Relaxing games to play this Easter Break

Finding yourself at a loss this Easter Break? Whether you’re swamped by deadlines and looking for a relaxing outlet, or free as a bird and looking for a way to pass the time – here are some of the most relaxing games to invest your time in this Easter. 

Unpacking 

• Available for: Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Android, iOS, PS4, PS5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch.
• Length: 4-5 hours.
• Price: £8.99-17.99 (varies across platforms).

Unpacking is a zen puzzle game that takes you through the process of unpacking possessions and fitting them into a new home. Throughout eight house moves, you witness the character you’re unpacking for grow and evolve, uncovering a story you’re never explicitly told. The game also offers part home design freedom, allowing you to fit items in different places, whilst the soundtrack soothes you.

A Little to the Left

• Available for: Microsoft Windows, MacOS, PS4, PS5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch.
• Length: 4-6 hours (plus daily puzzle).
• Price: £12.99 (or £16.18 when bundled with A Little to the Left: Cupboards & Drawers DLC).

Like Unpacking, A Little to the Left is a cosy puzzle game that involves stacking, sorting, organising, and cleaning household items into satisfying arrangements. Several levels have multiple ways of sorting the objects, each day there is a new puzzle, and there is a Cupboards and Drawers DLC for if you’ve not quite had enough of the game upon completion.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons 

• Available for: Nintendo Switch.
• Length: Infinite.
• Price: £36.99 (plus £21.99 for Happy Home Paradise DLC).

There’s a reason this simulation game went viral when COVID-19 locked us all inside in 2020. In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you control a character who moves to a deserted island. Upon the completion of assigned tasks from Tom Nook, you can develop the island as you please, celebrate holidays, catch fish, and build houses for new animal residents. If your island has been deserted post-pandemic, it may be worth investing in the Happy Home Paradise DLC, in which you begin working as a designer for homes on a nearby island.

Sims 4

• Available for: Microsoft Windows, MacOS, PS4, PS5, Xbox. 
• Length: Infinite.
• Price: Free (with optional expansion pack costs).

It goes without saying that this simulation game is a fan-favourite, and for good reason. Whether you play with expansion packs, kits, mods, or cheats, the endless possibilities of this game make it the ultimate personalised game to escape from reality.

Bear and Breakfast

• Available for: Microsoft Windows, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch.
• Length: 21-33 hours.
• Price: £16.75.

In this laid-back management simulation game, you build, decorate and run a bed and breakfast as a well-meaning bear in the words. Through quests and storylines, expand your BnB and uncover the many mysteries of the wilderness surrounding you.

Coffee Talk

• Available for: Microsoft Windows, MacOS, PS4, PS5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch.
• Length: 24-32 hours.
• Price: £11.69 (free demo available on Switch).

Coffee Talk is a visual novel where you brew coffee and have heart-to-heart talks with customers in an alternative reality of Seattle. 90s anime-inspired visuals and lo-fi music provide the ultimate atmosphere for helping not-so-human customers with their human problems.

A Short Hike

• Available for: Microsoft Windows, MacOS, PS4, PS5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch.
• Length: 2 hours.
• Price: £5.79-6.29 (varies across platforms).

In A Short Hike, you embark on an adventure in a world of anthropomorphic animals, as a bird called Claire who needs to reach the top of a mountain. Your only objective is to get her there, and you can do so as you please, taking in the sights and speaking to other park visitors.