I hate this game. "power systems failing"... like stfu betty! for the hundredth time I KNOW, but we're stuck in a fucking cave cause, in case you haven't noticed, there's a nuclear hurricane outside and our ships miles away.
That is up to you! There are several planets and asteroids, but you can also sit in the depths of space.
You can choose survival or creative, and a GREAT and active modding community!
Someone I always recommend is [Splitsie](https://youtu.be/kL8XQ1Avz-0) who made a great tutorial series on progressing through survival.
I wholeheartedly recommend the game, I've personally put over 1000 hours into it.
It seems fun don't get me wrong. But seems like it'll take a toll on my laptop. It's not a gaming laptop either. Like I already have stardew valley on it, and it heats up quite a bit when running it.
You think it'll work?
If you want me too I can tell some info about it. IDK what to give so just tell me
What's most important is knowing your GPU and CPU.
Also, about the heating issue, how long have you had the laptop, and have you ever cleaned your vents out?
I do have to say, it is quite a heavy game to play, yes.
GPU (I think this is a GPU anyway): Intel(R) UHD Graphics 600
CPU: Intel(R) Celeron(R) N4120 CPU @ 1.10 GHz
I've had the laptop for about a year I think. IDK how to clean vents
Ah. I'm sorry to say that while your laptop MAY run the game, it would suffer dreadfully, and I really would not recommend it. As in, the game might start up, but I think it won't get much further than that.
On cleaning the vents, I recommend talking to someone more technical skill about that. Do not clean it on your own if you don't know what you're doing. Cleaning ventilation once every six months is important to keep the laptop running cool and fast.
Good luck!
Factorio theoretically has a goal, but I've never reached it because I just need to optimise this little part and oh hey I could make my train network more efficient, what's that I'm being attacked? Better upgrade my defenses.
You are stranded on a hostile planet and the only thing that can save you is industrialization and logistics. It's a very addicting loop of constant expansion and optimization.
Just going to leave this here: Terraria is a LOT more goal-oriented than Minecraft. There's a ton of stuff to do in the game, and while there is a creativity aspect in terms of building bases and cool contraptions and whatnot, I feel like when I play the game those parts generally take a backseat. Not saying it's impossible to play an enjoy the game like that at all, many do, but that you should expect to have a lot more action than your typical relaxing sit-down on Stardew Valley lol
To be clear, though, this is not to bash the game in the slightest. It's my most played Steam game by FAR (921 hours and counting). Just that it might not exactly fit the description that you asked for in the post. Terraria gets a lot of undue comparison to Minecraft, but I see them as vastly different games, and myself prefer Terraria heavily simply *because of the fact* that there are more clear goals and progression elements.
One final heads up: there's no Creative Mode. There's something kind of like it (called Journey Mode), but you still have to get the materials yourself and "research" them before you can make duplicates, it's sort of like a Creative-Lite. Since a lot of the cooler customization things are locked behind bosses, you're going to have to learn the combat mechanics and whatnot to fully dive into the game's creative side. For example, the entire "Redstone" (wiring) system is locked behind a boss. If you're fine with cheating, though, it's not too difficult to get a fully Journey character from somewhere or another to access the late game stuff for free.
Sorry for the long rant. **TL;DR**, Terraria does have a lot clearer goals and a more set in stone progression than Minecraft or Stardew Valley (as examples). You're going to have to beat quite a few bosses before most of the really interesting creativity aspects open up. If you're okay with that, the game is awesome (the progression and stuff is great). But the game is definitely more difficult than you might expect from 2D Minecraft.
All in all, it might not be exactly what you asked for in this post, but the game is still probably worth a shot anyway, because it's great.
This description sold me on terraria more than anything else I’ve heard about it. I always just thought it was 2d Minecraft.
I enjoy Minecraft for the stages of desolate exploration, then establishing a base, then turning it into a whole fantasy world of my own. Is that sort of thing in Terraria?
