Long story short I started watching the Handmaid’s Tale, just finished episode 3 and it’s terribly depressing and too real for me. I’ll keep watching but I need to counter all this negativity.
Hence why I’m looking for some “aftercare” games that will help me cope. Something easy, where I don’t have to think and just follow along good vibes.
I have played the following games, which kind of fit what I’m looking for:
- a short hike
- carto
- frog detective (all 3)
- islanders
- helltaker
- spec ops the line (just kidding)
- mini metro / motorways
- dave the diver
Thank you !
Try out Loddlenaut or Toem!
Fields of Mystria is a Stardew-like that plays excellently on the steam deck!
Some great games being listed already! Here are some nobody mentioned yet: Hoa, Abzu, Toem and Donut County.
Take it easy and pace yourself with the depressing stuff. We’re all in this together.
Ill give you some more fast paced than the other recommendations. Games that really suck me in for hours zoned out.
Nova Drift helped me zone out for hours and is good on the steam deck. It’s an Asteroids style game. It’s just shoot up fun with more upgrades the longer you survive.
Crab Champions is a silly shooter with the same basic recipe. Survive, get upgrades. It’s silly though because you are a crab, fighting other crabs. It’s fun.
Comedy option - Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy. Face your life frustrations head on and play a game designed to make you angry.
Someone else mentioned Superliminal, and I second that recommendation. Very cool puzzles, very nice message.
I’ve only played the demo, but Caravan SandWitch has a cozy vibe and seems very chill.
Oh, and Harold Halibut. It’s stop-motion and heavy on character interaction, with a story that keeps the action mild (on a level with a kid’s TV show). A very calm protagonist. Aside from the visual style, all those things are reasons that it got mixed reviews, but could fit what you want.
I had trouble with very long loading times on the deck sometimes, but it’s a slow-paced game, so I didn’t even mind too much.
- Sable - but you’ll want to use protontricks to install dxvk
- Stonefly
- Far - 1 & 2 are both good, but I still prefer the first one
- Vane
- Lightmatter
I don’t think that dxvk is a thing that you’re supposed to pull in on its own. Any recent version of Proton (and especially ProtonGE) brings its own up-to-date copy of it.
That’s certainly news to me. I suppose it just really needs the latest version. There was a noticeable improvement to stuttering and fps.
That game is interesting though. Some things the community sees as bugs, like the audio glitches, have been claimed as an artistic choice.
big list
Alba
Mutazione
Farm Together 2 (looks like a mobile game, it is fun! It is a great co-op optional game (splitscreen too))
Original Peggle and Peggle Nights
Crops!
Monster Train
Death Road To Canada
Everdell
Bunny Hill
MotorTown
Hydroneer
Hexcells Infinite
Instanbul Digital Edition
Lethal League Blaze
Legends Of Runeterra (the singleplayer roguelike mode is my fav)
Mystic Vale
Niche: a genetics survival game
Nobody Saves The World
Flipon
Garden Galaxy
Holocure
Intergalactic Fishing
Jelly Car Worlds
Lego DC Villains
Liftoff
Luck Be A Landlord
Galaxy Pass Station
Earthtongue
Donut Dodo
Critter Crunch
Crafty Survivors
Cosmos Quickstop
Cook Serve Delicious 3
Concordia
CastleStorm
Veloren
Master Of Pottery
MixoLumia
Monster Hunter: Worlds or Rise
Monster Sanctuary
Moonring
MotorTown
Mountain
Mutant Football League
Nickolodeon Kart Racer 2
Old Market Simulator
Omega Strikers
Ozymandias
Panorama
Urbo
Paperball
Petal Crash
Patron
Pikuniku
Placid Plastic Duck Simulator
Original Plants vs Zombies
Plateup
Raid: World War II lol i know but its 2025 so shooting nazis is relaxing for me
Rock Of Ages 1-3
Roadwarden
Rubber Bandist
Roundguard
Peglin
Sailwind
Samorost 3
Saleblazers
Shipped
Shovel Knight
Slipways
Snakebird
Snowrunner
Steep
Strange Horticulture
Suika Shapes
Super Indie Karts Ultra Karting
Super Volley Blast
Switchball
Tangledeep
Terraria (of course like… of course)
Tidalis
Trailmakers
Kingdom Two Crowns
Tricky Towers
Valheim
Wayward
Witch It!
Wobbledogs
Wobbly Life
Wizard Of Legend
Yokus Island Express
World Turtles
Chuzzle Deluxe
Chronicon
Caveblazers
Bone’s Cafe
Boneraiser Minions
Besiege
Luanti
The Sea Will Claim Everything
Vintage Story
Battleblock Theater
Can absolutely vouch for Chuzzke Deluxe. Only problem I have with it now is that last I checked, some of the settings don’t work if you are on Linux and using proton. Mainly just the setting for windowed mode, if I remember correctly. But that’s a minor thing considering how cheap the game is on Steam.
Edit:
It’s $4.99USD, so it’s not really that expensive, but I for some reason thought it was a slightly lower price. Still recommended if you don’t mind spending that little amount to pick it up.
oh yeah it is more of a 2$ game
Coffee talk might be a good one
A few more not mentioned. All of them are games where you can play and your in-game choices are small.
- A Good Snowman is Hard to Build
- Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved
- Hexologic
- Harmony’s Odyssey
- Luna’s Fishing Garden
Not sure if this qualifies but I enjoy Catherine: Full Body on the steam deck. It’s kind of a cozy game.
Sayonara Wild Hearts. I love that game and often load it up when I’m feeling out of sorts.
Great music
Fantastic game that does not get the love it deserves. I think it was on sale for a few bucks recently.
I have an urge once or twice a year to play through the game again and it makes me cry every time. Just played it last week actually. Still have some of the music stuck in my head.
UFO 50 and Star of Providence!
Unpacking (if mouse control via touch pads is ok for you)
Have you considered Snowrunner, Farming Simulator and American/Euro truck simulator? All games capable of unplugging your brain for a while. Just remember to manually set Proton if you play either truck sim, they have a terribly unoptimized Linux native version that runs poorly on the Deck.
Just remember to manually set Proton if you play either truck sim
How do I do this? Is it the compatibility setting?
Yep! Just pick any Proton, and it’ll work… my favorite is experimental as it’s always updated, but the latest one is fine, same if you want to use proton GE.
No wonder it was so laggy on Bazzite. So I should download the Windows version, I guess.
Also, if I am allowed to do some absolutely shameless self promotion: Bus Simulator 21 is verified, and 18 is playable.
