Breather Episodes in Video Games.
- Ace Attorney:
- The third case in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice For All fits between the extremely heavy second case (where Phoenix's assistant is accused of murder) and the perhaps-heaviest-in-the-series fourth case (where his assistant is kidnapped, forcing Phoenix to defend someone he knows to be guilty.) The third case takes place at a circus, features an effeminate magician as defendant, and a clown and ventriloquist dummy as major witnesses.
- Also applies to the third case of the first game, which, aside from introducing two recurring characters, is a lot less plot-relevant than the previous or subsequent cases.
- Case 2 and 3 of Trials and Tribulations. The former introduces the new prosecutor and the latter revisits a defendant from the previous game, but both have little relevance to the overarching story arc.
- Case 2 and 3 of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. Both introduce characters who will be important later, but little about either case has consequences in subsequent levels.
- Subverted in Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth - all five cases are somehow tied to one smuggling ring, although the third (notice the pattern) has the most tenuous link; the culprit is the only one who isn't part of the smuggling ring, although his father, who tries to protect him from being charged with murder, is. Completely averted in Gyakuten Kenji 2, where at least one or two major plot points tie into the over-arching story.
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies begins in the aftermath of a courtroom bombing, with one of the protagonists incapacitated and the others facing the most slimy, sadistic prosecutor in the game. Fortunately, the case after that is set in a quirky pastoral village, where the characters mingle for about fifteen minutes before the plot-centric murder is discovered. There's also the DLC case, Turnabout Reclaimed, which is chronologically third but can be played any time the player needs orca shenanigans to counteract the other cases' darkness.
- In general, the third case of any given Ace Attorney game will be a breather episode. Later games have started to avoid this, with The Great Ace Attorney and Spirit of Justice having Wham Episodes as their third cases, with the Breather Episode being the fourth case instead. The former focuses on Ryuu defending a fellow Japanese man in London while getting over his reservations about believing in his clients, while the latter focuses on Athena defending a soba chef accused of killing a rakugo performer.
- In The Great Ace Attorney 2, it's the second case that's the breather, having only one minor tie-in the the over-arching story arc, and even that's at the very end of the episode after the case itself has been resolved. The case is a Sequel Episode to the above-mentioned Case 4 of the previous game, and is a mostly lighthearted affair. Then Case 3 is a Wham Episode that begins the Professor plot and reveals Asogi is still alive, and Cases 4 and 5 are actually two parts of the same climactic final case.
- The Cardbridge area in Alice: Madness Returns is a peaceful, beautiful, enemy-free level composed entirely of jumping puzzles. It offers a break from the constant horrors of the previous stage and sets you up to be punched all the harder by the even worse shit in Queensland.
- Assassin's Creed: Odyssey: The "One Really, Really Bad Day" questline, which was patched in just after the first episode of the Judgement of Atlantis DLC (where modern-day protagonist Layla starts getting increasingly worse mentally, and is attacked by Abstergo goons). The questline itself is about the Eagle Bearer having to save a small fishing village from bandits, and as the name might suggest, doing a very poor job of it. The quest is much more farcical than usual Assassins fare, ending with the main character getting into a two-on-two fight involving a chicken.
- Asura's Wrath, episode 10, which is basically a Hot Springs Episode where Asura rests up after his fight with Kalrow to get ready for his epic fight on the moon with his master Augus in episode 11.
- Back Stab have the level, "New Life", a stage devoid of enemies after escaping execution, where Henry integrates himself with the village community where the resistance's family lives. Instead of killing soldiers he's hunting rabbits and chickens, instead of blowing up ships and buildings he's assisting in chores around Lisette's farms. It ends when the villain Edmund Kane raids the village, and Henry goes back to killing enemies.
- Cragne Manor:
- One of the game's main puzzles involves hunting down library books that have a special insignia. These usually have you complete a series of disturbing or harrowing tasks: early on, you to break into a mausoleum and fight off a resistant, sentient journal that claims nobody will remember you after your death; another has you fainting after seeing a decaying corpse, and needing to escape from a padded cell. Compared to them, Bethany's real estate office is a way more lighthearted segment. You are insistent on stealing Erotic Literature for some reason, and do so by having Bethany take out folders on various places in Backwater, most having silly or entertaining backstories. There's nothing scary in it at all.
