Which games are guaranteed to put you in a good mood?

**Mario Kart** and **Overcooked** almost always work for me—even when, after five minutes of Overcooked, you feel like throwing tomatoes at each other 😄

Which games reliably put you in a good mood? Old classics, party games, or completely relaxing solo games are welcome too. What do you think?

For me, it’s **Rocket League** and **Untitled Goose Game** – the former mostly because of the completely absurd comebacks, the latter because a goose is simply allowed to make everything worse by default 😄 For a completely relaxed mood, I also like playing **Dorfromantik**, especially when I really can’t handle seeing any more competition.

That said, Mario Kart depends heavily on the group I’m playing with: pure chaos with the right people, but somehow much less therapeutic on my own against the AI. With Overcooked, on the other hand, the mood turns surprisingly sour pretty quickly – do you really play it in a relaxed way, or does it regularly end in kitchen shouting for you too?

With **Overcooked**, “relaxed” is more of a theoretical state for us too 😄 After the third burnt dish, “let’s calmly communicate” suddenly turns into “WHO DIDN’T GET THE ONION?!” It’s still fun, as long as everyone knows that the chaos is part of it.

For reliably good vibes, I often turn to **Stardew Valley**. Do a bit of farming, go fishing, visit the villagers—and suddenly two hours are gone without you feeling stressed even once. **A Short Hike** works similarly, just on a smaller and even cozier scale. It’s perfect for me when I want to play but don’t feel like performing or chasing victories.

For party games, my pick would also be **Ultimate Chicken Horse**. You build an obstacle course together, sabotage it as deviously as possible afterward, and then complain that everyone else is playing unfairly. The combination of creativity and schadenfreude lasts surprisingly long.

And with Rocket League: good vibes are basically guaranteed only if you don’t take the losses too seriously. As soon as I start analyzing every goal against us, the mood is gone immediately 😅 Do you play Dorfromantik in a completely meditative way, or do you also try to build some kind of perfect high-score cities?

For me, **Vampire Survivors** is a guaranteed mood booster – just start it up, let things completely spiral for a few minutes, and by the end numbers and enemies are flying all over the place 😄 It has that “just one more round” factor without requiring me to think too much.

And I totally agree with SunnyMara about **A Short Hike**—it really is a balm after stressful multiplayer rounds. **PowerWash Simulator** also works surprisingly well for me; it sounds like work at first, but it’s somehow meditative. On the other hand, I’ve started Stardew Valley more often than I’ve finished it… at some point, my cozy farm turns into an Excel project 😅

For me, **Vampire Survivors** is also dangerously good for “just one more round” — and suddenly an hour is gone. **Slay the Spire** puts me in a completely different mood: I actually do a lot of thinking in it, but when a build suddenly spirals completely out of control, it’s pretty satisfying.

And I know Stardew Valley exactly the same way: new farm, big plans, then after two weeks of in-game time, I’ve poured all my money into seeds and decorations and forgotten about winter 😅 **Dorfromantik** works similarly for me to PowerWash Simulator, except that afterward I at least feel like I’ve built a small, beautiful world. Does anyone have another good “after-work, but please no stress” hidden gem?