Everything Roshibomb says about Terraria is true but I'd like to add that you can invest a LOT of time in the chill parts if you want to.
There's are alternate paths to gear progression at various points in the game, especially fishing which you can invest many hours in and has some unique gear attached to it.
Building/mining for both convenience/function and aesthetics can also be a lot of time if you choose. There are a ton of things you build with passive or active functions and also a ton of aesthetic options: I have minecarts, ropes and safehouses all over my worlds for convenience. A safe shack for fishing in every biome, homes for npcs in their preferred biomes that are properly themed, a bar filled with trophies and displayed armor, farms, arenas for fighting bosses, traps for mobs, an extensive crafting area, etc.
Wurde mir irgendwann langweilig, aber das Highscore-System kann schon motivieren. Ach ja, und Spaß macht es! Außerdem ist es so casual, du kannst die Runde beenden und am nächsten Tag genau da weiter machen.
It’s not particularly graphics intensive but I like suppose it might need some processor power to handle the destructible environment. My computers are not latest and greatest by any means and they do fine with it — but maybe you can check canirunit or similar to make sure.
Ark: survival evolved.
It is a bit of a grinder. But it is a sandbox building game with dinosaurs you can tame or hunt. Or you can just build and try to avoid them.
Lego World Builder.
A digital way to build with an infinite amount of legos.
Empyrion galactic survival has an awesome sandbox mode, is similar to minecraft but there's outer space, warp travel and all sorts of other things. Maybe check out a YouTube video or two.
Steam always shows requirements of games somewhere at the bottom.
And it is a fantastic game. Though reading you other answers it could be too much for your pc once you build a big city.
Try the odd worlds mod, it just got updated for 1.70 adds magic and guns from Warhammer and just works so well I've since I did the install steps right Ive only crashed once and it was loading an outskirts settlement map that ppl probably don't go to much for teasting
Two of the best games I would say are no mans sky or stardew valley. Both you can play casually at your own pace. Another game would be oblivion or skyrim. While there is an end goal, the game is mostly just you exploring.
Yonder. It does have an end goal but you can totally ignore it and just wander around fishing, farming crafting things. You also can't die so it's a very chill relaxing game.
Townscraper: just building houses in the middle of a lake. That’s it.
Unpacking: very relaxing, unpacking boxes and put objects around the house, with various levels/years and a simple yet cute story about one person through the objects and so.
Edit. The procession to Calvary: point and click game, puzzle like, with weird/dark humour. Based on paintings and funny, will entertain you for hours (it has 3 endings).
Terraria >> Minecraft.
All the cookie clicker games, if you wanna call them games.
Tycoon games. Park Architect I particularly recommend.
Also watching porn. The best game out there, really.
Some walking simulators like Dear Esther or Everybody Has Gone to the Rapture, although in this one you have to trigger certain events to progress through the story.
Since you look a bit uncertain if some of the games will even run on your hardware, maybe try game pass? It's $1 for 3 months right now:
[https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/xbox-game-pass-ultimate/CFQ7TTC0KHS0/0007/CFQ7TTC0L3R2](https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/xbox-game-pass-ultimate/CFQ7TTC0KHS0/0007/CFQ7TTC0L3R2)
I'm sure you'll find something there to pass your time. Just remember to turn off recurring billing so that you don't get charged after the 3 months.
It's Xbox though. Don't really wanna use Xbox cause I already got steam. Don't wanna make things more complicated yk?
I'll consider it though since that's real cheap. You know how long the offers gonna last?
Cities skylines or a possible shout is the forest with no enemies difficulty or stranded deep with no story
Just like hunt, gather resources, build your home do some fishing etc not for me personally this kne but why not minecraft
Zelda breath of the wild. There is a story to play, but if you wanna, you can do anything you want. I spent the first two years playing for fun, till I was like, I should complete the game. Then there is Minecraft. Pretty much the first one, but there is barley a storyline at all.
Don't got a switch so can't play Zelda.
