40 Cozy Games You’ll Want to Play Next

Stardew Valley

Probably the most iconic and beloved cozy game of all time, Stardew Valley is mandatory if you love cozy games and you somehow haven’t played this one yet. You run a farm, you manage livestock, you build relationships with the townsfolk, you get married…you have a whole life to live! What we loved: The day-to-day gameplay loop is beyond addictive (in the best way possible). The game just nails its tone, and it feels like there’s always something to do around the farm. What we didn’t love: After the first few years, there’s kind of no major overarching plot, which means that if the gameplay alone isn’t enough to keep you going, you’ll likely run out of steam. It wasn’t a big problem for us, though—this game is awesome. This is the perfect game for: Anyone interested in cozy games (or even just games in general).

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

After Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing is the most iconic cozy game. You get an island and you’re tasked with improving your home, decorating the place, and collecting/crafting items. It’s the ultimate gather-a-thon, and the cute anthropomorphic townsfolk will absolutely capture your heart. What we loved: The vibes here are just phenomenal. While Stardew is a 2D pixel art game, Animal Crossing has this 3D Mario-style art that just really makes the game pop. It’s also just so fun collecting everything there is to find in this game. What we didn’t love: You’re only given one island. If you want more, you have to buy them with microtransactions, which doesn’t leave a great taste in our mouths. This is the perfect game for: Like Stardew Valley, this game is kind of for everyone. If you’re interested in cozy games at all and you haven’t played this one, you have to check it out.

Spiritfarer

In Spiritfarer, you play Stella, a young girl who has died. The titular Spiritfarer explains that you and your pet cat are now dead and have been chosen as the new Spiritfarer. Your job is to ferry souls from wherever “here” is, to the afterlife—but only after they’re ready to say goodbye. Gameplay consists of managing your ship, traveling the high seas, and cooking for your guests as you pick them up and manage their lodging. What we loved: We cried multiple times. It’s an absolutely beautiful, haunting game in the best way possible. You spend all this time getting to know your guests, caring for them, and learning about their lives, then when it’s time to say goodbye…it’s just a lot. It’s a really moving experience. What we didn’t love: How often we cried. There are only so many tears we can get on a controller before we need to take a break and clean it off. This is the perfect game for: Anyone looking for a top-tier cozy game with a plot and a moving narrative.

A Short Hike

A Short Hike follows you as you play Claire, a young black bird who must reach the peak of a mountain to get cell phone reception and call your mom. It’s an extremely meditative experience. You walk, run, jump, and fly your way around this beautiful, wild environment. There are also other characters at the park whom you can choose to help or not help based on how you’re feeling. What we loved: The game doesn’t overstay its welcome. It’s a calm, easygoing game that you can finish in a few hours. The character design is also top-notch notch and the exploration is a blast. What we didn’t love: The open world can feel a little overwhelming at first, and the game is so short that you may get the sense that you’re overlooking something to do. It’s a minor complaint, though. This is the perfect game for: Anyone looking for a short, exploratory experience.

Harvest Moon

We’re not recommending a specific Harvest Moon (or Story of Seasons) game here because they’re all worthy of checking out, although Harvest Moon: One World is a great starting point. This is the ultimate lifestyle sim. You’ll explore, manage a home, grow crops, and make friends! What we loved: The Harvest Moon games are iconic for a reason. This is about as pure as lifestyle sim gaming gets. You really have total control over how you play, what you grow, how you interact with people, etc. What we didn’t love: These games tend to start very slow. Most of the games have a season system where certain events only occur at certain times, and some crops only grow in specific seasons. That means there can be a lot of waiting. This is the perfect game for: People who prefer meditative and really relaxed gameplay.

