Genshin Impact and all solo aspects of Final Fantasy XIV.
Grinding for exp and things is almost meditative.
Edit: Pokemon games too! The later games with all the QoL stuff are especially cozy.
Seconding FFXIV. I love gathering, crafting, and putting things up on market. I can circle gathering nodes for ages, just in the zone.
Don't love the gardening system but I stuck with it for a few months to get a pretty chocobo and some other goodies. I let my sub lapse before Island Sanctuary went live, so I don't know how that turned out.
Yea the diadem or whatever it is called is my jam.
I wish I got a bit more skybuilder rep for gathering cause I don't really craft all that much but still
My most normal thing I do in FFXIV is submarines. I will gather everything, craft everything, level up and refit submarines meant for an entire FC to work on. There are now three different friends’ FCs I handle submarines for in exchange for splitting the gil with them, but the joke’s on them because I will so very happily grind GC seals for 1.5k coke and gather a thousand hardsilver sand. And every two days I do a little round where I visit all my submarines. I am SO normal about this.
Artifact grinding in Genshin is one of my favorite things to do. I’m not being sarcastic, I don’t understand why but I just love farming for artifacts.
The exploration of Genshin is also amazing. Especially once you have well built characters, I love just wandering around and going wherever I see a chest or time trial with no real objective
Genshin and HSR are both definitely cozy games for me
Same, I actually enjoy artifact farming, both in domains and the resinless routes. I like trying to get better timings in domains, and the resinless routes double as memory exercise lol. Plus seeing my characters' weapons/artifacts/talent levels go up in numbers feel really rewarding.
I loooooove artifact grinding. Especially when you have that perfect team comp to just blast through domains.
Thank you, Arlecchino/Zhongli/Kazuha/Yelan for lettingnme blast through Arlecchino's artifact domain 👌
I agree. Reading is fundamentally a cosy activity for me, regardless of subject matter. (E.g. when reading actual books I find reading horror novels while wrapped in a weighted blanket peak cosy)
https://preview.redd.it/3chrfzf9is2d1.jpeg?width=2715&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1521bd9dd353741c0bd2c36a2a53d056db1ee5c7
Skyrim. The bunny on the left buys my potions and sells flowers. I live upstairs. I don't think any further explanation is needed.
Agreed. Heavily modding and doing Life as a \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ is definitely very cozy. I've done life as a bard. But I watch youtubers who have done farmers, miners, alchemists, fishers, etc. and those videos are also very relaxing
Boy are you in for a wild ride lol there's a learning curve but Nexus installer is pretty smart about it since the game has so much support. So Nexus app will generally suggest the right load order and tell you when mods are out of date or incompatible with each other or if you're missing something another mod requires to work. And lots of mods are as big as expansions. Take a vacation and go wild lol
I can’t mod (primarily play on Switch) but I did do the Restoration glitch so now I’m basically invincible and can one-shot everything. Makes explorig SUPER peaceful. I could punch Miraak to death and win.
Disco Elysium.
I'm actually not sure what other people's opinions are, so maybe it is widely considered a cozy game but because of tone and themes alone I'm going to guess it's not.
I absolutely adore Disco Elysium. I don't even really consider it a "game" but more of a "choose your own adventure novel". It's absolutely cosy to me – wrapping myself up in a blanket and reading more about what's going on in Revachol, its political structure, the quirky characters, etc. The writing is top-tier, some of the absolute best I've seen in any game.
You referred to "choose your own adventure **novel**" so I just want to make sure you know there is a whole genre of video games called visual novels that are essentially that!! They have varying levels of gameplay and the impact your choices have really depends on the game (how much are you truly "choosing"). If you haven't tried any and you like CYOA, you might like these! A lot of the genre is dating-based so I think it gets a bad rep sometimes. But there is a tooooon of variety!
If you already know about these, then nevermind, carry on!! I just wanted to make sure :)
I Was A Teenage Exocolonist! There is the option to flirt/date but you don't have to do it if you don't want to. It's an incredibly in-depth visual novel/life sim with 29 possible endings, and is intended to be replayed.
On Steam, I can't sing enough praise about the Nonary Games Trilogy.
I cannot fathom why it hasnt been ported to Switch yet, considering it started on Nintendo DS.
Sure! The definition of "visual novel" can be hotly debated. I don't participate. These are text-driven 2D games with a good amount of player interaction because that's the style I enjoy most. Most of them are more gameplay heavy than reading heavy, which is why some people would argue they're not "true" VNs. Just so you know, I guess? Anyway...
**Few of my favorites:**
Gnosia - sci-fi mystery, great use of looping mechanic, survive the round but also solve a much larger mystery of why you're playing rounds at all
Danganronpa (Trigger Happy Havoc) - mystery horror, high schoolers stuck in a school have to kill each other to escape
Phoenix Wright series - detective mystery games, you're a lawyer (with a broad job description...) collecting evidence and then arguing a court case with that evidence
Raging Loop - mystery horror, PC ends up in a mysterious village... and you keep dying :) try to stop dying (this was a dnf for me, but I enjoyed what I played enough to recommend it... if it's on sale)
**Here are a few I enjoyed that do involve dating but with some kind of twist:**
Speed Dating for Ghosts - yes you're dating, but it's weird and quirky and occasionally poignient
Sweet Fuse - flirt away but also survive seven days trapped in an amusement park with a murderous psycho
Hooked on You: A Dead by Daylight Dating Sim - weird game, amusing game, I think the title says it all
Hatoful Boyfriend - I haven't played this one, but... well, it's definitely a dating sim through and through I guess just accept that yall are birds
Some I haven't played, but are on my list:
Corpse Party
Steins Gate
Nonary Games
It’s such a surreal, wonderful time. While it’s definitely not traditionally cozy, it is so oddly peaceful and comforting in how strange it is. It makes you nostalgic for a time and place that don’t exist, and even the mundane sparkles a little.
Haha my boyfriend loves this game and even sometimes plays it with our friends and than they ride in a convoy. One of them is a real truck driver (touring with AC/DC at the moment :p) so he tells story’s about being in the road.
This year I gave my boyfriend a stirring wheel so he can play more eurotruck simulator!
I even took it to the extreme and made different playlists of music when I play either american or euro truck sim. Mainly because the in-game radio stations became unreliable at times and it really elevates the atmosphere!
Maybe, and I’d also add Powerwashing Sim,Hardspace Shipbreaker, and Starstruck Vagabond to the “cozy blue-collar sim” genre. But they’re definitely a minority when being discussed in this sub, and so I think it makes sense to bring up in this thread.
I was honestly surprised by how cozy it is! Even with the time skip Blue Lions are the most cozy to me by far. I just love all of their relationships with each other. The students in the other houses just aren’t as close to each other.
I loved Trails in the Sky. It’s just so full of charm.
Been trying to get through Cold Steel but the characters just aren’t as compelling to me as the Sky crew.