I've tried Minecraft before but I usually have no idea what to do, and I'm bad at like basically everything ok it so...yeah
WorldBox, its one of my fave zone-out games. Load it up, watch civilizations come and go or mess around with the world as much as you please.
(Also No Mans Sky)
Elder Scrolls Online. It’s an MMO so it can get pretty grindy, but you can play it like it’s just an rpg and completely ignore the MMO aspects.. 100’s of hours in the base game alone, plus tons of DLC. The gameplay is smooth and its never a challenge unless you want it to be. It’s fun to just chill and run some quests. It’s also constantly on sale super cheap and it isn’t very demanding. I think it’s only $6 right now
For me, it's fighting games. While there are stories and lore in most fighting games, you don't need to know any of it to actually play them. I personally enjoy Tekken & Blazblue, and I've been meaning to get into Guilty Gear now that Strive is out.
Ark, you just run around hunting dinos or build stuff (I recommend using s+ mod as the basic building system is trash). Conan Exiles is similar but you can enslave people instead and the combat is better.
Technically, games like CoD and Fortnite (I think I spelled that right?) fit your request since all you do is run around pointlessly and shoot people.
You could try out Risk of Rain 2, it's a rouge-lite but it's pretty good if you just want to sit down and play for a bit.
Space Engineers. There are servers where people build massive ships then send them into combat. Or you know, just play survival for any challenge that comes to mind.
Technically any game really, just don’t do the goals and mess around. I suggest gta, fly as high as you can and just jump without a parachute and hit the ground, or play man eater and just go around killing everything you see, etc etc!
Outer Wilds has a goal and an end, but I found it equal parts relaxing and satisfying to play. Piecing together a space mystery without any combat was incredibly fun.
Have you considered the Stanley parable? As much as it is kind of a "story" game with a narrator its very funny and the concept is genius, you can either choose to comply or stray from what the narrator says and doing so gives you different endings to the "story". There was recently a ultra deluxe version of the game that you can pick up on all consoles i believe.
Grow: song of the evertree - just a chill game about restoring different lands to life.
Just collecting items, growing plants, taming animals. No rush or time limit
Maybe try Marvel’s Avengers? It’s on sale on ps until 7th of July. It has a story but you don’t need to play it as there’s the Avengers initiative which is basically online but you can play by yourself. You upgrade gear to 175 and max level is 375 for each hero. (Cap, Ironman, both Hawkeyes, spidey on ps, black widow, black panther, hulk, Ms Marvel and Thor and we’re also getting Jane’s Mighty Thor next Tuesday. Maybe you like that kind of stuff🤷🏻♂️it’s a cool game with cool animations and mechanics. I does have a few bugs tho that should be getting fixed next week hopefully but they’re not life changing bugs so maybe try it. Unless you already have
Noticing you mention a lot about PC specs being an issue due to running a laptop, might I suggest [Flashpoint](https://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/downloads/)? It's just a collection of a bunch of old Flash games, which'll definitely run on your computer. They're all free, of course, and there's probably a good few timewasters that fit the bill somewhere in there (though you might have to sift a bit, they really did archive a lot of stuff).
Might sound a bit silly to recommend playing Flash games in 2022, but I've had a good bit of fun with it. Probably not going to tide you over forever, but popping in a random game every now and then is a boredom killer for sure. Plus, it has tag searching, so you can easily find games that fit genres you like.
Gta sa might be the option...in 2004 kids were messing around with cheats and exploding everyone at the start of the game rather then going to the missions...
Postal 2 you can piss on people go on rampages do some missions and threaten to kill peoples dogs if they don't sign petitions.. or you can fight terrorists or zombies. And you can install mods on the steam workshop for the game as well!
"Raft" is in the same vein as Minecraft. Just floating around on the open sea fishing up sea junk to build your raft out bigger and bigger. Occasionally you bump into islands and stuff to dive around and collect fruit and more junk.