- After the scary scenes in the cemetery and underground, Cragne Manor has two pretty silly rooms if you go west of the entrance. Both the gallery and the rec room have a fair amount of jokes (such as your fortune, which reads "beware the updog", or getting to watch classic Sesame Street on TV) and not many puzzles. It's a much-needed break before the music room, which is very dark, very complicated, and loaded with Nightmare Fuel and Squick.
- Criminal Case:
- Criminal Case: Grimsborough has the Historical Center. Compared to the previous two districts that involved either a violent Mob War or a Corrupt Corporate Executive controlling the entire district, the Historical Center mostly has the player solving "Scooby-Doo" Hoax-esque regular murders in the most relaxed part of the city without anyone in particular provoking them, resulting in plenty of Hilarity Ensues as everyone in the team tries to either prove or disprove the supposed supernatural occurrences haunting the district. In addition, the Arc Villain is also the less threatening one of the entire season, being just a regular old lady that, while guilty of the nefarious act of poisoning dogs, an owner, and almost killing Jones, at the end of the day doesn't manage to reach the evilness levels that both previous and subsequent antagonists have. Fittingly, the Historical Center also marks the middle point of the game, giving the player some relief from the previous districts while also preparing them for what's about to come in the next ones.
- Criminal Case: Pacific Bay has Rhine Canyon. Coming after the extremely high-stakes plots of Jazz Town and Ivywood Hills and the Trauma Conga Line Wham Episode that was White Peaks, Rhine Canyon is, in comparison, a much more relaxed and less tense district than its predecessors, focusing on a goofier storyline involving a Little Green Men alien and without much conflict going on other than an angry army general who wants to stop said alien from returning home but doesn't put much of a fight about it, basically making Rhine Canyon the Criminal Case version of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
- Criminal Case: World Edition:
- South Asia. While the previous three regions had much darker and high-stakes plots that involved mass terrorism, assassins and extremist rebels, and world-ending satellites, South Asia instead focuses on a lighter storyline that deals with helping people in need amidst of a natural disaster for the first half, and investigating a mysterious but silly guru that turns out to be Good All Along for the second half, with the Arc Villain of the region only making themselves clear until the final case (whereas you had the Promethians, The Sword, and the COSMORUS mole on your radar from pretty much the start and until the last case of the arc), making of South Asia a breath of fresh air after all you've been through.
- South America. Although the region's final case ends up being a big Wham Episode, South America is, as a whole, a lot tamer and less stress-inducing than its predecessors, as its plotline involving digging into SOMBRA's past pales in comparison to the child trafficking, human experimentation, and traitors you had to deal with in the previous three regions, even if the stakes are just as high due to the region focusing on trying to bring down SOMBRA once and for all. Of course, this might just be a preparation for what's really about to come in North America.
- Criminal Case: Mysteries of the Past:
- Century Mile. In contrast to the previous two districts that involved either a fire almost destroying the entire city and immigrants being sold as slaves or parties being specifically designed to cause murder and the main instigator becoming a Karma Houdini, Century Mile instead just focuses on the World Exhibition contest that, while being target of sabotage and slander, still evokes a much lighter plot than the aforementioned districts and their heavy stakes. In addition, not only the Arc Villain of Century Mile doesn't purposefully causes deaths for their own agenda or amusement, but they also receive a lethal yet still well-deserved comeuppance at the end of it, while their dragon is also put behind bars too, giving the storyline a satisfactory conclusion after the Downer Ending that was Elysium Fields.
- Wolf Street. Coming directly after the Mob War Story Arc which ended on a mostly bitter Bittersweet Ending, Wolf Street arguably manages to tone down the stakes of its arc by making its plots tamer and giving them quick resolutions without much collateral damage, as the Flying Squad leaves the district having resolved the financial crisis, counterfeit cash problem, and fake company scam afflicting Wolf Street without any big losses or heartbreaking resolutions. And even if the Rochesters aren't defeated yet, you still manage to deal a considerable blow by arresting Larry Rochester (who also gives you useful information regarding his family's illegal activities) while also taking Sandra Hwang, a powerful ally, out of the picture.