The Sims

All of the Sims games are worth checking out, but we’re going to recommend Sims 4 if you want the most beloved and updated version of the game. In The Sims, you play as…god? It’s not clear, actually. All you know is that you invent a person, and then you manage their life. It’s sort of like a farm simulator, except instead of directly controlling a pastoral farmer, you’re indirectly controlling just a normal dude or dudette. What we loved: You kind of have the ultimate freedom to do whatever you want. There’s so much customization and experimentation to do that it’s hard to run out of things you want to try. What we didn’t love: This is very much the kind of game where it’s your job to figure out how to spend your time. If you’re looking for a repetitive cozy game that holds your hand, this isn’t it. This is the perfect game for: People who love feeling omnipotent and gamers looking for a laid-back user-generated experience.

Unpacking

In Unpacking, you play as a woman. Each “level” is a stage in your life where you have to unpack. You start off as a little girl in a new family home, you move as a teenager, you go off to college, and so on. Levels consist of unpacking boxes, rotating items, and placing them on shelves, in drawers, etc. It’s kind of like a puzzle game with a big emphasis on completion and organization. What we loved: It’s an unexpectedly moving game. There’s a level where you notice a bunch of boy’s stuff and realize you’re moving in with your partner, but then the next level you’re unpacking in a smaller place and realize things didn’t work out. You have a stuffed toy you always bring to every new apartment until one day…you don’t. These little narrative arcs remind us that, in a weird way, we really are just the “stuff” we carry around. What we didn’t love: The gameplay can get a little repetitive after a while. There are only so many interesting ways to pack a dresser with clothes before you’re kind of bored by it. This is the perfect game for: Gamers seeking out a powerful story with a simple gameplay loop. This is also the perfect game if you’re looking for a cozy game to play in 30- or 45-minute bursts, since each level takes less than an hour.

Wylde Flowers

In Wylde Flowers, you’re a farmer by day and a magical witch at night. It’s a kind of combination of Harvest Moon and Spiritfarer. You get to use magical powers to help improve your crop-growing, improve your running speed, and help charm potential suitors. The game also has this great, adorable 3D style that’s hard not to love. You also get a pet cat! What we loved: The mix of different mechanics is honestly so refreshing. It feels like every part of the game is really well-designed and meant to interact with the other game systems. It’s a very neat experience. What we didn’t love: The game relies on trigger systems when it comes to the relationships. This means that you have to perform specific tasks at specific times of day in order to advance some relationship storylines. It’s sort of impossible to know when these triggers are meant to occur, so you may have to look some of the stuff up online if you get stuck. This is the perfect game for: You love the farming elements in Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley but you want more comprehensive worldbuilding and elaborate graphics.

Lil Gator Game

Lil Gator Game is arguably the cutest game on this list. You play as a little gator boy who just desperately wants to get his older sister’s attention. You’ll explore, collect stuff, and platform all around a beautiful environment. What we loved: The game is really adorable. Movement is also very rewarding and visceral, and the story is just deep enough to keep you engaged. What we didn’t love: It’s too short! You can beat this one in 3-4 hours, but we would have loved much more content. This is the perfect game for: Anybody looking for an exploration-based cozy game. It really is hard not to recommend this one to literally everybody, though.

Slime Rancher

Slime Rancher is a first-person open-world game where you play as the titular slime rancher. The game starts as you travel to a new world full of slimes—gelatinous little goofy creatures with different traits. It’s basically a farming sim where the slimes you capture and grow behave as your farmers. It’s cute, weird, and a whole lot of fun to watch your slimes grow and interact. What we loved: The slimes themselves are a blast. They make cute noises, come in all kinds of different designs, and behave like goofy little pets. What we didn’t love: It can get repetitive. It’s always a big risk for cozy games since the whole genre is kind of based on small, incremental improvement, but Slime Rancher is especially prone to repetition. This is the perfect game for: Anyone who really enjoys the incremental improvement part of cozy games.

