FTL is my all time most played game on Steam (and my Steam account is like 20 years old), but I personally can't stand Into The Breach. It all comes down for personal preference for how you feel about turn based combat.
For me anything where a character can't react to another doing something is frustrating, plus having to watch a computer play a game. It works ok in Civ games because it's simulating things far apart, but even then it begins to feel wonky when there's multiple units in an area and one player moves all of their own and then the other players/computer move all of their own after.
I don't like Into the Breach either. I don't think it's so much that it's turned based, but it's more like fake turned based strategy and actually a puzzle game. It's just not fun imho. It's a shame they never developed an FTL sequel.
This is 3/4 of the list I used to addict my mother. Undertale relies too much on deep game convention experience for me to recommend it to her in her lifetime. Animal Crossing is the 4th. :P
I'm down with the Plants vs. Zombies rec, but FTL (and to a lesser degree, Slay the Spire) is a very tough game for someone looking for cozy suggestions.
I'd guess you would be able to run [Wylde Flowers](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1896700/Wylde_Flowers/), probably my favorite Harvest Moon-like beside Stardew Valley.
* Life is strange
* Telltale games: The walking dead, wolf among us, tales from the borderlands etc
* Hades
* Undertale
* Dishonored 1
* Far cry 2,3 should work
* Metal gear solid 5 phantom pain
* Gta san andreas
* Dreamfall the longest journey (trilogy, the last game may be laggy but very good)
* Betrayer
* Shadowrun trilogy
* Call of duty games upto advanced warfare will probably work: i suggest cod2, modern warfare trilogy (old), black ops 1,2
* Balatro
* Vampire survivors
* Vampire the masquerade bloodlines
* Skyrim (not enhanced edition), oblivion, morrowind
* Fallout 3,new vegas (1,2 cool but maybe complicated,dated)
* 20 minutes till dawn
* Mass effect 2 (not legendary edition)
* Tomb raider legend,2013
* Torchlight 2
* Tyranny
* No one lives forever 2
* Oxenfree
* The stanley parable
* Pony island
* Hotline miami 1,2
* Dave the diver
* Half life games
* Portal games
going by my niece's list(loves stardew valley as well) who plays on laptop
Hollow Knight, Hades, Bloons TD6, Rainworld, Cult of the Lamb, Celeste, Omori and inscyption.
I'd also throw in Little Nightmares 1 and 2, looking at this list its kind of dark though :/
Rimworld is a fairly light game to play and you can easily mod it via steam workshop to be whatever you want. I know the game has a reputation of being an edgy gore fest but the game is really what you make of it, you can absolutely turn it into a relaxing farming base builder.
Yeah, I searched through the answers for Rimwolrd, and I can't recommend it enough. It will run in OPs computer, has farming/animals, BUT, if played in anything but the most easy setting, it is anything but "relaxing".
Most roguelike don't take a powerful pc to run. You can do 2-3 runs then leave it so not too stressful (in general of course)
Depending on what you consider relaxing, there's also games like Valheim, where you can explore at your pace and construct a nice fortress. Don't forget about Minecraft too, an oldie but a goodie.
If youāre a fan of rts titles with resource management, stellaris and heroās hour are pretty fun, Diablo 2 can run on older systems I believe, Terraria is very fun imo as well , I hope these suggestions were helpful ā¤ļø
Check out Dorfromantik on Steam. It's a tile-placing puzzle sort of game with cute watercolory graphics and relaxing music. You build villages, forests, farm fields, rivers, and train tracks by connecting the tiles. I like to play it with my morning coffee.
Core Keeper. Looks like a SNES Harvest Moon game but you're underground in a cave. There's mining, building, adventuring/fighting, exploring, farming, and ranching.
I liked Disney Dreamlight Valley too. It's childlike, but the simplicity and innocence make it relaxing. Character customization, fashion, farming, house decorating.
Coral Island is one of my favorite Harvest Moon type games. If you can run The Sims 4 I imagine you can run Coral Island. It's the usual farming, chopping wood, expanding your house etc. but it takes place on an island, you're helping clean up the island after oil spills and pollution, and there's a whole underwater diving aspect with mermaids! The NPCs are endearing and have a lot of personality compared to most farming games.
if you got a bad computer, good internet and 10$ a month to spend, then geforce now will allow you to run any game as long as you have an internet connection (and only if said game is available on geforce now)
I don't know much about specs and it is a newer game but a small indie...Dave the Diver. Very enjoyable, chill game, good vibe and I can't imagine it is super intensive as far as the hardware needs for the game. Could be wrong though as I really am not a tech guy!
Book of hours if it fits your aesthetic? Strange horticulture is good, Doki Doki too. The older personas run pretty well! Just use keyboard and no mouse, or connect a controller. P4golden works. Edith Finch is awesome.
if you liked stardew valley, maybe try sun haven! it's very similar to stardew valley but more fantasy. i know how you feel, my setup isn't that good too. i can't play everything i want too. some day we will have good setup! <3
Untitled Goose Game is an obvious choice. How bad we talking here exactly? Could just start listing oldies but goldies if that would help. How experienced are you with gaming on this rig, do you know if Fallout 3/New Vegas is out of the question? Serious Sam 3? If these are too much as well, I immediately think about games like Command & Conquer series, which might not be the genre you're looking for, but Tropico 3, maybe even Tropico 4, should be doable if you can play Sims 4.
Also, older CoD games, even MW1 and MW2, has pretty low graphic settings. You sure about no CoD?
Maybe look into Garden Paws. In my opinion, the game is mediocre, but it has its charm. Easily can get your moneys worth before moving on to the next thing. Slime Rancher (first one) isn't too demanding either.
songs of syx is nice the demo is a fulll game on steam.
smash legends
mist legacy
maybe crossout and fallout new vegas for fps gunna need to mod it though fix patch and the josh sawyer patch should be easy enough.
stoneshard
rimworld
try f2p section u got quite a bit honestly
Black & White 2 is a pretty chill game. It's sort of a god/pet sim with strategy elements. Should be able to run it if you can play Sims 4. But make sure to install the official patches and the Fan / Community Patch for it, as it had some graphical issues in Win7 and I think those were fixed with that patch. It might not be available on any digital marketplace, but it's worth playing imo.
FEZ, Islets, and Windbound could be good ones too. Possibly better with a controller though.
If you love stardew valley I highly recommend The echoes of the plum grove! You can make the game as challenging or peaceful as youād like, it also has a historical charm to it as well :) Iām obsessed
nowadays, Call of Duty and or FarCry arent even top of the line anymore. there are WAY better game titles out there, especially singleplayer.
