Games are not just for entertainment. Sometimes there is hardly anything nicer than simply switching off after a long day and leaving everyday life behind you for a few hours.

After all, it doesn’t always have to be adrenaline-charged shooter matches or nerve-wracking ranked games. Sometimes a leisurely walk through a virtual world, a little creative building or a relaxed exploration of strange places is enough. On the following pages you will find nine games that make zen just a few clicks away.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

If you just want to live your day, you will find your digital paradise in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. On your own island you design houses, create paths, decorate every corner according to your ideas and chat with the animal residents.

You won’t find any fixed goals or time pressure here. Instead, you’ll spend your time fishing, catching insects, or simply enjoying the sunset on the beach. Hardly any game embodies deceleration better than Animal Crossing.

Stardew Valley

Create, create, build houses! In Stardew Valley you swap everyday office life for a tranquil life in the country. Cultivate fields, look after animals, expand the house or make friends with the residents – you decide for yourself how you spend your day.

Anyone who wants to can do business efficiently. Anyone who prefers leisurely fishing or watching the grass grow will also be happy. It is precisely this freedom that makes Stardew Valley the perfect oasis of well-being.

Solarpunk

A floating island, sustainable technology and a world in which sustainability is the focus: Solarpunk came onto the market in June 2026.

You expand your base, plant vegetables, construct useful gadgets and explore a peaceful world full of possibilities together with friends. Instead of hectic pace and danger, the focus is on creativity, a desire for discovery and community. Anyone looking for modern relaxation games should definitely have Solarpunk on their radar.

Minecraft

Minecraft usually becomes a thrill on the first night at the latest. Because as everyone knows: monsters come at night.

But it doesn’t have to be. In peaceful Creative or Peaceful mode, the block hit turns into a giant digital sandbox. Then it’s time to dig, build, tinker and create. Hours can pass while you simply create your dream world.

Tiny Glade

Some games want to challenge you. Tiny Glade just wants you to build beautiful things.

Without resource management, opponents or time pressure, you create cozy castles, small houses and winding villages. Walls adapt automatically, paths appear almost by themselves and every new creation looks like something straight out of a storybook.

Monument Valley

Even years after its release, Monument Valley can still be accurately described as “relaxation in game form”.

In the surreal puzzle worlds you move impossible architecture, discover optical illusions and accompany the characters through dreamlike backdrops. The combination of music, graphics and clever puzzles creates a gaming experience that is almost meditative.

Journey/Flowers

Is Journey even a game or more of an emotional experience?

As if in a trance, you glide through a dreamlike world and follow a distant goal on the horizon. The studio already demonstrated the same sense of atmosphere with Flower. There, as a petal, you carry the wind through idyllic landscapes and let the surroundings come to life.

Both games impressively show that big emotions don’t always need big explosions.

No Man’s Sky

Space, infinite expanses.

While No Man’s Sky caused controversy at launch, the game has developed enormously through numerous free updates. Today billions of planets are waiting to be discovered.

Not every journey has to be accompanied by fights. Often it is enough to land on an alien planet, observe rare creatures and discover a new wonder over the next hill. Hardly any other game conveys this feeling of freedom and curiosity so convincingly.

Village romance

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best.

In village romance you put fields, forests, rivers and small villages together like puzzle pieces and gradually create a beautiful landscape. There is no time pressure, nor are there complicated rules.

Instead, the game creates a pleasant flow in which you quickly forget how much time has actually passed. That’s exactly why Dorfromantik is now one of the most famous German relaxation games.

Disney Dreamlight Valley

Anyone who has always wanted to live next door to Disney and Pixar characters will immediately feel at home in Disney Dreamlight Valley. Instead of saving the world from destruction, you spend your time fishing, gardening, cooking and building your own little paradise.

You will meet familiar faces like Goofy, Wall-E, Elsa or Simba, help them with their problems and design the valley according to your ideas. Sounds a bit like Animal Crossing with a Disney license? It is – and that’s exactly why the game is ideal for switching off.