- Criminal Case: The Conspiracy:
- The Greens. After already having to deal with a Serial Killer and the immediate aftermath of a devastating earthquake, The Greens instead offers a nice change of pace with a low-stakes plot devoid of much conflict besides Jones' already established beef with Marconi, and not only The Climax's killer ends up being far more sympathetic (albeit still in the wrong) than the previous two, but the Ambiguously Evil Arc Villain of the district is also much less troublesome than their predecessors. At least for this portion of the game, that's it.
- The University, which comes directly after the Wham Episode that is Misty Grove and whose only source of conflict is the team slowly unconvering the existence of Ad Astra, the main antagonists of the second half of the game that will need to be fought in the following districts.
- Criminal Case: Travel in Time:
- Right after learning about the mysterious saboteur and experiencing the tension-filled 1960s culminating in stopping a nuclear war, the Renaissance arc is much more light-hearted and less tense, featuring the zany Leonardo da Vinci as a Guest-Star Party Member Plucky Comic Relief and having a silly but heartwarming subplot about the team members growing tired of each other but eventually having a reconciliation.
- Likewise, after the very bleak and outright depressing Altered Present comes the Age of Sail, which has a less complex plot without any shocking twists like Nebet's betrayal and much more cheerful characters such as Mary Read backing up the team.
- Criminal Case: Supernatural Investigations features the Midwest. Compared to the three districts before it, the Midwest arc is more tame both in plot and overall cases. Instead of having to deal with rogue vampires like the West, serial-killing ghosts like the Southwest, or conspiracies of an alliance between werewolves and demons like The Rockies, the Midwest mainly focuses on deciphering a riddle provided by a nutty witch so the team can obtain her help, with a subplot involving some kidnapped children who end up being fine by the end backing it. In addition, every murderer in here ends up being either non-malicious (Cases 16, 17 and 18), too silly to be taken serious (Case 19), or manipulated by another person to commit the crime (Case 20), and the only significant loss in the district (Belinda's death) loses a lot of weight after she returns as a ghost in Case 27 to keep helping the team.
- Crisis Core features a breather mission. Right after a very dramatic point, where Zack has to fight and kill his mentor and best friend, then spends the rest of the cutscene crying and being comforted by Aerith, Zack is next seen on vacation in Costa Del Sol. He's then attacked by scuba-geared enemies, and has to fight them off with a beach umbrella in lieu of his BFS.
- Deus Ex: While exploring the DuClare mansion, there are no enemies, just dialog between JC and Nicolette as she more or less gives him a tour and exposits her backstory.
- Episode 9 of Disgaea: Hour of Darkness could be considered one of these as it's one of the funniest episodes of the game place right after one of the series' biggest tear jerkers.
- Dragalia Lost:
- Although Chapter 13 gives a proper introduction to Beren and helps show off just how big of a threat that Phares is, the chapter is quite tame compared to the climactic showdown with Leonidas the preceded it and the big confrontation against The Other that succeeded it.
- Chapter 15 could also count, since it comes right after the intensity that was Chapter 14. Although it helps outline Nedrick and the Agito’s plans, and it re-introduces Valyx into the Main Campaign, it is mostly rather uneventful.
- Chapter 22 is when Nedrick’s backstory is revealed, and when he starts to have his Heel–Face Turn, so it’s still important, but, when compared to Chapters 21 and 23, it is still rather mild.
- “Elementary Escapades” is a mundane story about Ranzal and Louise pretending to be schoolchildren and Mercury pretending to be a teacher, and it comes right after “Dawn of Dragalia,” the origin story of Alberius.
- “Operation: At Your Service” is a simple story about Pia and Zordiark becoming Emile’s servants, and it is sandwiched between “The Blood that Binds,” a story about the entire Alberian royal family coming together to defeat a common foe, and “Advent of the Origin,” which arguably has one of the most climactic battles in the game.
- Ensemble Stars! tends to split up highly dramatic stories (usually associated with annual events) amongst lower-intensity events to not only give the fandom room to breathe but also appease the part that prefers Slice of Life to angst and simply to let people regain dia for the next high-ranking event. The clearest example is Youth Play Ball! - it comes in between a very long, highly-awaited Knights Repayment Festival story in which the unit almost seems to break down completely before their bonds are reforged, which achieved unbelievably high ranking borders that literally broke the model used to predict them, and the also long-awaited Ryuuseitai Reminisence which explained in painful detail exactly how basically every member of Ryuuseitai and Akatsuki were broken by the events of the war, which also achieved the kinds of extremely high ranking borders that made the creators guarantee a ranking card at 5.5 million event points. The plot of Youth Play Ball? Trickstar and 2wink accidentally both sign up to perform at the same baseball game and decide to do a joint performance and also play some baseball!
- Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water has the Interlude, where there are only some non-hostile spectral echoes for photo-op, some notes to collect, and NO hostile ghosts to confront. The episode ends with the player-controlled protagonist heading back out to Mt. Hikami, where the plot picks up again.
- Final Fantasy is a melodramatic series, but there’s a few moments in this that softens the mood;
- Final Fantasy III is this, as it has a more fairytale direction compared to the game before and after. That doesn’t mean that there’s no dramatic moments, however.
- Final Fantasy V is essentially a breather game. It follows a game that began with the protagonist committing a war crime and included numerous Disney Deaths. The game following also starts with a protagonist who commits a war crime and also has an identity crisis, with her party members having various horrific tragedies in their own past and present. FFV, while having its share of dramatic and tragic moments, features a much more light-hearted cast, good-humored banter, and a script full of puns and jokes, along with a colorful job class system.
- Final Fantasy VII:
- The first disk has a big Drama Bomb involving Barret's hometown, which is immediately followed by the player discovering the Gold Saucer amusement park for the first time. The player is free to have as much fun as they want before one of Barret's old friends shows up to bring the drama back.
- The second disk featured one as well, after Aeris dies at the end of disk one, the beginning of disk two immediately gives you a snowboarding minigame to lighten the mood. This was parodied on the Web Comic RPG World, where after a similar Wham Episode, the heroes get involved in a butterfly catching contest, with the hero still Heroic BSODing.
- Final Fantasy VIII has the Laguna segment at the beginning of disk three. It opens with Squall suffering a nasty Heroic BSoD due to Rinoa falling into a coma at disk two's conclusion, then has his essence transfered in the past to show some hijinx where Laguna, Kiros, and Ward attempt to make some spare money by having the former work in a movie, only for things to go off the rails when a dragon wanders onto the set and forces them to fight it off.
- Within Final Fantasy X, the Calm Lands could be considered this; after the intense Macalania, Bikanel and Bevelle sections ( during which the game's first major reveal occurred), you're treated to a beautiful open plain, featuring some new (and sometimes, challenging) enemies, that the party can trek and wonder at their leisure... before getting pulled straight back into drama with Mt. Gagazet. According to Lulu, they are this in-universe too. Bevelle is the last temple the summoner visits before heading onto Zanarkand. The plains are a place for them to relax before continuing on up the mountain.
- Final Fantasy XIII
- Chapter 8 has Sazh and Vanille walking around Cocoon's theme park, overall taking a break and nothing out to fight them. Most of the chapter is spent checking out the theme park and chocobos. Then the end of the chapter has Dajh reuniting with his father and immediately turning into a crystal; Sazh learning that Vanille is partially responsible for Dajh becoming a l'Cie to begin with; and both having attempted suicide, with Vanille even willing to let Sazh shoot her.
- Chapter 10 is a more action-packed breather episode for the entire party and player. After the heavy revelations in the previous chapter, the party is simply doing a dungeon crawl and coming to terms with what they've learned. Even with the usually energetic Snow having a lot to deal with and a rather surprising battle against Cid Raines, who turns out to be a l'Cie as well, the area is calmer than the marathon-esque run to gather your party together in Chapter 9. While the chapter ends with Fang having a breakdown and obtains her Eidolon, the party leaves the chapter much more optimistic than they were upon entering it.
- Chapter 11, pure and simple. The party has left the almost claustrophobic atmosphere of Cocoon and is on Gran Pulse. The location is nothing but a huge, free expanse of land that the player and party can spend as much time on as they want, fighting battles or just exploring. It's also the part where the game really opens up and the sidequests become available. The chapter even begins with the party just going about their way, scavenging something to eat and overall relaxing. Once the player manages to get Hope his Eidolon, it's basically smooth-sailing for a long while before things really get bad again in Chapter 12.
- Several sidequest chapters in the Fire Emblem series come off like this.