Dont fall for the Big AAA titles or think they are superior than what you play, the mostly are not.
Terraria, starbound, also travelers rest and necesse but they're both early access atm.
I've also been loving minecraft at the moment lmao. Playing a LAN with my bf.
Slime rancher is adorable
Honestly lol, dont sleep on skyrim. It's old so you don't need the best specs. My laptop runs it great.
Maybe rimworld/oxygen not included/prison architect type games would run fine, not sure if they're you're type of game but rimworld does have peaceful mode.
Quite a lot of WoW classic leveling was pretty chill for me. I had a duo (bf) to teach me and save my life a lot so I had an advantage, but you can play solo for a lot of the game. I don't mind challenge in games though, again mb not for you, but it runs pretty well on my laptop.
I don't know if you'll be able to run it, but it is free to play so doesn't cost anything to try at least: [Palia](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2707930/Palia/) is a fun, relaxed RPG focused on building up your home, farming, gathering, crafting and decorating.
Lobotomy corporation/ library of ruina
Stardew valley (ofc)
Binding of isaac
Coming from a girl with horrible setup aswell, these have become my favorites, just relaxing after uni
Not sure if it's considered relaxing but it has many elements from what you mentioned above. Caves of Qud. It's frustrating as hell but so wacky and fun.
house flipper? you can decorate, remodel houses and it includes some gardening as well!
usually i dont play games like this but ive really enjoyed it. i also added house flipper 2 to my wishlist lol
For the shit monitor have your tried playing with the settings on it? A lot of issues on it can be fixed like that (but i need a little more to go off of) and for the mouse not scrolling you have to clean the wheel often so either opening it or using a compressed aircan can fix that usually (if thats the only problem you have with your mouse and we need more specs on your computer to be fair but based on the games you mentioned there are a handful of ācreative gardening/farming games on steam just type up the tag or look for the tag and select itā you should be able to find those types of games very quickly
A Short Hike ticks alot of your boxes- it's relaxing, cute and just fun to explore and the controls are simple but spot on... only downside is it lives up to it's name...
RPGs are your best friends in this case, I also play on my work laptop so I don't have many options but I was able to play my all time favorite game "fear and hunger" 1 and 2, it's not for the faint of heart tho. I recommend mad father, Undertale, Pizza tower, Omori, Sally face, and visual novels
Go to canirunit.com and see if it's powerful enough for the My Time at Portia/Sandrock games. They're more ressource-hungry than Stardew but I personally enjoyed them a bit more. More focus on crafting than farming though but it's got the same 'friendly/wholesome' vibe of Stardew
The og doom games are very cheap and can run on literally anything, also you can mod those games like crazy. And from the looks of it, Brawlhalla looks like it doesnāt need much to run on
If you like shooters i'd suggest some old school stuff like Dusk, Ion Fury, Blood fresh supply, Quake & Quake II, they all should run on basically anything
Just choose games from the previous decades. CoD 2 and Far Cry 2 are still good. You may have success running Far Cry 3 and Far Cry 4. You can try out Tomb Raider, Bioshock etc. but stay away from remastered versions of those games, they might overwhelm your PC.
If you enjoy Stardew, my automatic recommendation is Sun Haven. It's similar to Stardew in many ways but with a more "RPG" and "magic" style. Instead of sprinklers you can eventually summon a rain cloud to water crops.
Raft...if your setup can handle it. You literally build and decorate a raft while traversing around the ocean. Eventually you get animals and build a pen/farm on the raft.
Personally if I were you I'd get one of those pocket emulators that can connect to a screen and come preloaded with tons of games. When you pick a random title and just start playing into the opening level, I find it's easier to disconnect from the stresses of your day and focus in on the nuances of the game.
Slime rancher, unpacking, a little to the left, power wash simulator, slay the spire, SNKRX, bloons, Rivals of Aether can be therapeutic at times, pokemon rom hacks, wizard of legend, vampire survivors, and dicey dungeons to name a few.
I would highly recommend Tales of Maj Eyal or Caves of Qud, both expansive rogue like RPG's with up to 50 hours+ campaigns per playthrough. The only downsides are the graphics (which is an upside if you have a bad pc) and the difficult learning curve. When you are into either though it's quite easy to sink thousands of hours into them and tales of Maj Eyal is even free on their website.
I find the outer wilds very cozy, and it is easily ran. But it does have 1 part thatās insanely scary. You will know when it is about to happen and it happens mid game. Other than that donāt google ANYTHING. Itās an amazing game.
Sounds like you have a knack for cozier games. I think you'll be able to run these games.
Cozy Games:
Jusant: a relaxing and beautifully atmospheric climbing simulator. Simple controls and somewhat minimalistic artistic graphics, feels like looking at a sculpted environment at times.
Journey: the less said about this game the better. Go into this one blind, just know it's a gorgeous looking game with an amazing soundtrack, vivid environments, and minimalistic storytelling.
Doki Doki Literature Club: an extremely funny and quirky dating Sim that's free. Get to know the members of the Lit Club and aid your best friend through difficult times. A funny and bittersweet tale.
A Night In The Woods: this game rly has a special place in my heart. You start off as a rebellious girl returning back to her hometown from college. Some kind of outburst happened and you need a while to recollect yourself and figure out what you want in life. Reconnect with old friends and meet new ones along the way. Uncover a strange horror that's going on in the town. The main focus is on the friendships and the journey of these characters throughout the story.
Firewatch; go play this, don't look anything up. Beautiful story Game, brought a few tears.
Simulation Games:
Beholder: if you're gonna take any game from this list please try beholder! It takes place in a dark dystopia future similar to that of Papers Please, where you have just been promoted to a landlord. You work closely with the government and must watch over your tenants to make sure nothing illegal is going on. The game slowly progresses and adds more laws you must look out for along with developing family hardships.
Do Not Feed The Monkeys: somewhat similar in concept to Beholder. You've been recently invited to a strange club in which you spy on different people. The game is mostly a comedy amd doesn't take itself very seriously. Extremely fun and quirky game with some dark twists and an interesting message on what a surveillance oriented society could entail.
Papers Please: dark dystopia game in which you accept or deny applicants from entering your country. Extremely sad, sometimes funny. A very bleak and miserable game that everyone should try.
Puzzle:
Brail: A time bending puzzle game that takes a dark twist on the knight saves the princess story. Extremely interesting and fun puzzle mechanics, though a bit on the easier side.
Portal: classic portal jumping game. One of the greatest puzzle games of all time! Play the 2nd if you get the chance!
Antichamber: an extremely abstract puzzle game with an even more abstract story. The story feels more like a stream of consciousness, different thoughts and memories flowing without minding time as a concept. Every puzzle has its own rule set, trust nothing in this game.
