Factorio on peaceful settings is pretty calm
this post was submitted on 17 May 2026
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The first Kerbal Space program?
Timberborn?
Disco Elysium?
If you don't mind turnbased then a whole bunch of stuff.
The first Kerbal Space program?
One of my all-time favorites. Can't wait for Kitten Space Agency.
Timberborn?
On my Steam wishlist, how is it?
KSP with mods is one of the all time best. Timberborn is oddly good, kinda chill city builder with beavers but if you don't balance your growth your beavers will die. Would recommend.
Talos Principal 1 and 2. They are also story based puzzle games. I'm not sure I'd Talos 1 remaster or 2 are on Mac but I'm sure the original one is, which still holds up.
Escape Game Simulator - puzzles, no pressure, exploring encouraged.
Crime Scene Cleaner - no stress, but a little spooky, very relaxing
Slime Ramcher - turn off tarrs and explore. Breadcrumb story, great music and sound effects.
Surprised no one's suggested Stardew Valley yet.
This was my recommendation. It's as stressful as you want it to be.
FARM HARDER!
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A Short Hike! Play as a little bird, climbing a mountain, flying/gliding, talking to quirky characters. Beautiful pixel art. Also Fez.
I enjoyed Portal because I had to plan out what I’m doing before I act (without being pressured to act), the atmosphere of the game was legendary and I liked that little robot following me
Portal 2 has two community made "Valve Quality" DLCs. "Portal Stories: Mel" and "Portal: Revolution". Mel seems playable on macOS at least. Revolution is basically a Portal 2 presequel. (It's also so long I would have payed for it.)
I really enjoyed playing the Myst and Riven remakes. Definitely give them a shot. Especially Riven.
Untitled Goose Game
Games similar to portal:
- The Talos Principle 1 & 2
- Antichamber
- Superliminal
- Viewfinder
- Manifold Garden
Similar to Firewatch:
- Umurangi Generation
- Return of the Obra Dinn
Other stuff that might interest you that I haven't seen already recommended:
- Journey
- Abzu
- Exo One
- Wytchwood
- Cairn (tentatively. This game can get stressful)
- Dinkum
- Untitled Goose Game
- A Lego game (Any of them. They all follow the same formula)
- Flower
No idea if any of those work on Mac though. If you have an intel based mac you can use bootcamp to dual boot windows, and unlock maaaaany games.
Manifold Garden was great.
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no man's sky, always relaxes me after a tough day
Dear Esther, walking sim with great soundtrack
The secret of monkey island, maniac mansion: day of the tentacle, Sam and max hit the road in scummvm, old school Lucas arts adventure comedy games
Kentucky route zero, adventure game making a delivery for an antiques shop with ghosts and bluegrass
The Entropy Centre is a largely Portal-inspired game that will require you to plan out what you're doing even more than Portal. (Note: there are a few chase sequences and a few battle ones that break this pattern.) And there's a cute robot called E, and your portal-gun-equivalent has an AI too. Basically, it's Portal but the AIs are friendly.
And then there's The Talos Principle series, which is even more like what you're looking for.
Project Zomboid is super peaceful if you turn off the zombies. The game's sandbox settings are super expansive, so you can play pretty much any way you want.
Suuuuper confused no one mentioned The Witness yet. Probably the best calm game of our time.
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Blue Prince
A Short Hike
The Outer Wilds
Tunic
Exploration focused games that are pretty calm (for the most part). They are some of my personal favorites. I recommend not looking up much about them (especially Outer Wilds and Tunic. Learning mechanics from gameplay is part of the game for those two). Tunic is probably the most action oriented of the lot, (like old Zelda games) and it leans hard on the puzzle aspect, so if that's not your favorite then it might not be for you.
Tunic is fantastic, but not that chill. Its kinda "souls-lite" So much dying, though punishment is minimal.
The outer wild is NOT chill though.
Different strokes. I found it incredibly relaxing to fly around in my spaceship exploring. I can think of one specific planet that's not very chill, but the rest were.
Without spoiling too much, maybe the time pressure gets to you? For me it's long enough that I don't really feel it for most of the game.
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Maybe a bit too calm, but I really enjoyed what I played of Wanderstop. It's from the dev of Stanley parable, with music from c418 of Minecraft fame. I haven't yet finished it because I got distracted by other games but it's a really peaceful game where you brew tea and gradually unravel a story about trauma and healing from it. Even without finishing the story I can highly recommend it because it's just so beautiful to look at and the core gameplay is simple but engaging. You're an arena champion who stumbles upon a tea shop while looking for respite from battle, and you farm ingredients to combine into different teas for other travelers who come across the tea shop.
Transistor and Bastion are similar games that can be chill with combat.
Thomas was alone is a chill platformer with a nice story.
I would recommend Stray but it has some areas where you're running away from bad things for a bit.
Mostly it's just exploring and meowing though.
You are looking for cozy games or walling simulators.
Honestly I don't know what's on macos, but a quick search: stardew valley, my time on portia (i recommend sandrock if it's available), slime rancher.
For exploration: The Stanley Parable, Life is Strange.
The Stanley Parable, Life is Strange.
This is what I'm looking for! :) Thank you
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In addition to these, I would add Superliminal. Do not confuse it with Subliminal, that one is not chill 🤣
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I enjoy calmer games most times I'm gaming so I have a lot. The genre I most like is puzzle games, but there are a few exploration/ walking simulators here, too. Among the games already listed, there are:
- The Room
- Doors
- Boxes
- Machinka Museum
- My Brother Rabbit
- The Gardens Between
- Stela
- La Rana
- Dawn
- Manifold Garden
- Discolored
- Tree Bonzai
- Blue Prince
- Chants of Senarr
- Outer Wilds
- Secrets of Blake Manor
Yes to all except Outer Wilds.
I love OW but it is not a game to recommend to someone who explicitly says they want a game with no time pressure. Time pressure is literally a core mechanic.
I was about to recommend specifically OW because I played in 1-2 hour sessions per week over many months (not every week). I left the game open with the PC sleeping quite a few times to avoid losing my current run (and each time a blackout happened lol) however I did my fair share of silly stuff and didn't feel pressured.
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What Remains of Edith Finch is fantastic!
It is fantastic, but OP should be sure to check some spoilers. It is also horrific.
Minecraft on easy mode can be a good calm game with friends, let's you build and explore together without much pressure.
Jumping on this to add Hytale if you're looking for pseudo successor to MC
Not to mention there are plenty of mods that you can add to make it more tuned to how you want it.
You could check out "FAR: Lone Sails". It's a pretty chill game where you have a machine that you're sailing/driving through platforming actions to the right. It has cinematic feel and a kind of environmental plot, but I don't think there's any way to lose or anything...
And if you like it, there's a sequel "FAR: Changing Tides" that is very similar, but longer and with a more complicated machine to manage.
I could see people being bored with it, there are "puzzles" but they're super light, but maintaining the machine scratches something within me.
There isn't so much of the story elements, especially if you've tried Braid, but The Witness has endless intrigue and abstract puzzles. https://store.steampowered.com/app/210970/The_Witness/
Maybe try GRIS. It's a 2D platformer journey with amazing presentation.
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