- In the seventh game, after Chapter 29 where we learn Hector's brother died of illness offscreen, you unlock Chapter 29x, which is essentially a shopping trip. No enemies, just a large allowance of gold and a lot of shops to stock up on items before the final battles, which are coming up next.
- Chapter 9 of Fire Emblem: Awakening ends with a major character's death. Chapter 10 is considered one of the biggest tearjerkers in the entire series, a Battle in the Rain accompanied by overriding Sad Battle Music against enemies who don't even want to fight. Between these, you gain access to Paralogue 4, a lighthearted romp against a goofy Laughably Evil bandit boss where you recruit the series' mainstay Recurring Traveller Anna. Many players put off doing the sidequest until later, to avoid the severe Mood Whiplash it otherwise causes. And then there's some of the DLC content...
- Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest Chapter 18 involves the party dealing with Izana, the eccentric Archduke of Izumo, and him forcing the Nohrian royal siblings to attend a peaceful party with the Hoshidan royal siblings. The humor of the situation gives a break from the serious tone found in the rest of the version's narrative.
- In Fire Emblem: Three Houses, there's Chapter 7, which features a fishing tournament at the monastery, as well as the long-awaited Battle of the Eagle and Lion, a mock battle between the three houses. It's sandwiched between Chapter 6, in which you rescue the abducted Flayn, and Chapter 8, in which some of the villains attack a village, driving the villagers into a murderous frenzy and causing many deaths. There's also the White Heron Cup and the ball in Chapter 9, which is just after the aforementioned Chapter 8, and just before the protagonist's father dies in that month's mission.
- Fire Emblem Engage has Chapter 12. After the Wham Episode that was the back-to-back Chapters 10 and 11, Chapter 12 sees the group arrive in Solm, meet its party-loving prince Fogado, and engage in a quick and simple battle against some Corrupted.
- Despite being the first level of the game, the 1st Night of Five Nights at Freddy's 3 is this for anyone who's a veteran of the franchise. The animatronic Springtrap and the hallucination jumpscares that plague you throughout the game otherwise do not appear until the 2nd Night. The night goes by very quickly and its purpose is to allow you time to get used to the differences in user interface compared to the previous two installments without also having to worry about a killer animatronic.
- Golf Story: Invoked by Coach when he takes his students to Bermuda Isles. All of his "training" consists of mundane tasks that have little to do with golf itself, much to the protest of his students who really want to get some practice in. He explains to you that the purpose of these tasks is to get you to take a breather and not dedicate your entire daily life to golf.
- Chapter 64 of Granblue Fantasy has the heroes relax after defeating the Erste Empire, going back to the hero's hometown to celebrate and later muse over what they're going to do now that they've defeated them. This is also one of the few chapters to be dialogue-only with no battles whatsoever.
- The chapter "Black Mesa East" in Half-Life 2 provides a welcome break between the long canal sequence ("Route Kanal" and "Water Hazard") and the zombie-filled Survival Horror slaughterfest "We Don't Go To Ravenholm".
- Halo 5: Guardians has a handful of Fireteam Osiris missions where there is no combat at all. Instead, the player goes around speaking to NPCs and listening in on various conversations, with Osiris themselves occasionally chiming in. One of these levels is set on an independent human colony, while the others are set on the Elite homeworld.
- The iDOLM@STER 2 - Mami's route compared to the others. In fact, depending on the answers the producer gives them during their story scenes, it can be even more amusing.
- inFAMOUS 2 features a cutscene where Cole returns to his and Zeke's hideout and, rather than discuss absorbing the Blast Core he found earlier, shut off their cell phones and simply watch TV while drinking beers. Cole doesn't actually get around to absorbing the Blast Core until later that night, after Zeke passes out.
- Kingdom Hearts:
- In all of its appearances, The Hundred-Acre Wood contains no Heartless, and serves as a minigame hub. This is particularly true in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, in which the 100 Acre Wood is a mandatory level in the second set of four levels, which is when the game gets significantly darker and finishes with a Downer Ending.
- Atlantica in Kingdom Hearts II is no longer a combat-themed world, and focuses on getting ready for Sebastian's big musical score.
- In the same game, while the first visit to Space Paranoids is a part of a Wham Episode, the second visit mostly involves teaming up with Tron to destroy the Master Control Program, and is the last world visited before the endgame. Amusingly, Atlantica gets a Call-Back when Sora suggests tampering with Tron's programming to get him to sing and dance.
