beekeeping roots. The APICO islands feature a set of lush, beautiful environments for you to explore. Each biome has its own breed of bees for you to discover. Gather resources to use in your studies or crafting. Make and sell Apicola (honey) and other beekeeping items you will discover. Play fun beekeeping minigames, without the stings! More importantly, breed different cross breeds of bees and discover 30 new species to help repopulate the APICO islands with. Plus, uncover the secrets of the islands while you explore.
I even have a review of APICO here, if you want more information!
Cornucopia
Cornucopia offers the same comfortable features players have grown to love from the farming game genre, but in a lovely 2.5D pixel art style. You plant 52 types of fruit trees, 15 types of berry bushes, and grow 52 different crops, including their different artisan varieties. Sell crops or cook them up in one of 200 different recipes! There’s also logging, fishing, mining, and pet breeding to occupy your days. Also enter the pets into competitive races or use them to help you fight monsters. Then, kick back and relax with some crafting and decorating. Unlock furniture and decorations to turn your farm into your favorite getaway. Make friends with Cornucopia’s NPCs, too. Who knows, maybe one of the over 47 NPCs will catch your fancy! Romance them, go on dates, and unlock their romantic cut scenes. Even marry one, start a family, and decorate their room in your house.
While the Iron’s Hot
Play as a simple journeyman blacksmith in While the Iron’s Hot. You’re looking to become a master blacksmith. This game features an exciting combat-free experience. Journey to the mystical lands of Ellian where you’ll meet a cast of quirky characters. Explore tunnels full of puzzles and resources. Master every step of the blacksmithing process. Smelt ore, turn metal into ingots, and shape them into useful items. Use your skills to repair machinery to open up new areas to explore. Craft equipment that helps you explore new regions. Even work hard to restore the defunct blacksmithing town of Stal. Revitalizing the village just might prove to Eillian’s artisans that you’re worthy of being a master blacksmith!
Loddlenaut
In Loddlenaut, you play as an interstellar custodian who has been hired by the spacefaring mega corporation GUPPI to clean up their mess. They’ve inundated GUP-14 with pollution, and want you to restore the planet. This is an open-world ocean adventure where you’ll get to explore this beautiful alien planet, along with the corporate ruins of GUPPI. You’ll find remnants of their buildings, ships, and machinery that have all sunken to the bottom of the game’s ocean. Use your bubble gun, clean up the trash, remove oil spills, and uncover clues about the past inhabitants. Unlock better gadgets to help you clean up different types of ocean pollution. Recycle the trash you collect and use it to craft items. Even befriend cute little axolotl-looking creatures called loddles!
Did you get a new Switch instead? Or perhaps you got one for someone and want some games to go with it. Either way, check out my list of 5 Farming Games for Your New Switch!
- Dec 13, 2023
Are you looking for a simple, but gorgeous exploration game with no combat? Then Submerged: Hidden Depths is perfect for you! This game is a self-described third-person “relaxploration” adventure where you simply explore a the ruins of a world. You take on the roles of Miku and Taku. Miku is cursed with a mysterious power that she’s determined to use for good, and Taku simply doesn’t want it to tear them apart.
Submerged: Hidden Depths will take you on a relaxing, low-stakes journey through the submerged ruins of a drowned city. There, you’ll discover the crumbling remnants of skyscrapers and streets as you search for the secrets of what happened. You’ll encounter obstacles along the way, and will need to solve puzzles to overcome them. You’ll simultaneously learn the story of the brother and sister pair as you explore the ruined city, too. Plus, you can collect items and upgrade your trusty boat!
Ready for your laid-back adventure?
Release Date
You can find the game on Steam, Epic Games, PlayStation, and Xbox now. And while Submerged: Hidden Depths is a sequel, it’s not necessary to have played the first game. However, you can find the first game, Submerged, on Steam, too!
Eastshade is another beautiful walking simulator.
- Dec 6, 2023
Station to Station is a relaxing puzzle experience set in a voxel-art world. Transform the world from dull and drab, to vibrant places full of life by building railways. Build connections for commerce and passengers across the countryside. Get the necessary materials to the production plants that need them, and then the finished product to the cities that need them to create thriving landscapes. Complete the puzzle elements and solve logistical conundrums while optimizing your train routes for the best results!
The Maps
Each level of Station to Station starts as a dull, lifeless landscape. It’s uninteresting and borderline boring, and it’s certainly an uninviting place for people and animals to live. However, as you make railway connections, the maps transform into gorgeous dioramas full of flora and fauna. There are six different biomes, each with a handful of levels. Each of those levels, while set in a specific biome, and therefore have the same atmosphere, differ from each other in their layouts. This offers just enough difference to keep the game visually appealing.
