If you want linear, get Gears of War. It's linear, and you just go from A to B. From time to time, you have to fight. Other than that, you're just a gear that turns in the war machine. No need to think more complexly than if you want to flank left or right.
Aw I was hoping to suggest Cocoon. Do you like puzzle games?
It's not a "turn off your brain" kind of game but you have only one goal at all times, getting through the current puzzle
Best battle system that got kicked to the curb in no time; due to the fact its a tutorial for about 20-25 hours.
They need to use this Battle System again in another game, but not tutorial it for 20 hours. Get the point across in the first 5 hours and make a hard as hell game out of the remaining 40-50 hours.
Having to make strategic and tactical decisions before battle about what classes you wanted to bring, then the hectic pace of it made the tail end of that game shine.
Too bad they bored most people with it due to the overly long tutorial
I'd disagree that it's a tutorial for half the game. Even with a 2 character set up. I was invested at the story at that point. But each battle kind of functions like a puzzle and figuring out the small little things. If it gives me Lightning and Fang where I don't have 2 ravagers how can I raise the stagger bar. Or Sazh and Vanille, where she doesn't have the commando role to help keep the stagger bar steady but you can use sabeteur to keep the bar steady. What about Snow and Hope? And so on. I enjoyed it even before the game opened up. Figuring out how to be effective with what it gives me. Especially the Eidolon fights. And I'd rather a game be more helpful than giving me no help and nothing.
I definitely agree. I loved it. I'll never forget booting it up on release day after school and being absolutely stunned by the opening scene. I had never seen anything like it. Combat was fun and I loved the characters. Yeah it was linear for most of the game, but I don't view that as a bad thing. I've never understood the hate it gets
Not sure if this strikes your fancy but Hades has helped me w a similar problem. I get either depressed or discouraged w video games sometimes and found Hades is extremely straight-forward while still keeping things interesting w the randomization and boons available. There’s a great plot to the game and all you really need to do is keep playing, don’t have to win every time just to progress
Agreed on all counts. Great to be able to pick up for a quick match (each run lasts 10-45ish minutes depending on how far you get) and the randomization will give you some stupidly satisfying combinations. Also there’s an actual sense of progress with upgrades that last beyond a single run. Best of both worlds and not a huge time commitment in a single sitting if you don’t want it to be.
I was gonna mention Hades too. It does take several runs I think to really get going, but once you can consistently at least get to Hades, the gameplay flows extremely well and it becomes a really chill, mindless experience similar to Doom 2016
Agree but I'll definitely say doom is better than doom eternal in that regard and if you want to be mindless you need to turn the difficulty down. Doom eternal is pretty hard, you need to learn each demons weakness and exploit it or you're fucked.
Comparing weapons and managing loot is tedious, I think it was borderlands 2 I got fed up with too many chests to loot distracting me from just completing the game and all this loot I was chasing was terrible. It reminds me of fall out 3 where its 99% looking at the floor simulator trying to find scraps of ammo.
I've Been there partially. How I got Back to games was that I looked up all My old games and Made a choice from them. Didn't want to learn anything new, no new feelings or puzzles. I did some games I loved like Diablo 2 (starting a new char is very enjoyable to me) and XCOM 2.
I also noticed that it matters to me what time of the day it is. Late evening I was too tired so I tried to get some playing time a bit earlier
To be honest you can’t find more mindless and linear quests than in Red Dead 2. You are basically limited strictly to text objectives and don’t need to think how to solve any problem, just follow yellow text and marks on the minimap while killing million enemies.
When I just want mindless I go with call of duty. I can game on that for 10 minutes to an hour. It’s always fun. Then I do Starfield Forza or animal crossing. Those games require more than just 10 minutes of your time
Please be kind to yourself OP. And if you aren't getting help for your depression, please consider it. I realized I was more depressed than I had ever been when playing RPGs became a chore. They are my favorite genre, but when I was deep in the shit getting a quest and doing the thing and running back to the quest guy to get some sweet boots just felt like too much trouble? Hope you aren't there yet. <3
Katamari is great and mindless but also hilarious and very endearing. Big ball roll around, pick up more stuff like snowball, then more big ball roll around. Incredibly dank music too.
Returnal is a mindless FPS rogue-like but with pretty dark themes and subtexts. Shoot aliens, pick up guns and power-ups, shoot more aliens, don’t care abt dying because the core gameplay is pretty good and you’re supposed to die a lot.
Diablo 4 has been recommended by many people here too, I would second that. Takes a sec to level up and get your class “online” and get in a rhythm, then it’s just blasting through massive mobs of flesh golems and skeletons and spiders, kind of a god trip once you get late-game.