- Disney Town in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep is mainly themed on the trio doing good deeds through minigames, and winning the Million Dreams Award in a three-way tie, and also explains how Pete ended up working for Maleficent.
- The episodic mobile game Kingdom Hearts coded is essentially a Filler until near the end and involves far less stakes at hand than any other game. Its episodes were released between Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days and Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, arguably the two darkest games in the whole franchise and the only ones to end on a sour note.
- Chapter 7 of Last Window is Kyle spending Christmas Eve with the other members of his apartment. We get a little more backstory on him and his Christmas present from Mom does prove useful later on, but it's primarily just a break from all the massive personal revelations, a cameo from Mila from the previous game and to showcase how much Kyle's relationships have changed in the last few days.
- The Citadel DLC for Mass Effect 3 could be interpreted to be this. Much of the main mission set in it is one comedic moment after another. For example, Shepard is at one point more incensed that s/he sounds corny when saying "I should go" than the fact that s/he and his/her squadmates are trapped in a sealed vault with limited air. The side-mission is intended to be played before the finale of the game, and was explicitly designed to allow the player to hang out with favorite characters from all three games.
- Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks is a (comparatively) Lighter and Softer beat 'em up spinoff game that comes after the very heavy events of Deadly Alliance and its aftermath in Deception. It also comes before the other story-breaking Armageddon where everyone dies.
- Mother:
- EarthBound (1994) features two: After beating Master Belch and his lackeys in his factory, a Mr. Saturn offers you a coffee break, which summaries the story and tells you where to go next. You get another in the Tenda Village after going through a Starman base in Winters to save some of your kidnapped allies.
- The fangame Mother: Cognitive Dissonance has only one coffee break, your partner Col. Saturn offering you special coffee just before you use the Phase Distorter to go fight Giegue.
- The "coffee break" sequences return in Mother 3, only this time triggered by hot springs.
- Chapter 6 of Mother 3 is the shortest chapter in the game, contains no battles, and little dialogue. This is just after the battle-heavy, tower-climbing fifth chapter, and just before the boss-filled, massive seventh chapter.
- Persona 4 has this happen from time to time, especially when the group thinks they've solved the case.
- The latter half of summer vacation. With a suspect in custody, the Investigation Team relaxes and hangs out together, from enjoying the festival to sharing a watermelon together.
- The class trip to Tatsumi Port Island is also fairly relaxed, although it does involve the group learning a little more about Naoto's backstory.
- The Culture Festival and Amagi Inn hot springs trip occur only a few days before one of the most intense arcs of the game: Nanako's kidnapping.
- The entire month of January in Golden. Although you learn that Marie is missing, you have an entire month to hang out in a peaceful Inaba, after having solved the case and prevented the world from being engulfed in fog.
- Persona 5 has the culture festival, which takes place after the Phantom Thieves are framed for killing Kunikazu Okumura, becoming wanted criminals as a result. Immediately after Akechi blackmails the Phantom Thieves into helping him and immediately before Sojiro confronts you and Futaba about your connection to the Thieves, you can hang out with one of your Confidants from Shujin at the festival for a fun and fairly comedic event.
- In Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, the 2nd and 4th dungeons serve as these.
- The Group Date Cafe comes after the first dungeon and right as the casts of Persona 3 and Persona 4 meet. It's a very lighthearted and comedic dungeon that's one big parody of romances, with a sickly-sweet pink aesthetic, and it ends with a fake "wedding" sequence and hilariously hammy boss. The dungeon afterwards is the Evil Spirit Club, which not only looks and feels like something out of a horror game, but is also more difficult.
- The Inaba Pride Exhibit is themed on a Japanese festival and is another lighthearted romp, complete with Macho Camp F.O.Es (careful though, they're no less dangerous in a fight). The end of the Inaba Pride Exhibit, on the other hand, is something else entirely.
- Though Planescape: Torment is not that combat-based a game, the Brothel Of Slaking Intellectual Lusts, and in fact most of the Clerk's Ward is basically combat-free, epitomized by a sequence in which your characters hang out with a bunch of sexy women, swap stories, solve mysteries, and discuss philosophy with them while pleasant music plays in the background. You will find that hours have passed since you last killed anything. And after that everything goes to hell. Literally. Twice.
