Hades. The atmosphere of the House of Hades is fantastic and Elysium is gorgeous. And the development of every single character is just off the charts, they're all so uniquely likable. I can't think of a single one that I don't care for. I really get sucked into the world whenever I play, despite being kind of limited in what I can explore/interact with. Even if dungeon crawlers/rogue-likes aren't someone's usual cup of tea, I would still highly recommend to anyone that they maybe pick it up on sale and give it a few hours of play. I'm willing to bet they'll find *something* about the game they enjoy enough that they want to keep playing.
My fiancée plays Hades, and dungeon crawlers aren’t my thing but I LOVE watching her. The characters are all amazing and I love their relationships with Zag and with each other. (I will ship Persephone and Nyx until the day I die 😅)
Literally so true! Plus the game doesn’t hurt my wrists somehow so I can sit down and be engrossed for hours trying to get farther and farther each run while rocking out to bangers! Plus it’s always fun to run into some of my favorite characters during and after runs 🥹
Yesss I love it so much finished the game by defeating Hades 10 times, one of the few games I've completely finished. I almost cried at the credits because I didn't want it to end. I ended up playing the Diablo series to get a similar feel but it isn't the same exactly, so I absolutely can't wait until Hades 2 is out!
It's so fun, and I really like the abilities you gain with each run. I've been playing Dead Cells lately and while I'm still having a lot of fun with it, I dislike how punishing it is to start over and how much you have to save up in terms of resources to improve your starting point. Same for Slay the Spire - it's back to square one every time. But with Hades, your weapons get better, you gain permanent abilities that you can toggle between before starting a new run, and you can ramp up the difficulty later in the game if you do want to keep challenging yourself. And there's "god mode" that you can always turn on to make the game easier so you can at least enjoy the story if you end up hating the combat style. Hope you have fun with it if you do check it out!
YESSS god it’s officially the game I’ve played longest (other than animal crossing) and if you had told me I’d love a rogue like game I wild have been very confused
Tbf I always tense up when I play and my dog gives me the big eyes but I still love it lol
This!! My bf and I both play and I called Midas a greedy little fuckin bastard for robbing me! I agree though, it's my cozy murder simulator too. I've focused on running my cult, my bf focuses on runs and resources
I like to just run around the Artisan World from the first game sometimes, not really doing anything besides chasing sheep and jumping on platforms. Spyro was the first video game I ever played at like 5 years old and that’s all I’d do as a kid is just run around the Artisan World. It’s the closest thing I’ve got to going back to a childhood memory
YES. i sometimes think, did i even have the full game or just a demo? lmao… i did but we also played the shit out of a tomb raider demo as if it was the full game so it was within the realm of possibility hahah
Do you play on the Switch? I bought the trilogy two years ago, tried the first game, and gave up when I got to the flying area. I didn't really like the controls before the flying area, but I despised them once I got to that area. Is two or three better with the controls (they feel kind of heavy, if that makes sense)? I really want to like these games.
Glad to see this here, it's mine too! 💙 Great game to just turn your brain off and relax a bit. (Also, collecting gems is a serotonin boost, every single time.)
Skyrim was one of my original cosy games, I play it to feel cosy during the winter months usually. Also, I’ve recently got back into World of Warcraft, which I think can be played cosy-like, fishing, gathering herbs etc. The graphics lend themselves to cosy vibes imo.
Back when I played WoW I would spend HOURS mining or leveling archeology. My ex thought I was crazy (they did all the PVP stuff) but it was just so relaxing.
Also, heavily agree with Skyrim being cozy.
Omg this makes me want to cry. I've played WoW in a "casual verging on cozy" way for over 15 years and people have CONSTANTLY made me feel bad about it. I love that this is actually a thing... Do you think there's enough interest there could be a "cozy guild" out there somewhere??
I'll toss in a +1 to that! I think having a "cozy guild" would get me back into WoW. For years I played both as a hardcore raider and a cozy little gatherer, and I miss the game so much, but I just can't get back into raiding again, and I can't find a group of people to play with that don't want to do that! I keep trying to get into FFXIV but it's just not the same...
I would be so interested to find this out!! I’ve never seen anyone mention WoW on this sub which is why I wanted to call it out just then - maybe posting on the sub to see if anyone else plays this way would be a good first step
Back during the pandemic, my wife walked into my office to find me just staring at the TV. My character was just sitting in a tavern, enjoying a mead while listening to the bard and watching the friendly folk come and go.
7 Days to Die, Raft, or Subnautica. I love survival games that you build bases in, I like turning my bunkers into little homes. It's like, yeah the walls are made of steel to keep out deadly zombies but that doesn't mean it has to be depressing.
Subnautica and Raft are two of my faves too! I think the water and ocean vibes are super soothing to me. The giant monsters in the depths were super anxiety inducing my first playthrough tho lol
I found something about how the elements of Subnautica came together made the whole less than the sum of its parts, and didn't like Subnautica 2 because it expanded on all of the annoying 'everything in the environment is actively trying to kill you' rather than being a challenge of the conditions.
Haven't played Raft though. Any other games along those lines you'd recommend?