Sun Haven

Sun Haven is a farming simulator where you fish, farm, mine, and romance other characters. It’s a pretty pure Stardew Valley clone with one big change: there’s combat. The game has a Dungeons & Dragons-style combat system and you can choose to do some dungeoneering in between waiting for crops to grow! What we loved: It’s the perfect mix of farm simulator and RPG. It just blends its game systems very well, and there’s a phenomenal story, too! What we didn’t love: We actually really have to address some stuff going on outside of the game itself. The studio that made the game, Pixel Sprout Studios, has been accused of harassing their employees, not giving artists credit, and refusing to pay fair wages to their workers. If that’s something you aren’t comfortable with, we can’t blame you. This is the perfect game for: If you played Stardew and you loved everything about it but wish it had more interactive systems, you’ll love everything about this game.

My Time at Portia

Centuries after the end of human civilization, humans emerge from underground to rebuild society. You play as the child of a famous builder who grows up to help expand the city of Portia. It’s a construction simulator with some fixing & farming thrown in, but with a big economy element. There’s also some light combat if that’s something you’re interested in. What we loved: The building and crafting is very satisfying. It’s hard to feel powerful in a lot of cozy games, but your skills and talents are really essential narrative-wise in this game. It’s just super rewarding. What we didn’t love: It’s a slow game. It really takes its time getting going with all of its systems. You’ll be 10 hours into the game and still discovering new gameplay elements. This is the perfect game for: Players looking to manage something bigger than a farm who are into the idea of a longer, deeper game.

Tiny Bookshop

In Tiny Bookshop, you manage a…tiny bookshop! You select the books to carry, choose how to display them, and engage with local citizens who pop by to chat you up. There’s a really strong central narrative that unfolds over time. The game uses real books by real authors, too, so you can always set up that perfect Shakespeare collection you’ve always dreamed of having! What we loved: The game is just so tight and clean. Every choice you make feels relevant, and there’s always something more to do. You get to uncover some interesting secrets, as well. What we didn’t love: There’s really not much in the way of challenge. It’s not a particularly hard game. This is the perfect game for: Reading enthusiasts and aspiring shop owners. Also, anybody looking for a narrative-heavy cozy game.

Euro Truck Simulator

You could easily replace this one with American Truck Simulator. Any of the driving Simulator series, actually—they’re all basically the same. In these games, you play a truck driver! You set the trips you want to take, then you go out and deliver your cargo! What we loved: It’s just really relaxing. What we didn’t love: The game is kind of a “choose your own adventure” situation. It won’t really give you a mission or anything. This is the perfect game for: People who have always wanted to know what it’s like to be a long-haul trucker and people who want to listen to podcasts while they play video games.

Bear and Breakfast

You play Hank—a bear who has always dreamed of opening a bed and breakfast. You’ll book guests, talk to strange characters, and make sure that all of the guests have everything they need to make their stay comfortable. It’s a charming little game with a lot of classical cozy game elements. What we loved: It’s super charming, and the dialogue system involves branching choices, which makes the conversations in the game feel a lot more meaningful and rewarding. What we didn’t love: The resource gathering is kind of a slog. You also don’t have a ton of decoration options when it comes to customizing your space, which feels kind of like a big miss. This is the perfect game for: People looking for a simple, charming management game.

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist is a very weird game. It’s a role-playing deck-building game about memory and experience. It has branching dialogue trees, exploration, and a romance mechanic. Also, you play the main character’s life from age 10 to 20. The game ends at 20 regardless of what you choose to do in the game, although there are different endings depending on how you play the game. What we loved: The game is very ambitiously designed. The systems, art, and roleplaying all feel very well thought out, and the “checks” system with the cards feels like a fun combination of Life Is Strange, Dungeons & Dragons, and Griftlands. What we didn’t love: It’s kind of hard to figure out what the optimal decision is at any given time. If you don’t like trying to figure complex stuff out on your own, this is a tough game to sell. This is the perfect game for: Cozy gamers seeking a little bit of a challenge and a weird story.