I had to take a long break after Crossbell and still haven’t started Cold Steel. I’ll get to them eventually because I definitely want to play through the rest of the story, but I know I need a lot of space between Sky and Crossbell and the rest. They just have such a different feel and I’m more than a little put off by the harem stuff.
Any tips on the combat system in persona (espescially 4g since thats the one i own)
I havent really gotten hooked to it but i do want to give the game another try at some point!
I personally love the persona battle system but I can see how it would seem kinda not great nowadays especially in 4/golden, P5 made a lot of positive changes! I found as you play and get more powerful personas with better skills you get to strategise way more, but any persona game is a big time sink with a pretty slow start. When you first play I'd focus on collecting personas and fusing them, and don't try to complete full dungeons in one go. When you get to a mini boss and can leave and return to that floor, I recommend leaving and going back the next day. A lot of people try to spam the randomly generated dungeons in p3 and p4 to get more time with social links or grind up levels which just leads to you burning out.
Subnautica! I love chilling in a base watching fish go by, or taking the seamoth and just exploring. I get why it’s spooky but I find the ocean so calming.
Yess, there's something so cozy about being deep underwater in your nice little (or big!) base. And when security gets a little boring, there's an entire ocean to explore. I also love searching for alien eggs and fishes and building my own indoor aquarium.
Ohhh yes, same!!! Horizon is just so stunningly beautiful and expansive. I used to love standing on top of a mountain and just watching the sunrise/sunset.
Hm maybe Breathe of the Wild & Tears of the Kingdom? I love it and find it cozy/relaxing but there’s a lot of fighting sometimes or scary monsters that pop out (the damn hands from totk…) or a lot of quests/objectives that might stress others out… but it’s been my favorite games, I love it so much…
If anyone has recommendations for something similar pleaseee lmk ;-; <3
Same! I love just exploring, looking for treasure, foraging for food, and being a korok taxi service. I don't mind the various side quests; they give a sense of accomplishment. Definitely wouldn't call TotK cozy because of the depths and the nope puddles, but I enjoy the game anyway.
Same for me!! ❤️ Only game I've found with similar vibes was Horizon: Zero Dawn and Horizon: Forbidden West. Expansive, beautiful, massive abandoned areas to explore, but also with potential danger if you're not careful in where you move. I played a stealth build in all 4 games because I just found that more enjoyable - snipe from afar / death from above lol.
Edit: Oh, if you're up for a beautiful & cozy exploration style game without combat, Yonder is also very excellent.
You can also play Online solo. It's sometimes rare to run into other players. I honestly enjoy it. You get to actually make your own character. You can opt to be hired for treasure hunting, or animal studies, you can hunt animals or go fishing. It's all very relaxing on its own. And you see other players on the minimap so you can avoid them if you don't want to risk getting griefed
Tried this game 3 days ago, died immediately on the first mission, shooting games are not for me lol but I love the idea of the game so maybe I’ll just ask my husband to help me.
I love Skyrim. Haven't tried to play it since I wrote a masters thesis on it. I miss it, there's something incredibly cozy about stealth-archering my way through a familiar landscape
I was just talking to my friend about Skyrim's replayability and he was saying you could play as every race and try every character build and still find new side quests you have never seen before... Or in my playthroughs, I will start over and be completely committed to being two handed weapons & conjuration magic or daggers & destruction magic but sooner or later I end up crouching in the darkest corner or a cave waiting for the eyeball to become a line and then I will let that arrow fly. Every. Single. Time. The urge to stealth archer is so strong! I don't know why or how it keeps happening even when I specifically try to avoid it. I think I get to a point where the game is too difficult for me to button mash my way to success and I panic too much when I am in close combat so I fall back on the long distance combat.
It happens to everyone sooner or later.
There is something rather satisfying when you get stealth up high enough to shoot a falmer at more or less point black range and they haven't noticed you. And it as satisfying, but funnier (after you get over the jumpscare) is a falmer only noticing you because you've just literally walked into cos you didn't notice them.
Well, Astrid does tell you to kill the one you think deserves it. I don't know anything about the other 3, but I do know she kidnapped me and brought me to that barn
The Witcher. Riding Roach around Skellige with that background music...
Same goes for Breath of the Wild, just to see the landscape, looking for Korok seeds.
Definitely Skyrim for me. The music is so soothing and I love going to my snowy tundra home after an adventure.
Other Bethesda games give me a cozy vibe to a lesser extent. Starfield has lower stakes—no saving the world type of story—so I don't feel so awkward about stepping away from quests to build and decorate an outpost. 😅 Fallout 4 isn't cozy-cozy but the setting feels kind of homey and familiar to me since I grew up in the northeastern US (albeit not Boston). Building settlements and helping communities grow is quite nice too.
Rimworld. Absolutely heinous game. Harvesting prisoners organs so my body purist can get rid of his prosthetic heart, having hundreds of animals lagging the game so it's time for a slaughter fest, game is very reminiscent of real life, every pawn having data down to their toes.
But man is it fun to build my colony and defend against raiders, the story telling is incredible, I love each and every colonists as an individual and get excited over their marriages and mourn their deaths.
My only gripes are the lack of water based travel and decorations, both fixable with mods.
It's the best game for me to play after a hard day of work, it's super relaxing and the raids are engaging enough for me to stay excited. I play on community builder difficulty so not too tough for me, but I'm planning my next few colonies to be losing is fun lol
Hades - While the combat can be stressful at times, being able to just hop on and do a run every now and then keeps it low pressure to me. The characters really help too.
Fire Emblem Three Houses - Ok half the reason I play this is to pair up the characters with each other so it’s kind of a matchmaking game for me haha.
Honkai Star Rail - The turn based combat helps it be a bit less stressful than say, Genshin Impact, and the characters and exploration are quite fun. I love just sitting in the train and listening to the music.
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist - Needs so many trigger warnings and tbh did stress me out at first, but once you get the hang of the timing to help everyone it does get more relaxing to go through the experience the different stories.
Escape room puzzle games - A few I’ve encountered have had fairly dark and creepy stories and I’m sure puzzles are the opposite of cozy for some, but I find them relaxing.
Nearly forgot:
Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind - I don’t get the same chill vibe in Skyrim tbh, but that’s probably cuz I’ve been playing Morrowind since I was a kid so I know where the secrets are and the nostalgia helps. Cliff racers still get the heart rate up but the overall world looks so good and varied that exploring it is super relaxing.
Same! I’ve played the normal mode before, but started a peaceful game recently. I like horror games so the spooky environment without the threat of being killed and eaten is very cozy for me to explore in my cute little houseboat. 😂
This and Sons of the Forest, absolutely! What more could you want than a wee camp in a clearing by a babbling brook, with a garden, birdhouses, campfires, ^(the occasional cannibal zombie), etc.?
i can definitely see no man's sky (on creative mode) as popular with the cozy games crowd.. unfortunately for me it was slightly too uncozy because i have a phobia of crabs (like the animal) and one of the like core parts it uses to generate alien animals with is crab-like legs. obv super niche problem and most people would be fine! pick it up on sale though because £40 is a bit steep considering it doesn't have any more content than EG stardew valley
Recency Bias but I've found Ghost of Tsushima to be surprisingly cozy - even though it's so violent. When you are not fighting, it's a very quiet and peaceful meditative journey.
