I have seen very few "indie" games that offer me what I want in design, challenge, story etc. The graphics are never up to what works for me, the stories are either non-existent or "Kill Kill Kill", lack replay value or are derivative. I don't want a Diablo/Rogue clone, I don't do FPS games, etc. Larian is only sort of Indie, they are basically feeding money to Hasbro which is yet another big corporate bad guy just like Microsoft etc.

For some reason, when KZbinrs talk about successful indie games, they always forget about Shovel Knight. It saddens me.

I am very happy that these games exist, I just don't think they're for me.

I don't blame you for using The Sea twice, it's that good of a track. I will definitely be checkin' these games out, thanks/

I really love Equilinox! You start with a barren landscape and slowly build ecosystems of cute low poly plants and animals. You unlock different plants and animals by evolving them or competing tasks. The game is bright and soft and has nice relaxed music. You can even choose to take control of an animal and walk around and make noises. There's also different modes that just let you build stuff if you aren't interested in goal/task-based play

Man I have a semi-abandoned project based around the atmosphere of the game, the ambient sounds and all that good stuff you talked about, now I really want to continue developing it...

Proteus, I think, could work as a meditation aid. Maybe it shouldn't be classified as a game. I also think you should re-make it with better graphics. You could include strange, mystery plants and animals unlike anything in real life, maybe a few of them even interact with you. Just think how many videos are up on youtube right now, that claim to "help you sleep" or have "music that calms the heart and heals the blood vessels".

very nice presentation

There are so many indie games. Not just crappy ones, too. Actually good ones. Lots of them.

Why are these relaxing and entertaining?! Now i want more of them..

What about the game Everything? That was a wonderfully meditative, chilled experience letting you too explore the natural world at different macro and micro levels. Beautiful ethereal drone soundtrack like some of these games and then you have the dialogue made up of none other than Alan Watts quotes.

I loved proteus as a kid (played when 13 and I'm 24 now) and it gives me so much calmness. Takes me back to winter school mornings in the snow

I do already :P The only non-indie stuff I have played the last couple of years is like Castlevania Aria of Sorrow for the GBA. Or Orcs Must Die! if you count that as AA because I have a weakness for Tower Defense. Nothing these giants of the industries put out excite me in a way like playing through 30 Steam Next Fest demos can. The Cosmic Wheel of Sisterhood is my favourite game of all time and no AAA would ever think of doing a game like that. Same with games that have absolute style ala Neon White, Potionomics, or Hush Hush: Only Your Love can Save Them. I am probably never going to go back to having interest in the AAA space. The indie-scene has too many gems and is getting better and better each year.

That Proteus game reminds me of the last time I played minecraft years and years ago now. I played in creative mode and I didn't build or craft anything. I just spawned in a boat and travelled down the rivers and just wandered around exploring the world and biomes and stuff. I think I may have had some biome mods and stuff but It was pretty relaxing just exploring around looking at the world like I'm out camping or something.

This randomly popped up in my recommendeds and got me curious. Indie games are so fun, and some of my favorites the past few years have been indies, like Hollow Knight (if you're reading this and haven't played Hollow Knight PLAY HOLLOW KNIGHT). People have also been using "just play indies" to throw at people and say that AAA games aren't "real art" now though, so we gotta be careful not to get so bitter we turn around and get angry at other gamers, no matter how disappointed we may be with a lot of studios and the state of gaming lately. I've gotten this before bc my favorite game is an AAA game and people for some reason don't think it has substance and it suucks That being said, I'm very curious as to what you'll find! I have some indie games I have yet to play recommended by friends on steam that I'm very excited to play, and I'm definitely subbing to see what you'll find too! One is a pixel-style cosmic horror game that looks really interesting

Endo seems like the sort of game that we’d be talking about in hushed tones of reverence if it was released back when Myst was out.

I played Red Dead 2 for weeks as if Arthur was just a professional hunter and wild-horse catcher.

I love Proteus, the perfect meditation simulator, it proves not all games have to have a lot to them to still be wonderfully pleasent.

Nice video !! I hope I'll discover cool indie games with your channel

Really enjoying these videos. Excited to watch, great stuff.

I have long imagined a game called "Tourist" where you explore worlds. If we are content with vacations without quests, why not games? The worlds could be sci fi, fantasy or just far away places here on Earth. Ideally the game would be a framework where different creators contributed. Multiplayer elements would be nice. A couple of these games come close alhough I always imagined AAA graphics :-)

Does Fez count? Its amazing. Zero enemies, all adventure, discovery, music visuals, and mystery/puzzles and platforming.