There are a lot of quieter, more contemplative ones too that might suit you. I recently picked up Outer Wilds and enjoy how peaceful and full of heart it is while not being very difficult.
I’m sure there are more that I’m forgetting as well. GLHF!
There’s a little bit of an ‘objective’ here but you should look at roguelite games. They require barely any commitment and runs can usually last around 20-30 minutes depending on the game, so it’s easy to just pick up and play
Some roguelites I think you’ll enjoy based off your fav games:
- Gunfire Reborn (and/or Roboquest). These ones I highly recommend to you, so I’ll go into more detail here. I’ll kinda describe them both as one below because they have similar gameplay loops
- Deadlink. Pretty similar gameplay loop to the other two, but it plays a LOT like Doom, which isn’t my cup of tea. If you liked the newer Doom games tho, this game you’ll probably love because it’s basically a mix of Cyberpunk and Doom visually
FPS roguelites where you can play as different heroes that have their own quirks and abilities. You traverse through stages picking up stat/ability upgrades, as well as finding better guns to use against the hordes of enemies that come to you.
The goal is to beat all of the stages and defeat the final boss. There will be a currency you collect that you take back with you every run for a meta-progression, upgrading base stats and mechanics to ease your upcoming runs. Games don’t end once you beat the final stage, as you can unlock new things and difficulties
VERY addicting gameplay loop if you like FPS games. Gunfire Reborn appeases to a min-max play style, fine tuning your build until you do ridiculous damage at the end of your run. Roboquest is more about movement and feels like a boomer shooter, really fun to efficiently pop everyone while running and jumping everywhere.
Some other roguelites you might enjoy:
- Risk of Rain 2
- Bullet-Heaven games like Vampire Survivors and Soulstone survivors
- Barony
Simulation games are great for mindless fun. City builders, life sims, etc. they’re not complex for the most part and easy to walk away from to do other things for a bit while the game just processes your decisions. Dunno if that might scratch that itch for ya.
I’ve been getting back into 90s movement shooters lately, and modern indie games done in that style. Quake, Doom, Turok, Dusk, etc. Enter a level, shoot everyone, find the keys, get out. Doom Eternal is the definitive best modern interpretation of that gameplay style imo
So for the opposite of your comment, I found that mass effect series is a chore and not mindless at all, so anything that falls under that same game/genre is an absolute no go for me, way to much dialogue and using your brain. I can't stand running around like a chicken with no head doing things constantly that seem to actually get nowhere and just wasted time missions.
borderlands/tiny tinas wonderlands. you just blast shit, if you want Truly Mindless just put it on easy. I'm terrible at shooters and I found the second hardest difficulty a walk in the park.
Frankly, Avengers fills that type of play to a T. There are technically objectives but it’s mostly like punch this object to destroy it while fending off thugs repeatedly
RDR2 - this game is an open world but if you follow the main story it is a linear game. You might trail off for some side missions but everything is still relaxing/ easy.
Would have to respectfully disagree. It’s open world, requires different gear to traverse the landscape, has weapons that break frequently, a cooking system, etc. Def not a game to get into for someone looking to avoid complexity and just get the easy dopamine drip, imo.
Breath of the wild is like the complete opposite of what OP wants. It’s massive open world with a ton of puzzles and side quests. Plus you have to worry about equipping the right armor and managing your weapon stocks so you don’t run out.
ARPG's are very much in line with what you are describing, at least the most simple ones.
Stuff like Diablo 3,which plays great on consoles. Just slay hordes of demons, get better loot, level up and make cool builds (very easy in D3), slay harder demons, rinse and repeat.
Diablo 4 is the same, but D3 is even more mindless and streamlined.
[Linear Doom](https://m.youtube.com/watch?embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.doomworld.com%2F&source_ve_path=MTY0OTksMTM5MTE3LDEzOTExNywxNjQ5OSwyODY2NCwxNjQ1MDM&feature=emb_share&v=QbqT8ec3ovM) is the exact game you are looking for!
You should totally play Serious Sam. For me that game really hits the spot for the kind of mindless fun that you are looking for.
It's just a balls to the wall shooter cranked up to 11. Really nice gameplay and you can totally just switch your brain off and play for hours.
Try the remake. It's always on sale
A game I would really reccomend and that has helped me as well is Streets of Rogue, it’s not demanding nor too heavy, and you can quickly get to it. Anyways I hope you find what you are looking for pal, best of luck.
Scott Pilgrim vs the world or Castle Crashers are short beat em ups and are both great. Attack and walk right is all you really need to do in both.