Cozy Grove

Cozy Grove is a life simulator set on a haunted island. The ghosts really do make the game here. You help ghosts complete quests, enter the afterlife, and find loved ones. It’s also unique because the game takes place in real time—you cannot skip forward or go backwards at all, which adds to the themes of how fleeting life can be. What we loved: The animation is adorable (the ghosts are all bears), and the game clearly is ambitious thematically. What we didn’t love: A lot of people love the real-time element, but it does kind of feel like there’s not a lot going on once you complete your daily quest. You have to wait for the next day to pick the game back up. This is the perfect game for: People who want more Animal Crossing.

Powerwash Simulator

Game critic Yahtzee Croshaw affectionately called Powerwash Simulator the “ultimate dad game” because it really gets to the heart of what makes dads so obsessed with household chores. It’s just super satisfying to start a project and finish it, and that’s exactly what Powerwash Simulator offers. You’ve got muddy stuff. You’ve got a powerwasher. Get to work! What we loved: It’s very satisfying to powerwash stuff. What we didn’t love: It’s basically as repetitive as a game gets. There’s nothing going on outside of the powerwashing. This is the perfect game for: Dads, people obsessed with cleaning, and dads who are obsessed with cleaning.

Summer in Mara

Summer in Mara is a breezy open-world exploration game with some light farming elements. There are 20 islands to explore, and you’ll meet all kinds of interesting characters on your journey. The game also has some incredible art, and the ocean exploration is super satisfying. What we loved: It’s easy to make exploration boring, especially in cozy games where there aren’t enemies chasing you down everywhere you go, but they really nailed it here. Navigating the islands is a lot of fun, and the farming isn’t “too much” if you catch our drift. What we didn’t love: There are a lot of fetch quests. Like…a lot of them. If you don’t like fetch quests, you really won’t like this game. This is the perfect game for: Gamers who want an exploration-heavy experience with some strong, vibrant island vibes.

Rune Factory 4

Rune Factory 4 is a bit of an older game on our list (it came out in 2012), but it’s a beloved classic in the cozy game genre. While it does have combat, the vast majority of the gameplay is resource management and farming. It has a complex plot involving collecting runes to help an ancient dragon stay alive, but it will grip you if you’re looking for an in-depth narrative. Oh, it’s also very anime. This is a Japanese game and it’s not hiding it. What we loved: The game’s systems are very breezy and expressive. Everything feels intentional, and there are a lot of interesting rewards for achieving your goals. What we didn’t love: It is a touch dated. The animations resemble something from the PS2 era. This is the perfect game for: Anime lovers and people interested in the biggest cozy game cult classic.

My Time at Sandrock

My Time at Sandrock is the sequel to My Time at Portia. It’s also a farming life simulator, but it takes place in a desert instead of a tranquil forest and plains. It’s a lot like My Time at Portia, but with slightly more adventure in the plot and a wider array of minigames. What we loved: It’s a clear improvement on My Time in Portia if you were looking for more to do in that game. We weren’t necessarily, but more of a good thing is an even better thing. What we didn’t love: The light combat elements felt way too simple and kind of unnecessary. This is the perfect game for: People who finished My Time in Portia who want more of that.

The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood

This unique game is a narrative adventure game where you play a witch who summons a monster to rescue her. Gameplay involves creating tarot cards and using the cards to tell the future of various creatures. But really, card designing is the main chunk of the game. You manually craft specific tarot cards using pieces of art and every design has different effects and interpretations. What we loved: Crafting the cards is a lot of fun. We got lost just spending hours on some of the designs, and seeing something you intended come to fruition in the story is really neat. For example, we put a little shovel on top of a pile of dirt and added a large broom. The intention being, “you have to take care of the things you ‘dig’ up,” and that’s basically what the card communicated when we drew it! What we didn’t love: Honestly, nothing—this is a very unique game with a lot going for it. That said, we do see how it could be a little dry if you aren’t super into card designing. This is the perfect game for: People interested in fortune telling, artists, and anyone looking for a unique story that can only be told via gameplay.