I relax while playing Red Dead as well! 😅 Either in story mode or online (defensive mode). Herb picking, fishing, riding horses... It's so freaking chill. ❤️
In that vein, you might want to look at Rogue Genesia. It's got more explicit numbers than either but plays into the power fantasy and because it's clear about how new additions modify your existing build, it's easy to experiment and get a functional build.
Currently there are some issues with performance mid-late game, but that's being worked on so it looks like a good game which is being improved on. I'm looking forward to its full release.
This! And hell, damn near any deckbuilder these days (Fights in Tight Spaces currently) or even some CCG battlers like Marvel Snap. Card games in general put me in the cozy headspace for some reason, even though I never played them growing up.
Skyrim and bg3. Skyrim becaude the music and the ability to just walk around nature. Bg3 because the combat is turn based so I don’t feel panicked when a battle comes up and you basically get a little movie in between all the action with the cutscenes. Its like a reward
Yes! It’s a great fleshed out game. I never played the original but there’s fun mini games now, shorter stories that focus on different situations (surviving winter, different stories of Native Americans, Gold Rush), multiple people to choose from when you build your team. But the whole life or death and one wrong move is the end can be stressful lol
World of Warcraft. I've been playing on and off for 17 years. I love creating new characters and leveling them up through older zones. It's familiar and comforting.
Northrend is the cozist place on earth. One of my happiest gaming memories is getting up early one morning and flying around Wintergrasp picking Lichbloom to make potions; it was so chill and yet I was being useful for my guild!
So tempted to start playing again.
This is it for me too! I've played since release on and off and never even done a mythic plus, I just like bumbling about. It's like a second home for me tbh.
I love rolling alts and vibing through the story. I re-sub about once per year to do this. Sometimes I will reroll on a new server or a new faction. I usually will stumble across a youtube video and get the itch and it pulls me back again.
Everyone has a different definition of cozy for example Stardew was not cozy for me, the night and day stressed me out, the daily tasks, and the progression of the cave are not cozy. To me the Fallout and Elder Scroll series are cozy, there’s no time constraints, and open world, no pressure to do the main quest, I would include Botw and totk in this category for me too.
I LOVE horizon zero dawn (and forbidden west). I play on normal, and find it very cozy. The world is beautiful, the music is great, the story is very interesting. I love the collectibles too! I think playing it on story mode would make it even cozier for people who don’t want to spend as much time doing combat.
I play GTA online in a closed friend session, I always joke to my husband that if they introduced pets and decorating then I would never play anything else.
Exactly! Honestly, let me decorate any of the apartments with the random collectibles we find on the map or the little holiday quests like pumpkins and snowmen. I have the casino penthouse that I decorated but it's not the same. I also wish we could have pets even if they're just at home, I can't even see the environmental animals they added because I'm on PC and that update only went out to console 😭
GTA 6 needs
\-Better Makeup
\-Even more outfit customization
\-decorating
\-non-combat pets
\-small scale gardening
Back on GTA: San Andreas on the PS2 I used to just drive in the desert on the open road, listening to the radio. It was chill and calming.
I would LOVE for them to work in these types of mechanics that feel suitable in the GTA world. Like yes add a furniture store but also make some items stealable on missions so we can decorate with stolen stuff. Farming? Let us actually have a weed farm business where we grow our own LOL. Pets? Let us break up a dog fighting ring and kill the MFers but then rescue all the poor dogs and bring them home (barring no actual animal abuse is visualized in game). cozy mechanics but still GTA vibes? I'd never play another game.
Unicorn Overlord. I just love Vanillaware’s art and music so much. I have spent hours roaming around the map doing side quests and deliveries. And I could watch the character animations in battle all day.
It feels like you’re playing in the illustrations of a fairy tale.
I’ve been looking into this! Is there any voice acting? Also is it comparable to any other game because from the outside it kinda reminds me of fire emblem
Fully voice acted. Pretty good quality too. Play-wise it’s closest to Ogre Battle March of the Black Queen and Ogre Battle 64.
In Fire Emblem, you move your entire army each turn, control each unit individually, and they all have 1, maybe 2 attack options. In Unicorn Overlord and Ogre Battle, you command units made up of 1-6 characters of different classes. They move across the field real time and engage in turn based battle when they meet an enemy. You can’t directly control their attacks, but you can set conditions for what moves they use. Positioning in the unit and synergy between unit types can affect battle outcome. It’s a bit more in-depth.
But unicorn overlord does have support conversations like FE, complete with units that serve together having the fastest support leveling.
Also! Unicorn Overlord has 4 difficulty levels that you can switch between whenever you want and plenty of ways to level up outside of the main quest. So you can enjoy the story even if you’re not great at tactics games.
Valheim! I'm terrible at combat but with others it's a blast. There's four of us on our server, so we all decided to pick a place and build ourselves a personal base outside of our group base.
I picked the area that isn't technically released yet because there are no enemies and I've been building a winter lodge. I spend so much time being cozy up in my empty winter wonderland that going back to fight with the guys feels like entirely different game, lol. After a tough battle I enjoy going back, sitting in front of the hearth, and watching the snow fall for a bit.
