What is your gaming "comfort food" and why?

Civilization. There is nothing quite as cathartic as subjugating the world under my iron fist....
- Under my Home made Religion you mean of course

- Was Below Zero bad or…?
  
  If you are a fan of the first one, and have time to spare time you should still play it. But know that it's missing a lot of the magic.

Minecraft. I go through phases of not playing it, but once or twice a year I'll start up a new world and just mindlessly build and mine while listening to a podcast or an audiobook, and will play every night for several weeks. I've started so many minecraft worlds over the years that I really don't need to think about what to do next
- I feel like Minecraft is one of those games that will always be there as an old favourite.

Portal 1 followed immediately by 2 after I’ve completed the first. I own them on every console and also PC and I just love the feeling I get when I play them.
I’ll never forget finding the Orange Box in a bargain bin at BestBuy and how much fun I had playing Portal. GLaDOS being cheeky then becoming full on sadistic and homicidal was something I’ve never experienced in a game before. I laughed a lot and remember my heart beating so fast in the final stages - the thrill I felt when I finally beat her and then starting all over in order to get all of the achievements. It was the most fun I’ve ever had in a game.
Needless to say how excited I was when 2 was announced and I was not disappointed. They’ll never get old for me.
- So far I have made two friends two play the entire Portal 2 campaign while I watched just so I can get a hit of the drug one more time
  
  That’s awesome lol
- Have you tried Portal Reloaded yet? It's pretty good as well and as of the June 2023 "Cooperative Update" adds 20 new levels. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal_Reloaded
  
  I have it downloaded, but haven’t played it yet! Hopefully soon! :)

Hades is one that I’ll still fire up now and again if I’m not sure what to do. Currently losing my mind at the lack of Hades 2 news.
- Seconded.. I take roguelite breaks after every other game I play.. Hades, Slay the Spire, Monster Train, Griftlands, and Little Noah have been sort of relaxing to me.

A bit different from the question but
Outer Wilds.
I've spent a lot of time in it and have 100% it, so it's hard to find a reason get back in, but even just booting to the title screen just completely transports me.
Why? Outer Wilds was just an incredible experience, and the OST is astounding and the music completely soaked up the experience and can bring it all back just by listening.
- My teenage kids love Outer Wilds so much. They speed run it on the weekends when they’re bored.
- I recently bough it at a steam sale but didn't get into it at first. Maybe I'll try again soon.
- To be honest, many games published by Annapurna Interactive are an incredible experience. So, if you want to experience some new things, check them out if you haven't already! I can personally recommend Stray and What Remains of Edith Finch. Final note; if you play the latter for the first time, play it in a single sitting. It's only 2 hours but man is it worth it!

Factorio for me. There is always some old megafactory to pick up again or a new mod nightmare to try out.

Hollow Knight for sure. Just load up a couple of randomizers and explore hallownest for the millionth time
- Randomizers? You mean you can rearrange the whole game or something?
  
  It allows you to randomise which enemies/bosses spawn where, and it randomises items. The world stays the same but the game plays out differently because it often changes how you progress.

Binding of Isaac and Death Stranding. I just keep going back to these 2 even after I've 100% them.
- Death Stranding is downright meditative. One of the most interesting and compelling games I've ever played. I just love delivering the packages and just soaking in that world.

Morrowind!
It’s such an amazing game and such a break from reality. There is tremendous depth there, if you go and look for it, but you can also just dungeon dive and smack monsters in the face with a sword if you want.
Check out OpenMW for a great, easy to use, source port of the game engine.

Definitely Stardew Valley. It's not necessarily like I could play it endlessly forever but whenever all other alternatives seem boring or like they require more energy than I feel like spending, I always turn to Stardew exactly for comfort.
- Yes! I'm genuinely surprised I had too scroll down so far for Stardew. It's overflowing with charm and coziness! Perfect gaming comfort food.

I always play a game of Stellaris every few months. The combination of roleplay and grand strategy massages my brain just right to make the happy chemicals.

Red Dead Redemption 2, Chapter 2.
Galloping around, taking in the hazy morning with a cup of coffee at a makeshift camp, the ambient music and noises as you travel. It gives me such wanderlust.

Dark Souls. Makes my own life feel not quite as hard 🤘

Dynasty Warriors (and its many, many spinoffs). I know they're not objectively good, but man does it feel great to kill 1,000 enemies just by mashing Square and Triangle.
The older entries also had endearingly bad English voice acting.
- Oh man I used to be a major dynasty warriors fan. Specifically of the empires spinoffs. I wish they were more accessible on PC (specifically 7 empires, or the samurai warrior empires games).
  
  Yeah, I tried one after many years...I had fond memories of the old PS2 versions.
  PC port of Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends and janky everything was a barrier just too high to overcome.

