Five minutes of calm: games for winding down

Not every game needs to test your reflexes. Some evenings you just want something soft to occupy your hands while your brain switches off. There's a whole quiet corner of mobile gaming built for exactly that.

Hollow Lantern is my top pick here. No combat, no timers, just wandering a hand-drawn town and relighting lamps. It's slow in the best way, and easy on the battery so you can play right up until sleep.

Cozy sims like Port City Builder scratch a similar itch. You potter about, tidy your little town, and there's no failure state to stress over. The idle progress means you can dip in and out without guilt.

Even Lucky Coin fits the mood if you switch off the score-chasing part of your brain and just enjoy the physics. The trick is to let go of winning and lean into the puzzle of the board.