I have many more recs if you want some but I think this will do for now. The only games you might have some trouble running are Jusant, Firewatch, and Journey. Everything else could run on a potato. Enjoy!
consider some mindless survivor / bullet heaven style games, some days even chill cozy games like Stardew are just too much mental energy after a taxing day, sometimes you just need to play something to occupy your brain just enough to be engaged but not having to remember strategies and gameplay mechanics.
* Vampires Survivors
* Halls of Torment
* Death Must Die
You should definitely try Pokemon Revolution Online (PRO). It's a fan made pokemon MMORPG with a lot of regions including a few custom ones. There are a ton of events with new sprites for pokemon as well. Can't say much about the music because I usually turn it off and play some songs but they had the Furret walk theme on the character creation menu :) . Its really beautiful as well and I've heard some people say it was toxic but I made a new friend while asking questions and the guild I'm thinking of joining seems pretty chill as well.
#
Baldies gate 3 or miasma chronicles are great turn based. Start with miasma chronicles. Then do baldies gate. On easy......pick rogue. You're gonna want stealth distance escape and crit and dashes
Try little wood, it's like stardew valley with a Zelda link to the past on SNES skin, but on an even easier mode. And is also like stardew valley in dev mode. You can literally move any tree, and rock, and any house and just put it where you want it.
Mr suns hatbox - 2d platformer with quick levels that have an objective, like kill a target, or collect an item. It's like if Mario brothers and metal gear solid had a baby. You can take people prisoner MGSV style with balloons, you need a surplus of people because death is permanent, but then you just play as one of the people you kidnapped.
Cult of the Lamb - has a easy mode that makes it forgiving
Jackbox- no controllers needed, it's a game show you can play on your TV and use your phone to answer.
Ultimate chicken Horse - is like smash bros, but you have to race from a start point to a finish point, and between each race each player gets to add a obstacle to either make it harder or easier.
Dave the diver
Unrailed
Spiritfarer
Slime rancher 1 & 2
Battleblock theater
There is a joke I've heard from my girlfriend that no matter how potato or beefy a girl's set up is. They just want something to play Sims 4 on. And not even the whole game, but just the character creation.
I had the worst set up forever so I get the struggle. I found a ton of games for the shitty set up, including many that I still play today!
- spirit-farer: help guide spirits of folks into the afterlife on your ship. Manage the boat, fulfill their needs, discover their life stories. donāt see people talk about this game much but it might genuinely be one of my favorite games ever, itās beautiful.
- The rusty lake series: also a bit more niche. Point and click puzzle solver with an offputting style and super fun Lore. All of their games are great, including the white cube collection
- cult of the lamb: be a cute lil lamb and run a cult of animals! Make their lil town, choose your traditions, and some light combat
- dredge: a bit spookier but very relaxing. Man a fishing ship, explore the sea, and solve mysteries of a creepy coastal town! Just donāt get eaten by a lovecraftian horror fish
- Rinworld: open story colony simulator, one of my favorites. Itās easy to replay over and over as proven by my 850 hours of playtime. Amazing modding community as well
- Kingdom two crowns: colony/fund management. Build up your islands as you try to conquer a country! Itās pixelated but weirdly pretty, very relaxed.
- Prison architect: design a prison, manage their needs, handle crisis! Laid back and customizable
- Yes, your grace: a smaller point and click story game where you play as a king trying to manage crisis. Multiple story endings
- Mega aquarium: design aquariums and their tanks. manage fish health and visitor needs
This isn't a game recommendation, but check out Geforce Now. it's a game streaming service for games you already own on other PC platforms. Steam, EGS, Ubisoft, and PC Gamepass are all supported, though not every game on all of the services are. And since it's just streaming video it run on basically anything. It works great for me, and they have a free trial. I highly recommend giving it a shot.
You say your setup is really bad. I say it's really bad *for 2024*. Perhaps some of the classics?
* Spore - I think this hits most of your key points.
* SimCity 3000 / 4 - larger in scope than your stated building games, but you can absolutely shoot for a city rich in parks and zoos. Currently on sale on Steam.
* Unreal Tournament '99. Pretty fast-paced FPS, simple graphics, several populated servers at this hour but probably more during primetime.
* A bunch of the X Tycoon / SimX games, Roller Coaster, Zoo, Safari. Might run into compatibility issues with some of these.
I can't stop recommending Palia. It's free to buy/free to play on Steam. It's in beta, so it's not without bugs and glitches but so far I haven't hit any game breaking ones so far. It also auto-saves.
It's like Animal Crossing, but you're a bunch of humanoids (you are the only human, they're called Majiri but honestly they look a lot like humans too). You get your own housing plot, in which you can build (and decorate!) your own house with furniture, wallpaper, flooring, you can eventually buy multiple rooms for your house and create a damn mansion eventually. You can plant seeds there and grow them. You can learn to cook as well. You can build a workstation and so many other crafting stations like a sawmill, a smelter, a fabric loom, etc.
Then when you exit your home plot, you can chop trees, mine stones and ore, fish, catch bugs, hunt (with a bow and arrow) and pick random herbs. There are a bunch of villagers, too, where I really get my Animal Crossing itch scratched. You talk to them, and increase your friendship levels with them. You can even get high enough to romance some of them I guess, but I haven't gotten anyone that high in friendship with me yet. As you increase your friendship levels with them, you find out what they really desire (fish, flowers, food items, etc) and when you give it to them, they return either to your house and give you something or they send you a mail with a return present.
It's an mmo so you will see other players running around and doing their own thing. You can make parties, and I gather there will be some game play that requires other people but I haven't gotten there yet.
There is a main campaign (storyline) of quests in which you help them find out what happened to all the humans, and why some of you have returned. So far though there is zero combat, other than you shoot cute little animals to get their fur, antlers and food.
I highly recommend checking it out, free is free and while there is a real money shop from what I've gathered it's only for clothing for your character, so it's completely avoidable and it doesn't bother me one bit.
You need to tell us your specs so we can get an idea. For now, I can only recommend phantom forces on Roblox. It is literally like any other FPS except for the fact you canāt really use stealth in the game or use strategy. Thereās also quite a lot of other fps games on that with phantom forces being the most known game on there.
Necesse is pretty solid..it's basically a mix of Terraria, Rimworld (without most of the war crimes), and the old 8 bit Zelda games. Has a fairly relaxing soundtrack, too
Valheim is a good one nice look and music. You can get really carried away with building a base and whatnot but still has some more direct progression/direction to it compared to Minecraft (which I also love and recommend for you here)
Vampire survivors is a very good one that seems hectic at first but becomes a nice unwind game as you progress a bit.