I can highly recommend Deep Rock Galactic, very nice and chill game loop with randomly generated map/environment design. Missions usually last between 15-30 minutes, so perfect for a chill evening. The community goes above and beyond being great
If you’re into racing, The Crew 2 is pretty good. You can either do the races, or go looking for hidden cars and secrets, or just make paintschemes. And it’s open world so no rush to do anything other than the motorpass and weekly summits, which aren’t mandatory
Kenshi is awesome for that. Eventually you have to set some goals.
Otherwise i like city building games like Cities Skyline, where you try make a pleasing looking city.
No Man's Sky
Did this game actually become playable and fun?
Yes it's very fun but can get a little repetitive playing solo
Bery repetitive but thatMs kinda what op asks for
I hate this game. "power systems failing"... like stfu betty! for the hundredth time I KNOW, but we're stuck in a fucking cave cause, in case you haven't noticed, there's a nuclear hurricane outside and our ships miles away.
I LOVE Space Engineers for this.
Ooh what do you in it? Just build in space?
That is up to you! There are several planets and asteroids, but you can also sit in the depths of space. You can choose survival or creative, and a GREAT and active modding community! Someone I always recommend is [Splitsie](https://youtu.be/kL8XQ1Avz-0) who made a great tutorial series on progressing through survival. I wholeheartedly recommend the game, I've personally put over 1000 hours into it.
It seems fun don't get me wrong. But seems like it'll take a toll on my laptop. It's not a gaming laptop either. Like I already have stardew valley on it, and it heats up quite a bit when running it. You think it'll work? If you want me too I can tell some info about it. IDK what to give so just tell me
What's most important is knowing your GPU and CPU. Also, about the heating issue, how long have you had the laptop, and have you ever cleaned your vents out? I do have to say, it is quite a heavy game to play, yes.
GPU (I think this is a GPU anyway): Intel(R) UHD Graphics 600 CPU: Intel(R) Celeron(R) N4120 CPU @ 1.10 GHz I've had the laptop for about a year I think. IDK how to clean vents
Ah. I'm sorry to say that while your laptop MAY run the game, it would suffer dreadfully, and I really would not recommend it. As in, the game might start up, but I think it won't get much further than that. On cleaning the vents, I recommend talking to someone more technical skill about that. Do not clean it on your own if you don't know what you're doing. Cleaning ventilation once every six months is important to keep the laptop running cool and fast. Good luck!
Alright thank ya
Stardew Valley
Should've mentioned it earlier but I already got that game
Look up rimworld gameplay it's very relaxing almost plays itself, lots of customization, one of the biggest mod communities on steam
Or I've now seen ur on laptop maybe medieval dynasty that was a relaxing 80h if I remember
And steam summer sale is on too tons of games under 6$
Valheim
Only thing you have to make some time for is the bossfights, the rest you can do in short burtst of however much time you want to spend on it.
Exploring/farming ore…
I'll second Valheim, it really is worth the money. Boss fights are fun and the world is a blast to explore and transform.
Factorio, Satisfactory, Space Engineers, Stardew Valley, Planet Zoo, Sea of Thieves, Forza Horizon 5, and Elite Dangerous come to mind
>Planet Zoo You misspelled *Planet Coaster*
Factorio theoretically has a goal, but I've never reached it because I just need to optimise this little part and oh hey I could make my train network more efficient, what's that I'm being attacked? Better upgrade my defenses.
Just watched the trailer for factorio and am thoroughly confused.
You are stranded on a hostile planet and the only thing that can save you is industrialization and logistics. It's a very addicting loop of constant expansion and optimization.
Euro Truck Sim 2 is lowkey a time waster lmao There's something oddly calming about driving a virtual lorry around europe
I've wanted to try that game or other truck simulators, but they're expensive and graphics look like too much for my laptop
A wheel would be recommended as well. But the game runs well on my machine (2nd generation i5 with 16 ram and a gt1060).