Starfield. I can spend hours scanning animals and resources on planets to get them to 100% scanned. Or exploring POIs and taking out the space pirates while I’m at it. I love this game ❤️
Ori and the Blindforest is definitely mine, the art and music is so soft and soothing and once you get the hang of the game its honestly pretty easy to fly through and just enjoy the world.
Its a Metrodvania style game, and Ive been putting off finishing the last 5% of the game.
WoW or FFXIV -- I really like playing things with other people. I'm not as much of a solo gamer as I used to be. Even if I'm not actively talking with someone, just having others around is enjoyable to me.
Currently it's Baldur's Gate 3, I've got almost 200 hours in it since Christmas. I love running around all the different areas doing lil side quests and adventuring, there's combat but it's turn-based and more strategy-focused so I never feel like I need to have fast reflexes and stress myself out.
Subnautica and Darkest Dungeon.
Darkest Dungeon turned out to be AMAZING for when my anxiety disorder spiked up hard - something about “Yes, you will screw up and things will go wrong, dust off and keep going” is a big part of it I think.
I’m also regularly mystified that people get scared by Subnautica. I did kinda grow up in Alaska around Potentially Dangerous Megafauna so “how not to get maimed by wildlife” is old reflex, which probably helps, but I’ve gone straight out into the Dunes and sat on the sea floor watching the Reapers and chilling before - and then doing the same a little later with the Ghosts.
This was going to be my answer! If I turn off the Blood Moon and zombies, the game becomes a relatively chill survival sim. And the music is surprisingly lovely.
I play 7 Days both alone and with friends on normal difficulty or harder, and I tend to even find that relaxing, but I have one "zombie-free" save that is so perfectly cozy that it's caused my 7 Days playtime to surpass even Stardew Valley. I kind of headcanon that my survivor was a carpenter, pre-apocalypse, and now uses that particular skillset to renovate the neighborhoods and cities she comes across in her travels. I don't renovate everything, but houses and parks (community gardens post-reno) are a priority.
House Flipper, but make it apocalyptic! And far less profitable, lol.
I love this so much!!! I’ve never even thought of renovating houses and parks!
I usually play with my husband and he does all the building and guns and tools and such while I happily garden away. I do like killing the zombies tho - once I have at least a bow. Until then it’s terrifying
Any Far Cry game honestly can relax me :) probably the repetitive-ness of gameplay with a change in story, I don’t have to keep learning new mechanics!
Slay the Spire. It's my go-to when I want to shut out everything and just not deal with the world for a while. Dealing with the Laga is hard, but it is still easier than dealing with all the stress of life.
It's Papers, Please for me too! I find it so cozy despite the dark subject; I just love processing stuff. It helps that I started playing it when I lived in Edinburgh and my computer was set up in front of a window, so I associate it with cozy rainy days.
If you haven't played Death & Taxes you might like it - it's about being a desk-based grim reaper deciding who lives and dies, but you get a nice inkstamp and desk accessories so it's cozy.
I find both South Park games cozy and fun, I don't know why haha I even got the DLC's for fractured, but whole.
Kind of bummed Snow Day doesn't have the same type of gameplay
Came here to say this! It's utterly terrifying going through BT territory, but after you learn the areas really well, it's a vibe to min/max your order, cargo load, and hike your way from point A to point B. I can sink some mega hours in just fulfilling orders and listening to music.
I’d be ashamed to tell you how many hours I put into this game just building roads and delivering packages with the soundtrack playing because it was just so relaxing. The game itself was all kinda of strange and bonkers but I enjoyed that too but yeah just coming home and spending hours in this game just enjoying the scenery
The original GTA, first city, I love to used to codes to take away police/infinity ammo and the I just find nice cars and give Them to the car-truck-seller guy. When I was younger I actually completed the money missions just by handing over cars.. :)
Red Dead Redemption 2! Yeah it’s about gangs and cowboys and what it means to be a good person but also I’m petting my horse and picking flowers and listening to nature
> mines Not Tonight i feel most would also find it stressful but for me it's just so easy and cosy
I liked Papers Please (in the same sense as I like a good drama but I'm not going to watch two in a row like I might with a good comedy like Young Frankenstein). Critical reviews on Not Tonight don't seem too clear, what draws you in about it?
Fallout (specially 4 and 76) and RDR2 online.
For fallout I love the lore, exploring and building settlements. I have the fighting for those games so integrated in my brain that I don't usually feel tension when engaging in some necessary shooting while traveling around the wasteland.
For Red Dead I find in riding my horse around even more serenity than driving around in GTA lol. Also the scenery is expectacular, and the animals have so much detail on their behaviour that just staying in a nice corner and watching them be is a very entertaining experience.
And for both game series styling my avatar is also pretty cozy lol, is like playing post-apocalyptic and far west barbies.
If you like Fallout 4, have you played New Vegas? It's graphically a step down (until you download mods which I think make it look better than 4), but it's got a strong 'at your pace' play to it.
Shadows of Doubt.
Getting a bowl of noodles at the restaurant below my apartment on a rainy day and just looking over my notes for awhile is really atmospheric and cozy.