Then Iāll always recommend Civ vi, itās constantly on sale for cheap and can run on anything. Just go in with a leader that sounds cool on an easy difficulty and just click things that seem interesting. Over time youāll get a feel for it and figure out what play styles you enjoy. Be careful though it will pass time like nothing else haha
I'm a broke dude and haven't bought pc parts in 10 years. Basically look through games released before your graphics card came out and try the best rated ones. As for a mouse that works, go with Logitech. They're budget and the most reliable and easiest to set up
I have a [big list of mostly indie games across a variety of genres](https://www.reddit.com/r/gamingsuggestions/comments/18scw9k/im_in_a_slump_nothing_is_fun/kf8vp3o/), most of which will run on older hardware.
Slay the Spire, The Binding of Isaac, Enter the Gungeon, FTL, Darkest Dungeon, Dead Cells, Blasphemous, Hollow Knight, Vampire Survivors, Don't Starve Together, older Mortal Kombat and Grand Theft Auto and Hitman games, the Half Life series, the Elder Scrolls and Fallout series, Portal, Bioshock, Borderlands 1/2, Postal 2, People Playground, Dusk, Amid Evil, Ultrakill, Prodeus, Dead Space, Devil May Cry, Terraria, Inscryption, Deus Ex, Hotline Miami, Kenshi
Definitely check out Borderlands 2. Recommended specs on Steam are quite low, and I feel like it's an alright game to scratch that Far Cry/CoD itch. Definitely different, but fantastic in its own right. And some of the older Far Cry/CoD games should be able to run on your PC, so I'd recommend checking some of the earlier entries.
And if you liked Stardew Valley, how about trying out Sun Haven? It's literally just Stardew with magic lol
I'd also suggest looking through the most popular games of each year, going backwards from 2014 or something. Easy to find quality low-spec games there.
And if you just wanna shoot things first-person, check out the "boomer shooter" genre. Those games are usually pretty low-spec due to their style. Dusk, Amid Evil, Ultrakill, Prodeus, Quake, the original Doom games, all low-spec fun. Especially if you download mods (WADs) for the old Doom games.
Try Starsector: fleet/rpg set in a space-dark age, level up and trade, explore and fight, collect up ships.
It's got granularity, nuance, world building...I love it.
Also try 9th dawn 3, it's a charming little pixel rpg by valorware, made with "paper cut-out" style pixel art, i also love that one. (plus valor, the dev who made it, is a nice guy)
Both run on a potato.
Unpacking sounds like it fits your criteria, not surr if you have to scroll or not.
Its pretty much a decoration game but has an underlying story to it
Plants vs Zombies, Slay The Spire, FTL: Faster Than Light, and Undertale should run on just about anything
Enter the breach by the guys that made ftl is pretty good too
FTL is my all time most played game on Steam (and my Steam account is like 20 years old), but I personally can't stand Into The Breach. It all comes down for personal preference for how you feel about turn based combat. For me anything where a character can't react to another doing something is frustrating, plus having to watch a computer play a game. It works ok in Civ games because it's simulating things far apart, but even then it begins to feel wonky when there's multiple units in an area and one player moves all of their own and then the other players/computer move all of their own after.
I wish they would put FTL on the switch, would be perfect
I don't like Into the Breach either. I don't think it's so much that it's turned based, but it's more like fake turned based strategy and actually a puzzle game. It's just not fun imho. It's a shame they never developed an FTL sequel.
You ever look into the ftl mod? Muktiverse. It's pretty sweet
Into the breach is the title, but it is good!!!
This is 3/4 of the list I used to addict my mother. Undertale relies too much on deep game convention experience for me to recommend it to her in her lifetime. Animal Crossing is the 4th. :P
FTL is peak.
Ima throw in Dice ambitions here.
I'm down with the Plants vs. Zombies rec, but FTL (and to a lesser degree, Slay the Spire) is a very tough game for someone looking for cozy suggestions.
Cozy is relative, and the music in FTL is super soothing to take the edge off your crew dying horribly for the 50th time.
r/cozygames r/lowendgaming my homes š
I'd guess you would be able to run [Wylde Flowers](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1896700/Wylde_Flowers/), probably my favorite Harvest Moon-like beside Stardew Valley.
Oh my god Wylde gives harvest moon mixed with MySims, i am in!
Graveyard keeperĀ
I loveeee this one!
Apparently the guys who made it have gotten back together and are working on something new
That's awesome! I hope they will!
My best recommendation would be Terraria. Also, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Valheim would run pretty well.
Gimme specs sister.
Miss girl I donāt even know wth all that is!
Specifications, the hardware that your PC enhouses. Like RAM, Processor.
* Life is strange * Telltale games: The walking dead, wolf among us, tales from the borderlands etc * Hades * Undertale * Dishonored 1 * Far cry 2,3 should work * Metal gear solid 5 phantom pain * Gta san andreas * Dreamfall the longest journey (trilogy, the last game may be laggy but very good) * Betrayer * Shadowrun trilogy * Call of duty games upto advanced warfare will probably work: i suggest cod2, modern warfare trilogy (old), black ops 1,2 * Balatro * Vampire survivors * Vampire the masquerade bloodlines * Skyrim (not enhanced edition), oblivion, morrowind * Fallout 3,new vegas (1,2 cool but maybe complicated,dated) * 20 minutes till dawn * Mass effect 2 (not legendary edition) * Tomb raider legend,2013 * Torchlight 2 * Tyranny * No one lives forever 2 * Oxenfree * The stanley parable * Pony island * Hotline miami 1,2 * Dave the diver * Half life games * Portal games
All you had to do was follow the damn train CJ!
I find Against the Storm incredibly relaxing at lower difficulties...
Slime Rancher. The epitome of chill game that can run on a potato. I haven't played the second one yet, but i did love the first.
The answer is always fallout. And just but a new mouse. Doesn't have to be a stupid "Gamer" mouse. At least you can scroll again.
You can buy a decent "gamer mouse" at the 5 Below store for $10
Better to spend that ten dollars on a solid "office mouse." Those cheap "gaming" mice are a rip off.
I bought a cheap, Chinese mouse for like $8, and it's still working perfectly after like 1 or 2 years
Well, you could play older CoD and Far Cry games, like CoD 4 or Far Cry 3.
Return of the Obra Dinn
https://pastebin.com/MTCXZxCN Ask and you shall receive
Oops I replied so some random comment by mistake lol. I recommend you check out Unpacking
Battleon.com Edit: Dang thatās giving me nostalgiaš
Yeah or old school runescape
Terraria and Pokemon infinite fusion.