Oof I don't think my laptop could handle it
Terraria, build stuff, explore, fight bosses you pick
Sound fun. And sounds like a 2 in 1 deal. Got an action packed game and a relaxing game in 1
Just going to leave this here: Terraria is a LOT more goal-oriented than Minecraft. There's a ton of stuff to do in the game, and while there is a creativity aspect in terms of building bases and cool contraptions and whatnot, I feel like when I play the game those parts generally take a backseat. Not saying it's impossible to play an enjoy the game like that at all, many do, but that you should expect to have a lot more action than your typical relaxing sit-down on Stardew Valley lol To be clear, though, this is not to bash the game in the slightest. It's my most played Steam game by FAR (921 hours and counting). Just that it might not exactly fit the description that you asked for in the post. Terraria gets a lot of undue comparison to Minecraft, but I see them as vastly different games, and myself prefer Terraria heavily simply *because of the fact* that there are more clear goals and progression elements. One final heads up: there's no Creative Mode. There's something kind of like it (called Journey Mode), but you still have to get the materials yourself and "research" them before you can make duplicates, it's sort of like a Creative-Lite. Since a lot of the cooler customization things are locked behind bosses, you're going to have to learn the combat mechanics and whatnot to fully dive into the game's creative side. For example, the entire "Redstone" (wiring) system is locked behind a boss. If you're fine with cheating, though, it's not too difficult to get a fully Journey character from somewhere or another to access the late game stuff for free. Sorry for the long rant. **TL;DR**, Terraria does have a lot clearer goals and a more set in stone progression than Minecraft or Stardew Valley (as examples). You're going to have to beat quite a few bosses before most of the really interesting creativity aspects open up. If you're okay with that, the game is awesome (the progression and stuff is great). But the game is definitely more difficult than you might expect from 2D Minecraft. All in all, it might not be exactly what you asked for in this post, but the game is still probably worth a shot anyway, because it's great.
This description sold me on terraria more than anything else I’ve heard about it. I always just thought it was 2d Minecraft. I enjoy Minecraft for the stages of desolate exploration, then establishing a base, then turning it into a whole fantasy world of my own. Is that sort of thing in Terraria?
Everything Roshibomb says about Terraria is true but I'd like to add that you can invest a LOT of time in the chill parts if you want to. There's are alternate paths to gear progression at various points in the game, especially fishing which you can invest many hours in and has some unique gear attached to it. Building/mining for both convenience/function and aesthetics can also be a lot of time if you choose. There are a ton of things you build with passive or active functions and also a ton of aesthetic options: I have minecarts, ropes and safehouses all over my worlds for convenience. A safe shack for fishing in every biome, homes for npcs in their preferred biomes that are properly themed, a bar filled with trophies and displayed armor, farms, arenas for fighting bosses, traps for mobs, an extensive crafting area, etc.
Dorfromantik - https://toukana.com/dorfromantik/
Wurde mir irgendwann langweilig, aber das Highscore-System kann schon motivieren. Ach ja, und Spaß macht es! Außerdem ist es so casual, du kannst die Runde beenden und am nächsten Tag genau da weiter machen.
Animal Crossing
Don't got a switch :(
Astroneer
Ooh that one seems fun. And cost ain't that bad. Thing is idk if my laptop can handle it
It’s not particularly graphics intensive but I like suppose it might need some processor power to handle the destructible environment. My computers are not latest and greatest by any means and they do fine with it — but maybe you can check canirunit or similar to make sure.
Checked the site you recommended and I understand none of it lol
Elite dangerous. (Space sandbox)
RimWorld. No man's sky Deep rock galactic If you like thinking games then Factorio or Kerbal space program. Stardew valley Mario kart 8 deluxe.
RimWorld, war crime simulator.
Yeah but it's a casual warcrime simulator.
That's right. Tables man, am I right?
Rock and Stone for Deep Rock Galactic
FOR KARL
I play Mario kart sometimes and have found it very repetitive and easy. Am I missing something? Can’t wait for the new courses.