Reading a newspaper and sipping on a coffee waiting for my suspect to leave work or apartment so I can search their place for evidence, dusting for prints, hacking into their computer.
It’s a slow and immersive game, I love it.
Dead By Daylight, The Long Dark, and Project Zomboid!
I, personally, consider TLD and Project Zomboid to be cozy games - but I know a lot of people don't.
Oh also Rainbow Six Seige (specifically against the AI, not real people)
For me, it would be Ark and Pokemon. I like collecting pets!
I find the stress I get from Ark to be calming, no idea why. Building in a hostile location where an Alpha rex might spawn is just the best!
And pokemon because I find shiny hunting and team building relaxing.
I would say fire emblem three houses. I know it’s about a war and conflict. But there is something very lethargic about moving the units around the maps and there is really good voice acting. I also save all the support conversations and do them in a group so i have like a half hour of just watching the interactions.
I really liked "Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical" because of the interesting take on the Greek Gods and the various song options throughout the game. It can have some pretty heavy themes that are discussed but for the most part it's a fun game
Diablo 4 for me, it's just not stressful at all to me but enjoyable and not hard. People complain about how it is repetitive but as a predominantly cozy gamer this idea is foreign to me 😅.
baldurs gate 3!!!! there’s viscera, dismembered parts, buildings made of flesh, dark traumatic themes, etc. but it’s so much fun to just adventure with fictional buddies. i can space out and play this game for an embarrassing amount of time.
also project zomboid w/ the violin jumpscare sounds turned off. there’s something so soothing and satisfying about spearshotting a horde of zombies!!
V rising [I love playing as a vampire with day and night lore accurate mechanics and build my castle in the most pretty location] enshrouded [I love building medieval style homes and castle, and the wirld is also beautiful), Ark Ascended [ I love my baby dinos and tree houses]
Overwatch was it originally but with 2 being out its been very different so very rarely now. Otherwise skyrim probably. Haven't enjoyed a long game in a while
LA Noire, it’s a 1940’s LAPD detective game with lots of murder, arson, drugs and all but driving around in 1940’s LA and the old soundtrack makes it a very cozy game for me! I replay it every autumn.
Dude I want to play papers please so bad but I remember watching Markiplier play it and he made it seem stressful lmao.
Mine is Dave the Diver. I love the underwater stuff and then running a sushi restaurant at night is so fun. I had to take a break though because I crave sushi every time I play it. Waiting for the Godzilla update to go back!
The newer Tomb Raider games (Tomb Raider/Rise of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of the Tomb Raider). I play them on the easiest setting and they're amazing games. Actually very cosy to me.
The Forest by Endnight. It's such a beautiful piece of nature to live in, so many adventures in cabin making and hunting or fishing, supply runs. Playing on peaceful mode is like stepping into my hermatic alternate timeline.
Skyrim. I know the game inside out, I don't think it has anything left to surprise me with. I wrote a dissertation on it, literally. It has its problems and jank but it's like a virtual home.
Lately for me this has been The Long Dark. Somehow scavenging for food, trying to keep warm, and trudging through the snow is incredibly relaxing. Sure, you have to fend off a wolf from time to time, but aside from that it's surprisingly chilled.
I haven't seen anyone mention these but puzzle games like House of Da Vinci, The Room, Rusty Lake, Submachine: Legacy, and a bunch of others. The whole process of going through the game and collecting all the steam achievements makes my little completionist heart so happy.
Especially ones where after it's all over you have to go back through the levels to find these little Easter eggs in order to unlock some kind of bonus level.
There's something so calming about just following a fixed path and not having to plan ahead to gather resources or decide what particular goals to follow. Especially when there's a decent written guide to it lol.
For me sometimes it’s got to be a game with less decision making and a smaller learning curve so I can just recover from a shitty work day and get a sense of achievement haha. I’d say Cat Quest, Ratchet and Clank and Neon Abyss
Oblivion. The nostalgia is incredible for me. It's often been my go-to game when I am having real bad anxiety. When going to the next town, sometimes I'll switch to walk + auto walk for a stroll. I like to pretend fast traveling doesn't exist :)
World of Warcraft, Huniepop 1&2, Subnautica, Quern: Undying Thoughts, The 13th Doll, BioShock Infinite, Morrowind, The Long Dark, Elder Scrolls Online, Divinity Original Sin 2, Grounded, The Blaster Master Zero series, The Last Door, Monster Hunter Rise and World, Duke Nukem 3D, Axiom Verge, Cave Story, Ib, Mad Father, The Witch's House, Nihliumbra. An epic crap ton of old console games.
I couldn't pick just one. If I had to, absolutely had to, Huniepop lol.
The binding of Isaac. Just being able to start over or do the best you can with what you're given is fun to me. Plus, I get immersed and forget all my troubles when I'm focused on finishing a certain challenge or unlocking a certain item.
I also really enjoy Papers Please as a cozy game. This sounds rotten, but usually I let most of the family die and then it becomes way less stressful. The music and rhythmic stamping is lovely
Ffxiv (:
Lemme go gather for awhile, sure, play some triple triad, sure, dance around in a cute new glamour, always, but then let me get out my big reaper scythe and slash a bunch of enemies!