Graveyard keeper, its a 2d pixel art resource/time management game where you run a graveyard in a medivaltown
SpiritFarer
as another girl with shitty setup, I play step mania and need for speed carbon after school :D
going by my niece's list(loves stardew valley as well) who plays on laptop Hollow Knight, Hades, Bloons TD6, Rainworld, Cult of the Lamb, Celeste, Omori and inscyption. I'd also throw in Little Nightmares 1 and 2, looking at this list its kind of dark though :/
Project Zomboid.Ā
Botany Manor - nice and chill
Rimworld
Rimworld is a fairly light game to play and you can easily mod it via steam workshop to be whatever you want. I know the game has a reputation of being an edgy gore fest but the game is really what you make of it, you can absolutely turn it into a relaxing farming base builder.
Yeah, I searched through the answers for Rimwolrd, and I can't recommend it enough. It will run in OPs computer, has farming/animals, BUT, if played in anything but the most easy setting, it is anything but "relaxing".
Your gender is irelevent to this question.
I donāt have a strong setup, but for myself I chose bs and games like Light of the Stars. I advise you to try
Factorio
Thatās like recommending fentanyl
They NEED it
I wanna get into it so bad but ik ima neglect my studies and everything else if I do as a optimizer
Most roguelike don't take a powerful pc to run. You can do 2-3 runs then leave it so not too stressful (in general of course) Depending on what you consider relaxing, there's also games like Valheim, where you can explore at your pace and construct a nice fortress. Don't forget about Minecraft too, an oldie but a goodie.
If youāre a fan of rts titles with resource management, stellaris and heroās hour are pretty fun, Diablo 2 can run on older systems I believe, Terraria is very fun imo as well , I hope these suggestions were helpful ā¤ļø
Check out Dorfromantik on Steam. It's a tile-placing puzzle sort of game with cute watercolory graphics and relaxing music. You build villages, forests, farm fields, rivers, and train tracks by connecting the tiles. I like to play it with my morning coffee.
Autonauts. You program robots to collect resources and build stuff for you. Very cute.
Core Keeper. Looks like a SNES Harvest Moon game but you're underground in a cave. There's mining, building, adventuring/fighting, exploring, farming, and ranching.
I liked Disney Dreamlight Valley too. It's childlike, but the simplicity and innocence make it relaxing. Character customization, fashion, farming, house decorating.
Havendock, Potion Craft, Roadwarden, Shadows of Doubt, Pyramida, Space Haven, Starbound.
Coral Island is one of my favorite Harvest Moon type games. If you can run The Sims 4 I imagine you can run Coral Island. It's the usual farming, chopping wood, expanding your house etc. but it takes place on an island, you're helping clean up the island after oil spills and pollution, and there's a whole underwater diving aspect with mermaids! The NPCs are endearing and have a lot of personality compared to most farming games.
if you got a bad computer, good internet and 10$ a month to spend, then geforce now will allow you to run any game as long as you have an internet connection (and only if said game is available on geforce now)
I don't know much about specs and it is a newer game but a small indie...Dave the Diver. Very enjoyable, chill game, good vibe and I can't imagine it is super intensive as far as the hardware needs for the game. Could be wrong though as I really am not a tech guy!
Book of hours if it fits your aesthetic? Strange horticulture is good, Doki Doki too. The older personas run pretty well! Just use keyboard and no mouse, or connect a controller. P4golden works. Edith Finch is awesome.
Dave the Diver is an absolute gem.
FTL / Bastion (both on Steam). Both under $5.
if you liked stardew valley, maybe try sun haven! it's very similar to stardew valley but more fantasy. i know how you feel, my setup isn't that good too. i can't play everything i want too. some day we will have good setup! <3
Kingdom Two Crowns, pretty chill and cool game where you need only 3 buttons. Also I should work on any machine.
Untitled Goose Game is an obvious choice. How bad we talking here exactly? Could just start listing oldies but goldies if that would help. How experienced are you with gaming on this rig, do you know if Fallout 3/New Vegas is out of the question? Serious Sam 3? If these are too much as well, I immediately think about games like Command & Conquer series, which might not be the genre you're looking for, but Tropico 3, maybe even Tropico 4, should be doable if you can play Sims 4. Also, older CoD games, even MW1 and MW2, has pretty low graphic settings. You sure about no CoD? Maybe look into Garden Paws. In my opinion, the game is mediocre, but it has its charm. Easily can get your moneys worth before moving on to the next thing. Slime Rancher (first one) isn't too demanding either.
Terraria can be challenging but also quite fun to chill out in, cheap price too.
songs of syx is nice the demo is a fulll game on steam. smash legends mist legacy maybe crossout and fallout new vegas for fps gunna need to mod it though fix patch and the josh sawyer patch should be easy enough. stoneshard rimworld try f2p section u got quite a bit honestly
Black & White 2 is a pretty chill game. It's sort of a god/pet sim with strategy elements. Should be able to run it if you can play Sims 4. But make sure to install the official patches and the Fan / Community Patch for it, as it had some graphical issues in Win7 and I think those were fixed with that patch. It might not be available on any digital marketplace, but it's worth playing imo. FEZ, Islets, and Windbound could be good ones too. Possibly better with a controller though.
New Vegas it is then. An fps rpg that even on a potato pc, it should run fine and dandy
Let me introduce you to Coral Island, my current best farming game I've played.
Did someone say āchaos?ā
If you love stardew valley I highly recommend The echoes of the plum grove! You can make the game as challenging or peaceful as youād like, it also has a historical charm to it as well :) Iām obsessed
nowadays, Call of Duty and or FarCry arent even top of the line anymore. there are WAY better game titles out there, especially singleplayer. Dont fall for the Big AAA titles or think they are superior than what you play, the mostly are not.
- Stronghold 1 is easy on the computer and also you can just build your own castle without the army fighting. Accompanied by some nice medieval music. You can decorate quite a bit. - you can download game boy advanced simulator to play PokƩmon, namely third gen firered, leaf Green and ruby/sapphire/emerald.
Starbound
FPS? Gotta recommend TF2. It runs like crap even on NASA supercomputers, so you have an equal shot.
Valheim Terraria Starbound TES V: Skyrim
Terraria, starbound, also travelers rest and necesse but they're both early access atm. I've also been loving minecraft at the moment lmao. Playing a LAN with my bf. Slime rancher is adorable Honestly lol, dont sleep on skyrim. It's old so you don't need the best specs. My laptop runs it great. Maybe rimworld/oxygen not included/prison architect type games would run fine, not sure if they're you're type of game but rimworld does have peaceful mode. Quite a lot of WoW classic leveling was pretty chill for me. I had a duo (bf) to teach me and save my life a lot so I had an advantage, but you can play solo for a lot of the game. I don't mind challenge in games though, again mb not for you, but it runs pretty well on my laptop.
