I would also add Minecraft, I spent a lot of time just mining and building while listening to audio-books at the same time. I preferred survival but it has a creative mode and options to turn off hostiles.

I actually stopped playing Stardew Valley because of the mining. At some point to progress meaningfully you gotta mine. I found that part very stressful and not fun, especially once you get to the mine in the desert.

I actually liked the mining part of stardew best. I view pretty much all the other parts as a way of supporting my mining habit.

Given the mechanics, seeing mining as the main game isn't unreasonable. Most progression hinges on it. Unfortunately I find the fighting part not well done and quite punishing given how bad the gameplay of the fighting is.

All the fighting in the mines also makes it clearly not a experience that fits the type of game we are discussing here.

Unpopular opinion, that game is cellphone quality addicting.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Can't tell if it's pejorative or not.

My Summer Car. I know it gets rep for being a frustrating unforgiving game but that’s only part of it the other part is an excellent virtual remote Finnish village, saunas, fishing, trips to the pub, downloading Finnish shareware games from bbs.

Weirdly enough, some older MMOs (OSRS, to a lesser extent WoW Classic) fill that need for me. Sometimes, the repetitiveness of really simple grinding (think click tree, click inventory to drop log, click tree) lends itself to falling into a meditative state, especially when you have muscle memory built up for a particular action/click pattern.

I find the energy and time mechanics of Stardew Valley to be pretty stressful, to be honest.

> -Stardew Valley > - My time at Portia

Not really a surprise, as they are clones of harvest moon, a japanese iyashikei-franchise.

> -Euro/American Truck Simulator

Nice example. And probably also a good case of explaining the difference in pop-culture between east and west.

> -Anno series

I'm not so sure about that. Wouldn't than civlisation and basically every round-based paradox-game be an example?

i'd like to add a sailing simulator to the mix. without an opportunity to actually go sailing i found it a pretty relaxing way to spend the time.

Yes perhaps Sailaway fits the bill.

The truck simulators are relaxing as long as you're not trying to park!

Additionally, I think Farm Together is a good fit in this category.