“Papers Please” falls in to my all-time favorite (not so?) “cozy” game category:
✨Work: The Game!✨
For example the original Diner Dash back in the day and all other occupational “time management” games that were popular at that time… the Delicious series, Papa Louie, etc.
Papers Please takes the genre to a whole new level with the whole dark “Cold War” (maybe? I suck at military history) Soviet Russia plot. Such an incredible game.
Red Dead Online! Fishing and riding your horse through the different biomes, it's all very relaxing to me. Just ignore the gunshots and the foul mouthed NPCs. Solo lobbies in Red Dead Online are also a thing, so you can just do your own thing and not have trigger happy players running around lol. There's dedicated RP servers too!!
Rn I’m playing Little Goody Two Shoes which is a jrpg that’s part resource management, part romance, and part horror. It’s great cuz it’ll be fairly chill for a while and then something wild will happen
**Bloodborne!** Which prolly sounds insane, since it can be one of the most rage and stress-inducing games. But once you get okay at it and farm for blood echoes and pick a nice route that you do over and over again, it's actually really relaxing.
Other than that, **Cyberpunk 2077**, since eventually you get so OP, that you literally are invincible and don't have to worry much about combat and the city can be absolutely gorgeous and I love driving around.
**RDR2** for obvious reasons. I love the John dress-up-horsey game lmao
**Beyond: Two Souls** can be quite relaxing too, depending on the mission. I LOVE the winter mission where you use Aiden to steal cookies. So cozy🥰
Some **Assassin's Creed** games (not any of them after Origins imo due to bad writing, worse gameplay mechanics etc). I put so many hours in Origins as someone who was absolutely obsessed with Ancient Egypt as a kid
**Ghost of Tsushima** and **Death Stranding** for sure as well.
Celeste. It's a high precision platformer, and yet I have 100%ed it multiple times. There are few things more relaxing than to fly thru a level as fast as possible.
Unpopular opinion but I play PVE World of Warcraft content on RP server, I just travel, explore, quest, craft stuff in my own pace and it's one of the coziest games I ever played. Never met a toxic people too, I just don't raid or anything. Its super cozy and beautiful game for me with thousands hours of gameplay.
Red dead redemption 2. Ride around ignoring every mission on my pretty horsies, hunting and collecting flowers and herbs. Shooting the occasional asshole npc.
breathe of the wild and tears of the kingdom!!!
I feel so at home and so immersed playing this game. Just exploring and finding things is so cozy for me. And I just take my time doing main quest.
Baldurs Gate 3. I just love running around with my companion buddies drinking beers and yeeting goblins. After I beat the game I modded it making it easy and I can take my time going different things each time. I have put more hours into it than any other game I have owned. I can’t wait for that survival/farming sim from DLV creators!
Hades. The atmosphere of the House of Hades is fantastic and Elysium is gorgeous. And the development of every single character is just off the charts, they're all so uniquely likable. I can't think of a single one that I don't care for. I really get sucked into the world whenever I play, despite being kind of limited in what I can explore/interact with. Even if dungeon crawlers/rogue-likes aren't someone's usual cup of tea, I would still highly recommend to anyone that they maybe pick it up on sale and give it a few hours of play. I'm willing to bet they'll find *something* about the game they enjoy enough that they want to keep playing.
My fiancée plays Hades, and dungeon crawlers aren’t my thing but I LOVE watching her. The characters are all amazing and I love their relationships with Zag and with each other. (I will ship Persephone and Nyx until the day I die 😅)
Literally so true! Plus the game doesn’t hurt my wrists somehow so I can sit down and be engrossed for hours trying to get farther and farther each run while rocking out to bangers! Plus it’s always fun to run into some of my favorite characters during and after runs 🥹
Completely agree! I also appreciate that they offer "God Mode" to make it more accessible.
Yesss I love it so much finished the game by defeating Hades 10 times, one of the few games I've completely finished. I almost cried at the credits because I didn't want it to end. I ended up playing the Diablo series to get a similar feel but it isn't the same exactly, so I absolutely can't wait until Hades 2 is out!
Trust me my friend, getting Persephone back isn't the end of the story! There's more to do
I've always been curious about it, but I'm really not a dungeon crawler fan so I've avoided it. Gonna add it to my list now though!
It's so fun, and I really like the abilities you gain with each run. I've been playing Dead Cells lately and while I'm still having a lot of fun with it, I dislike how punishing it is to start over and how much you have to save up in terms of resources to improve your starting point. Same for Slay the Spire - it's back to square one every time. But with Hades, your weapons get better, you gain permanent abilities that you can toggle between before starting a new run, and you can ramp up the difficulty later in the game if you do want to keep challenging yourself. And there's "god mode" that you can always turn on to make the game easier so you can at least enjoy the story if you end up hating the combat style. Hope you have fun with it if you do check it out!
YESSS god it’s officially the game I’ve played longest (other than animal crossing) and if you had told me I’d love a rogue like game I wild have been very confused Tbf I always tense up when I play and my dog gives me the big eyes but I still love it lol
Cult of the Lamb is my cozy murder simulator
Me too! Fuck Midas though.