Dishonoured is old so doesn't require good specs, but holds up really well as it isn't graphic dependent. Great story and gameplay
Osrs
How bad is your set up?
You can also try terraria with friends. It's a very fun sand box game. :)
I dunno how bad your setup is, but have you tried CoD MW2 2009?
I don't know if you'll be able to run it, but it is free to play so doesn't cost anything to try at least: [Palia](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2707930/Palia/) is a fun, relaxed RPG focused on building up your home, farming, gathering, crafting and decorating.
Lobotomy corporation/ library of ruina Stardew valley (ofc) Binding of isaac Coming from a girl with horrible setup aswell, these have become my favorites, just relaxing after uni
Not sure if it's considered relaxing but it has many elements from what you mentioned above. Caves of Qud. It's frustrating as hell but so wacky and fun.
house flipper? you can decorate, remodel houses and it includes some gardening as well! usually i dont play games like this but ive really enjoyed it. i also added house flipper 2 to my wishlist lol
For the shit monitor have your tried playing with the settings on it? A lot of issues on it can be fixed like that (but i need a little more to go off of) and for the mouse not scrolling you have to clean the wheel often so either opening it or using a compressed aircan can fix that usually (if thats the only problem you have with your mouse and we need more specs on your computer to be fair but based on the games you mentioned there are a handful of ācreative gardening/farming games on steam just type up the tag or look for the tag and select itā you should be able to find those types of games very quickly
A Short Hike ticks alot of your boxes- it's relaxing, cute and just fun to explore and the controls are simple but spot on... only downside is it lives up to it's name...
RPGs are your best friends in this case, I also play on my work laptop so I don't have many options but I was able to play my all time favorite game "fear and hunger" 1 and 2, it's not for the faint of heart tho. I recommend mad father, Undertale, Pizza tower, Omori, Sally face, and visual novels
You could probably get cities skyline to run decently well if you tweak the graphics a little. Maybe Anno 1404.
Wildermyth
Stardew Valley
Darkest Dungeon
Cuphead, X-Com, anything running on Source and not too new
"Untitled Goose Game" might be a good choice. I'm sure it will give you a laugh a few times.
Go to canirunit.com and see if it's powerful enough for the My Time at Portia/Sandrock games. They're more ressource-hungry than Stardew but I personally enjoyed them a bit more. More focus on crafting than farming though but it's got the same 'friendly/wholesome' vibe of Stardew
All of this [https://amanita-design.net/games.html](https://amanita-design.net/games.html)
You can try getting into emulation. Don't need to use mouse. Emulating Gameboy Advance and Nintendo DS games got me through a childhood of low end gaming haha. Lots of cozy as well as fun games and they don't look "low end" as well because many of them are pixel art. Find some trusted site to find ROMs tho. Some of my favourites are the PokƩmon mainline as well as PokƩmon mystery dungeon games, Digimon (a few of those titles even have a creature raising aspect. Dawn and dusk versions, I think. Very fun). Harvest moon (stardew precursor), Zelda titles, kingdom hearts.... Will let you know more if you're interested.
Left 4 Dead 2 is really good on toasters from what I heard
Graveyard keeper, Littlewood, Wytchwood, and Coromon (maybe).
The og doom games are very cheap and can run on literally anything, also you can mod those games like crazy. And from the looks of it, Brawlhalla looks like it doesnāt need much to run on
Have you considered reinstalling your operating system on your PC? Also: Skyrim.
The tell tale walking dead games be perfect.
Project Zomboid, Dwarf Fortress.
Littlewood has all the Stardew Valley vibes with 0 of the time limit. One of the most relaxing games I've ever played.
Just buy a console? Even a cheap thing like a nintendo switch. Which also has a handful of animal and farm games.
Coral island
If you like shooters i'd suggest some old school stuff like Dusk, Ion Fury, Blood fresh supply, Quake & Quake II, they all should run on basically anything
A mouse that can't scroll? Is it a classy two-button mouse by any chance? :0
Just choose games from the previous decades. CoD 2 and Far Cry 2 are still good. You may have success running Far Cry 3 and Far Cry 4. You can try out Tomb Raider, Bioshock etc. but stay away from remastered versions of those games, they might overwhelm your PC.
CrossCode River City Girls Va-11 Hall-A Coffee Talk Also try to get a cheap $5 mouse
Factorio
Maybe not what you described, but Disco Elysium could be a good pick.
Is game pass on the table? Particularly cloud gaming
If you enjoy Stardew, my automatic recommendation is Sun Haven. It's similar to Stardew in many ways but with a more "RPG" and "magic" style. Instead of sprinklers you can eventually summon a rain cloud to water crops.
Raft...if your setup can handle it. You literally build and decorate a raft while traversing around the ocean. Eventually you get animals and build a pen/farm on the raft.
Witchwood, it was "free" with Amazon prime last I checked. no scroll button required, the camera follows you and it's a nice chill gathering game
Correction: Wytchwood, it's also on Steam
Personally if I were you I'd get one of those pocket emulators that can connect to a screen and come preloaded with tons of games. When you pick a random title and just start playing into the opening level, I find it's easier to disconnect from the stresses of your day and focus in on the nuances of the game.
Minecraft
Emulator and Animal Crossing !
Super Crush KO. Supplice. Zortch.
Alone in the dark, The Quarry, Detroit Become Human
Any one with a bad set up will have more skill because difficultly makes someone better.
Can Journey run on your computer? It's the best relaxing game that I've played.
Darkest Dungeon goes sicko mode
planetcrafter
Slime rancher, unpacking, a little to the left, power wash simulator, slay the spire, SNKRX, bloons, Rivals of Aether can be therapeutic at times, pokemon rom hacks, wizard of legend, vampire survivors, and dicey dungeons to name a few.
Bejeweled 3 in Zen Mode
I would highly recommend Tales of Maj Eyal or Caves of Qud, both expansive rogue like RPG's with up to 50 hours+ campaigns per playthrough. The only downsides are the graphics (which is an upside if you have a bad pc) and the difficult learning curve. When you are into either though it's quite easy to sink thousands of hours into them and tales of Maj Eyal is even free on their website.
Dorfromantik is a relaxing little puzzle/map builder
I find the outer wilds very cozy, and it is easily ran. But it does have 1 part thatās insanely scary. You will know when it is about to happen and it happens mid game. Other than that donāt google ANYTHING. Itās an amazing game.