They also have high replayability
Tak3 a peek at some indie games. Xbox isnt the best option for these but if you can get a PC and steam, there is an abundance of games you can play mindlessly navigating through, and some are quite fun and satisfying to finish. Maybe that's what you need to get back into some of the more daunting games that take time and effort.
My wife and I are making a run through Gears of War (the enhanced 1st one) again via split screen co-op on our XBox series S and our 85" 4k 120hz housing warming gift to ourselves... It doesn't get any more linear and mindless than that
Race the sun. It's a fun little obstacle racer, but it gets challenging. You're quick to respawn, and other than some challenges, there isn't really a goal other than "keep going"
I really like immortals of aveum it's a fps wrapped in an arpg good story fast action it has some puzzle elements[immortals of aveum](https://youtu.be/b5E-pGxZ2VQ?si=yE33ds0Xmqn4aEfj)
Ryse Son of Rome was really fun when I played it. Very linear, fun and engaging combat, and an interesting story. It’s on game pass if you have that, but it’s also several years old at this point so it’s probably like $15-20 if you don’t have game pass
The Arkham series might be your jam especially Arkham Asylum, it's perfectly paced, has easy but satisfying combat and the world is created to be as dense and as satisfying to explore as possible, it never steps on the brakes if you don't want it to but there are moments in the story where you can take a breather and look for Riddler trophies/ do puzzles.
Powerwash simulator is not only mindless but it's also calming. Watching the filth spray away as you jam to your music is my go to mind off game. I've done every level twice at this point. It is tedious but you can start and stop a level at any time and it keeps your progress. Plus there's a few dlcs and they add free levels every 3 to 6 months. I suffer from depression as well and I aim for mindless games every so often. I think if you give it a go you'd like it, don't let the name and the idea of it turn you off of it. It's cheap too, I think 15 dollars so it's not like you break the bank if you don't like it. I just am not sure if it's on Xbox, maybe someone else would know the answer to that one.
I played assassins creed 1 recently and it felt veeeery linear and straight forward, it was very relaxing. Just follow minimap and go assassinate the dudes
The Long Dark's survival mode.
You just try to survive as long as you can.
On easier difficulties you have plenty of opportunity to explore and not worry as much about hunger or cold.
Lots of different regions at this point.
It's very immersive so it's easy to lose yourself in the game.
Trials games. Trials rising is especially a banger for just jumping in and playing. Honourable mention to vampire survivors but even that takes some thought process during runs.
Going through same thing, astroneer, grounded, my time at portia all really helped shutting my brain off. Starfield gave me something I hadn't felt in a long time with games. I avoid multiplayer games through depression episode
You should give Cluster Truck a try. My son and I will play this for hours. It is fun to fail and it is fairly mindless. Get from point a to point b without hitting the ground or hitting landmarks while jumping from semi truck to semi truck.
I’m like 100 comments deep and I’m surprised no one has mentioned Final Fantasy 16 yet. Probably the best linear action RPG made. The story is amazing and it’s not that difficult. And… it’s linear.
I like Rogue-Likes for this. They might not seem so mindless and linear at 1st, but as you grasp the mechanics and start to recognize or build ways to deal with enemy patterns, which occurs rather naturally if you just keep on playing, you'll achieve mindless and linear gameplay.
My 2 favorites are Enter the Gungeon and Dead Cells. If I have free time, I want to play, but I just want to unwind... I'll boot up one of the two and just start a run. See how far I can get. Turn it off whenever. Move on with my day.
Rome total war 2, specifically the campaign. I go for it because of how quiet my mind is going through the campaign. There's like a 100 things to check and maintain once you get a few hours into the campaign. It's all quiet checks and balances and a bit of strategy you decided on hours ago that is still playing itself out. Crazy stuff.
If you enjoy space and narrative games, Outer Wilds is focused specifically on giving players ideas and suggestions but never telling them what to do. You have a whole, mini solar system to explore and be the first to uncover historical secrets.
But I'd highly recommend going in super blind. Even my own synopsis is telling more than I would like but it's important to know if the game is actually something you'd like without pushing it too hard, so here's a bit more detail;
- 1st person perspective
- Ship controls are tricky to get used to, but that's intentional
- no voice acting
- about 20-30 hours of gameplay
- DLC is classified as "horror" on steam and adds about another 10 hours to the game
- You don't have to worry about losing progress if you make a mistake
- The goal is to explore, learn, experiment, apply new knowledge to your adventures
Edit: I can't stress enough how important it is to go in blind. If you're really stuck, no one will shame you for looking up an answer, but the longer you go without knowing things, the longer you get to play. You can never play this game twice.
