Having said that, there are many games that are more respectful of the player, with quieter user interfaces without design dark patterns to keep you hooked.
Here are some suggestions:
*Microsoft Flight Simulator* - Fly around Earth, preferably at a low to medium altitude with a small airplane. It can teach you about real world flying procedures if you are interested, with things like Vatsim. You can play with others without worrying about griefing as there are no collisions between airplanes modelled. If you want to shoot, too, try DCS World or IL-2 Sturmovik. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1250410/Microsoft_Flight_...
I find that keeping a physical journal, writing with a real pencil on real paper, while playing games, is good for my eyes and my mind, as is taking regular breaks and going for walks in the real world, every day.
PS. A childhood friend of mine started this website dedicated to relaxing games: https://yinindie.com/
The creators have revealed that the script of "Disco Elysium" consisted of roughly 980 000 words, and the 2020 rework "The Final Cut" was apparently even more massive, roughly 1.2 million words [1].
Its lead designer Robert Kurvitz is an Estonian novelist, and the development team largely consisted of members of a "small but loud" alternative cultural association. Another member of the team is Kaur Kender, cult writer and literary enfant terrible of late 1990s Estonia. I think his books are a required reading for Estonian high school students. It's a game made by poets, basically.
I'm not a gamer, but I think the game (entitled "No Truce with the Furies" during early stages of development) was largely based on a sci-fi and "proper literature" mashup novel by Kurvitz that imo gained a somewhat cult following in Estonia. The book pays remarkable attention to detail, and it took him about 5-6 years to write.
Outer Wilds, Return of the Obra Dinn, for investigations and memory and "human puzzles".
Manifold Garden, Opus Magnum (+ other Zachtronics game) for puzzle solving.
I had given up the hope of ever being as amazed by a game as I used to be as a kid, until I played Outer Wilds. It's truly a magical experience. And the soundtrack is amazing, it still gives me chills sometimes.
Kentucky Route Zero has been the most intellectual of journeys I went through in 2020-2021.
This game almost requires that I put it down every now and then to ponder and think. It calls for a glass of wine in a quiet place at 3am. I wish my friends would play it so I would have someone to discuss with.
Get Winfrotz for Windows or Lectrote under Linux/OSX and download Anchorhead, Spider and Web, Make It Good, Vicious Cycles, All Things Devour, Enemies and Slouch Over Bedlam from IFDB, they should be in Z5 or Z8 format. "Heroines" and "Enemies" are good, too.
I would recommend The Long Dark and Sable. Heavily focused on exploration and immersion. But really any game with an open world that doesn't hold your hand too much and lets you make your own choices.
I picked up Sable on a lark (also because I saw the Moebius-inspired art style and immediately fell in love). It's a fine game that you can tell was a labour of love by only a handful of people, for better and for worse. It hit that same vein of open-ended exploration that Breath of The Wild has and the same feeling of constant discovery the latter game has in its early hours. I do wish that Sable was less utopic, with dangers in the wild dunes from creatures or weather hazards, but that wouldn't work with the art style and doesn't make sense with the narrative. It's a great game, even if you can get around the often-janky flight model of the hoverbikes and bugs like occasional clipping into the environment.
Too late to comment, but I wanted to add puzzle games like Portal or The Talos Principle. The world building is stimulant, and the mechanics can be really hard on your first play. Their downside is the rapidly diminishing replay value, unless you collect achievements, which defeats the purpose of a casual game.
When I replay one of those, I do it for the story, because the puzzles are child's play when you know the solutions.
adding on some recs that aren't necessarily 'good for the mind' but great from a gaming as art perspective and not designed for addiction -
co op: terraria, Deep Rock Galactic, and Magicka
various interesting games: Subnautica, Transistor, noita, hyperlight drifter, control