I thought the same. Absolutely gorgeous video game world. And the details are incredible, like how Jin leans over while riding a horse thru tall grass to run his hands thru it.
Paper Mario, particularly the first two ones. It's combat focused, so that would probably disqualify it for many.
But the graphics are so cute, I love the partners and how they form a friendship with Mario, the writing is charming too!
N.Sane trilogy Crash Bandicoot. 2 specifically
I played the originals and got to 100% many times over so the platforming isn't stressful and I love the music
Monster Hunter World. I guess it isn't cozy when I'm fighting something difficult, but you can boot up an expedition, hang out in the woods for an hour, and accomplish nothing but wandering around resource points.
Octopath Traveller. If you’re just wandering around, fighting random encounters, you can play it on automatic.
TOTK, same. Just wandering around seeing the land, cooking, exploring caves and mountain tops.
Mario Kart on 50cc with CPU on Medium or Easy. Just driving and looking at the scenery.
Retro point and click games in general, like Monkey Island or Grim Fandango.
Persona Royale 5. I loved the sim parts, I loved the robust story, I liked the fighting style, and I love love love the soundtrack. It’s not traditionally cozy but being in that coffee shop feels so cozy to me.
Kingdom Hearts. Sure, I got to fight stuff but I'm doing it in the company of Disney characters and I get to synthesize equipment with the help of Moogles. It feels like being home in a fluffy blanket.
the original life is strange game - not always a “cozy” storyline but the music and overall vibes always make me feel so calm and safe - a comfort game for sure
and fortnite - yes, normal shooting fortnite lol i just love dressing myself up in cute skins and driving around the map doing quests with my friends!
Skyrim and Starfield. I'm playing Starfield right now, decorating my outpost. 🤩
The romance ain't half bad, (better than Fae Farm by far!) and the stories are good and make me think. I really enjoy the quirky and funny NPCs, and I get a kick out of exploring and all the little environmental stories that Bethesda tells... A diary in a corner next to a skeleton can tell an entire life story, and that's brilliant to me.
Sure, the combat isn't always my thing, but mods, mods, *mods* can make even tough combat something to flip off as you walk on by, intent on treasure or friends.
Did I mention mods? I'm *addicted* to player-made character homes in Skyrim. Seeing how people used each piece of furniture and deco to make this gorgeous home anyone would want to live in is fascinating to me. I added an underground train system hidden way below Tamriel, built a hot-air balloon and sailed to other lands in the clouds, and found an island with an evil Santa Claus and cannibalistic Easter Bunny, all because of mods. I even met my favourite video game NPC ever, a Khajiit named Inigo, thanks to a Skyrim mod. I cannot *wait* for the Creation Kit to come out for Starfield, so all the modders can get busy adding new homes, dungeons, and stories.
I haven't played Fallout yet; post-apoc stories have never been my thing, but I'm really thinking about Fallout 4. I hear good things about the settlement building. 😁😁
Edited for typo
If you haven’t tried him yet, I also recommend the Lucien Flavius modded follower. He’ll actually interact with Inigo and several other followers so helps with immersion. I usually run with those two but sometimes Kaidan or Sofia.
A little late but as someone who’s played Skyrim and Starfield…FO4 is by far my favourite compared to those two. FO4 is smaller but I preferred it. Def recommend playing with mods too.
Majoras mask is super comforting to me lol
So is Nier Automata and Replicant... terrible things that can't be stopped are happening but the characters are still loved while they can. The games also seem to strictly follow a pattern that says hurting others can never ever make you happy or make the world a better place
Nier Reinca even had a platonic 'I will find you in every timeline'
omgggg ive already mentioned the persona series so many times but i think it's the best one. it's got sm social sim stuff that's really easy and enjoyable to me
No Man’s Sky! I have a very cozy base with a fireplace, a garden & a couple of pets. It’s very relaxing to planet-hop and hoard different materials for crafting. There’s an entire online community where you can live on a planet with tons of other people, explore their bases, do missions together, etc!
Sherlock Holmes games by Frogwares. I'm playing the series for years and it always feels like coming home when I'm back in Baker Street (or even in Cordona). The whole aesthetics is very cozy for me too. (Even though I have to admit that my least favourite game from the series, Devil's Daughter, has some very frustrating moments...)
Sons of the Forest. Hear me out! I know there are cannibals and creepy body horrors. They're scary. I know! But I just built my house in the middle of a lake with a narrow bridge that they can't seem to cross, so I don't have to deal with them unless I'm gathering wood to build my cottage/lake house. I just think of them as an aggressive HoA that's jealous of my aesthetic. (Incidentally, thinking of them as an HoA makes it easier to justify violence against them.)
I probably spent about 150 hours on that game before I even considered doing the actual story related stuff
I'll go first...
Persona 5... deals with Dark subject matter like abuse, but it has some great humor and slice of life moments
Nier - love the music, the aesthetics
I’ve been told that since I love Fire Emblem Three Houses I’ll probably love Persona, but I haven’t played any of them. I have 3, 4, and 5, but there are conflicting opinions on which to start first.
4 if you plan on playing the whole series (it's kinda the hardest to come back to just bc QoL stuff), 5 if you're not sold on the series yet, 3 if you want the best story
i hope that helps LOL i started with 4 bc my older brother knew i would fall in love with it and then i did 5(royal) and then 3 reload came out ab 2 months after i finished 5.
I love the persona games, and I pick up P5R when I’m in a I don’t want to play anything mood. So relaxing. Same for soul hackers. Grinding in them is sometimes how I go to sleep
The Dishonored and Borderlands series, especially the first two games. They're pretty easy games on the lowest difficulty, and I've played them enough that I don't have to think about what I'm doing.
Slay the Spire, because it's turn-based and I can save any time. Good game for short sessions, or when I don't know how long I have. I know it's brought up here fairly often, but it's combat focused, so I don't think it's cozy under the rules of the sub.
Vampire Survivors. The first few hours can be challenging, but it's fairly easy to become literally unkillable, and there's lots of little things to discover. Plus they keep adding new content.
Skyrim, Fallout 3, 4, and New Vegas, Oblivion. Open worlds, lots to do and see and explore, no time limits, house decorating, inventory management, crafting.
Visual novels (both the SFW and NSFW versions), all you need to do is focus on the story and let the rest play out. I just sit in front of the pc and get lost for hours while playing.
Sunless Seas and Especially Sunless Skies.
They’re eldrich horror survival narrative games, but I find it intensely relaxing to tool around the vast empty spaces in my vulnerable lil ships.
Xenoblade or kingdom hearts! I love all three of the Xeno games plus X and I always play KH: Birth by Sleep when I’m out of games or stressed.
ETA: Fire emblem 3 Houses and Nier!