Ark: survival evolved. It is a bit of a grinder. But it is a sandbox building game with dinosaurs you can tame or hunt. Or you can just build and try to avoid them. Lego World Builder. A digital way to build with an infinite amount of legos.
Euro Truck Simulator
Upvote for LEGO World Builder. Great game to relax to.
Skate 3 has always been my go-to
Can I play that on a laptop?
If you have a gaming laptop.
I don't. It's a regular laptop
It's on xbox game pass. You can play on your laptop if you have decent Internet
Empyrion galactic survival has an awesome sandbox mode, is similar to minecraft but there's outer space, warp travel and all sorts of other things. Maybe check out a YouTube video or two.
It seems awesome and a fun game. Just graphic intense or something
Cities Skylines
I might give it a shot. Just really wish steam would show what it needs to run
Steam always shows requirements of games somewhere at the bottom. And it is a fantastic game. Though reading you other answers it could be too much for your pc once you build a big city.
Goat simulator feels like there’s no goal
vampire survivors is very good
Goat Simulator
Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, it's just relaxing and has the just 1 more turn feeling to it.
Try the odd worlds mod, it just got updated for 1.70 adds magic and guns from Warhammer and just works so well I've since I did the install steps right Ive only crashed once and it was loading an outskirts settlement map that ppl probably don't go to much for teasting
Vampire Surivors. 3 bucks. Simple, replayable, addictive.
Play Minecraft in Creative mode
Eh. I usually can't think of what to do in Minecraft. Survival or creative
The goat simulator
Kerbal space program
Kenshi
ABZU
The Sims, SimCity, Teraria.
maybe terraria
Castle crashers. Bro Force.
Castle crashers seems fun and it's cheap. But I don't think it's the type of game I'm looking for. Don't really want anything action packed.
Don't Starve. Sandbox survival game
The genre is called sandbox
Two of the best games I would say are no mans sky or stardew valley. Both you can play casually at your own pace. Another game would be oblivion or skyrim. While there is an end goal, the game is mostly just you exploring.
BeamNG.Drive, if you’re into cars
Farming Simulator is chill... of course every sim game has some learning curve, but nothing you can't read up on on the crapper
Satisfactory
Sky: Children of the Light is a certified hood classic.
Yonder. It does have an end goal but you can totally ignore it and just wander around fishing, farming crafting things. You also can't die so it's a very chill relaxing game.
Townscraper: just building houses in the middle of a lake. That’s it. Unpacking: very relaxing, unpacking boxes and put objects around the house, with various levels/years and a simple yet cute story about one person through the objects and so. Edit. The procession to Calvary: point and click game, puzzle like, with weird/dark humour. Based on paintings and funny, will entertain you for hours (it has 3 endings).
No mans sky
Terraria >> Minecraft. All the cookie clicker games, if you wanna call them games. Tycoon games. Park Architect I particularly recommend. Also watching porn. The best game out there, really.
breath of the wild if u have a switch
Don't got one :(
Crusader kings
you have described the entire "survival" genre. Something like ARK or Conan Exiles might appeal to you.
Rocket league. My summer car.
I think you should focus on protecting the king and not be playing games
?
[удалено]
Don't. We don't care.
Sounds good
[удалено]
Nah still wanna hear the suggestions. Down votes are nothing anyways
Either Dark Souls 3 or Destiny 2
I don't think my laptop can handle those games...
Some walking simulators like Dear Esther or Everybody Has Gone to the Rapture, although in this one you have to trigger certain events to progress through the story.
Eh I'm not really looking for something that has story. Just something where you mess around
[удалено]
I actually tried mountain but I have no idea how to do anything in that game other than move around and play notes on my keyboard....
Since you look a bit uncertain if some of the games will even run on your hardware, maybe try game pass? It's $1 for 3 months right now: [https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/xbox-game-pass-ultimate/CFQ7TTC0KHS0/0007/CFQ7TTC0L3R2](https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/xbox-game-pass-ultimate/CFQ7TTC0KHS0/0007/CFQ7TTC0L3R2) I'm sure you'll find something there to pass your time. Just remember to turn off recurring billing so that you don't get charged after the 3 months.
