Space Sprouts: calm, cosy, whimsical, physics based.
Opus Magnum: machine-building puzzles loosely based on alchemical lore. The puzzle objectives tie into a story that is kind of just window dressing, but interesting enough.
this post was submitted on 17 May 2026
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Rime!! No one ever suggests it but it's such an amazing game. You can finish the story in 5-10 hours probably, but you'll be thinking about it far longer than that
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I recommend Timberborn. Also great and relaxing to watch someone like Zeddic play it.
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Unravel and Unravel Two are very cosy platformers.
Transistor and Bastion are similar games that can be chill with combat.
Thomas was alone is a chill platformer with a nice story.
The librarian Not a long game but it's calm
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.
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no man's sky, always relaxes me after a tough day
Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist
It's a short game, less than an hour, but fun.
I love Valheim. It's a survival game set against a Nordic inspired background. It has several play modes and multiple world modifiers so you can tweak it to your playstyle. You can just chill by exploring the seas and its islands or go build a cozy base. It is also stunningly beautiful despite the modest graphics.
I just started this. It was calm until the Forest started attacking lol
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DayZ is 99.5% a calm hiking simulator where you get to enjoy the beautiful scenery and soundscape and 0.5% pure horror.
Different genre, but I really like Transport Fever and Cities Skylines. Not a lot of action, but always something new that can still be optimized.
I do need to set an alarm clock to not be playing those the entire night though, so be careful.
OP are you using Crossover or similar to play portal? The native mac version of Portal doesn't support macOS newer than 10.14
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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/
Gris is a nice, chill game with a really beautiful artstyle.
The Talos Principle (both of them, though the DLC for 1 is optional, and incredibly challenging). They're the best puzzle game I can recommend next to Portal. They do their own thing, and almost to the same level. The gameplay doesn't feel quite as smooth, but there's a lot it goes better than Portal too.
The Outer Wilds. It doesn't feel as chill to some people, but I think it is. Very tiny first ~20m spoiler that can help with being chill:
spoiler
it's a time loop, so there are no consequences. Feel free to wreck your ship. It'll be repaired next loop. Feel free to mess around and die. You'll lose nothing. Don't be sucked into the idea you need to do things well or quickly, because it literally does not matter. The only thing that effects the next loop is what you learned.