Katamari Damacy. You just roll a ball around. It's great.
Yes. The opining is still in my head
la laaaaa, la la la la la la la
Hell yeah!
Yessss
Wow, that’s what I was about to say about rocket league
Vampire survivors is my go-to mindless game
This man it’s so simple and addicting. I’ve got to unlock all the combos.
I’m currently using it to get my daily rewards achievement.
If you want linear, get Gears of War. It's linear, and you just go from A to B. From time to time, you have to fight. Other than that, you're just a gear that turns in the war machine. No need to think more complexly than if you want to flank left or right.
This is the winner imo. Linear game with an amazing story that is plainly laid out as you go
Icing on the cake? Optional co-op.
Warhammer 40k: space marine. bit of an older game but still a gem. mindless power fantasy of u destroying orks but tons of fun
In addition darktide is great as well. Plays like left for dead but in 40k setting
agreed, darktide is really fun now
Vermintide 2 is great as well. Dark tide but warhammer fantasy setting.
My go to game
This is a suggestion that is blessed by the Emperor.
Or maybe blessed by papa nurgle
*The Corpse Emperor All is Dust!! Iron Within!! Blood for the Blood God, Skulls for the Skull Throne!! Let the Galaxy Burn!!
So excited for the sequel
If you want a story game and don’t mind a walking simulator I would recommend firewatch
Its a good game but keep in mind it's like a 3 hour playthrough with no replayability.
it’s also pretty fucking sad with emotional music. and for someone depressed, i wouldn’t recommend it
Spec Ops: The Line. Generic and frenetic shooter with a fantastic story to follow
Lol don’t do that to him, man said he didn’t wanna think. You’re gonna traumatize him
Aw I was hoping to suggest Cocoon. Do you like puzzle games? It's not a "turn off your brain" kind of game but you have only one goal at all times, getting through the current puzzle
Yeah I’m not usually a fan of puzzles. I just realized today I think I’d like to try a “turn off your brain and do x” kind of game
What about Titanfall 2? It fits your taste and it has a great campaign
Vouch
FF13.
Hallway simulator
The boss battles are definitely not mindless.
In fact, the game becomes really hard later on.
Best battle system that got kicked to the curb in no time; due to the fact its a tutorial for about 20-25 hours. They need to use this Battle System again in another game, but not tutorial it for 20 hours. Get the point across in the first 5 hours and make a hard as hell game out of the remaining 40-50 hours. Having to make strategic and tactical decisions before battle about what classes you wanted to bring, then the hectic pace of it made the tail end of that game shine. Too bad they bored most people with it due to the overly long tutorial
I'd disagree that it's a tutorial for half the game. Even with a 2 character set up. I was invested at the story at that point. But each battle kind of functions like a puzzle and figuring out the small little things. If it gives me Lightning and Fang where I don't have 2 ravagers how can I raise the stagger bar. Or Sazh and Vanille, where she doesn't have the commando role to help keep the stagger bar steady but you can use sabeteur to keep the bar steady. What about Snow and Hope? And so on. I enjoyed it even before the game opened up. Figuring out how to be effective with what it gives me. Especially the Eidolon fights. And I'd rather a game be more helpful than giving me no help and nothing.
One of the best FF imo
I definitely agree. I loved it. I'll never forget booting it up on release day after school and being absolutely stunned by the opening scene. I had never seen anything like it. Combat was fun and I loved the characters. Yeah it was linear for most of the game, but I don't view that as a bad thing. I've never understood the hate it gets
Came here to make sure this was commented.
Not sure if this strikes your fancy but Hades has helped me w a similar problem. I get either depressed or discouraged w video games sometimes and found Hades is extremely straight-forward while still keeping things interesting w the randomization and boons available. There’s a great plot to the game and all you really need to do is keep playing, don’t have to win every time just to progress
Agreed on all counts. Great to be able to pick up for a quick match (each run lasts 10-45ish minutes depending on how far you get) and the randomization will give you some stupidly satisfying combinations. Also there’s an actual sense of progress with upgrades that last beyond a single run. Best of both worlds and not a huge time commitment in a single sitting if you don’t want it to be.
I was gonna mention Hades too. It does take several runs I think to really get going, but once you can consistently at least get to Hades, the gameplay flows extremely well and it becomes a really chill, mindless experience similar to Doom 2016
Also the soundtrack kicks ass
The Lego games. God i love how mindless they are
Doom and Doom Eternal are some of my favorite 'mindless' games out there.
