Steam Deck

Have you considered Snowrunner, Farming Simulator and American/Euro truck simulator? All games capable of unplugging your brain for a while. Just remember to manually set Proton if you play either truck sim, they have a terribly unoptimized Linux native version that runs poorly on the Deck.

Sayonara Wild Hearts. I love that game and often load it up when I'm feeling out of sorts.

Someone else mentioned Superliminal, and I second that recommendation. Very cool puzzles, very nice message.

Coffee talk might be a good one

• Sable - but you'll want to use protontricks to install dxvk
• Stonefly
• Far - 1 & 2 are both good, but I still prefer the first one
• Vane
• Lightmatter

I've only played the demo, but Caravan SandWitch has a cozy vibe and seems very chill.

Not sure if this qualifies but I enjoy Catherine: Full Body on the steam deck. It’s kind of a cozy game.

A few more not mentioned. All of them are games where you can play and your in-game choices are small.

• A Good Snowman is Hard to Build
• Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved
• Hexologic
• Harmony's Odyssey
• Luna's Fishing Garden

Ill give you some more fast paced than the other recommendations. Games that really suck me in for hours zoned out.

Nova Drift helped me zone out for hours and is good on the steam deck. It's an Asteroids style game. It's just shoot up fun with more upgrades the longer you survive.

Crab Champions is a silly shooter with the same basic recipe. Survive, get upgrades. It's silly though because you are a crab, fighting other crabs. It's fun.

Comedy option - Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy. Face your life frustrations head on and play a game designed to make you angry.

Some great games being listed already! Here are some nobody mentioned yet: Hoa, Abzu, Toem and Donut County.

Take it easy and pace yourself with the depressing stuff. We’re all in this together.

Fields of Mystria is a Stardew-like that plays excellently on the steam deck!

• Lost in Play - adorable game about two siblings and their imagined adventure...or is it?
• Tinykin - platform puzzler collectathon with zero enemies. Just cozy vibes.
• Freshly Frosted - Want to feel personally encouraged by a soothing narrator while making donut machines?
• Tiny Glade - make cute castles. That's it!
• KeyWe - kiwi mail delivery. Literally.
• The Were Cleaner - werewolf janitor.
• Little Inferno - silly game where you burn things to get more things to burn. Also, Sugar Plumps!
• A Hat in Time - puzzle platformer collectathon that's cute and creative
• Dangeresque: The Roomisode Triungulate - silly point and click adventure. Looks like I'm gonna have to jump...!
• Hidden Through Time - Where's Waldo but more animated.
• Thomas Was Alone - platformer where Thomas might not be as alone as he thinks (in a good way).

Cat fishing (maybe it's called fishing with cat?) glad you already did for detective, cat quest 1-3, trine is pretty laid back, Thomas was alone, undertale,

Journey to the Savage Planet is grossly underated: fun, simple game, just challenging enough and extremely well polished.

Reus2 has been most of my deck commuting playtime if I'm honest. Great little game with endless replayability.

~~I would recommend grabbing this bundle: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/safe-in-our-world-charity-bundle-2025 It's got a kinda weird mix of games, but a lot of the games are great and several are fantastic for what you're asking. Of particular note:~~

Edit: unfortunately that bundle is out of stock, and I just realized it. Sorry. My recommendation for the following games is still valid though:

• Little Kitty Big City - play as a cat doing cat things and exploring a japanese city. Very chill, fun animal characters, real fun experience.
• Thank Goodness You're Here - very well animated adventures in a british town. Less of a game and more of an experience, but very enjoyable.

Because you mentioned Islanders, maybe Dorfromantik?

Various levels of puzzle/chill:

• A little to the left

• Viewfinder

• Unpacking

• Bonfire peaks

• Moncage

• Chronescher

• Humanity

• Superliminal

• Manifold garden

• Gridroad

• Dredge?

• Far (lone sails and the second one)?

• Vampire therapist (maybe)

Transport fever 2 is very chill.

If you like english humor, check out "Thank goodness your here". Alternatively "Tiny terry's turbo trip" or "Untitled goose game".