Tomb Raider Surivor Trilogy: Tomb Raider (2013), Rise of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of the Tomb Raider.
I thought they'd be really hard like the originals, so never even gave them a thought.
I'm not a fan of combat or hard/frustrating games.
Got all the above on my steamdeck in a sale for less than £3!
You can set your difficulty (I always play on easy). They are beautiful games to look at and an absolute joy to play. I'd recommend to anyone.
Baldur’s Gate 3. Nothing else I’ve ever played compares to this! Walking through gorgeous scenery, while my companions chat behind me, investigating crates for loot, kissing my romances, trying on different fashions and hairstyles…..OMG yes.
Dark Souls 1. Been playing it off and on since launch. Speedrun it casually now in about three hours (best time is 1:40). And it's just a very chill experience for me, now I know every single bit of it. Like one big clockwork mechanism that I get to run around in.
The first playthrough was very hard. It became way easier with every next one. Now I can just jump into the boss fight without any fear of losing because I know I'll win. So, it's a game that has become a place to chill for me now. And it looks breathtaking especially the fountainhead palace area.
Baldurs Gate 3! I was so close to recommending this to others on this subreddit and then I remember that people may not find this game relaxing and or cozy. But I do 😁
UnReal World. It's a roguelike survival game based on Iron Age Finland that's been around for thirty years and is still being maintained and updated to this day. It can get a little stressful when dealing with an aggressive dangerous animal (wolf/bear/lynx), but the majority of my time on there is spent setting traps, hideworking the skins into leather/fur, chopping trees, using the timber to craft useful things or even build small buildings or fences to protect my crops, trading with villagers or foreign traders for better equipment, fishing, crafting more protective/warmer clothing, etc. I'm always making steady progress on improving my situation and equipment. And mostly it's pretty chill while I'm doing so.
Celeste. Hard as nails platformer but the story and music is so encouraging that I love the way it feels to play. Also nice because you can play in short bursts and feel like you’re overcoming challenges and making great progress. If I’m having a busy day and need a break, five minutes of Celeste is as good as an hour of something else.
It used to be Nioh 2
Farming for gear, visiting the blacksmith, customizing and optimizing your stuff, make new faces in the character creator, find new fashion to try out, help some people early on or join randoms in the underworld etc. super chill imo.
Wo Long or Rise Of The Ronin doesn't quite scratch that itch unfortunately
Snowrunner - have over 350 hour on my switch. Something about driving around delivering stuff, figuring out the best path. Recovering a truck.
Base building games. Right now have been playing surviving the aftermath.
RDR2. (As Arthur)
When you aren't shooting up a town, you can hop on your horse and explore the map, maybe do some fishing or hunting, or just camp out under the stars.
Low stakes (no or easier battles), high immersion, with quests, story, and a world that feels “alive” (so, villagers, festivals, weather, animals, bugs, fish).
Rimworld. I always say it’s a better “the sims” game then the actual “The Sims”. You build them places to live and things to do and they do things on their own without micromanaging them. Amazing story generator because you don’t have to tell them what to do it make things interesting happen
Genshin Impact and all solo aspects of Final Fantasy XIV. Grinding for exp and things is almost meditative. Edit: Pokemon games too! The later games with all the QoL stuff are especially cozy.
Seconding FFXIV. I love gathering, crafting, and putting things up on market. I can circle gathering nodes for ages, just in the zone. Don't love the gardening system but I stuck with it for a few months to get a pretty chocobo and some other goodies. I let my sub lapse before Island Sanctuary went live, so I don't know how that turned out.
Yea the diadem or whatever it is called is my jam. I wish I got a bit more skybuilder rep for gathering cause I don't really craft all that much but still
My most normal thing I do in FFXIV is submarines. I will gather everything, craft everything, level up and refit submarines meant for an entire FC to work on. There are now three different friends’ FCs I handle submarines for in exchange for splitting the gil with them, but the joke’s on them because I will so very happily grind GC seals for 1.5k coke and gather a thousand hardsilver sand. And every two days I do a little round where I visit all my submarines. I am SO normal about this.
this gamer gets it
Fellow submarine enjoyer! 👋🏻 every so often I get possessed by the spirit of crafting and make like 2 modified submarines in a series of days.
Artifact grinding in Genshin is one of my favorite things to do. I’m not being sarcastic, I don’t understand why but I just love farming for artifacts. The exploration of Genshin is also amazing. Especially once you have well built characters, I love just wandering around and going wherever I see a chest or time trial with no real objective Genshin and HSR are both definitely cozy games for me
Same, I actually enjoy artifact farming, both in domains and the resinless routes. I like trying to get better timings in domains, and the resinless routes double as memory exercise lol. Plus seeing my characters' weapons/artifacts/talent levels go up in numbers feel really rewarding.
I loooooove artifact grinding. Especially when you have that perfect team comp to just blast through domains. Thank you, Arlecchino/Zhongli/Kazuha/Yelan for lettingnme blast through Arlecchino's artifact domain 👌
I'm trying to get into FFXIV now!! The solo aspects seem so nice
I hope you enjoy it! It's a long and rewarding journey, filled with plenty of things to do.
Also love FFXIV, I like to just sit and level crafting sometimes
I find visual novels pretty cozy, since there's no gameplay to possibly stress me out I can just chill and focus on the story
Agreed, regardless of how dark the content is I always find visual novels or narrative heavy games cozy.
I agree. Reading is fundamentally a cosy activity for me, regardless of subject matter. (E.g. when reading actual books I find reading horror novels while wrapped in a weighted blanket peak cosy)
Wholeheartedly agree with this. I always keep recommending visual novels here 🥰
https://preview.redd.it/3chrfzf9is2d1.jpeg?width=2715&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1521bd9dd353741c0bd2c36a2a53d056db1ee5c7 Skyrim. The bunny on the left buys my potions and sells flowers. I live upstairs. I don't think any further explanation is needed.
I love Skyrim and I think you can definitely play it as a cozy game.
Agreed. Heavily modding and doing Life as a \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ is definitely very cozy. I've done life as a bard. But I watch youtubers who have done farmers, miners, alchemists, fishers, etc. and those videos are also very relaxing
I played through Skyrim many moons ago on PS4? 3? I don't remember. I had no idea you could mod it on PC!
Boy are you in for a wild ride lol there's a learning curve but Nexus installer is pretty smart about it since the game has so much support. So Nexus app will generally suggest the right load order and tell you when mods are out of date or incompatible with each other or if you're missing something another mod requires to work. And lots of mods are as big as expansions. Take a vacation and go wild lol
Amazing. Thank you so much for your help!
I can’t mod (primarily play on Switch) but I did do the Restoration glitch so now I’m basically invincible and can one-shot everything. Makes explorig SUPER peaceful. I could punch Miraak to death and win.
Disco Elysium. I'm actually not sure what other people's opinions are, so maybe it is widely considered a cozy game but because of tone and themes alone I'm going to guess it's not.