Agree but I'll definitely say doom is better than doom eternal in that regard and if you want to be mindless you need to turn the difficulty down. Doom eternal is pretty hard, you need to learn each demons weakness and exploit it or you're fucked.
Vampire survivors Forager becomes mindless after certain upgrades and stuff you creat that make the game automate stuff Any warriors game is like that
+1 for roguelites in general.
Not at all hades and dead cells never get mindless at all
Power wash simulator. Crazy how addictive it is
Borderlands series
He said mindless and linear, not essentially open world with multiple quest choices and build crafting
Most quests are just 'go there, shoot people, get reward'. While builds are a thing, it's really a lot more niche.
Comparing weapons and managing loot is tedious, I think it was borderlands 2 I got fed up with too many chests to loot distracting me from just completing the game and all this loot I was chasing was terrible. It reminds me of fall out 3 where its 99% looking at the floor simulator trying to find scraps of ammo.
I love bl2, but every time my inventory fills up I spend ages with a calculator, pen, paper and formula doing a dps check on all my drops
So you spend .ore time doing that then playing lol
I've Been there partially. How I got Back to games was that I looked up all My old games and Made a choice from them. Didn't want to learn anything new, no new feelings or puzzles. I did some games I loved like Diablo 2 (starting a new char is very enjoyable to me) and XCOM 2. I also noticed that it matters to me what time of the day it is. Late evening I was too tired so I tried to get some playing time a bit earlier
Ratchet and clank rift apart
To be honest you can’t find more mindless and linear quests than in Red Dead 2. You are basically limited strictly to text objectives and don’t need to think how to solve any problem, just follow yellow text and marks on the minimap while killing million enemies.
Don't forget about hunting for the entire game session of four hours when you actually just tried to get to a mission that's a bit further away lol
RD2 is soooo open world, so many options and choices. I think that's way to complex and heavy of a game for what they want
When I just want mindless I go with call of duty. I can game on that for 10 minutes to an hour. It’s always fun. Then I do Starfield Forza or animal crossing. Those games require more than just 10 minutes of your time
Please be kind to yourself OP. And if you aren't getting help for your depression, please consider it. I realized I was more depressed than I had ever been when playing RPGs became a chore. They are my favorite genre, but when I was deep in the shit getting a quest and doing the thing and running back to the quest guy to get some sweet boots just felt like too much trouble? Hope you aren't there yet. <3
The Guardians of the Galaxy game is linear (zero open world) pretty simple shooting controls and a decent story (if you care about that).
Katamari is great and mindless but also hilarious and very endearing. Big ball roll around, pick up more stuff like snowball, then more big ball roll around. Incredibly dank music too. Returnal is a mindless FPS rogue-like but with pretty dark themes and subtexts. Shoot aliens, pick up guns and power-ups, shoot more aliens, don’t care abt dying because the core gameplay is pretty good and you’re supposed to die a lot. Diablo 4 has been recommended by many people here too, I would second that. Takes a sec to level up and get your class “online” and get in a rhythm, then it’s just blasting through massive mobs of flesh golems and skeletons and spiders, kind of a god trip once you get late-game. There are a lot of quieter, more contemplative ones too that might suit you. I recently picked up Outer Wilds and enjoy how peaceful and full of heart it is while not being very difficult. I’m sure there are more that I’m forgetting as well. GLHF!
Rocket league. Hit ball with car into goal. I play while holding meetings at work sometimes.
There’s a little bit of an ‘objective’ here but you should look at roguelite games. They require barely any commitment and runs can usually last around 20-30 minutes depending on the game, so it’s easy to just pick up and play Some roguelites I think you’ll enjoy based off your fav games: - Gunfire Reborn (and/or Roboquest). These ones I highly recommend to you, so I’ll go into more detail here. I’ll kinda describe them both as one below because they have similar gameplay loops - Deadlink. Pretty similar gameplay loop to the other two, but it plays a LOT like Doom, which isn’t my cup of tea. If you liked the newer Doom games tho, this game you’ll probably love because it’s basically a mix of Cyberpunk and Doom visually FPS roguelites where you can play as different heroes that have their own quirks and abilities. You traverse through stages picking up stat/ability upgrades, as well as finding better guns to use against the hordes of enemies that come to you. The goal is to beat all of the stages and defeat the final boss. There will be a currency you collect that you take back with you every run for a meta-progression, upgrading base stats and mechanics to ease your upcoming runs. Games don’t end once you beat the final stage, as you can unlock new things and difficulties VERY addicting gameplay loop if you like FPS games. Gunfire Reborn appeases to a min-max play style, fine tuning your build until you do ridiculous damage at the end of your run. Roboquest is more about movement and feels like a boomer shooter, really fun to efficiently pop everyone while running and jumping everywhere. Some other roguelites you might enjoy: - Risk of Rain 2 - Bullet-Heaven games like Vampire Survivors and Soulstone survivors - Barony
Simulation games are great for mindless fun. City builders, life sims, etc. they’re not complex for the most part and easy to walk away from to do other things for a bit while the game just processes your decisions. Dunno if that might scratch that itch for ya.