Dam didn't know Michael Cera had a gaming channel

When I saw your thumbnail my thoughts immediately went to the Frog Detective Haunted Island game. An adorable indie story game where… well, very little is actually wrong :)

This explains why I always enjoyed just casually walking around Oblivion and even Cyberpunk. And 4k walk videos on KZbin are also great.

I think that's because that's how people usually define "video games" in the first place. It was created first of all as specifically a "game". If this medium was instead created as a continuation of movies or paintings but instead done in an interactive style, it would be much more common. This is why Detroit for example is described as an interactive movie. Here, what you're describing seems to be interactive art.

A lot of the games on phones, and sometimes on Switches can be described like that. Like all the simulations like Fluids, or the Pixel Art games, or in general games where you can just draw or create and relax. I don't think it's actually that rare or unheard of. However they're on mobile phones, so they're often ignored by the "gaming community", and they're sometimes not even classified as "video games" per se. So yes, Proteus seems to be a nice game but when we think about the biases about what even counts as a "video game", this concept isn't that new or unique. Although it's true that in general, specifically in the "gaming" world, aka on PC and on Consoles, it is pretty rare.

Is he seriously not going to mention Animal Crossing?? I always play that when I want to play something relaxed and not so serious. I like to plant fruit trees for harvesting and sell the fruits to the nook shop.

“Aw, you don’t have to apologize for taking time to create your content- OMG IS THAT A CAT?!”

The mello guitar riffs in endo remind me of big lez show

I don't know if the following games count, but there's Flower, Sable, Lone Sails, and maybe Essence. I haven't finished the last one, but the rest are games with a lot of atmosphere and no combat.

Nice video! I can't believe how you're not even mentioning Minecraft (which would be the first thing I'd think of when thinking "nothing is wrong" game). It also has peaceful and creative modes, so you don't even have to fight if you don't want to. That being said, I played Proteus before (when it was first released) and really liked it. I should get it again for the modern platforms. I'll also check out the other two games if they're available on console. 🙂

A few years ago, some stressful life events made me seek out games that would put me in a peaceful frame of mind - that meant no combat or dying. Two of the best I found were Yonder and Cozy Grove. Yonder is an open-world fetch quest with some fun twists. The music is so peaceful, and you can't kill yourself even if you try. There's a goal, but you don't have to do it at all if you don't want. You can just explore, build farms, and do quests if you like. The fantasy animals are very charming, and the whole game made me feel so tranquil. Cozy Grove is also a fetch quest and is technically open-world but the "world" is just a tiny island. But it's so charming and relaxing, and it's nice that the premise revolves around helping utterly unscary ghosts. I'd say these games are more "nothing _goes_ wrong" than "nothing _is_ wrong", but close enough.

Animal Crossing...

Valheim. Please look up this game, but (optionally) use god mode, or enemies dont aggro mode. its a great game to just chill in. many settings

This video reminded me of two games I love, Grow Up (you’re a little robot collecting pieces of a mothership to return home on a very peaceful, plant-filled, open world) and Astro Bot: Rescue Mission (highly interactive PSVR puzzle adventure where you follow a little robot who’s trying to rescue all his friends across a few planets). It’s not like nothing is wrong, exactly, but the stakes are low and there isn’t souls-like combat or monster fighting. I remember both of them filling me with such curiosity, coziness, and a mix of isolation and comfort. Astro Bot in particular is actually just such a well-made game

Outpath is a Forager Rip, visually and musically.

Proteus reminds me a little of "Everything". A game literally about everything. More of a meditative experience than a game, it even has a mode to play itself.

The music and musical queues in proteus remind me a little bit of those videos where people plug mushrooms and plants into synthesisers and they make music. :)

Anyone know what the proteus dev been up to since they finished that game? I had trouble finding them online

That first “game” seems to be an activity and not really a game. My definition of a game is an activity where the player can lose. If you can’t lose it’s an activity, imho.

Oh crap! I had no idea these games existed. I've always preferred the adventure type games where you solve puzzles and stuff, but I thought those were all gone since people seem so enthralled with the shoot 'em ups. So I'll definitely check these out. Thanks!

Came for analog horror, stayed for epileptic trees

not really a game, but i found that creating maps is kinda relaxing as well you take some building you found on google maps or you saw irl and try to rebuild it in the source engine or some other world builder tool

l suppose The Longing also falls in this category?

Cheat engine can make any game into this

I wish life was a game where nothing is wrong lol

Have you ever played "Glitchhikers"? It can be a bit pretentious at times, but I suspect you'd dig it.

Subbed because you opened with Dark Souls 2 (also cuz the video is Goated)

You neeeed to play Jusaunt or A Short Hike