I don't really revisit games either. If I'd like to play something familiar but fresh, I play NWN modules, FRUA designs, maybe Fight the Dragon or Dark Quest 2 maps, or (back then, not that much anymore) freeware AGS games.

When I'm stressed out or need distraction, I mostly play simple fast-paced action games like Doom or some arcade game, or maybe also ARPGs I've started at some point but not finished yet.

First one that comes to mind is Sam & Max Hit the Road. Also maybe King's Quest VI and Under a Killing Moon. Those were some of the earliest games I played when my adventure game loving mother introduced me to the platform. I switched from being a NES and SNES kid to PC pretty quickly, because they blew my mind. I often reinstall them for a quick nostalgia trip.

I replay games a lot though, so there are many others I revisit. Some like Deus Ex and Morrowind I replay almost annually, which really gets in the way of playing new stuff sometimes!

Spelunky HD is about the only one that's permanently on my "currently playing" list. It is to me what games like solitaire and Minesweeper are/used to be to many people.

Beyond that, any highly replayable game featuring either roguelike characteristics (in this case, I mean some degree of randomization and/or "run"-based gameplay) or an open world action sandbox can be a go-to for a time...though I've found that I generally dislike open-world sandbox roguelikes/-lites. Currently, I tend to cycle through games like Mount & Blade (original and Warband), Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup, The Saboteur, FTL, Banished, Terraria, Don't Starve (a partial exception to my aforementioned dislike), Barony, Saints Row 2 & the Third (though I think I'm done with the shitty PC port of 2 for the foreseeable future, now that I have its sequel), Daggerfall, This War of Mine, Caveblazers, Din's Curse, Rebel Galaxy, Rebuild 3, Cook, Serve, Delicious!, Ziggurat and even HunieCam Studio. All of the above are currently installed on my laptop, in fact, though some I've not touched for a year or more. But they're ready to go if I get the itch. :)

When I'm stressed or just need to completely disconnect, I tend to take an isolated walk in the park (it is huge!) or I'll gravitate towards kitten videos on the internet or re-watch some of my favorite funny movies/series or take a bath or pour myself a drink or treat myself to something very chocolatey...

...and if it's a game coming to my rescue, it's often The Witcher 3 - Wild Hunt for me. I would simply launch the game, ignore the quests and storyline missions and spend countless hours aimlessly riding Roach across the lands and soak up the spectacular scenery and chase sunsets and catch the occassional musical troup performing a live concert in one of the town squares! :)

Doom 2 and the arcade game "Batsugun: Special Edition" via MAME.

The Longest Journey, I think. also: Steins;Gate and Higurashi When They Cry.

Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition, Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator.

When the bad times come and I just want maximum escapism, I go for real-time competitive games, especially World of Warships. Something that demands my uninterrupted attention and doesn't give me time to think of anything else. In general I find that when I need escapism, I'm much more into short, hardcore objective-oriented games rather than experience-oriented games. So, roguelikes, shooters and wargames rather than RPGs or sandbox-style sims.

Blade of Darkness! Nothing beats the stress relief of good old melee, blood spurting, limbs dismemberment, cutting heads and throwing them on others! This is the no1 in the bunch, really!

GTA San Andreas! For a more modern aproach and using cars to run over various people. Headshots, military vehicles even, fast cars/bikes, drivebys, even dancing, minigames and sheet! One of the best out there!

Vampire Bloodlines. For that extra oomph of Darkness, or rather, WORLD of DARKNESS! When you need to feel surreal and sophisticated. Arguing with your TV set and STOP signs, or listening to Andrei on the radio talk publicly about Doomsday and vampires devouring mortals, that great thing is pure psychedelia! Nothing can go wrong! And whenever stressed, just head into the clubs and start dancing!

Sid Meier's Pirates, YARRRR! Nothing beats swordplay, when stressed! Raiding towns, capturing ships, looting treasure... Do i even need to say more?

Now in this time period, i am experimenting with DOOM, as well. He he he he he

Those work!

I also like GTA San Andreas. It reminds me a lot about my childhood when we cannot do the mission with helicopter

Tbh, I'm personally much more into music for relaxing - chill music is really good in that regard. Favorite chill albums so far: Thaehan - Find Yourself. I'm often trying to find new chill music, and sometimes end up finding such randomly: for example I liked a lot the ost of The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa and I'm currently listening to more music fom the artists featured there.
Btw, Ringo Ishikawa, along with Shenmue, could be good games to relax to - if only the fighting aspect was toned down and an infinite mode was a thing...
In regards for games to relax to, I don't have that many, because I'm not looking to relax when playing, but be entertained. On the other hand, there are times when I don't want to play action-heavy games (because some sorts of action can be stressing - for this reason, I hardly play any shooters, and when playing melee action games find myself needing a break from them and playing something else instead) and prefer something with a more relaxed tone. I don't want something devoid of gameplay or almost however: I tried to play Shelter recently and got bored quickly, so ended up watching the rest on Youtube.
At any rate, I'm currently playing Waking Mars and The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa. The former is more like a puzzle and exploration game; the only violence there is the one that lifeforms of Mars will attempt to inflict on the character (which can presumably be toned down by playing on Casual - I'm personally playing on Normal). The latter is like Shenmue meets River City Ransom (I think at least - I've played the former but not the latter): I like following the routine and school life of Ringo, but I just started it (still on the first week, on Friday) so I don't know how it will go - hopefully I'll be able to do the stuff I want and not be forced by the plot to do too much fighting.
As for a game that I'm playing on a regular basis because I find it relaxing, that's Tomodachi Life for me. I love Miis so much (they are so cute!) and thus can't get enough of watching my lookalike and the other inhabitants of my island do stuff and interacting with them in their rooms. I also played Miitopia for a while (which again has Miis), but stopped playing it eventually (I did beat it though) because I got bored of the RPG portion of the game.

I also have this specific app on my phone - mainly because it's Android 4.0, and thus not compatible with most other solitaire games. However, the only time I play it is when I'm bored (in a long line or a waiting room or something like that, which hasn't happened lately). In general, I might play Solitaire on my pc, if I feel too brain-dead to play other stuff - it also combines well with chill music.

Flatout 2 - There's something very cathartic smashing the shit out of your opponents.
Doom - Mowing down demon hordes can be great for relieving stress.
RollerCoaster Tycoon (via OpenRCT2 these days) - About as calming as a game can be. ;)

project zomboid, its very relaxing to take a car and just plow down zombies, clearing out one street at a time, listening to the soundtrack, munching tomatos. when i really want to chill ill start mowing around my forts, removing grass and cutting down the house vines. its very satisfying. i tried to add in burying zees or burning them but the sound of the flies made it most definitely not relaxing lol


ive been thinking it may be time to boot up another watch of supernatural from the beginning though i have been enjoying critical role d n d sessions which are good for 4 hrs at a pop

Chess games.
Hidden object games.