For me, Mini Metro. I can just zone out on it. I get that with Tetris and similar games (rymdkapsul is another, Civilization to an extent but not in the same way) - there's that thing of, 'this will end at some point, but before it ends just focus on the now' which puts the mind at ease. But Mini Metro has a more relaxing theme and art style for me than Tetris.

I go back to a few almost routinely.
Mount and Blade: Warband (with and without mods)
Rocket League
Crash Bandicoot 2&3
OpenTTD
Pokemon (The mainline ones are all basically the same game lol)
For M&B and OpenTTD, being able to rely on my old knowledge of the game to succeed feels satisfying since they both have a steep learning curve.
For RL and Crash, muscle memory taking over the majority of play is relaxing.
For Pokemon I just have a crippling amount of nostalgia

Fallout 3. I know New Vegas has a better story and proper ADS. I know 4 is a markedly better handling experience. But 3 holds a special place in my heart
- If you aren't already aware, check out Tale of Two Wastelands. Merges the Capital Wasteland of FO3 and the Mojave of FNV into one, keeping all the good bits Obsidian introduced with FNV.
  
  I have installed and reinstalled TOTW so many times it is 2nd nature on a new computer lol

Subnautica and Flight Simulator. They just have a way of immersing me into another world and keeping my attention the whole time.

Beat Saber. It's not my usual type of game/genre, but somehow I just keep coming back to it when i want to chill out.
Maybe also Dead Cells. And again, I actually usually hate rogue-like mechanics.

On my steam Deck I play Stardew, Mario kart 8, slay the spire with mods. Because these game I can pick up without feeling I lost the Story.
On my phone all the kairosoft games. It's easy , fun and and there is usually a end goal.
On my laptop it's sid meyers SimGolf or the Sims 4. Just nostalgic.

Slay The Spire, I've accumulated over 2000 hours over 3 different platforms since it launched, I've 100%ed it and I've even played some of the mods (which I never ever do for any game) and I never get sick of it, whenever I have an hour and can't be bothered with doing something new I play a run.
Such an amazing game.

City builders seem to be my comfort food. I go back to Banished every now and then to get my fix. I'm currently playing Kingdom Two Crowns to fill it.
- Couldn't come up with an answer until this comment.
  Still waiting for something to hit the same way that banished does.
  I also find myself coming back to Software Inc every couple of months for its management gameplay
  
  It's too bad banished always turns into a hectic click management game once the community gets to a self supporting size. Migrants show up and you expand for them... And then you get to run through the same operations every season, setting fields for plant and harvest, prioritizing workers and resources. It gets repetitive and the reward for getting bigger is just more clicking and more management.

Open TTD.
Its free.
But its just so cozy and fun. Who doesnt enjoy seeing a train arrive to the new station for the first time?
I dont play it a whole lot at a time.. But i do enjoy it every time i get back to it.
- Kept meaning to come back to this thread and talk about OpenTTD! I’ve been a Transport Tycoon game since I was fourteen or so! I love getting sucked in to a new transportation empire.

Animal crossing. Enough said

Katamari.
I can pick it up, play 10 minutes, and put it down. I've played this game every few weeks for several years now because I just love rollin shit up.

Games that I had, wanted but never got, or just missed growing up. It's like a nostalgic topiary. I find hunting, testing, and playing very relaxing.

Toy Story PSX and Super Mario 64 (DS version in my case, or the improved ports).
- Toy story psx one of those rare great licensed games
  
  It is indeed, and I swear it hasn't aged a bit at all!

Original Quake, RimWorld, crusader kings, and it’s looking like Against the Storm
Sorry I know that’s 4 but fuck it, I can’t decide.

Stellaris, Rimworld, or Borderlands 2. Depends on how much I want to use my brain. If I just want to turn my brain off, Borderlands. If I want to really sink into a game, Rimworld. Somewhere in between, Stellaris.

Walking simulators and story/emotion heavy games like Life is Strange. Sometimes a good feels helps.
And Skyrim is my comfort game. Helps with panic attacks.
- Visual novel or narrative games are great for that. Sometimes it's nice to just watch a story unfold and make key choices.

Before I fell off blizzard Heroes of the Storm was amazing comfort food. Short matches compared to most Moba, and so many fun characters.

For me, I always come back to multiplayer survival games.
I just love the building up from nothing with friends.

NBA 2K
I've been an avid fan of NBA 2K since the early 2000's. I absolutely hate how money hungry the game has gotten; that being said, the core offline gameplay is still extremely strong. I'll pop in and play a few offline games just to decompress. It's gotten to the point where I'll put on music or a podcast and find myself idly playing through four quarters of basketball.

