Dave the Diver. I had put down gaming because of tiredness and this game was such an unexpected joy of exploration and cute story for me. Easy to pick up and do a quick dive, decent progression based on a mix of skill and leveling up your character, and the writing was excellent. First game I 100% in forever and it was while playing it 30 minutes at a time.

Enter the Gungeon is another good bullet hell game. Slay the Spire if you like deck building. Both easy to pick up and stop.

Halls of Torment and Brotato are both similar to Vampire Survivors, but better in my opinion. Great art styles and the weapon system in Brotato is really fun.

Casual-wise, story-based games are nice, like Frog Detective, Florence and the like.

Stardew valley just the most super comfy game I’ve ever played.

Balatro. Can get it on your phone, Switch, Steam Deck. It’s the poker-based rougelite. Sounds weird, but it works, and super easy to pick up for a hand or two and then back to work.

I play Hardspace Shipbreaker when I want to relax.

You are a worker in a spacedock and dismantle ships with a cutting and grappling tool and divide the components into resource bins. It has a chill soundtrack and it’s fun to float around with thrusters and figure out how to separate the different parts.

I’m going to give a possibly controversial opinion. But my favorite casual game to play is Rogue Legacy.

If you accept that you know you’ll die a lot, it’s a lot less stressful. Outside of that, it’s extremely player friendly. It’s not too complicated. There’s progression. You have runs that end and give you a place to stop. You can turn it off anytime without needing to worry too much about losing progress. It has platforming.

Try some cozy games, like Animal Crossing, or any of the dozens of other farming / crafting games. If you want 3D, Slime Rancher is a good option in this category.

Destide has already mentioned Stardew Valley, which is also a great choice.

You can also try some not-difficult side-scrolling game, like Rayman Legends, it has some difficult levels, but most of the game is very chill.

I am in a similar situation, I get home tired from work and don’t have much time to myself, I can pick up my steam deck for half an hour or so but not long enough to get very involved with something. I’ve been playing doom 2016, you don’t have to commit much time to it at once. I’m pretty shit at it though.

Peggle

First thing’s first: you’re allowed to play on easy mode if you want. Took me too long to realize this.

Emulators let you save anywhere, so if you wanna play Crono Trigger or Donkey Kong Country, go for it!

Holocure is a free bullet heaven with lots of characters to unlock. Recommend boosting your coins first.

Terra Nil (it’s like an anti Sim City) is only as stressful as you make it. Clean the planet and max out the flora and fauna, or just vibe. It even has an appreciation option once you’ve cleansed the area, zooming in to certain sections and letting you see the animals.

Tetris :)

I am running Tetris for the PSP on my Steam Deck and I love it!

Dredge has been one of my favourites. Just be aware that the game starts harder than when it ends.

I will always recommend Into The Breach to everyone. Perfect mechanics, easy to jump in and out of, satisfying aesthetics, balanced difficulty

I think Burnout Paradise can be good for this, you can just start the game, drive around, have fun and leave whenever you want.