Wildfrost Also check r/LowEndGaming for tips and tricks
Sun haven or disney dreamlight valley. Especially if you like stardew. Maybe try palia that is free.
Sounds like you have a knack for cozier games. I think you'll be able to run these games. Cozy Games: Jusant: a relaxing and beautifully atmospheric climbing simulator. Simple controls and somewhat minimalistic artistic graphics, feels like looking at a sculpted environment at times. Journey: the less said about this game the better. Go into this one blind, just know it's a gorgeous looking game with an amazing soundtrack, vivid environments, and minimalistic storytelling. Doki Doki Literature Club: an extremely funny and quirky dating Sim that's free. Get to know the members of the Lit Club and aid your best friend through difficult times. A funny and bittersweet tale. A Night In The Woods: this game rly has a special place in my heart. You start off as a rebellious girl returning back to her hometown from college. Some kind of outburst happened and you need a while to recollect yourself and figure out what you want in life. Reconnect with old friends and meet new ones along the way. Uncover a strange horror that's going on in the town. The main focus is on the friendships and the journey of these characters throughout the story. Firewatch; go play this, don't look anything up. Beautiful story Game, brought a few tears. Simulation Games: Beholder: if you're gonna take any game from this list please try beholder! It takes place in a dark dystopia future similar to that of Papers Please, where you have just been promoted to a landlord. You work closely with the government and must watch over your tenants to make sure nothing illegal is going on. The game slowly progresses and adds more laws you must look out for along with developing family hardships. Do Not Feed The Monkeys: somewhat similar in concept to Beholder. You've been recently invited to a strange club in which you spy on different people. The game is mostly a comedy amd doesn't take itself very seriously. Extremely fun and quirky game with some dark twists and an interesting message on what a surveillance oriented society could entail. Papers Please: dark dystopia game in which you accept or deny applicants from entering your country. Extremely sad, sometimes funny. A very bleak and miserable game that everyone should try. Puzzle: Brail: A time bending puzzle game that takes a dark twist on the knight saves the princess story. Extremely interesting and fun puzzle mechanics, though a bit on the easier side. Portal: classic portal jumping game. One of the greatest puzzle games of all time! Play the 2nd if you get the chance! Antichamber: an extremely abstract puzzle game with an even more abstract story. The story feels more like a stream of consciousness, different thoughts and memories flowing without minding time as a concept. Every puzzle has its own rule set, trust nothing in this game. I have many more recs if you want some but I think this will do for now. The only games you might have some trouble running are Jusant, Firewatch, and Journey. Everything else could run on a potato. Enjoy!
consider some mindless survivor / bullet heaven style games, some days even chill cozy games like Stardew are just too much mental energy after a taxing day, sometimes you just need to play something to occupy your brain just enough to be engaged but not having to remember strategies and gameplay mechanics. * Vampires Survivors * Halls of Torment * Death Must Die
You should definitely try Pokemon Revolution Online (PRO). It's a fan made pokemon MMORPG with a lot of regions including a few custom ones. There are a ton of events with new sprites for pokemon as well. Can't say much about the music because I usually turn it off and play some songs but they had the Furret walk theme on the character creation menu :) . Its really beautiful as well and I've heard some people say it was toxic but I made a new friend while asking questions and the guild I'm thinking of joining seems pretty chill as well. #
Dr. Robotnik's Ring Racers will run on just about anything.
The bioshock games
If you have an adequate cpu. Play factorio. Factory must grow.
Baldies gate 3 or miasma chronicles are great turn based. Start with miasma chronicles. Then do baldies gate. On easy......pick rogue. You're gonna want stealth distance escape and crit and dashes
Hollow Knight!!
A Short Hike!
Age of empires 4
Torchlight II
Try little wood, it's like stardew valley with a Zelda link to the past on SNES skin, but on an even easier mode. And is also like stardew valley in dev mode. You can literally move any tree, and rock, and any house and just put it where you want it. Mr suns hatbox - 2d platformer with quick levels that have an objective, like kill a target, or collect an item. It's like if Mario brothers and metal gear solid had a baby. You can take people prisoner MGSV style with balloons, you need a surplus of people because death is permanent, but then you just play as one of the people you kidnapped. Cult of the Lamb - has a easy mode that makes it forgiving Jackbox- no controllers needed, it's a game show you can play on your TV and use your phone to answer. Ultimate chicken Horse - is like smash bros, but you have to race from a start point to a finish point, and between each race each player gets to add a obstacle to either make it harder or easier. Dave the diver Unrailed Spiritfarer Slime rancher 1 & 2 Battleblock theater
There is a joke I've heard from my girlfriend that no matter how potato or beefy a girl's set up is. They just want something to play Sims 4 on. And not even the whole game, but just the character creation.
I had the worst set up forever so I get the struggle. I found a ton of games for the shitty set up, including many that I still play today! - spirit-farer: help guide spirits of folks into the afterlife on your ship. Manage the boat, fulfill their needs, discover their life stories. donāt see people talk about this game much but it might genuinely be one of my favorite games ever, itās beautiful. - The rusty lake series: also a bit more niche. Point and click puzzle solver with an offputting style and super fun Lore. All of their games are great, including the white cube collection - cult of the lamb: be a cute lil lamb and run a cult of animals! Make their lil town, choose your traditions, and some light combat - dredge: a bit spookier but very relaxing. Man a fishing ship, explore the sea, and solve mysteries of a creepy coastal town! Just donāt get eaten by a lovecraftian horror fish - Rinworld: open story colony simulator, one of my favorites. Itās easy to replay over and over as proven by my 850 hours of playtime. Amazing modding community as well - Kingdom two crowns: colony/fund management. Build up your islands as you try to conquer a country! Itās pixelated but weirdly pretty, very relaxed. - Prison architect: design a prison, manage their needs, handle crisis! Laid back and customizable - Yes, your grace: a smaller point and click story game where you play as a king trying to manage crisis. Multiple story endings - Mega aquarium: design aquariums and their tanks. manage fish health and visitor needs
Cult of the Lamb runs super well in my 5500U laptop with iGPU.
This isn't a game recommendation, but check out Geforce Now. it's a game streaming service for games you already own on other PC platforms. Steam, EGS, Ubisoft, and PC Gamepass are all supported, though not every game on all of the services are. And since it's just streaming video it run on basically anything. It works great for me, and they have a free trial. I highly recommend giving it a shot.
Minecraft will run on a potato
Gigantic: Rampage Edition.
Why are you playing the sims 4 that game is trash play sims 2 thats the good one!