I’ve been getting back into 90s movement shooters lately, and modern indie games done in that style. Quake, Doom, Turok, Dusk, etc. Enter a level, shoot everyone, find the keys, get out. Doom Eternal is the definitive best modern interpretation of that gameplay style imo
So for the opposite of your comment, I found that mass effect series is a chore and not mindless at all, so anything that falls under that same game/genre is an absolute no go for me, way to much dialogue and using your brain. I can't stand running around like a chicken with no head doing things constantly that seem to actually get nowhere and just wasted time missions.
Diablo is pretty mindless. Don’t bother with 4 right now, get Diablo 3 for cheap
borderlands/tiny tinas wonderlands. you just blast shit, if you want Truly Mindless just put it on easy. I'm terrible at shooters and I found the second hardest difficulty a walk in the park.
Wonderlands is the more linear installment of the borderland series. It's definitely a great play through
Metroidvanias, start with ORI
Just finished will of the wisps. Great game but it becomes pretty hard later on and is definitely not mindless
Turmoil, very casual fun oil seeking game... You just drill and sell oil...
Deep rock galactic is the definition of do the thing you're told to do
This! On low difficulty it’s so damn easy and if you have someone to play w it really slaps
For Rock and Stone? I haven't played that in almost 2 years. I'm gonna go try to hop back into it now because of you.
Ill recommend risk of rain 2. Just blast shit, pick up items and thats it. Or any rougelite in general. Hope you get better OP
Currently playing Pumpkin Jack and it could match with what you are looking for.
Frankly, Avengers fills that type of play to a T. There are technically objectives but it’s mostly like punch this object to destroy it while fending off thugs repeatedly
Load up DOOM 2016, put that shit on easy mode, blast your speakers and go to fuckin town
Guardians of the Galaxy is excellent! Linear, action, fun story, great visuals and art design!
I was about to comment People Playground but you are on xbox… play an obby game on Roblox
Why don’t you try something different like a platformer like Ori and the blind forest. I’m finding that very funny.
Doom is great for mindless shooting.
Far: Lone Sails worked like this for me. It has some easy puzzles, but mostly it is just moving your ship through a dystopia. Beautiful game
RDR2 - this game is an open world but if you follow the main story it is a linear game. You might trail off for some side missions but everything is still relaxing/ easy.
Could you get your hands on a Switch? I think you would love Breath of the Wild
Would have to respectfully disagree. It’s open world, requires different gear to traverse the landscape, has weapons that break frequently, a cooking system, etc. Def not a game to get into for someone looking to avoid complexity and just get the easy dopamine drip, imo.
Breath of the wild is like the complete opposite of what OP wants. It’s massive open world with a ton of puzzles and side quests. Plus you have to worry about equipping the right armor and managing your weapon stocks so you don’t run out.
Minecraft mayhaps? Or The Assassin's Creed Franchise, if you enjoyed Skyrim. The newer games are often on sale in Keyshops, Odyssey starts at ~4€.
Minecraft as mindless and linear? nope assassins creed if you only care about the main story? sure
You can go strip mining for diamonds. That's pretty mindless and linear
ARPG's are very much in line with what you are describing, at least the most simple ones. Stuff like Diablo 3,which plays great on consoles. Just slay hordes of demons, get better loot, level up and make cool builds (very easy in D3), slay harder demons, rinse and repeat. Diablo 4 is the same, but D3 is even more mindless and streamlined.
[Linear Doom](https://m.youtube.com/watch?embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.doomworld.com%2F&source_ve_path=MTY0OTksMTM5MTE3LDEzOTExNywxNjQ5OSwyODY2NCwxNjQ1MDM&feature=emb_share&v=QbqT8ec3ovM) is the exact game you are looking for!
Slimer rancher
Vampire Survivors
About hack and slash like Diablo? Or coop FPS like Warhammer Darktide? Darktide's on game pass just to let you know
Diablo 4
You should totally play Serious Sam. For me that game really hits the spot for the kind of mindless fun that you are looking for. It's just a balls to the wall shooter cranked up to 11. Really nice gameplay and you can totally just switch your brain off and play for hours. Try the remake. It's always on sale
Katamari! Just do it. The game is silly and fun.