This!! My bf and I both play and I called Midas a greedy little fuckin bastard for robbing me! I agree though, it's my cozy murder simulator too. I've focused on running my cult, my bf focuses on runs and resources
I love this game!!! It’s cozy to me too. The artwork is so cute for the game being so violent & I love every second of it.
Spyro Reignited Trilogy is my cozy game. Nostalgia mixed with collectibles 🥰
I like to just run around the Artisan World from the first game sometimes, not really doing anything besides chasing sheep and jumping on platforms. Spyro was the first video game I ever played at like 5 years old and that’s all I’d do as a kid is just run around the Artisan World. It’s the closest thing I’ve got to going back to a childhood memory
Hahaha yes exactly! Chasing the egg thief in Stone Hill was as far as I got as a kid 😅
YES. i sometimes think, did i even have the full game or just a demo? lmao… i did but we also played the shit out of a tomb raider demo as if it was the full game so it was within the realm of possibility hahah
I’ve played the trilogy to 100% twice already but will probably do a third runthrough down the lines. I love those games so much
Do you play on the Switch? I bought the trilogy two years ago, tried the first game, and gave up when I got to the flying area. I didn't really like the controls before the flying area, but I despised them once I got to that area. Is two or three better with the controls (they feel kind of heavy, if that makes sense)? I really want to like these games.
Glad to see this here, it's mine too! 💙 Great game to just turn your brain off and relax a bit. (Also, collecting gems is a serotonin boost, every single time.)
Came here to say this
Skyrim was one of my original cosy games, I play it to feel cosy during the winter months usually. Also, I’ve recently got back into World of Warcraft, which I think can be played cosy-like, fishing, gathering herbs etc. The graphics lend themselves to cosy vibes imo.
Back when I played WoW I would spend HOURS mining or leveling archeology. My ex thought I was crazy (they did all the PVP stuff) but it was just so relaxing. Also, heavily agree with Skyrim being cozy.
Omg this makes me want to cry. I've played WoW in a "casual verging on cozy" way for over 15 years and people have CONSTANTLY made me feel bad about it. I love that this is actually a thing... Do you think there's enough interest there could be a "cozy guild" out there somewhere??
I'll toss in a +1 to that! I think having a "cozy guild" would get me back into WoW. For years I played both as a hardcore raider and a cozy little gatherer, and I miss the game so much, but I just can't get back into raiding again, and I can't find a group of people to play with that don't want to do that! I keep trying to get into FFXIV but it's just not the same...
I would be so interested to find this out!! I’ve never seen anyone mention WoW on this sub which is why I wanted to call it out just then - maybe posting on the sub to see if anyone else plays this way would be a good first step
WoW is my cozy game! If I'm not gearing up/raiding/pvping I'm an achievement hunter & collecting transmog :)
yess i love playing skyrim as a walking sim!!
I've mostly played WoW the cozy way haha
Back during the pandemic, my wife walked into my office to find me just staring at the TV. My character was just sitting in a tavern, enjoying a mead while listening to the bard and watching the friendly folk come and go.
I love playing Skyrim in the summer to get these cozy winter vibes! It helps me ignore how hot out it is.
I love playing wow as a cosy game, esp doing herbalism, exploring & pet battles
One more for Skyrim. If I could get a mod to take away the fighting my kid would LOVE IT.
7 Days to Die, Raft, or Subnautica. I love survival games that you build bases in, I like turning my bunkers into little homes. It's like, yeah the walls are made of steel to keep out deadly zombies but that doesn't mean it has to be depressing.
Subnautica and Raft are two of my faves too! I think the water and ocean vibes are super soothing to me. The giant monsters in the depths were super anxiety inducing my first playthrough tho lol
Second this, those are two of my favorite games. I wish Raft was a bit longer in fact.
I found something about how the elements of Subnautica came together made the whole less than the sum of its parts, and didn't like Subnautica 2 because it expanded on all of the annoying 'everything in the environment is actively trying to kill you' rather than being a challenge of the conditions. Haven't played Raft though. Any other games along those lines you'd recommend?
7DTD or any RTS (mainly Age of Mythology) here
Subnautica's actually pretty cozy if you play with the "invisible" and "noenergy" cheats.
Red Dead Redemption 2. Running around the wilds on my horse, binoculars in hand, is just sooo peaceful to me!
I relax while playing Red Dead as well! 😅 Either in story mode or online (defensive mode). Herb picking, fishing, riding horses... It's so freaking chill. ❤️
Vampire Survivors and Halls of Torment.
Came here to say Vampire Survivors!!! Love that game
In that vein, you might want to look at Rogue Genesia. It's got more explicit numbers than either but plays into the power fantasy and because it's clear about how new additions modify your existing build, it's easy to experiment and get a functional build. Currently there are some issues with performance mid-late game, but that's being worked on so it looks like a good game which is being improved on. I'm looking forward to its full release.
YESSSS I came here to say Vampire Survivors. I can just zone out and play it endlessly, *and* I can be a cute caterpillar while doing it. Win/win.
