I know you said MacOS, but if you ever get the chance, Che k out Eastshade. It's the most relaxing, lovely, fun little game I have ever played.
this post was submitted on 17 May 2026
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Hardspace: Shipbreaker in sandbox/unlimited mode
Agreed. Without the shift timer the game is almost peaceful.
Subnautica, factorio with enemies turned off (or pollution).
I heard Doom is a very peaceful game. You might wanna try that.
Or DOOM II
A very calm game in the same genre: Wolfenstein.
Tiny Bookshop
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.
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.
no man's sky, always relaxes me after a tough day
Factorio on peaceful settings is pretty calm
What Remains of Edith Finch is fantastic!
It is fantastic, but OP should be sure to check some spoilers. It is also horrific.
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.
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
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.
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.
I really enjoyed playing the Myst and Riven remakes. Definitely give them a shot. Especially Riven.
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.
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.)
Untitled Goose Game
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/
Transistor and Bastion are similar games that can be chill with combat.
Thomas was alone is a chill platformer with a nice story.
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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Perhaps HASTE might work. Highly customizable experience. Mac friendly.
If you want portal but different I can't recommend antichamber enough. Also the community made portal games like revolution are pretty good.
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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Blue Prince
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
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