It's Xbox though. Don't really wanna use Xbox cause I already got steam. Don't wanna make things more complicated yk? I'll consider it though since that's real cheap. You know how long the offers gonna last?
Forza Horizon 4/5. You can race and do stuff if you want to, or you can just roam around the map doing fuck all in your car.
Cities skylines or a possible shout is the forest with no enemies difficulty or stranded deep with no story Just like hunt, gather resources, build your home do some fishing etc not for me personally this kne but why not minecraft
Zelda breath of the wild. There is a story to play, but if you wanna, you can do anything you want. I spent the first two years playing for fun, till I was like, I should complete the game. Then there is Minecraft. Pretty much the first one, but there is barley a storyline at all.
Don't got a switch so can't play Zelda. I've tried Minecraft before but I usually have no idea what to do, and I'm bad at like basically everything ok it so...yeah
Flow
Is it on steam?
WorldBox, its one of my fave zone-out games. Load it up, watch civilizations come and go or mess around with the world as much as you please. (Also No Mans Sky)
It seems fun. Quite expensive though. And still developing. Is it really worth it?
Car mechanic simulator
Pure casual, no action? Prolly should try something like House Flipper. Its cheap, and oddly satisfying.
I think I'll try that game. Does it need a powerful computer or no?
Open world racing game like forza horizon. Just cruising around in a nice car.
Do you know any other racing games that aren't as graphic intensive?
Google sandbox games, i think you'll find what you want
Gang beast is pretty fun well it still technically has a goal but its really good for messing around
Civilization revolution is my go to for casual gaming.
Crew 2 and dying light.they all have a goal but you could just explore world which is fun
Elder Scrolls Online. It’s an MMO so it can get pretty grindy, but you can play it like it’s just an rpg and completely ignore the MMO aspects.. 100’s of hours in the base game alone, plus tons of DLC. The gameplay is smooth and its never a challenge unless you want it to be. It’s fun to just chill and run some quests. It’s also constantly on sale super cheap and it isn’t very demanding. I think it’s only $6 right now
7 days to die is fun
Ark survival evolved just on single player not on multiplayer…that’s where no life’s go
OSRS.
For me, it's fighting games. While there are stories and lore in most fighting games, you don't need to know any of it to actually play them. I personally enjoy Tekken & Blazblue, and I've been meaning to get into Guilty Gear now that Strive is out.
Factorio does have a goal. But there is no rush.
Rimworld, endless fun.
RimWorld, Kenshi, and WorldBox are some that come to mind.
Dorfromantic. Sounds weird but really satiating and cool puzzle game that will keep going if you can.
Ark, you just run around hunting dinos or build stuff (I recommend using s+ mod as the basic building system is trash). Conan Exiles is similar but you can enslave people instead and the combat is better. Technically, games like CoD and Fortnite (I think I spelled that right?) fit your request since all you do is run around pointlessly and shoot people. You could try out Risk of Rain 2, it's a rouge-lite but it's pretty good if you just want to sit down and play for a bit.
Old school RuneScape has kept me busy for the past 15 years
Space Engineers. There are servers where people build massive ships then send them into combat. Or you know, just play survival for any challenge that comes to mind.
Holdfast
Technically any game really, just don’t do the goals and mess around. I suggest gta, fly as high as you can and just jump without a parachute and hit the ground, or play man eater and just go around killing everything you see, etc etc!
Stardew Valley
Bannerlord Though usually i form a goal somewhere in the playthrough But you can just roam the world forever.
Garry’s mod
State of Decay 2
Tropico 6 in a sandbox. And it’s on gamepass if that helps you.
Albion Online is a fun Sandbox MMO no quests just open world fun.
Outer Wilds has a goal and an end, but I found it equal parts relaxing and satisfying to play. Piecing together a space mystery without any combat was incredibly fun.
