Feel-good gamepad single-player games

[JayCeeJim]

They say Mario Odyssey is weaponized joy in a cartridge and to that I say I see your Mario Odyssey and raise you Mario Galaxy.

Seriously OP if you haven't played it yet and own a Wii or WiiU get that shit now.

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It's a pretty obvious recommendation, but of course Super Mario 3D World should be mentioned in this thread.

I think it's debatable if it's a better or worse game than Galaxy 1/2, but for what the OP wants, it's much more simple and "to the point" than those.

P.S.: I cant' agree more with OP about DK Tropical Freeze. It's great, but controls and level layout seem really focused to speedrunning. It feels quite stressful when I want to play it slowly.

 

[Fredrik]

Breath of the Wild, cooking food and traversing the world in search for Korok seeds and shrines is as cozy and feel good as it can get.
Might not be short though but imo this is still the game to play, I'm playing it with my kids right now and they're directing me where we should go and what to do, feels like a never ending game if you don't rush into the castle.

Same thing goes with No Man's Sky. Just say no to the go to the center idea and find a nice lush planet and just start building your dream base.

Minecraft? Can be super relaxing.

The already mentioned Monster Boy is nice too, might be kinda hardcore occasionally for a relaxing play through though but well worth it.

Steamworld Dig 1 and 2 are nice too.

Snake Pass? Great fun.

Pokémon Let's Go? Super relaxing.

Super Mario Odyssey can be cozy and feel good as well if you let it, there is so much stuff to find.

Even RDR2 can be that game if you let it.

 

[AztecComplex]

It's a pretty obvious recommendation, but of course Super Mario 3D World should be mentioned in this thread.

I think it's debatable if it's a better or worse game than Galaxy 1/2, but for what the OP wants, it's much more simple and "to the point" than those.

P.S.: I cant' agree more with OP about DK Tropical Freeze. It's great, but controls and level layout seem really focused to speedrunning. It feels quite stressful when I want to play it slowly.

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For me it's easy. Unless you're planning to play with 1-3 friends then Galaxy 1 or 2 are clearly the superior gaming experiences when comparing single player vs single player with 3D World's. If OP is planning to play solo then the choice is clear. Such a shame that there's no HD version of Galaxy. I swear if those games got just up-ressed they could rival the graphics from 3D World, that's how good Galaxy looks as is on Wii despite being only at 480p.

 

[Deleted member 42484]

I can't/don't play games when I'm tired. I just can't do it. I need energy to play games.

 

[Ferrs]

Musical games is a very feel good genre. SC5 is so silly and happy

 

[NetMapel]

Mario + rabbit

 

[dock]

Maybe Undertale? It's one of the best feel-good games out there, depending on how you play. Some of the boss fights can get pretty intense though, both in story and difficulty.

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I had the worst time with Undertale. I got trapped in an area and had all my resources and patience worn down by bullet hell 'comedy' enemies with no benefit of passing. It's hard for me to imagine a 'sleepy' version of a game that's full of bullet hell weirdness in a tiny area at the bottom of the screen.

 

[deroli]

To name a few games that haven't been mentioned yet:

Absolute Drift: A top down driving game that almost solely focuses on drifting. It has a clean art style and a very cool soundtrack (if you enjoy electronic music). There are some very difficult challenges but I think you can advance without passing most. And simply drifting through that overworld is soo fullfilling.

Seasons After Fall: A super charming puzzle platformer with a tiny bit of metroidvania. You control a cute fox who can change the time of year to modify his surroundings. Lovely narration and a stunning orchestral soundtrack. The puzzles are definitely on the light side, I did get lost however two or three times.

Thomas Was Alone: Another puzzle platformer. This one is completely linear and it focuses more on, well, puzzles and platforming :) Compared to SAF, I think this is better to be played in short bursts. Legitimately funny.

I also want to mention Journey because it fits your criteria so well. It technically is a multiplayer game (unless you put your console in offline mode) but it delighted me so much, even though I usually only play single player.

 

[dock]

To name a few games that haven't been mentioned yet:
Absolute Drift: A top down driving game that almost solely focuses on drifting. It has a clean art style and a very cool soundtrack (if you enjoy electronic music). There are some very difficult challenges but I think you can advance without passing most. And simply drifting through that overworld is soo fullfilling.

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This is new to me, I'll give it a look!
I dropped TWA after a few levels because I felt the narration was well done but not for me. I'm generally less fond of narration based games, which is why I never bought Bastion.

Journey was very fun when it came out but you really can't play it while you're not giving it your full attention. I need games where I can pause or get a cup of tea or go to bed.

Musical games is a very feel good genre. SC5 is so silly and happy

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I wish the PS3 or PS4 was backwards compatible with my PS2 copy of SC5 part 1. It sucks that the first game isn't on modern platforms, probably because the backgrounds are all prerendered FMV.

 

[HAdoubleRY]

I don't feel good to play a game where the devs included Jontron.

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Had no idea he was involved with that game, my bad