Assemble with Care

In Assembled with Care, you run a repair shop in Spain. Characters bring in items for you to fix, and it’s your job to repair the item. In between repairs, the characters talk to you, share what happened to the item, and provide a little bit of insight about what drives them. What we loved: The game is voice-acted, which is actually a big deal for a game with this much dialogue. The fixing missions also feel very doable without being too difficult to complete. Everything is very tidy, crisp, and well-crafted. What we didn’t love: It’s maybe a little too cozy. There are no time limits on repairs, and the music is very ambient and moody, so it’s kind of easy to lose focus or find yourself falling asleep. This is the perfect game for: People who love tinkering and gamers seeking a meditative experience with great world design.

Botany Manor

Botany Manor is a very straightforward recommendation for anyone who likes plants. The entire game revolves around growing plants, finding plants, and solving puzzles to do more plant-related things. It’s got a heavy walking sim element too, so it’s a pretty chill, upbeat game with a lot of quiet in between activities. What we loved: The puzzles are challenging enough without being annoying, and the environmental storytelling blends very well with the meditative gameplay. What we didn’t love: We could have used more story, honestly. There’s an interesting question surrounding the center of this game that we don’t want to spoil, and that mystery could have used a few more threads. This is the perfect game for: Plant lovers and walking sim enjoyers.

Mineko’s Night Market

Mineko’s Night Market is a crafting adventure game where you and your dad move to a dilapidated town. The game is mostly looking for materials, crafting items, and opening up the map to expand the titular night market, which sells you goods. What we loved: The Japanese-inspired animation and worldbuilding is very vibrant and fun, and the game doesn’t ask a lot of you challenge-wise, which is perfect for a cozy game What we didn’t love: You have to play a little minigame to collect each item you pick up. They’re fun, but they get kind of old after the 100th time. This is the perfect game for: Anyone fiending for a collect-a-thon who enjoys minigames.

Journey

Journey is a certified classic. This 2012 game punches way above its weight. The setup is simple: You are a lone traveler and you want to reach a mountain top. The story unravels slowly over time using environmental cues, and it has a unique gameplay schtick—other players can pop in while they play. You can’t communicate or anything; they’re just there. It may sound like a hard sell, but it’s an unfathomably beautiful game, and the “story” actually culminates in something potentially life-changing. What we loved: Even for a game from 2012, this thing is beautiful. It’s such a cinematic masterpiece. The story is also just so unreasonably good. What we didn’t love: It’s too short! The game can be beaten in 2 hours or so. This is the perfect game for: Any gamer looking for a thoughtful experience where you don’t need everything explained to you.

Two Point Hospital

Inspired by the old Theme Hospital, Two Point Hospital has you play as a hospital administrator. You’re tasked with designing hospitals, hiring staff, and making sure everything works as well as it should. If you aren’t diligent, the hospital will fall apart, and patients may even start dying! What we loved: The customization here is just awesome. You can beat every level by designing your hospital in a variety of different ways, so it’s a very open-ended game. It’s also fun to watch the whole hospital milling around from above. What we didn’t love: It does get a little challenging for a pure cozy game. There are cozy game elements for sure, but this game is hard enough that there are definitely moments of stress. This is the perfect game for: Anyone looking for a more challenging version of The Sims.

Little Computer People

The oldest game on our list, 1985’s Little Computer People might be the first cozy game ever made. The premise of the game is this: there are little people living inside your computer, and this game lets you interact with them. You can feed them, interact with them, and ask them questions. Due to its age, it’s only available online now at emulator sites like this one. What we loved: It’s weird! It’s just such a goofy game, and there’s a surprising amount of stuff for you to do with your little computer people. They all have distinct personalities, too, which is fun. What we didn’t love: The game has no win condition, so there’s no “end” to the game. It’s not the end of the world since you can kind of see the whole game after a few hours, and it does support the premise that these little computer people are real and just sort of live in the background, but it is kind of unsatisfying. This is the perfect game for: People interested in the history of cozy games and die-hard Sims fanatics looking for more of the same. Even if the game doesn’t sound like your thing, at least check out footage of the gameplay. It’s a very unique bit of media.