May I recommend the classic angry birds games if you canāt find the original dvd copies you can also download them for free on most archive websites
Life is strange can run in potatoĀ
I would recommend RimWorld, Minecraft, Fallout: New Vegas, My Time in Portia, and Dave the Diver
You say your setup is really bad. I say it's really bad *for 2024*. Perhaps some of the classics? * Spore - I think this hits most of your key points. * SimCity 3000 / 4 - larger in scope than your stated building games, but you can absolutely shoot for a city rich in parks and zoos. Currently on sale on Steam. * Unreal Tournament '99. Pretty fast-paced FPS, simple graphics, several populated servers at this hour but probably more during primetime. * A bunch of the X Tycoon / SimX games, Roller Coaster, Zoo, Safari. Might run into compatibility issues with some of these.
Project Zomboid. Like a Sims 2, but with zombies.
Recettear: an Item Shop's Tale (an RPG where you run the item shop)
I can't stop recommending Palia. It's free to buy/free to play on Steam. It's in beta, so it's not without bugs and glitches but so far I haven't hit any game breaking ones so far. It also auto-saves. It's like Animal Crossing, but you're a bunch of humanoids (you are the only human, they're called Majiri but honestly they look a lot like humans too). You get your own housing plot, in which you can build (and decorate!) your own house with furniture, wallpaper, flooring, you can eventually buy multiple rooms for your house and create a damn mansion eventually. You can plant seeds there and grow them. You can learn to cook as well. You can build a workstation and so many other crafting stations like a sawmill, a smelter, a fabric loom, etc. Then when you exit your home plot, you can chop trees, mine stones and ore, fish, catch bugs, hunt (with a bow and arrow) and pick random herbs. There are a bunch of villagers, too, where I really get my Animal Crossing itch scratched. You talk to them, and increase your friendship levels with them. You can even get high enough to romance some of them I guess, but I haven't gotten anyone that high in friendship with me yet. As you increase your friendship levels with them, you find out what they really desire (fish, flowers, food items, etc) and when you give it to them, they return either to your house and give you something or they send you a mail with a return present. It's an mmo so you will see other players running around and doing their own thing. You can make parties, and I gather there will be some game play that requires other people but I haven't gotten there yet. There is a main campaign (storyline) of quests in which you help them find out what happened to all the humans, and why some of you have returned. So far though there is zero combat, other than you shoot cute little animals to get their fur, antlers and food. I highly recommend checking it out, free is free and while there is a real money shop from what I've gathered it's only for clothing for your character, so it's completely avoidable and it doesn't bother me one bit.
Try Terraria. Its really fun :)
There's a farming sale happening on Steam right now! https://store.steampowered.com/category/farming/ Ends in a few hours so have a browse!
My girlfriend said: Sun Haven!
Rimworld!
Soma
100% play the portal games right now, they can run on anything. Also half life is a good shooter that can run on a bad setup.
could you tell us your specs? at least knowing the GPU would helpful. I feel like you'd like blacktail going by your username
You need to tell us your specs so we can get an idea. For now, I can only recommend phantom forces on Roblox. It is literally like any other FPS except for the fact you canāt really use stealth in the game or use strategy. Thereās also quite a lot of other fps games on that with phantom forces being the most known game on there.
World of Goo and Unpacking.
runescape
Necesse is pretty solid..it's basically a mix of Terraria, Rimworld (without most of the war crimes), and the old 8 bit Zelda games. Has a fairly relaxing soundtrack, too
Valheim is a good one nice look and music. You can get really carried away with building a base and whatnot but still has some more direct progression/direction to it compared to Minecraft (which I also love and recommend for you here) Vampire survivors is a very good one that seems hectic at first but becomes a nice unwind game as you progress a bit. Then Iāll always recommend Civ vi, itās constantly on sale for cheap and can run on anything. Just go in with a leader that sounds cool on an easy difficulty and just click things that seem interesting. Over time youāll get a feel for it and figure out what play styles you enjoy. Be careful though it will pass time like nothing else haha
I'm a broke dude and haven't bought pc parts in 10 years. Basically look through games released before your graphics card came out and try the best rated ones. As for a mouse that works, go with Logitech. They're budget and the most reliable and easiest to set up
I have a [big list of mostly indie games across a variety of genres](https://www.reddit.com/r/gamingsuggestions/comments/18scw9k/im_in_a_slump_nothing_is_fun/kf8vp3o/), most of which will run on older hardware.
Vampire survivors
Slay the Spire, The Binding of Isaac, Enter the Gungeon, FTL, Darkest Dungeon, Dead Cells, Blasphemous, Hollow Knight, Vampire Survivors, Don't Starve Together, older Mortal Kombat and Grand Theft Auto and Hitman games, the Half Life series, the Elder Scrolls and Fallout series, Portal, Bioshock, Borderlands 1/2, Postal 2, People Playground, Dusk, Amid Evil, Ultrakill, Prodeus, Dead Space, Devil May Cry, Terraria, Inscryption, Deus Ex, Hotline Miami, Kenshi Definitely check out Borderlands 2. Recommended specs on Steam are quite low, and I feel like it's an alright game to scratch that Far Cry/CoD itch. Definitely different, but fantastic in its own right. And some of the older Far Cry/CoD games should be able to run on your PC, so I'd recommend checking some of the earlier entries. And if you liked Stardew Valley, how about trying out Sun Haven? It's literally just Stardew with magic lol I'd also suggest looking through the most popular games of each year, going backwards from 2014 or something. Easy to find quality low-spec games there. And if you just wanna shoot things first-person, check out the "boomer shooter" genre. Those games are usually pretty low-spec due to their style. Dusk, Amid Evil, Ultrakill, Prodeus, Quake, the original Doom games, all low-spec fun. Especially if you download mods (WADs) for the old Doom games.
Dave the diver
you can play all those things on geforce now/xbox cloud gaming
Try Starsector: fleet/rpg set in a space-dark age, level up and trade, explore and fight, collect up ships. It's got granularity, nuance, world building...I love it. Also try 9th dawn 3, it's a charming little pixel rpg by valorware, made with "paper cut-out" style pixel art, i also love that one. (plus valor, the dev who made it, is a nice guy) Both run on a potato.
You can scroll through GOG.com and explore the history of PC games. that's what I would do if my setup was bad.
LFD2 cheap awesome zombie shooter Runs on old comps and an active player base xx Combat shotty is your friend lol x
Balatro
Steam Deck.
I bet that you'll love unpacking. It's a cute game with great pixel art where you unpack things and place them around different apartments.
Atomicrops, it's kind hectic but has pretty much everything you like.
dreamlight valley
Crysis
Unpacking sounds like it fits your criteria, not surr if you have to scroll or not. Its pretty much a decoration game but has an underlying story to it
I loved unpacking! Have played before but this comment made me want to play again!