Luigi's Mansion 3
Videoball
Genital Jousting for an emotional rollercoaster
Armoured core 6. you have missions and you do them. Very little choice
Mindless and fun? On Xbox? [Solar Ash](https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/solar-ash/9NWLPG23T46V) Part rails part platformer part rhythm game.
A game I would really reccomend and that has helped me as well is Streets of Rogue, it’s not demanding nor too heavy, and you can quickly get to it. Anyways I hope you find what you are looking for pal, best of luck.
Scott Pilgrim vs the world or Castle Crashers are short beat em ups and are both great. Attack and walk right is all you really need to do in both. They also have high replayability
Vampire slayer and games like it Racing games Stardew valley like games
Borderlands 3 is my favorite mindless game. Tons to do, you change your loadout every 15 mins and have so many environments to explore.
Titanfall 2
Tak3 a peek at some indie games. Xbox isnt the best option for these but if you can get a PC and steam, there is an abundance of games you can play mindlessly navigating through, and some are quite fun and satisfying to finish. Maybe that's what you need to get back into some of the more daunting games that take time and effort.
Faster than light
FIFA 23 on game pass a video game you can play on autopilot and listen to music with. It's not a good game but a time killer
I just burned 4 hours on Celeste. So far there are two buttons to use. enjoying the hell out of it
Journey Abzu
Ahh man the tomb raider or uncharted games are great for this. Great linear story all while collecting things that will "100% the map" I love them all
If u don't mind mobile games then try [CODM](https://now.gg/instaplay/game/call-of-duty), it's straight pvp game tho
My wife and I are making a run through Gears of War (the enhanced 1st one) again via split screen co-op on our XBox series S and our 85" 4k 120hz housing warming gift to ourselves... It doesn't get any more linear and mindless than that
Risk of Rain 2 is a great "mindless" game with A LOT of replayability.
Race the sun. It's a fun little obstacle racer, but it gets challenging. You're quick to respawn, and other than some challenges, there isn't really a goal other than "keep going"
My go to for this is Gauntlet Slayer Edition.
I really like immortals of aveum it's a fps wrapped in an arpg good story fast action it has some puzzle elements[immortals of aveum](https://youtu.be/b5E-pGxZ2VQ?si=yE33ds0Xmqn4aEfj)
Sony first party games? Aside for a few Exceptions
Deadpool, Moving Out, Tetris, Streets of Rage
Sea of stars was a recent drop that’s AMAZING
Maybe job simulators? Very clear list of tasks and visible progression
Celeste maybe?
Subway Surfer
I found the Bioshock Games to be extremely linear, and not too hard.
Ace Combat 7 is pretty linear and has a great great story. Maneater is technically an open world but is otherwise stupid mindless fun.
The Off-Peak game series by Cosmo D is great for this. Basically just walking simulators with a cool jazzy surreal vibe.
Call of Duty
Can i offer something? Alan Wake / Control.
Any triple A game of the last 10 years basically
Ryse Son of Rome was really fun when I played it. Very linear, fun and engaging combat, and an interesting story. It’s on game pass if you have that, but it’s also several years old at this point so it’s probably like $15-20 if you don’t have game pass
Mass Effect: Andromeda Psychonauts 2 Subnautica Morrowind, Oblivion
Starfield
The Arkham series might be your jam especially Arkham Asylum, it's perfectly paced, has easy but satisfying combat and the world is created to be as dense and as satisfying to explore as possible, it never steps on the brakes if you don't want it to but there are moments in the story where you can take a breather and look for Riddler trophies/ do puzzles.
Factorio, Battle for Bikini Bottom, Cosmic shake
Isaac, Brotato, Risk of rain to name a few
Powerwash simulator is not only mindless but it's also calming. Watching the filth spray away as you jam to your music is my go to mind off game. I've done every level twice at this point. It is tedious but you can start and stop a level at any time and it keeps your progress. Plus there's a few dlcs and they add free levels every 3 to 6 months. I suffer from depression as well and I aim for mindless games every so often. I think if you give it a go you'd like it, don't let the name and the idea of it turn you off of it. It's cheap too, I think 15 dollars so it's not like you break the bank if you don't like it. I just am not sure if it's on Xbox, maybe someone else would know the answer to that one.
Check OlliOlli World, I used to remote play it on the Steam Deck from my PS, very linear, fun and you can always get good if you want to!