Coffee Talk

Coffee Talk has you play as a barista. You make drinks for the fantasy characters who come in for a warm cup of joe. The game is basically about listening to people and their problems. Gameplay involves making coffee and talking to people! What we loved: The drink-making is pretty simple but very rewarding, and the characters are all very interesting and well-written. What we didn’t love: It’s a lot of reading, even for a cozy game. This is the perfect game for: Anyone looking for a fun fantasy story with some simple gameplay.

Everything

Inspired by the philosophy and lectures of Alan Watts, Everything is an exploration game where you play as…well, everything. You control one thing at a time, but you can move up or down in scale. So, you can start out as a bear, then shift up to become a tree, then a forest, or shift down to become a tick on the bear’s back, then down further to become a bacteria. Gameplay is all about exploration, and clips of Watts’ lectures will play at various points in the game. It’s a very weird game that encourages experimentation and creative thinking. What we loved: It’s a really unique experience, and the themes surrounding connectedness, unity, and individuality are all riveting. It’s also hilarious the way anything you inhabit moves in weird rotating, fixed motions (seriously, look at how the bears move). What we didn’t love: It’s not very intuitive. Figuring out if you’re doing something important is very hard, but again, that’s kind of the point of the game. This is the perfect game for: People who enjoy philosophy, games with loose narratives, and/or weird animation.

Dorfromantik

Dorfromantik is a puzzle game where you build an ever-expanding village by placing tiles on a board. And, that’s kind of it! There’s no narrative, just challenges to complete (which are totally optional). What we loved: The game knows what it’s about and just focuses on that. No story, characters, or plot, just tile-placing and world-building. It’s fun to watch your village grow and expand as you work! What we didn’t love: Without any additional reasons to keep playing, it’s kind of too easy to put the game down if you zone out. There isn’t anything to incentivize you to keep playing. This is the perfect game for: People who get a huge feeling of accomplishment from home improvement projects who aren’t looking for a difficult or complicated game.

Cities: Skyline

Cities: Skyline is a good companion piece for Dorfromantik because it’s also about building a village. However, Cities is hyperrealistic. You can basically build whatever you want in this game. Want to create a mountain town of skyscrapers that stack on top of one another until they all fall down? Go for it! Want to recreate your neighborhood growing up? It’s all you! What we loved: The game’s systems are pretty incredible in terms of their depth and customization. It’s just really fun to build sprawling cities! What we didn’t love: Like Dorfromantik, you’ll have to find your own motivation to continue playing. This is the perfect game for: People who get a huge feeling of accomplishment from home improvement projects who are looking for a difficult or complicated game.

Abzu

Abzu is an evocative, meditative game about diving. You play as an underwater diver who explores a complex and deeply beautiful alien ocean. Gameplay is basically just swimming, but the environments and creatures are all so visually interesting and moving that it’s hard not to be happy about that. What we loved: The breathtaking beauty and unique environments really are worth the price of admission. What we didn’t love: There is some narrative bubbling underneath the surface here, but we would have preferred a more intricate or deeper story. This is the perfect game for: People who enjoyed Journey and want something similar to that.

Papers Please

In Paper’s Please, you play a Soviet employee. Specifically, you’re tasked with checking immigration papers. Gameplay involves inspecting documents, looking for fraudulent passports, and following your middle manager’s rules for who is and isn’t allowed to get in. We won’t lie, this game is very stressful for a “cozy” game, but the paper-checking is surprisingly engaging and interesting. What we loved: The emergent narrative is incredible, and how quickly your requirements change is a lot of fun to try and track. It really does give you the feeling of what it’s like to be a small fish living on the whims of a government manager. What we didn’t love: The life simulator part is much less engaging than the ticket-checking stuff. This is the perfect game for: Someone looking for a challenging, immersive life sim that may make them a little depressed.