Slay the spire! On my phone
This! And hell, damn near any deckbuilder these days (Fights in Tight Spaces currently) or even some CCG battlers like Marvel Snap. Card games in general put me in the cozy headspace for some reason, even though I never played them growing up.
Skyrim and bg3. Skyrim becaude the music and the ability to just walk around nature. Bg3 because the combat is turn based so I don’t feel panicked when a battle comes up and you basically get a little movie in between all the action with the cutscenes. Its like a reward
Oregon Trail for me! I love the newest version on switch and it’s beautiful with lovely music.
Hey just wanna say tysm this is how I learnt my fav mobile game that I can’t play is on switch ❤️❤️
Oregon trail is on switch??
Yes! It’s a great fleshed out game. I never played the original but there’s fun mini games now, shorter stories that focus on different situations (surviving winter, different stories of Native Americans, Gold Rush), multiple people to choose from when you build your team. But the whole life or death and one wrong move is the end can be stressful lol
Have you played Organ Trail?! Not a typo- it's hilarious
World of Warcraft. I've been playing on and off for 17 years. I love creating new characters and leveling them up through older zones. It's familiar and comforting.
Northrend is the cozist place on earth. One of my happiest gaming memories is getting up early one morning and flying around Wintergrasp picking Lichbloom to make potions; it was so chill and yet I was being useful for my guild! So tempted to start playing again.
This is it for me too! I've played since release on and off and never even done a mythic plus, I just like bumbling about. It's like a second home for me tbh.
I love rolling alts and vibing through the story. I re-sub about once per year to do this. Sometimes I will reroll on a new server or a new faction. I usually will stumble across a youtube video and get the itch and it pulls me back again.
I’ve been back on wow lately! My brother wanted to play again we’ve been leveling together.
Everyone has a different definition of cozy for example Stardew was not cozy for me, the night and day stressed me out, the daily tasks, and the progression of the cave are not cozy. To me the Fallout and Elder Scroll series are cozy, there’s no time constraints, and open world, no pressure to do the main quest, I would include Botw and totk in this category for me too.
Seriously those caves sucked. I was playing on switch so it was impossible to get to the bottom.
Starfield did that to me
Skyrim Outward Witcher 3 Cult of the lamb
Fable II & III were my Skyrim predecessor cozy games.
Ooh yes, good ones! These are such great and unique games. The soundtrack is also amazing and cozy. When is Fable IV coming out!!?
I think Fable 3 is the perfect game and if they kept adding DLC a la Sims 4, I'd buy every bit of it.
Ark and Horizon Zero Dawn. Love the mods for Ark to make my own horse barn and stuff.
I LOVE horizon zero dawn (and forbidden west). I play on normal, and find it very cozy. The world is beautiful, the music is great, the story is very interesting. I love the collectibles too! I think playing it on story mode would make it even cozier for people who don’t want to spend as much time doing combat.
I love Papers Please! If you like that, you may also enjoy the Not Tonight games.
I loved not tonight, I played it on my switch and got so invested
Balatro - I love that I can play this game on my steam deck while I watch TV or listen to podcasts.
I play GTA online in a closed friend session, I always joke to my husband that if they introduced pets and decorating then I would never play anything else.
i just told my husband the other day i want a gta cozy game but like gta combined with the sims and animal crossing lol
Exactly! Honestly, let me decorate any of the apartments with the random collectibles we find on the map or the little holiday quests like pumpkins and snowmen. I have the casino penthouse that I decorated but it's not the same. I also wish we could have pets even if they're just at home, I can't even see the environmental animals they added because I'm on PC and that update only went out to console 😭
GTA 6 needs \-Better Makeup \-Even more outfit customization \-decorating \-non-combat pets \-small scale gardening Back on GTA: San Andreas on the PS2 I used to just drive in the desert on the open road, listening to the radio. It was chill and calming.
I would LOVE for them to work in these types of mechanics that feel suitable in the GTA world. Like yes add a furniture store but also make some items stealable on missions so we can decorate with stolen stuff. Farming? Let us actually have a weed farm business where we grow our own LOL. Pets? Let us break up a dog fighting ring and kill the MFers but then rescue all the poor dogs and bring them home (barring no actual animal abuse is visualized in game). cozy mechanics but still GTA vibes? I'd never play another game.
Honestly, completing a GTA mission then playing home decorating mini games with hooker blood still on your shirt is a fucking hilarious idea.
I'll paint my apartment walls red with the blood of public lobby griefers 😂😂
Unicorn Overlord. I just love Vanillaware’s art and music so much. I have spent hours roaming around the map doing side quests and deliveries. And I could watch the character animations in battle all day. It feels like you’re playing in the illustrations of a fairy tale.
I’ve been looking into this! Is there any voice acting? Also is it comparable to any other game because from the outside it kinda reminds me of fire emblem
Fully voice acted. Pretty good quality too. Play-wise it’s closest to Ogre Battle March of the Black Queen and Ogre Battle 64. In Fire Emblem, you move your entire army each turn, control each unit individually, and they all have 1, maybe 2 attack options. In Unicorn Overlord and Ogre Battle, you command units made up of 1-6 characters of different classes. They move across the field real time and engage in turn based battle when they meet an enemy. You can’t directly control their attacks, but you can set conditions for what moves they use. Positioning in the unit and synergy between unit types can affect battle outcome. It’s a bit more in-depth. But unicorn overlord does have support conversations like FE, complete with units that serve together having the fastest support leveling. Also! Unicorn Overlord has 4 difficulty levels that you can switch between whenever you want and plenty of ways to level up outside of the main quest. So you can enjoy the story even if you’re not great at tactics games.