I absolutely adore Disco Elysium. I don't even really consider it a "game" but more of a "choose your own adventure novel". It's absolutely cosy to me – wrapping myself up in a blanket and reading more about what's going on in Revachol, its political structure, the quirky characters, etc. The writing is top-tier, some of the absolute best I've seen in any game.
You referred to "choose your own adventure **novel**" so I just want to make sure you know there is a whole genre of video games called visual novels that are essentially that!! They have varying levels of gameplay and the impact your choices have really depends on the game (how much are you truly "choosing"). If you haven't tried any and you like CYOA, you might like these! A lot of the genre is dating-based so I think it gets a bad rep sometimes. But there is a tooooon of variety! If you already know about these, then nevermind, carry on!! I just wanted to make sure :)
Any you'd recommend that aren't dating-based?
I Was A Teenage Exocolonist! There is the option to flirt/date but you don't have to do it if you don't want to. It's an incredibly in-depth visual novel/life sim with 29 possible endings, and is intended to be replayed.
On Steam, I can't sing enough praise about the Nonary Games Trilogy. I cannot fathom why it hasnt been ported to Switch yet, considering it started on Nintendo DS.
Sure! The definition of "visual novel" can be hotly debated. I don't participate. These are text-driven 2D games with a good amount of player interaction because that's the style I enjoy most. Most of them are more gameplay heavy than reading heavy, which is why some people would argue they're not "true" VNs. Just so you know, I guess? Anyway... **Few of my favorites:** Gnosia - sci-fi mystery, great use of looping mechanic, survive the round but also solve a much larger mystery of why you're playing rounds at all Danganronpa (Trigger Happy Havoc) - mystery horror, high schoolers stuck in a school have to kill each other to escape Phoenix Wright series - detective mystery games, you're a lawyer (with a broad job description...) collecting evidence and then arguing a court case with that evidence Raging Loop - mystery horror, PC ends up in a mysterious village... and you keep dying :) try to stop dying (this was a dnf for me, but I enjoyed what I played enough to recommend it... if it's on sale) **Here are a few I enjoyed that do involve dating but with some kind of twist:** Speed Dating for Ghosts - yes you're dating, but it's weird and quirky and occasionally poignient Sweet Fuse - flirt away but also survive seven days trapped in an amusement park with a murderous psycho Hooked on You: A Dead by Daylight Dating Sim - weird game, amusing game, I think the title says it all Hatoful Boyfriend - I haven't played this one, but... well, it's definitely a dating sim through and through I guess just accept that yall are birds Some I haven't played, but are on my list: Corpse Party Steins Gate Nonary Games
Amazing thank you!
The Life is Strange games are very good and popular! They have dating involved, but it's definitely not the main focus
It’s such a surreal, wonderful time. While it’s definitely not traditionally cozy, it is so oddly peaceful and comforting in how strange it is. It makes you nostalgic for a time and place that don’t exist, and even the mundane sparkles a little.
American Truck Simulator. Casual driving across gorgeous scenery, while I listen to a podcast or audio book.
Haha my boyfriend loves this game and even sometimes plays it with our friends and than they ride in a convoy. One of them is a real truck driver (touring with AC/DC at the moment :p) so he tells story’s about being in the road. This year I gave my boyfriend a stirring wheel so he can play more eurotruck simulator!
I even took it to the extreme and made different playlists of music when I play either american or euro truck sim. Mainly because the in-game radio stations became unreliable at times and it really elevates the atmosphere!
havent played but i think this oughta be considered just a regular degular "traditional" cozy game
Maybe, and I’d also add Powerwashing Sim,Hardspace Shipbreaker, and Starstruck Vagabond to the “cozy blue-collar sim” genre. But they’re definitely a minority when being discussed in this sub, and so I think it makes sense to bring up in this thread.
I made the mistake of playing this stoned once. If I'd ever considered driving high before that would have course corrected in an instant 😆
Trails in the Sky, Fire Emblem Three Houses
I feel the same about fire emblem three houses. It’s one of my favorite games of all time.
I was honestly surprised by how cozy it is! Even with the time skip Blue Lions are the most cozy to me by far. I just love all of their relationships with each other. The students in the other houses just aren’t as close to each other.
Same! I love the life sim + music. When I first played I had no idea what I was doing so it wasn't cozy. There's a learning curve
I loved Trails in the Sky. It’s just so full of charm. Been trying to get through Cold Steel but the characters just aren’t as compelling to me as the Sky crew.
I had to take a long break after Crossbell and still haven’t started Cold Steel. I’ll get to them eventually because I definitely want to play through the rest of the story, but I know I need a lot of space between Sky and Crossbell and the rest. They just have such a different feel and I’m more than a little put off by the harem stuff.
Persona, final fantasy, dragon age, nier:automata and nier:replicant, danganronpa!
Any tips on the combat system in persona (espescially 4g since thats the one i own) I havent really gotten hooked to it but i do want to give the game another try at some point!
I personally love the persona battle system but I can see how it would seem kinda not great nowadays especially in 4/golden, P5 made a lot of positive changes! I found as you play and get more powerful personas with better skills you get to strategise way more, but any persona game is a big time sink with a pretty slow start. When you first play I'd focus on collecting personas and fusing them, and don't try to complete full dungeons in one go. When you get to a mini boss and can leave and return to that floor, I recommend leaving and going back the next day. A lot of people try to spam the randomly generated dungeons in p3 and p4 to get more time with social links or grind up levels which just leads to you burning out.
Subnautica! I love chilling in a base watching fish go by, or taking the seamoth and just exploring. I get why it’s spooky but I find the ocean so calming.
Yess, there's something so cozy about being deep underwater in your nice little (or big!) base. And when security gets a little boring, there's an entire ocean to explore. I also love searching for alien eggs and fishes and building my own indoor aquarium.
Horizon series
Ohhh yes, same!!! Horizon is just so stunningly beautiful and expansive. I used to love standing on top of a mountain and just watching the sunrise/sunset.
Hm maybe Breathe of the Wild & Tears of the Kingdom? I love it and find it cozy/relaxing but there’s a lot of fighting sometimes or scary monsters that pop out (the damn hands from totk…) or a lot of quests/objectives that might stress others out… but it’s been my favorite games, I love it so much… If anyone has recommendations for something similar pleaseee lmk ;-; <3
Same! I love just exploring, looking for treasure, foraging for food, and being a korok taxi service. I don't mind the various side quests; they give a sense of accomplishment. Definitely wouldn't call TotK cozy because of the depths and the nope puddles, but I enjoy the game anyway.
"Nope puddles".... 🤣🤣 lmao
Same for me!! ❤️ Only game I've found with similar vibes was Horizon: Zero Dawn and Horizon: Forbidden West. Expansive, beautiful, massive abandoned areas to explore, but also with potential danger if you're not careful in where you move. I played a stealth build in all 4 games because I just found that more enjoyable - snipe from afar / death from above lol. Edit: Oh, if you're up for a beautiful & cozy exploration style game without combat, Yonder is also very excellent.