The voxel art style provides a visually beautiful and intriguing element to Station to Station, too. I’ve restored the color and life to a map only to sit panning around the map watching the individual pieces. Watching the camels in the desert, or the bustling little villages in the grassy meadows is one of my favorite things to do. Observing all of the little details that were added just absolutely sucks me in.
The Puzzles
Station to Station offers quite a bit of content, plus has announced more to come in a recently posted roadmap. I’d classify the “puzzles” as more objectives than puzzles, but that might be nitpicky. You have a set amount of money to use to build your connections. There are a limited number of cards to help you with discounts and such, too. However, you’re ultimately trying to build railway connections within a specific area of each map. Sometimes that’s easy, and sometimes it takes a little more trial and error. There’s also a few extra optional objectives per level you can complete to increase the difficulty level.
Nothing is overly difficult, though. I didn’t sit stuck contemplating a problem for long stretches. Plus, Station to Station gives you a couple of options for redoing the level. There is a reset button, making returning to the absolute beginning of a level easy. Or, if you just need to redo a little bit, you can return to a checkpoint instead of wiping the whole level. They’ve both come in handy when figuring out how to play and how to complete a level.
Final Thoughts
What Station to Station boils down to, though, is you place train tracks to connect buildings, then you move on to the next level. That’s it. This is not one of your deep, story-driven or deeply puzzling games chock-full of different mechanics and facets. It’s a simple game with a gorgeous art style, and that’s ok! This is perfect for me when I’m in a puzzle mood, but don’t want to be stuck on a problem for long. It’s a great low-pressure, low-stakes experience.
So, if you’re looking for something more, this isn’t for you. If you want that low-pressure experience, though, I recommend this game! I give it:
You can Station to Station on Steam!
Want more reviews? Check out my reviews of Witchy Life Story, APICO, and Little Sim World!
- Nov 23, 2023
Are you looking for a cozy idle game that doesn’t involve leveling up fighters to defeat bosses and enemies? Garden Galaxy might be perfect for you, then! This relaxing little game is a unique sandbox idler where you take time to craft your ideal landscape.
You start with a blank canvas of a few white tiles, and a mysterious looking pot. Every few seconds in Garden Galaxy you’ll have a cute little flame-like visitor pop-up for a visit. Click them to earn a coin. Then, feed the coin into the mysterious pot to earn a reward! The pot will spit out cute decorations like lanterns and planters, helpful piggy banks, and terrain tiles. Rearrange the terrain tiles and decorations as you please to create a beautiful garden space. You’ll even be able to change the background color and the time of day to achieve the perfect aesthetic.
Take a moment to embark on a chill and creative journey with this pretty little idle game!
Available Now
You can find Garden Galaxy on Steam now! There’s also a demo available so you can try out the game first.
Spirit City: Lofi Sessions is another cozy idle game worth taking a look at!
- Nov 22, 2023
You can check out my previous article introducing Spirit City: Lofi Sessions here, but it’s essentially a gamified productivity tool. The whole game takes place in your room, where you can sprawl out on the bed, sit by the cozy fire, relax at the bay window, or use the desk. There’s relaxing lofi music tracks to play in the background and other tools to keep on task and track your productivity. There’s also little creatures and decorations you can unlock and use as you level up through playing.
The Demo
I recently played the demo of Spirit City and it was great! The features were limited, of course, but what I did was sold me on this game. You start by customizing your own character, which is fun. There’s different hair styles, hair color options, and clothing choices. You can get comfy and cozy right from the start! Then there’s the music. The tracks are relaxing and chill. They’re perfect for having some sound in the background without being distracting. You can even add background noises like crackling fireplace or rainfall.
What I really liked was that you have control of the ambiance of the room. Spirit City lets you control what time of day it is, so the overall lighting can be changed to suit your mood. Sitting at the large bay window in the evening to watch the rain is highly cathartic. Then there’s the other tools that are perfect for productivity. The to-do list lets you input your own entries, so you can craft a list perfect for doing homework right now, or make one for a large project. Then, use the built-in pomodoro timer to lock yourself in to working for a specific amount of time with built-in breaks. It’s perfect for studying or completing other tasks within a time limit.
The other tools weren’t available during the demo, but I can absolutely see their usefulness without having tried them. Spirit City offers a journal option so you can log whatever it is you want to log. Perhaps a run down of your day, or a log of a project you’re working on. The History option is great for analyzing your productivity to see where you could improve for better results.
Final Thoughts
Spirit City: Lofi Sessions provides a really pretty, distraction-free, gamified productivity tool. Set yourself up for a good working session and power through it with the help of some great music. Plus, you’re never alone with a cute spirit creature to accompany you, and more for you to discover. Even decorate the room to suit you!
I think everyone should try this demo out. It was a worthwhile experience!
The Spirit City: Lofi Sessions demo is on Steam! The full release is projected to be Q2 of 2024.
