What games do you play that help you reduce stress and put your mind at ease? What is it about the game that calms your soul? Is it the background music, or maybe destroying something in the most ludicrous way possible?

>inb4 DOOM

Can't play games when stressed personally.

Any game,as it's another world away from the insane world that we live in.

But maybe not Tetris: The Grand Master.

(TGM is good if you need to take your mind off somthing; it's not a good option if you actually need to relax.)

I tend to prefel low-stakes games for this purpose. For example, a game that's so short it doesn't need a save feature is an option. For longer games, perhaps loading a save, playing around a bit (instead of trying to progress), and then not saving is an option (assuming the game has a proper save feature that lets you control when you save).

Killing Floor 2, sound levels high, especially the music.

Then popping the heads of zeds.. It's very cathartic! :))

Quake. Serious Sam. Duke Nukem 3D ... anything that lets you shoot hordes of enemies. Not Doom3 though. I like to see what I shoot. Shooting in the dark is no fun.

Or if you want just a mellow, nice atmosphere: Loom.

Or if you want another kind of stress reduction: Hunie Pop

M&B Warband, just do some f1 or whatever keys, let rip and sit in a safe mountaintop somewhere

I play games mostly to fight boredom, not to fight stress.

For stress-relief, I'd rather choose something that doesn't tax my brains too much, like watching some lightweight movie (no European art movies) or some other inactive "activities". Could be sports as well, chess excluded.

Alcohol works too.

Yep.

Diablo with The Hell mod. Despite the name it can be fun.
Just hit New Game with equipped and leveled character and you get some relaxing meat grinding experience.
It's good idea cause you can find more gold rare items at high character level and you can visit some useful shrines (stats bonuses ftw).

Path of Exile - mapping. If you have currency to boost maps, strong character (either tanky or devastating damage) and don't get bad modifier then you're good to go.

I'm with y'all.

If Android games count, there's this little game where you need to move pieces of aqueducts to get the water from one end to another: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ua.krou.aqueducts

It is aesthetically pleasing, the music is relaxing and seeing the water finds its way is quite satisfying. However, note that some levels in the later worlds might have the *opposite* effect.

ditto

When I'm stressed out, really nervous, aggravated, games tend to make things worse for me...