“Hexcells Infinite” is a great stress-free (and cheap) game. It plays like Minesweeper, but every puzzle is completely solvable with just logic (there is never a need to guess!)

You could try StarSector from Fractal Softworks. Its not free but an awesome game for what you may be looking for.

Starsector (formerly “Starfarer”) is an in-development open-world single-player space-combat, roleplaying, exploration, and economic game. You take the role of a space captain seeking fortune and glory however you choose.

Slay the Spire!! It’s all single player but it’s a ton of fun. It’s a single player deck building card battle game. I’ve got nearly 2000 hours in it. Very light weight to run, and that computer can definitely run it.

Rimworld is a great game and will run on your laptop.

https://geoguessr.com is my crack.

Cities Skylines is often the perfect game for me to just zone out and chill, it surely didn’t run on a smooth 60 fps for me on my i7 laptop with no gpu but it performed well enough for me.

I just like to spend a couple of hours laying new railroads and streets and just expanding my city, be aware though the game can be a timesink if you’re not careful.

What do you think of turn based games like XCOM? I’ve found I can enjoy the planning and execution of a plan more when I’m not stressing about actions per minute or micro managing a ton of things.

Hardspace:Shipbreaker

Do you have a console or is it just the laptop?

@d3fc0n1 I’ll never not recommend Dwarf Fortress

deleted by creator

Into The Breach is turn based, so if you like old RPG turn based combat, you’ll feel comfortable. The graphics are very retro as well.

You control mechs fighting against giant bug enemies. The game can be more of a puzzle, as your mechs have different abilities that aren’t always obvious how they’d be beneficial.

The game is very short and encourages replays. You can mix and match different mechs to form different squads.

As an RPG game I think Neverwinter Nights is worth taking a look (you might have even played it when it was brand new) There is an enhanced edition that was first published a few years back that among other things, brought back online gaming without having to mess around. I think the community fits the bill nicely and in some groups you might not even be among the oldest.

Although you can play it solo, it’s at multiplayer where it shines. Also, apart from official content, there’s a ton of community content, some of it far better than official one.

Factorio has been also mentioned. Think of puzzle / problem solving / logistics / base building kind of game. There’s a playable demo (probably >10 hours worth of content but I can’t say for sure, I didn’t need so long to decide it was my thing) so you can check it out before purchasing.

Additional info :

• First game, try to go in as blind as possible (no tutorial/videos, walkthroughs, …) You can only beat the game for the first time /without prior knowledge once
• You can find the game referred as cracktorio. For many, the main cost of the game is not the purchase, but the electricity needed to run it for so long
• You can play it without bitters (enemies) so there’s no rush in completing it. You just build as you see fit

I would also add Minecraft, Terraria, Stardew Valley for the chill factor.

You shouldn’t have problems with any of these games on your laptop.

The Shadowrun video games I think are really good “starter” rpgs. They’re a lot of fun, plus the setting of Shadowrun is fascinating, and wanting to explore it and learn more really gets you invested. Although the third game in the trilogy is the best, I would actually start with the second game. Its still an excellent game, but playing it before the third game showcases how much they improved almost every aspect. Also although its a “trilogy”, each game is its own story. The only connection is the shared setting/world. In summary, play Shadowrun: Dragonfall, then Shadowrun: Hong Kong. Have fun!