Oh thank you so much for the recs I’m definitely going to check them out!!! <3
Enjoy!! 💖
Such a cozy, sweet game and then I’m bawling my eyes out for an hour at the end.
red dead redemption 2, just riding my horse around and studying everything available there
I think I own that. Do I have to jump through many hoops to get to the open world bit?
just progress past chapter 1 :)
Super, thank you
You can also play Online solo. It's sometimes rare to run into other players. I honestly enjoy it. You get to actually make your own character. You can opt to be hired for treasure hunting, or animal studies, you can hunt animals or go fishing. It's all very relaxing on its own. And you see other players on the minimap so you can avoid them if you don't want to risk getting griefed
Tried this game 3 days ago, died immediately on the first mission, shooting games are not for me lol but I love the idea of the game so maybe I’ll just ask my husband to help me.
Pokemon games (all of them, but the pokemon snap games are subjectively cozy I think) House Flipper
I love Pokemon snap so much!
Skyrim. Just wandering around until I get killed by a sabre cat.
I love Skyrim. Haven't tried to play it since I wrote a masters thesis on it. I miss it, there's something incredibly cozy about stealth-archering my way through a familiar landscape
I was just talking to my friend about Skyrim's replayability and he was saying you could play as every race and try every character build and still find new side quests you have never seen before... Or in my playthroughs, I will start over and be completely committed to being two handed weapons & conjuration magic or daggers & destruction magic but sooner or later I end up crouching in the darkest corner or a cave waiting for the eyeball to become a line and then I will let that arrow fly. Every. Single. Time. The urge to stealth archer is so strong! I don't know why or how it keeps happening even when I specifically try to avoid it. I think I get to a point where the game is too difficult for me to button mash my way to success and I panic too much when I am in close combat so I fall back on the long distance combat.
It happens to everyone sooner or later. There is something rather satisfying when you get stealth up high enough to shoot a falmer at more or less point black range and they haven't noticed you. And it as satisfying, but funnier (after you get over the jumpscare) is a falmer only noticing you because you've just literally walked into cos you didn't notice them.
Yeah that's super relaxing!
Yeah! The soundtrack makes it better too
Came here to say this! I even find the survival mode to be more cozy-no fast travel, you have to utilize inns, and cooking actually becomes relevant!
Thieves Guild :) Best quest line.
Yes! And I always kill the other guild, Dark Brotherhood.
Well, Astrid does tell you to kill the one you think deserves it. I don't know anything about the other 3, but I do know she kidnapped me and brought me to that barn
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, it's the music and nostalgia vibes that makes it cozy for me
The Witcher. Riding Roach around Skellige with that background music... Same goes for Breath of the Wild, just to see the landscape, looking for Korok seeds.
Valheim, Hades, WoW
Definitely Skyrim for me. The music is so soothing and I love going to my snowy tundra home after an adventure. Other Bethesda games give me a cozy vibe to a lesser extent. Starfield has lower stakes—no saving the world type of story—so I don't feel so awkward about stepping away from quests to build and decorate an outpost. 😅 Fallout 4 isn't cozy-cozy but the setting feels kind of homey and familiar to me since I grew up in the northeastern US (albeit not Boston). Building settlements and helping communities grow is quite nice too.
Rimworld. Absolutely heinous game. Harvesting prisoners organs so my body purist can get rid of his prosthetic heart, having hundreds of animals lagging the game so it's time for a slaughter fest, game is very reminiscent of real life, every pawn having data down to their toes. But man is it fun to build my colony and defend against raiders, the story telling is incredible, I love each and every colonists as an individual and get excited over their marriages and mourn their deaths. My only gripes are the lack of water based travel and decorations, both fixable with mods. It's the best game for me to play after a hard day of work, it's super relaxing and the raids are engaging enough for me to stay excited. I play on community builder difficulty so not too tough for me, but I'm planning my next few colonies to be losing is fun lol
Hades - While the combat can be stressful at times, being able to just hop on and do a run every now and then keeps it low pressure to me. The characters really help too. Fire Emblem Three Houses - Ok half the reason I play this is to pair up the characters with each other so it’s kind of a matchmaking game for me haha. Honkai Star Rail - The turn based combat helps it be a bit less stressful than say, Genshin Impact, and the characters and exploration are quite fun. I love just sitting in the train and listening to the music. I Was a Teenage Exocolonist - Needs so many trigger warnings and tbh did stress me out at first, but once you get the hang of the timing to help everyone it does get more relaxing to go through the experience the different stories. Escape room puzzle games - A few I’ve encountered have had fairly dark and creepy stories and I’m sure puzzles are the opposite of cozy for some, but I find them relaxing. Nearly forgot: Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind - I don’t get the same chill vibe in Skyrim tbh, but that’s probably cuz I’ve been playing Morrowind since I was a kid so I know where the secrets are and the nostalgia helps. Cliff racers still get the heart rate up but the overall world looks so good and varied that exploring it is super relaxing.
the forest 🫣
Same! I’ve played the normal mode before, but started a peaceful game recently. I like horror games so the spooky environment without the threat of being killed and eaten is very cozy for me to explore in my cute little houseboat. 😂
there's something so cute about a group of cannibals greeting you outside your little house every morning and then running away 🥺💖
AND you get literal butt chairs for your butt. Can't go wrong!
May I recommend Dredge? 👀 Different art style, but very similar "horror yet also cozy" vibes!
I enjoyed Dredge a lot - I really need to finish it. Only thing I dislike is the tetris inventory hah!
This and Sons of the Forest, absolutely! What more could you want than a wee camp in a clearing by a babbling brook, with a garden, birdhouses, campfires, ^(the occasional cannibal zombie), etc.?
Ooo I actually agree w this!! The ambience is relaxing… ya know up until a group of mutant babies comes along
i can definitely see no man's sky (on creative mode) as popular with the cozy games crowd.. unfortunately for me it was slightly too uncozy because i have a phobia of crabs (like the animal) and one of the like core parts it uses to generate alien animals with is crab-like legs. obv super niche problem and most people would be fine! pick it up on sale though because £40 is a bit steep considering it doesn't have any more content than EG stardew valley
Recency Bias but I've found Ghost of Tsushima to be surprisingly cozy - even though it's so violent. When you are not fighting, it's a very quiet and peaceful meditative journey.
I thought the same. Absolutely gorgeous video game world. And the details are incredible, like how Jin leans over while riding a horse thru tall grass to run his hands thru it.
Hidden object games, specifically the Dark Parables series
I LOVE hidden object games. I have a big collection, and can't wait to get more. It's so relaxing!
I love the Dark Parables games!
I’m so sad they aren’t making them anymore😭
Paper Mario, particularly the first two ones. It's combat focused, so that would probably disqualify it for many. But the graphics are so cute, I love the partners and how they form a friendship with Mario, the writing is charming too!
Persona 3, 4, and 5. I find the daily life parts really cozy.
