Updated with a fresh clutch of chill-vibe, relaxing Switch games. To enjoy!
But what if you want to appease the soul instead of separating it from the corpse; combat stress with some good old fashioned R&R? What are the most relaxing games on Switch? Luckily, the console’s massive library has you covered, so if you’re looking for Switch games to help you relax, we’ve got you covered. Below, we’ve put together a selection of relaxing Switch games to relieve hypertension with a salve that will calm even the most turbulent minds.
So if that vein on your temples is bulging, grab yourself a calming drink, find a comfy chair and settle in with our selections the most relaxing Switch games.
Nintendo’s immersive slow-life simulation is the perfect antidote to a busy, stressful lifestyle. Animal Crossing: New Horizons lets you have fun doing whatever you want. A fan of fishing? Fill your boots. Flower fanatic? Plant a field and grow some hybrids. Like shaking trees and bothering bees? You’ve got a whole deserted island of swinging beggars. We were personally seduced by the Custom Designs ‘app’ which allows you to create your own tiles and templates to wear or display around your home and island.
In fact, we were worried we might have to go back to the ‘real game’ before realizing, no, this is a game: Animal Crossing is whatever you make it. It’s easy to make things stressful as you catch a certain fish or race to sell the beets before closing time, but as in life, most of that stress is self-inflicted. Sit back, relax and think about doing whatever makes you happy.
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If the underwater parts of video games instantly get your pulse racing, Abzu is the antidote to the stress caused by the air meter. This game offers a gentle underwater adventure as you explore the ocean depths at your leisure. The marine delights of Abzu’s seascapes are a treat for the eyes accompanied by a beautiful orchestral soundtrack, with incredible 3D sound if you play with headphones. From the art director A journeythis is a serene experience that should be your first port of call if you want to get away from it all.
A 2D platformer from Nomada Studio, you travel through a crumbling, monochromatic, metaphorical land in GRIS, gradually spreading watercolors as you go on a wonderfully short and sweet adventure. With a light puzzle, generous platforming and loads of collectibles, this is a heartwarming journey of a young girl traversing an incredibly delicate and beautiful world. With an art style that owes a lot to Ervind Earle, it’s an experience not to be missed and perfect if you want a Switch game to calm your nerves.
When it was first released on the Switch, the lone 3D adventure RiME didn’t fare well in terms of performance. It suffered from a terrible frame rate which affected the masterful adventure underneath and made the Switch port difficult to recommend if you had access to the game on any other platform.
However, patches have arrived and fixed the worst performance issues, and while framerates are certainly still on the rise, the improvements allow the game’s magical world and environmental puzzles to shine brighter than before, to the point that RiME on Switch is a much easier recommendation now . If you’re a frame rate purist for whom 30 frames per second is solid the absolute minimum, you’ll want to look elsewhere for this though. But if you can take it all and see this on sale, we recommend picking it up if you’re looking for a calming, beautifully desolate 3D adventure.
Who would have thought pinball and Metroidvania could mix so beautifully? You control Yoku, a beetle postmaster who makes deliveries around the mystical island of Mokuman. Your bug friend is attached to a ball that throws him around a huge 2D island when he is launched by many sets of bumpers and fins under your control and scattered across the landscape. A new adventure that combines a colorful game world with a soothing soundtrack, Yoku’s Island Express is a lovely little game that we can’t recommend enough.
The Gardens Between presents intricate puzzles that are solved by rewinding and time steering, and the game is wrapped in a beautifully charming aesthetic that belies the complexity underneath. A relaxing soundtrack accompanies this unusual puzzler that will gently massage your gray matter as you make your way to the tops of various islands and through a bittersweet wordless narration courtesy of Australian indie studio The Voxel Agents. The Gardens Between is a balm to rejuvenate your old brain and is recommended.
The best digital life simulation on Switch with a farming focus has to be Stardew Valley. This farm management title channels the classic gameplay of Harvest Moon into a grand retro-inspired experience that will consume your days if you let it. It takes a while to get in and you definitely get what you put in, but Stardew Valley has almost unlimited layers to discover and if you’re willing to invest a significant chunk of your free time into a charming, soothing gaming experience, there are few better options on Switch right now.
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker has graced each of Nintendo’s three latest consoles, and for good reason. Its mix of 3D puzzle platforming and easy-to-digest levels makes it the perfect antidote to a stressful day, whether you’re cramming in a few levels on the bus or want to search through the stacks at home after a long and tiring day. The Switch version offers two-player co-op throughout the adventure, so you can include someone else in the captain’s peaceful form of waddling and puzzle-solving. If you missed Captain Toad on Wii U and 3DS, Switch is the perfect place to play it.
Kingdom Two Crowns is at once simple and complicated, a settlement-building tower defense game on a 2D plane that limits the number of fronts you fight on to just two. Although it can be stressful – especially in the beginning as you learn how to maximize your resources and not bankrupt yourself as the invading ‘Greed’ attacks your village every night – Kingdom Two Crowns is an incredibly beautiful game with beautiful pixel art and impressive parallax effects. You’ll soon be wasting hours on its calm form build, expand, defend playfulness. With two-player co-op to help ease the stress of fighting on two opposing fronts, rampant colonialism has never been so cool.
Gorogoa is a short puzzle unlike any other we’ve experienced. Comprised of four storybook-style panels that combine, overlap, and interact in unexpected and ingenious ways, the fact that it’s difficult to condense into a paragraph is just as well because it’s best enjoyed without too much foreknowledge. Suffice it to say that Jason Roberts’ game has been seven years in the making and will delight you with every minute of its relatively short gameplay. You’ll likely get through this game in one handheld, and as a unique puzzle experience, Gorogoa absolutely deserves a spot on your Switch.
Set in the 1980s, Campo Santo’s first-person wilderness simulator puts you in charge of a lookout in Wyoming and forces you to explore the Shoshone National Forest in the shoes of Henry, a man who wants to escape his past by occupying this most lonesome of locations. As lonely as the job sounds, you have company in the form of Delilah, a woman you talk to on a walkie-talkie as you go about your daily work and rituals. The writing between the two is top-notch and takes you on a moving narrative journey as you explore a lovely landscape bathed in sunset orange, ominous deep blue or luscious green depending on the time of day. Firewatch is a funny, touching and quite beautiful ‘walking simulator’ that captures the freedom — and occasional melancholy — of being lost in nature. If you’re the type who loves a good book and camping, Firewatch is the way to go.
Tetris might be the obvious choice if you want a puzzle game to occupy your higher brain functions while the rest of your mind defrags, but both the excellent Tetris 99 and Puyo Puyo Tetris are arguably a little too much for the likes of this list. Lumines Remastered, however, is a far cooler audio-visual puzzle experience with a fantastic soundtrack that requires the use of headphones. You should know what to expect if you’re a fan of the work of director Tetsuya Mizuguchi (CUT), and while there are tons of online rankings and modes to get involved in if you’re into that sort of thing, zoning out with Lumines is one of the most engaging, relaxing experiences in video games.
Tetris Effect might as well have made an appearance here, but we thought we’d give Lumines the spotlight for a change.