- Pokémon
- Pokémon Black 2 and White 2: After assaulting the Plasma Frigate with Hugh and Cheren in Driftveil, making a long and grueling trek through Route 6 and Chargestone Cave, and failing to stop Team Plasma from detonating a bomb on Twist Mountain, there's about 2-solid hours of gameplay with nothing plot relevant happens. You beat Skyla, take a plane ride to Lentimas Town, explore a haunted house, assist Bianca in her research on Reversal Mountain, have a battle with Hugh in Undella Town, catch a plot-irrelevant Legendary, and then when you reach Lacunosa Town you have a run-in with Zinzolin who tips you off that Team Plasma is planning something in Opelucid City and finally gets the plot moving again.
- Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers ends the main story on a very powerful and emotional note, wherein you die, and the last thing you see before the credits roll is your partner breaking down in tears. The first mission in the postgame arc? Playful hazing while you look for fruit.
- Chapter 5 of Rakenzarn Frontier Story takes place after the serious and backstory-filled Chapter 4 and up until the end where things get serious again, it's mostly just the party getting used to their new job as Realmwalkers with some mild questing, the bad guys being a bit goofier and fun antics in the classrooms.
- Chapters 12 and 13 of Super Robot Wars W don't advance the plot at all, but rather are two Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu-based comedy chapters. A New Game Plus replaces them with two different, equally goofy chapters.
- The Tunnel Blackout mission in Syphon Filter allows the player to relax, recuperate and shoot mooks in the dark before the final mission.
- The party spends the first half of Chapter Two in Tales of Xillia in Auj Oule, which contains several Wham Episodes and huge reveals, such as Elize's past and Teepo's true nature and the fact that Alvin has been selling the party out since near the beginning of the game, and goes on to betray the party twice in a row. Immediately after the party leaves Auj Oule, they head for Fennmont on a group of wyverns, only to be shot down by a flying monster. They then spend some time recuperating in Sharilton, and the player is given a sequence in which they do nothing but speak to each member of the party in turn for some really nice character moments. Rowen even points out that it's the first time the party really gets to rest since they left Leronde at the beginning of the chapter.
- "The Seven Mysteries", the penultimate episode of Twilight Syndrome's first volume, is focused on a series of absurd and often comedic occurrences as the girls investigate their high school's eponymous seven mysteries. This contrasts sharply with the consistently tense tone found in every other episode in the duology, whether from the mortal danger the protagonists often find themselves thrust into, or from the backstories that the spooky phenomena are owed to in the first place, which often involve realistically portrayed social issues which are completely Played for Drama.
- Blood and Wine, the second expansion to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt can be seen as a Breather Expansion. The base game and the Witcher universe as a whole is portrayed as a World Half Empty. Most quest you undertake usually end up with you having to choose between the lesser of two evils, while acting like a selfless hero will almost never result in a happy ending. Blood and Wine, on the other hand, feels more like a World Half Full. Toussaint, the setting in this expansion, kind of resembles a classical fairy tale, in which selfless and heroic actions will yield the best rewards. Therefore, most quests end on a happy note if you choose to be nice and end badly if you choose to act like dick. This change in atmosphere makes the expansion feel like a well-deserved vacation after the grim and grittiness of the previous games.
- The tournament in Wysteria serves as this for Wizard101 since it's suppose to take place somewhere between the player attempting to prevent a master criminal from escaping and having to perform a spiritual and mental detox on both the emperor and the land itself.
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has Riku and Manana's mandatory Hero Quest, "A Nopon's Counsel"note : a lighthearted adventure involving the two Nopon hunting for rare crafting materials and showing off their newfound combat skills. Story-wise, it is sandwiched between Eunie coming across her own corpse shortly after one of the Moebius is revealed to the player to be a dead ringer for Noah, and another Moebius turning out to be the Kevesi trio's former friend Joran who died right in front of them about six years ago.
- Yakuza 2 has Chapter 15. After Chapter 14 had the Tojo Clan and Majima Construction defuse bombs all over Kamurocho while Kiryu fended off an all-out assault by the Go-Ryu Clan, this one involves Kiryu spending some quality time with his ward Haruka, so the player can fulfill her requests and clear some substories at their leisure. Tellingly, it takes place right before the final chapter.