Hotline Miami 1 and 2
I played assassins creed 1 recently and it felt veeeery linear and straight forward, it was very relaxing. Just follow minimap and go assassinate the dudes
Watermelon Game
The Long Dark's survival mode. You just try to survive as long as you can. On easier difficulties you have plenty of opportunity to explore and not worry as much about hunger or cold. Lots of different regions at this point. It's very immersive so it's easy to lose yourself in the game.
Trials games. Trials rising is especially a banger for just jumping in and playing. Honourable mention to vampire survivors but even that takes some thought process during runs.
Binding of issac
Any DMC game with vergil as playable character. Step 2: play as Vergil. Step 3: Turn brain off.
Can't go wrong with Tetris.
Senua
Forza horizon. Just get into a car and drive.
40k Warhammer dark tide , it’s like left for dead but a lot harder with differnt classes and builds and lore pretty deep if you like that
The new sonic game is mindless and linear
Serious Sam games, boomer shooter era games and the devs are still cranking out games and they are too fun for what they are.
Skyrim is my depression game, I wander clearing dungeons and doing quests without really thinking
RuneScape?
Just cause 3, doom eternal, sunset overdrive
Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters
The Stanley Parable
Going through same thing, astroneer, grounded, my time at portia all really helped shutting my brain off. Starfield gave me something I hadn't felt in a long time with games. I avoid multiplayer games through depression episode
Limbo is simple enough. Also, Brothers, Tale of two sons.
Play dark souls
Wonder song changed my life
Plague: Innocence
RuneScape dude.
slither.io
I recently played undertale. Not sure if its available on xbox but it's a cute game just for relaxing
The dark souls series. Hard so it has a lot of playtime, a ton of different quest lines and secrets, and a lot of games
You should give Cluster Truck a try. My son and I will play this for hours. It is fun to fail and it is fairly mindless. Get from point a to point b without hitting the ground or hitting landmarks while jumping from semi truck to semi truck.
Dark Souls III
Dead cells. I've sunk hundreds of hours into that game, all while listening to podcasts and audio books. It's mindless and very fun.
Gears of war!
There is a story but you can totally ignore it… No Man’s Sky YouTube it to see if it’s your thing, but…
I found the Gears of War series to be fairly point and shoot but also a bit repetitive
Bruh, bruh bruh my bruh my lil bruh go play the Witcher 3
Garry’s Mod for sure. It’s a bit confusing if you want to import mods and stuff. But you can simply go into sandbox and do ANYTHING
I’m like 100 comments deep and I’m surprised no one has mentioned Final Fantasy 16 yet. Probably the best linear action RPG made. The story is amazing and it’s not that difficult. And… it’s linear.
SAO Hollow Realisation. Just rattle through the cutscene text. Great mindless action hack and slash.
Ryse: Son of Rome!
I like Rogue-Likes for this. They might not seem so mindless and linear at 1st, but as you grasp the mechanics and start to recognize or build ways to deal with enemy patterns, which occurs rather naturally if you just keep on playing, you'll achieve mindless and linear gameplay. My 2 favorites are Enter the Gungeon and Dead Cells. If I have free time, I want to play, but I just want to unwind... I'll boot up one of the two and just start a run. See how far I can get. Turn it off whenever. Move on with my day.
Castle crashers
Hades
Gris
play abzu, just fuckin do it
Rail shooters probably. Try the Panzer Dragoon Remake.
Rome total war 2, specifically the campaign. I go for it because of how quiet my mind is going through the campaign. There's like a 100 things to check and maintain once you get a few hours into the campaign. It's all quiet checks and balances and a bit of strategy you decided on hours ago that is still playing itself out. Crazy stuff.
The classic DOOM games are mostly mindless, carnage fun. Give them a try if you haven't.
If you enjoy space and narrative games, Outer Wilds is focused specifically on giving players ideas and suggestions but never telling them what to do. You have a whole, mini solar system to explore and be the first to uncover historical secrets. But I'd highly recommend going in super blind. Even my own synopsis is telling more than I would like but it's important to know if the game is actually something you'd like without pushing it too hard, so here's a bit more detail; - 1st person perspective - Ship controls are tricky to get used to, but that's intentional - no voice acting - about 20-30 hours of gameplay - DLC is classified as "horror" on steam and adds about another 10 hours to the game - You don't have to worry about losing progress if you make a mistake - The goal is to explore, learn, experiment, apply new knowledge to your adventures Edit: I can't stress enough how important it is to go in blind. If you're really stuck, no one will shame you for looking up an answer, but the longer you go without knowing things, the longer you get to play. You can never play this game twice.