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After starting work, I feel so tired every day, so I just want to play some casual games. Recently, I'm playing survivor-like games like Vampire Survivors and Darkchaser. They're simple and fun, but after a while, they get a bit boring. So, I'm looking for other casual game recommendations, preferably single-player games that can be paused at any time, like Plants vs Zombies. Thanks！
Slice and dice, a rogurlite played with dice.
Huge amount of modes like "demo mode" that makes each run like 40% shorter.
Not only can a run go by pretty fast they last roughly as long as a vs run.
Any City Building game
Lots of options already shared it so I am just gonna say that I find easier to play older games that I have already played/beaten.
Personal examples:
Super Mario 64 and Toy Story 2.
The huge benefit of older games is that they are just quick and play, no updates no DLCs just fire it up and play, if emulated you even got save states and all those thingys.
This is a dangerous thing to me though, as it discourages me to try out new games, yeah, but after a tiring day I find myself more comfortable getting into these kinds of games than other options.
Funny that you mentioned Vampire Survivors as I was planning to get it for Android haha.
Sounds like you're ready for the wonderful universe of TBS games (Turn Based Strategy). There a soo many sub genres but you can filter the steam shop for turn-based and read reviews and recommendations. Some personal highlights:
Is Rimworld chill though? It's been sitting on my waitlist for a while, but I'm still a bit...afraid. Doesn't each colony ultimately go to shit?
There is an end goal apparently. But in my 40+ hrs played, never been able to build a spaceship. So In practice, yea that's about right.
It can be. Lower difficulty and phoebe chillax as the storyteller. I highly recommend modding the game. Both the common QOL mods and tweaks to what you don't like.
I found the game really boring personally. But its a cool game.
Voices of the Void has been my go to time waster for a couple years now. Dev is a little weird, but the game is amazingly well done and gets somewhat regular updates that expand the story and add new content. You are essentially a scientist sent to work at a SETI-like site in Switzerland. Your job is to maintain the site and search for signals in space, analyze them, and then ship them out to your colleagues, for which you get paid to buy supplies and other things. As you play, random events occur, some funny, some scary. There's tons of items to buy and decorate your base with. Lots of locations to discover. Sooooooo many secrets to find. I'm constantly impressed by all the work they've done with a very small team.
My only complaint is having to reset my save when an update comes out. It's generally worth it, as there's usually new events that you'll miss otherwise, but having to redecorate the base and lose collectables you've spent hours on is a bummer... That and I hate the new drive storage rack. I wish they'd bring back then old one as an additional storage item.
Also, the whole damn game is free.
I aprove this message.
A great auto-battler released just this year named The Gnorp Apologue!
Your role is relatively passive, but a little time investment is required for progress.
Available on PC, Steam (if you're willing to pay), and android (through F-droid, not sure about play store or any of the others):
Shattered Pixel Dungeon. Run though randomly generated dungeon floors. Every 5th floor, fight a boss. I suck at it, so I've only gotten past the 2nd boss once, but that's because I suck. Currently 5 different classes with a 6th in development (unless I'm wrong and it's already out), each playing differently for the most part. You've got a warrior, rogue, huntress, mage, and duelist, with all but warrior being locked until you do easy enough requirements to unlock them for subsequent runs.
Can pause, exit, and come back to a run whenever during a run.
Available on PC and android (both F-droid and play store);
SuperTuxKart. Cart racer with a lot of fan made content like maps and carts. Has varying difficulties, but the lower the difficulty the lower the max speed in a race, if that matters to anyone else besides me. Not exactly full-on single-player since there is the option of online play, either against friends or random players if you find an open lobby.
Can pause pretty much any time offline but backing out makes you have to restart a race from the beginning. Same thing applies to the multi-race cup things.
HoloCure is another take on Vampire Survivors genre, but with slightly more complex mechanics (closer to a twin stick shooter) and VTuber themed characters. It's also completely free on Steam as it's a fan made project, but that does not detract from its quality in any way.
I played through My Friend Pedro over the weekend when I had a few hours to chill. I can't promise that it'll keep you preoccupied for long but I really enjoyed it
Depending on what you mean by casual, I consider Dead Cells a casual game, because whenever I'm bored I pick it up and play for a while, but it's one of the hardest games I've played, however because it's rogue like it doesn't matter if you die a lot. Another similar example would be Factorio with enemies turned off, just go there, fix something, add something new and quit the game near the next thing you want to do so you remember it next time.
If you're looking for a more traditional definition of casual games I tend to play those in the phone, I really like mini metro and super hexagon (although again, this one might not fit your definition of casual)
The ones I've played of late are:
Disney Dreamlight Valley
Dungeons of the Endless (Casual, but a tad addictive)
Dungeon Defenders
I mean cyberpunk2077 you can by and large pause at any time and you can generally save but there are sometimes where it tells you saving is not allowed. So there are certain points in the story where you can be playing for awhile without a save but its not a super lot. Can be sorta annoying though when you get to them though. Still its not much of the game. Its been awhile but I thought harry potter allowed pausing. Don't recall it putting me in a difficult position where I could not put it down. Technically elden ring has a hidden pause if you go into a menu in a menu. There are youtube videos on it. Its stressful as heck though as a game. If you quite you are by and large fine to but any enemy that is damage will be at full health when you get back but dead ones will stay dead. Its really not much of an issue except for bosses. I think baldurs gate 3 and starfield allow saving pretty much at any time as well and pause, again its been awhile.
If you're okay with demolition derby stuff, FlatOut 2, Ultimate Carnage, and also Wreckfest is decent arcade racer. FlatOut minigames also fun for couch play with 2-4 people.
Wrecking competitor is fun and you can set the difficulty as you wish.
L4D2. simple and AMAZING arcade zombie shooter. will never be uninstalled from my computers and super cheap.
Try some retro games as well, some beat 'em up & shoot 'em up games, zelda games, Shinning Soul I & II
Noita - Action 2D platformer
Ale & Tale Tavern - survival food service
Satisfactory - Open world Factory builder (my current addiction)
IMO your selections are a weird fit for the term "chill" as they seem to be more action games but the above should have a similar "intense at times, with breaks" vibe i get from yours.
I like TLOZ:BotW a lot. But I need to say that it is my favorite game so it could not be that relaxing for others. Forager is also a great casual game. I cab also genuinely recommend these:
Depending on what you mean by casual, Terraria fits the bill. I love sitting down with a journey mode character and taking the game at my own pace. For the first playthrough I would probably point people to softcore normal mode as it's the "proper" way to play, but once you've grinded out goals once then journey is a really nice way to take control of the game's difficulty on the fly.