Turn based rpgs, the sort of thing with just enough challenge to be fun but not too quick or difficult. Like I love dark souls but when I just want to chill give me something like dragon quest. Sadly it seems to be dying out as a genre.
- Pathfinder wrath of the righteous was amazing. Wholeheartedly recommend it. Wasteland 3 too. Can't wait to play Baldur's Gate 3, but it's a bit expensive for me right now.
- I'm in love with pokemon rom hacks for this reason. Tons of great hacks that are usually harder than the main games, but you can always grind if it gets too hard. And there a lots of OK hacks, but sadly only a few really good ones

Tunic for me, simply going, walking around, revisiting a place know well
And "A Short Hike" for my SO, they where feeling bad one day and came to see me. I got Ice Craem, some Blankets, and gave them the controler next while I was against them. Now everytime they felt sad they go on a walk to this mountain. I surprised them preparing their laptop by putting A Short Hike Wallpaper, and made their day like that

Borderlands 2, there’s just something about it. I’ve put so many hours into it on various platforms, and it never gets old. The story is so good and I just love the play style. It’s super easy to restart the campaign or there’s always some farming / grinding to do, depending on the vibe for the day

Basically anything single-player from BioWare and Bethesda that's not Mass Effect Andromeda.

Baldurs Gate 1.

Super Metroid. I replay that every year and I've been doing that since I was 12, I'm now 29. Greatest game ever made. The rest of the metroid series gets replayed at least every other year, absolutely amazing games and there's not much else like em unfortunately.

League of legends obviously I enjoy the toxicity
- As an Ex-Yuumi player it was unironicly something I did enjoy to calm down, when it was not just stay afk on your ADC. I used to Chill mute everyone and play Yuumi Top, just farming and blocking golds from top tower for ennemy TOP
  And I am full serious not joking, it was chill and a viable strategy

HBS's Battletech (2018). One, it brings me back to some good high school memories playing tabletop with my friends, and two, you can never have too much big stompy robots shooting each other.

Was thinking about this earlier today, but lately I've gotten burnt out on Final Fantasy XVI whether that be due to the tone, design or combat I am not too sure. Had a slow weekend for once and decided to pop in Atelier Ryza 2 as I recently picked up Ryza 3 due to it having a small print run. Spent most of the day playing it off and on, but the brighter and more positive tone was a boon compared to the drudgery of FFXVI.
Atelier isn't always my comfort food, but that was a nice change. That distinction would have to either go to rhythm games or to stuff like Trackmania or Minecraft where you can "shut off your brain" and just play. TM has a certain "flow" to the tracks that isn't like anything else out there and Minecraft just throws you into the world and lets you go. (Albeit on Peaceful.)

Spyro the Dragon - the first game specifically, I find it more of an immersive treasure-hunting experience than the next two games, which are more obviously... I dunno, video game-y. I like all three but I always 100% the first game at least once a year.
- I only played this game on a demo disc. Along with Rugrats. I'll have to give it another go.

Battlefield 1. I hop on the same server every time and it's a nice way to calm myself down if I'm stressed about something in real life. It's much more fun to be stressed about staying alive and helping my team the best I can. The game sparked a strong interest in history for me aswell, so it's also a comfort zone in that sense too.

NieR Replicant and or Final Fantasy 7

Diablo 2. I return to it about twice a year and have a good time starting a fresh playthrough farming gear for a few different builds. Especially with the QOL that resurrected has brought.

Tetris. Always down for a quick game

Surviving Mars, taming an hostile environment always does the trick for me. Also some games from childhood (for example, I recently played Tomba! and Tomba! 2 again)
- The Tomba games are great! I was thinking of replaying them this year, actually, probably for my Halloween gaming season (it's not horror, I know, but there's a lot in the games that was just creepy to me as a kid)

Doom (1993) for me. The newer custom maps and mods too, ofc, but more often than not I'll spin up episode 1 or 2 just to play through it.
Actually, if I'm really stressed, sometimes I'll "play" Doom maps in my head - just walking around, trying to remember as much detail as I can. I find it strangely soothing. Damn, I guess Doom is my happy place

Idle games or incremental games are my go-to for casual play. At the moment I'm playing through NGU Idle mainly because It's a super slow burn but unlocks lots of goofy features over time. I've been progressing for a couple years now.

Don't Starve Together. I suck at it, but I love opening up the map and building up my base.

I have over 500 hours in Particle Fleet: Emergence. Very chill level-based game where you can slowly move forward and beat a map over an hour or so. All the Knuckle Cracker games have tons and tons of user content available so there's no shortage of maps to play.

It'll literally always be Minecraft. I think I'll revisit it every couple months till I'm dead.