Zelda 2.

It's divisive, but I like it. I have fond memories of playing that game with my dad when I was young. When we reached the great palace, I died so quickly that he once got up early and started playing at 5am to farm extra lives for me. I went into the palace with 26 extra lives.

...I didn't die at all on that run.

I still play it about once per year. In fact, I just finished it again about a week ago. I want to play the remade fan game, I just haven't had time to sit and get it setup.

Sid Meier's Pirates! Specifically the remastered pc version from 2004.

Rimworld. You can do everything from hedonistic hobbit type colonies to the most despicable humans to have ever lived. Very relaxing to me.

When I’m feeling nostalgic, Shining Force II for the Sega Genesis.

Chrono Trigger. I've played it on so many platforms it's a bit mind blowing

This may be surprising, but Subnautica is my comfort game, even though the game isn't purely relaxing and has some scary parts. But the gameplay loop is so satisfying, the story is nice even after several playthroughs and there is beauty in these alien underwater biomes. I just wish it was longer, now that I know where to find what, it gets quite short :)

Second comfort game is Terraria but I also play that for entertainment/when I feel a rush of creativity for building stuff. And it's just so nice to dig your way through a large world and find all the hidden items.

Starcraft. Not 2, just StarCraft.

And sometimes Command and Conquer Red Alert in the emulator.

Civ 5 until Civ 6 released, then Civ 6.

Idk I just get Civ fever with my friends in Player vs computer matches every few months. I almost always do the same (what I'll call the DaVinci) strat of being relatively peaceful until rushing the Advanced Flight tech before anything else and levelling all the unprepared cities in the middle ages.

The other one is Minecraft. The funnest part to me is that exhilaration of surviving the first few days in the wild on a multiplayer server with friends, setting up that initial base and then spending more days building up to your elaborate design. I tend to alternate between the latest vanilla Java server then a modded one.

Every time I think I'm over it I'm doing another playthrough of Mass Effect with new mods. Just can't help myself! And it's fun every time.

Deep Rock Galactic. Every time there's a cool new seasonal hat, I try to jump on.

Symphony of the Night

Also, if you enjoy Doom 1 and 2, I highly recommend seeking out Heretic and Strife. Heretic has amazing level design using the Doom engine to create places that feel like towns and medieval churches and stuff. And Strife somehow managed to make Doom into an interconnected world with a decent story.

I'm not big on Hexen - the respawning enemies and the lack of weapons (there's only 4, technically 12 but you only have access to 4) bugged me.

I play StS a bunch, but in that vein, games I just come back to:

-Stardew Valley, and it gets the 1.6 update next week so I guess I will again

-frostpunk, which gets a sequel this year!

-gen 3/4/5 Pokemon

Mirror's Edge - I usually turn the voices off and just run. Once you're in the flow it's so calming, and it doesn't overstay it's welcome.

I go back to Super Metroid about once a year. I just get a yearning to hear the moody music and see the alien scenery.

I remember being blown away by a gameplay demo of Bioshock during E3. They used a lightning bolt to shock the water, and it worked?!

I rented the game for the Xbox 360, and was equally blown away by its story. What an awesome experience. I play though it occasionally on my PC just to live in its world again, though I think I like the original more than the remaster.

Castlevania - Symphony of the Night

• Ghost of Tsushima
• ACO

Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Mankind Divided are two for me.

I usually try an ascend at least once during the annual Nethack tournament:

https://nethackwiki.com/wiki/The_November_NetHack_Tournament

Halo: Reach, Halo: ODST, Halo: CE, Halo 2 - the familiar pattern of carving my way through hordes of enemies is very comforting.

Zelda, various mario games, wordfued.

I play Bloodborne during the Return to Yarnham event.

Doom 2, because the mod scene freaking rules

• Slay the Spire: Hits 5 years of being released, I played since the early access and wasted too much time on this, still fun and perfect on smartphones

Lemmy is really selling me into this one, would this game be good also on the Nintendo Switch?

I barely use my phone for gaming (I barely use anything for gaming actually) and I don't know about the genre that much, but I enjoyed Into The Breach a lot in my phone (although I only "finished it" once) would this be a good title to have in the phone too or better go with the Switch instead?

Fallen Haven https://www.gog.com/de/game/fallen_haven

Master of Orion, 1 and 2 - 3 is really shit.

I always think of myself as being in between runs of the Long Dark; it's the game I'm always in a state of playing for long stretches, even if it's been 6 months to a year since I last booted it up. You just can't beat that first gameplay loop of trying to find something, anything, to keep warm and stay alive for another day.

I don't agree with some of the choices they've made with the new dlc, but it remains my most played game of all time and is a GOAT for sure.

Oxygen not Included. There's something really relaxing with this one. Until your petroleum boiler starts spewing lava into your crude oil tank...

Half-Life

It's getting about time to go through it again.

I've played Dragon Warrior on basically every piece of technology I've ever owned that is capable of NES emulation. PCs, phones, Raspberry PIs, all of it. Sometimes with game genie cheats, sometimes clean. I don't know if it's been "annually" per se, but it's almost certainly the game I've replayed the most times over my life.