Night in the Woods

Beloved cult classic Night in the Woods isn’t really a cozy game. It has some stressful elements and conflict that make it incompatible with that label, but it has big cozy vibes. You play as an anthropomorphic cat in a beautiful, hand-painted world. Gameplay mainly consists of talking to strangers, hanging out with friends, and traveling around. What we loved: The story changes based on who you interact with, so that’s a real highlight. On top of that, traveling and exploring is very rewarding. What we didn’t love: It can be a little heavy-handed. If you roll your eyes when teenagers say kind of cringey things, it might not be the best game for you. This is the perfect game for: Someone looking for rich characters and a fun, exploration-based experience.

Mini Motorways

Mini Motorways is potentially the least “popular” game on this list, but it’s worth checking out. Like Dorfromantik, there’s no plot or narrative. Instead, you have to get cars where they need to go. You’ll do this by creating roads, raising bridges, and installing roundabouts. If you’ve ever dreamed of what it would be like to fix your city’s traffic problems, this is essential playing. What we loved: The gameplay is very punchy and fast. It’s easy to get into a new game if one doesn’t go your way, and there are a lot of different maps inspired by real-world cities. What we didn’t love: The game isn’t that deep mechanically. Once you figure out a few tricks, a lot of problems are solvable very quickly. This is the perfect game for: Gamers looking for a cozy challenge and anyone passionate about traffic management.

Firewatch

Firewatch is technically a horror game. It’s a walking simulator where you play a man who has been hired to watch out for fires at a national park. You communicate with one other character who supposedly works at the firewatching tower in the distance, but you never meet them. Things “happen” in the game and what unfolds is a very creepy, memorable experience. What we loved: The voice acting is top-notch notch and you get to experience a mystery with some incredible narrative moments. What we didn’t love: The inventory system is a little annoying, and it can be hard to figure out how much time has passed between sequences. This is the perfect game for: Cozy gamers willing to step their foot into the horror genre.

Exo One

In Exo One, you play an intergalactic “ship” that may or may not contain astronauts. You travel alien environments and hurl yourself towards the ends of the levels you’re on. Gameplay is exclusively about movement. You press on trigger to make yourself heavier, and that’s about it. You fly in the air, add “weight,” and shoot down to the planet where you look for more ramps to fly off of. What we loved: The “driving” in this game is just as good as it gets. It’s so satisfying to hurl yourself through the air at unimaginable speeds, and the game is so beautiful it’s hard to imagine only one developer made it. What we didn’t love: The story could use a little more straightforward storytelling, and the game is too short. It would have been nice to have more than 4-5 hours with this one. This is the perfect game for: Cozy gamers who love fun traversal and don’t mind some spookier tones.

Disco Elysium

Disco Elysium is a beloved game about a man who drank himself to the brink of ego death and is trying to put himself back together. It’s a top-down RPG with a lot of witty and comedic moments. It’s not really a pure cozy game because there is plenty of challenge and different types of combat, but it can be a very relaxing experience depending on how you choose to play. What we loved: This is maybe one of the best pieces of writing in the 21st century. Not just for a video game, either. This is a fiercely well-written game. You will laugh, cry, and experience just about every emotion under the sun. What we didn’t love: There’s a lot of backtracking. If you like your story-based games to be more linear, this can be a rough one. This is the perfect game for: Readers and cozy gamers looking for a lot of mental and intellectual stimulation.

Schedule I

Ever wonder what it would be like to run a drug empire? If so, Schedule I is for you. This laid-back game has you playing a small-time drug dealer. Gameplay mainly consists of growing marijuana, texting clients, and expanding your profits. Sounds exciting, right? Unlike Grand Theft Auto, though, you’ll spend more time talking to stoners and scheduling pickups than you will doing any violent crime. It’s a very chill game. What we loved: It’s funny, it’s weird, and it’s a blast to develop relationships with the stoners in your little weird town. What we didn’t love: It’s a lot of busy work. Even for a cozy game, things can get kind of repetitive. This is the perfect game for: Gamers looking for something quirky and weird in the cozy game life-sim genre.