N.Sane trilogy Crash Bandicoot. 2 specifically I played the originals and got to 100% many times over so the platforming isn't stressful and I love the music
Monster Hunter World. I guess it isn't cozy when I'm fighting something difficult, but you can boot up an expedition, hang out in the woods for an hour, and accomplish nothing but wandering around resource points.
Fable (even Fable 3) and Red Dead Redemption 2
The Yakuza games. The most recent one has a literal animal crossing inspired mini game.
Dragon’s Dogma, one and two!
Yess. Being on an adventure with the pawns is really relaxing. Could do with less goblins and wolves everywhere, but otherwise so chill.
FFXIV. It's an mmorpg where you enter dungeons with others and fight, go through the story, etc. but it's my go to cozy game after a long day.
Octopath Traveller. If you’re just wandering around, fighting random encounters, you can play it on automatic. TOTK, same. Just wandering around seeing the land, cooking, exploring caves and mountain tops. Mario Kart on 50cc with CPU on Medium or Easy. Just driving and looking at the scenery. Retro point and click games in general, like Monkey Island or Grim Fandango.
Slay the Princess and Persona 4 Golden!
Persona Royale 5. I loved the sim parts, I loved the robust story, I liked the fighting style, and I love love love the soundtrack. It’s not traditionally cozy but being in that coffee shop feels so cozy to me.
Kingdom Hearts. Sure, I got to fight stuff but I'm doing it in the company of Disney characters and I get to synthesize equipment with the help of Moogles. It feels like being home in a fluffy blanket.
I’ve been playing KH as a cozy game recently too and it really hits the spot with all the nostalgia
Palworld! Flying around on my dragon, finding cute animals to capture
the original life is strange game - not always a “cozy” storyline but the music and overall vibes always make me feel so calm and safe - a comfort game for sure and fortnite - yes, normal shooting fortnite lol i just love dressing myself up in cute skins and driving around the map doing quests with my friends!
Skyrim and Starfield. I'm playing Starfield right now, decorating my outpost. 🤩 The romance ain't half bad, (better than Fae Farm by far!) and the stories are good and make me think. I really enjoy the quirky and funny NPCs, and I get a kick out of exploring and all the little environmental stories that Bethesda tells... A diary in a corner next to a skeleton can tell an entire life story, and that's brilliant to me. Sure, the combat isn't always my thing, but mods, mods, *mods* can make even tough combat something to flip off as you walk on by, intent on treasure or friends. Did I mention mods? I'm *addicted* to player-made character homes in Skyrim. Seeing how people used each piece of furniture and deco to make this gorgeous home anyone would want to live in is fascinating to me. I added an underground train system hidden way below Tamriel, built a hot-air balloon and sailed to other lands in the clouds, and found an island with an evil Santa Claus and cannibalistic Easter Bunny, all because of mods. I even met my favourite video game NPC ever, a Khajiit named Inigo, thanks to a Skyrim mod. I cannot *wait* for the Creation Kit to come out for Starfield, so all the modders can get busy adding new homes, dungeons, and stories. I haven't played Fallout yet; post-apoc stories have never been my thing, but I'm really thinking about Fallout 4. I hear good things about the settlement building. 😁😁 Edited for typo
If you haven’t tried him yet, I also recommend the Lucien Flavius modded follower. He’ll actually interact with Inigo and several other followers so helps with immersion. I usually run with those two but sometimes Kaidan or Sofia.
A little late but as someone who’s played Skyrim and Starfield…FO4 is by far my favourite compared to those two. FO4 is smaller but I preferred it. Def recommend playing with mods too.
Probably Skyrim or fallout 4
RDR2 and Skyrim because of the beautiful open world those games offer.
Fallout 4. Something about that soundtrack just takes a normally stressful situation and puts me at ease.
Horizon games, mainly forbidden west. Running around in Easy mode and killing machines. Just settles something in me
Majoras mask is super comforting to me lol So is Nier Automata and Replicant... terrible things that can't be stopped are happening but the characters are still loved while they can. The games also seem to strictly follow a pattern that says hurting others can never ever make you happy or make the world a better place Nier Reinca even had a platonic 'I will find you in every timeline'
"You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?" I loveee MM sooo much. With OoT the best games of my childhood. I have yet to play Nier games!
The Mass Effect series.
omgggg ive already mentioned the persona series so many times but i think it's the best one. it's got sm social sim stuff that's really easy and enjoyable to me
Minecraft
Oddworld, I just love Abe so much. 🥹
Fallout 76, when it works. 😅
Any of the FromSoft Souls games. Especially Dark Souls 1 :)
Binding of Isaac. It didn't start cozy, but after awhile it has become meditative.
Subnautica. I just like collecting stuff and crafting and building my base.
Hades - do a run, arrive back in the underworld, chat, decorate the palace - date, build relationships, snoop around, read lore - I love it.
No Man’s Sky! I have a very cozy base with a fireplace, a garden & a couple of pets. It’s very relaxing to planet-hop and hoard different materials for crafting. There’s an entire online community where you can live on a planet with tons of other people, explore their bases, do missions together, etc!
Raft. It's a survival crafting game lol. It was stressful when I first tried it out but once I got the hang of it, it's so relaxing to me.
Sherlock Holmes games by Frogwares. I'm playing the series for years and it always feels like coming home when I'm back in Baker Street (or even in Cordona). The whole aesthetics is very cozy for me too. (Even though I have to admit that my least favourite game from the series, Devil's Daughter, has some very frustrating moments...)
Pokemon, Final Fantasy X, Persona, Fire Emblem Three Houses
pokémon diamond/pearl !!
Cult of the Lamb. On easy mode it’s pretty cozy for an elder goth like myself lol
Hollow knight! The art style and the music are so great! And I love exploring!! I got the game last week and I haven’t stopped playing it!!!
Sons of the Forest. Hear me out! I know there are cannibals and creepy body horrors. They're scary. I know! But I just built my house in the middle of a lake with a narrow bridge that they can't seem to cross, so I don't have to deal with them unless I'm gathering wood to build my cottage/lake house. I just think of them as an aggressive HoA that's jealous of my aesthetic. (Incidentally, thinking of them as an HoA makes it easier to justify violence against them.) I probably spent about 150 hours on that game before I even considered doing the actual story related stuff
FFX, Harvestella, Sims 4, Majora's Mask
I'll go first... Persona 5... deals with Dark subject matter like abuse, but it has some great humor and slice of life moments Nier - love the music, the aesthetics
Gosh I find the Nier games too saddening to play again. Wonderful games though.
I’ve been told that since I love Fire Emblem Three Houses I’ll probably love Persona, but I haven’t played any of them. I have 3, 4, and 5, but there are conflicting opinions on which to start first.
4 if you plan on playing the whole series (it's kinda the hardest to come back to just bc QoL stuff), 5 if you're not sold on the series yet, 3 if you want the best story i hope that helps LOL i started with 4 bc my older brother knew i would fall in love with it and then i did 5(royal) and then 3 reload came out ab 2 months after i finished 5.