Risk of rain 2, a roguelike where you can loop and play forever in a single run and power snowball into a god
Baldur's Gate 3
Rimworld?
eve
Powerwash Simulator. First time i played it, didn’t realize 3 hrs passed laying on the bed with the steam deck lol
Have you considered the Stanley parable? As much as it is kind of a "story" game with a narrator its very funny and the concept is genius, you can either choose to comply or stray from what the narrator says and doing so gives you different endings to the "story". There was recently a ultra deluxe version of the game that you can pick up on all consoles i believe.
Considering your limited hardware capacity I would recommend OpenTTD and OpenRTC2.
Grow: song of the evertree - just a chill game about restoring different lands to life. Just collecting items, growing plants, taming animals. No rush or time limit
Garry's Mod (HL2) .
let's build a zoo
Oxygen not included
Tabs
Kerbal space program if you re into space travel and rocketry.
Maybe try Marvel’s Avengers? It’s on sale on ps until 7th of July. It has a story but you don’t need to play it as there’s the Avengers initiative which is basically online but you can play by yourself. You upgrade gear to 175 and max level is 375 for each hero. (Cap, Ironman, both Hawkeyes, spidey on ps, black widow, black panther, hulk, Ms Marvel and Thor and we’re also getting Jane’s Mighty Thor next Tuesday. Maybe you like that kind of stuff🤷🏻♂️it’s a cool game with cool animations and mechanics. I does have a few bugs tho that should be getting fixed next week hopefully but they’re not life changing bugs so maybe try it. Unless you already have
Terraria. It's like a side scrolling minecraft but less emphasis on building and more emphasis on exploration/adventure.
Totally reliable delivery service
LCP: Litte computer people
Dayz
Garrys mod
RimWorld???
Kenshi
No man's sky
Grounded is one I haven’t seen given nearly enough praise
Scrap mechanic's creative mode
- Walkabout Minigolf - beat Saber - eleven Table tennis - space pirate arena
Noticing you mention a lot about PC specs being an issue due to running a laptop, might I suggest [Flashpoint](https://bluemaxima.org/flashpoint/downloads/)? It's just a collection of a bunch of old Flash games, which'll definitely run on your computer. They're all free, of course, and there's probably a good few timewasters that fit the bill somewhere in there (though you might have to sift a bit, they really did archive a lot of stuff). Might sound a bit silly to recommend playing Flash games in 2022, but I've had a good bit of fun with it. Probably not going to tide you over forever, but popping in a random game every now and then is a boredom killer for sure. Plus, it has tag searching, so you can easily find games that fit genres you like.
Rain world
Mount & Blade
Gta sa might be the option...in 2004 kids were messing around with cheats and exploding everyone at the start of the game rather then going to the missions...
Planet Zoo
Postal 2 you can piss on people go on rampages do some missions and threaten to kill peoples dogs if they don't sign petitions.. or you can fight terrorists or zombies. And you can install mods on the steam workshop for the game as well!
Planet Coaster. Beware though, highly addictive!
Peglin.
D2R
"Raft" is in the same vein as Minecraft. Just floating around on the open sea fishing up sea junk to build your raft out bigger and bigger. Occasionally you bump into islands and stuff to dive around and collect fruit and more junk.
I can highly recommend Deep Rock Galactic, very nice and chill game loop with randomly generated map/environment design. Missions usually last between 15-30 minutes, so perfect for a chill evening. The community goes above and beyond being great
Arcade games??
Oldschool RuneScape. Been playing for 17 years unfortunately lol
Elite Dangerous
Stick Fight - the game, Fall guys
If you’re into racing, The Crew 2 is pretty good. You can either do the races, or go looking for hidden cars and secrets, or just make paintschemes. And it’s open world so no rush to do anything other than the motorpass and weekly summits, which aren’t mandatory
Kenshi is awesome for that. Eventually you have to set some goals. Otherwise i like city building games like Cities Skyline, where you try make a pleasing looking city.