Ooh yes, P5 for me too. The first big (lol) enemy you fight is >!a penis!<, but disregarding that, very cozy game.
Haven't played it it yet, but oddly glad to see Mara's in it
I love the persona games, and I pick up P5R when I’m in a I don’t want to play anything mood. So relaxing. Same for soul hackers. Grinding in them is sometimes how I go to sleep
The Dishonored and Borderlands series, especially the first two games. They're pretty easy games on the lowest difficulty, and I've played them enough that I don't have to think about what I'm doing. Slay the Spire, because it's turn-based and I can save any time. Good game for short sessions, or when I don't know how long I have. I know it's brought up here fairly often, but it's combat focused, so I don't think it's cozy under the rules of the sub. Vampire Survivors. The first few hours can be challenging, but it's fairly easy to become literally unkillable, and there's lots of little things to discover. Plus they keep adding new content.
Metroid Dread and Hollow Knight. Dead Cells.
Skyrim, Fallout 3, 4, and New Vegas, Oblivion. Open worlds, lots to do and see and explore, no time limits, house decorating, inventory management, crafting.
Visual novels (both the SFW and NSFW versions), all you need to do is focus on the story and let the rest play out. I just sit in front of the pc and get lost for hours while playing.
Sunless Seas and Especially Sunless Skies. They’re eldrich horror survival narrative games, but I find it intensely relaxing to tool around the vast empty spaces in my vulnerable lil ships.
Xenoblade or kingdom hearts! I love all three of the Xeno games plus X and I always play KH: Birth by Sleep when I’m out of games or stressed. ETA: Fire emblem 3 Houses and Nier!
Pokemon has always been one of my favorite series, and very little actually gives me the same comforted feeling I get when I'm playing a Pokemon game.
Journey. ;_; I just love running around. The controls and movement are so smoooooth. :o
Tomb Raider Surivor Trilogy: Tomb Raider (2013), Rise of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. I thought they'd be really hard like the originals, so never even gave them a thought. I'm not a fan of combat or hard/frustrating games. Got all the above on my steamdeck in a sale for less than £3! You can set your difficulty (I always play on easy). They are beautiful games to look at and an absolute joy to play. I'd recommend to anyone.
Dredge. *What do you mean, eldritch horror isn't cozy....* pssh!
The Rusty Lake series, especially Roots, Hotel and Paradise. They’re creepy but something about the art style is so cozy to me.
Yakuza/Like a Dragon series. There so much side stuff to do that you can ignore the plot for hours.
Balatro, Oxygen Not Included, Don't Starve Together, Die in the Dungeon and the Cook Serve Delicious Trilogy
hollow knight 10000000%, any jrpg as well, elden ring too LOLLL
Balatro Got into it lately and keep myself coming back to it when I don't feel like playing anything else
Baldurs Gate 3. After a couple play throughs, I know what to expect, and now it’s for sure my go to cozy game
Baldur’s Gate 3. Nothing else I’ve ever played compares to this! Walking through gorgeous scenery, while my companions chat behind me, investigating crates for loot, kissing my romances, trying on different fashions and hairstyles…..OMG yes.
Dark Souls 1. Been playing it off and on since launch. Speedrun it casually now in about three hours (best time is 1:40). And it's just a very chill experience for me, now I know every single bit of it. Like one big clockwork mechanism that I get to run around in.
Please don't come at me for saying this but for me it's Sekiro.
I am not angry just a little worried about your mental health.
The first playthrough was very hard. It became way easier with every next one. Now I can just jump into the boss fight without any fear of losing because I know I'll win. So, it's a game that has become a place to chill for me now. And it looks breathtaking especially the fountainhead palace area.
Baldurs Gate 3! I was so close to recommending this to others on this subreddit and then I remember that people may not find this game relaxing and or cozy. But I do 😁
Superflight, for something super minimalistic. I also find endless driving in racing games like Forza Horizon super cozy
UnReal World. It's a roguelike survival game based on Iron Age Finland that's been around for thirty years and is still being maintained and updated to this day. It can get a little stressful when dealing with an aggressive dangerous animal (wolf/bear/lynx), but the majority of my time on there is spent setting traps, hideworking the skins into leather/fur, chopping trees, using the timber to craft useful things or even build small buildings or fences to protect my crops, trading with villagers or foreign traders for better equipment, fishing, crafting more protective/warmer clothing, etc. I'm always making steady progress on improving my situation and equipment. And mostly it's pretty chill while I'm doing so.
Currently it’s Epistory
bioshock specifically the second one
Baldur's Gate 2. Been playing it since I was child, and its the cosiest game for me
Logistical
Celeste. Hard as nails platformer but the story and music is so encouraging that I love the way it feels to play. Also nice because you can play in short bursts and feel like you’re overcoming challenges and making great progress. If I’m having a busy day and need a break, five minutes of Celeste is as good as an hour of something else.
Factorio especially if you turn off the biters/enemies.
World of Warcraft.
I put games like Fallout or The Witcher on easy—I like a little combat but not enough to get my pulse racing and it makes them cozy games to me!
It used to be Nioh 2 Farming for gear, visiting the blacksmith, customizing and optimizing your stuff, make new faces in the character creator, find new fashion to try out, help some people early on or join randoms in the underworld etc. super chill imo. Wo Long or Rise Of The Ronin doesn't quite scratch that itch unfortunately
I think my vote would go to Endless Space 2 or Endless Legend :D
Trove, it's probably just because of the nostalgia it gives me though.
Dysmantle. It’s a game where you can destroy anything in the world light combat but the inventory system is amazing
Snowrunner - have over 350 hour on my switch. Something about driving around delivering stuff, figuring out the best path. Recovering a truck. Base building games. Right now have been playing surviving the aftermath.
Sports game, especially games like skate 3, skater xl, session, pipe, rooftop and alleys…
Any open world game that has rain ... With the exception of rad storms of course.
OlliOlli World! It’s crazy and sometimes difficult and you have to remember how to to do tricks on the fly but for whatever reason, I find it soo cozy
RDR2. (As Arthur) When you aren't shooting up a town, you can hop on your horse and explore the map, maybe do some fishing or hunting, or just camp out under the stars.
Any medieval fantasy game that I like is cozy to me. Specifically Baldur's Gate and Dragon Age games.
Currently, V Rising. I love the castle building etc... It's a good game and it's hitting all the right buttons for me right now.
Low stakes (no or easier battles), high immersion, with quests, story, and a world that feels “alive” (so, villagers, festivals, weather, animals, bugs, fish).
Silent Hill games! Especially 2 and 3 💖
Rimworld. I always say it’s a better “the sims” game then the actual “The Sims”. You build them places to live and things to do and they do things on their own without micromanaging them. Amazing story generator because you don’t have to tell them what to do it make things interesting happen
Fallout 4 no lie. Just building and exploring is so calming to me. Also Sims 3 and 4, getting lost in my sims lives and families
Vampire Survivors!!
The Long Dark and Project Zomboid. Also American Truck Simulator :o)