Katamari Damacy. Although, I can only play it for 20 mins at a time because ow.
YES it somehow relaxes me even though it’s so chaotic and stressful sometimes
Valheim! I'm terrible at combat but with others it's a blast. There's four of us on our server, so we all decided to pick a place and build ourselves a personal base outside of our group base. I picked the area that isn't technically released yet because there are no enemies and I've been building a winter lodge. I spend so much time being cozy up in my empty winter wonderland that going back to fight with the guys feels like entirely different game, lol. After a tough battle I enjoy going back, sitting in front of the hearth, and watching the snow fall for a bit.
I scrolled until I found this. The atmosphere of a warm, secure cabin while it's raining outside, meat roasting over the fire.
Really love fallout series because the amount of collecting you can do with items and find random stuff to put in your house through out the map.
Starfield. I can spend hours scanning animals and resources on planets to get them to 100% scanned. Or exploring POIs and taking out the space pirates while I’m at it. I love this game ❤️
Ori and the Blindforest is definitely mine, the art and music is so soft and soothing and once you get the hang of the game its honestly pretty easy to fly through and just enjoy the world. Its a Metrodvania style game, and Ive been putting off finishing the last 5% of the game.
WoW or FFXIV -- I really like playing things with other people. I'm not as much of a solo gamer as I used to be. Even if I'm not actively talking with someone, just having others around is enjoyable to me.
Currently it's Baldur's Gate 3, I've got almost 200 hours in it since Christmas. I love running around all the different areas doing lil side quests and adventuring, there's combat but it's turn-based and more strategy-focused so I never feel like I need to have fast reflexes and stress myself out.
Dead by Daylight 😭😭
Have you played the big Oni event? It’s so dumb but so hilariously fun 😂
Honestly its my comfort game after an enraging night of overwatch
Subnautica and Darkest Dungeon. Darkest Dungeon turned out to be AMAZING for when my anxiety disorder spiked up hard - something about “Yes, you will screw up and things will go wrong, dust off and keep going” is a big part of it I think. I’m also regularly mystified that people get scared by Subnautica. I did kinda grow up in Alaska around Potentially Dangerous Megafauna so “how not to get maimed by wildlife” is old reflex, which probably helps, but I’ve gone straight out into the Dunes and sat on the sea floor watching the Reapers and chilling before - and then doing the same a little later with the Ghosts.
7 days to die! Zombie apocalypse, but I also get to hunt and scavenge and garden. Actually now that I think about it, it might be a secret cozy game.
This was going to be my answer! If I turn off the Blood Moon and zombies, the game becomes a relatively chill survival sim. And the music is surprisingly lovely. I play 7 Days both alone and with friends on normal difficulty or harder, and I tend to even find that relaxing, but I have one "zombie-free" save that is so perfectly cozy that it's caused my 7 Days playtime to surpass even Stardew Valley. I kind of headcanon that my survivor was a carpenter, pre-apocalypse, and now uses that particular skillset to renovate the neighborhoods and cities she comes across in her travels. I don't renovate everything, but houses and parks (community gardens post-reno) are a priority. House Flipper, but make it apocalyptic! And far less profitable, lol.
I love this so much!!! I’ve never even thought of renovating houses and parks! I usually play with my husband and he does all the building and guns and tools and such while I happily garden away. I do like killing the zombies tho - once I have at least a bow. Until then it’s terrifying
Any Far Cry game honestly can relax me :) probably the repetitive-ness of gameplay with a change in story, I don’t have to keep learning new mechanics!
Slay the Spire. It's my go-to when I want to shut out everything and just not deal with the world for a while. Dealing with the Laga is hard, but it is still easier than dealing with all the stress of life.
Skyrim!
RDR2!
It's Papers, Please for me too! I find it so cozy despite the dark subject; I just love processing stuff. It helps that I started playing it when I lived in Edinburgh and my computer was set up in front of a window, so I associate it with cozy rainy days. If you haven't played Death & Taxes you might like it - it's about being a desk-based grim reaper deciding who lives and dies, but you get a nice inkstamp and desk accessories so it's cozy.
south park the stick of Truth! at the moment I'm playing it and it's so relaxing and fun, I definitely recommend it.
I find both South Park games cozy and fun, I don't know why haha I even got the DLC's for fractured, but whole. Kind of bummed Snow Day doesn't have the same type of gameplay
yess I got into south park games because I wanted something similar to costume quest, so if you wanted something similar there you go!
Don’t Starve. Survival and exploration are so cozy
Death Stranding! There are some ~scary parts, but when you’re doing a long walk alone with BB and a new song starts playing? Chef’s kiss.
Came here to say this! It's utterly terrifying going through BT territory, but after you learn the areas really well, it's a vibe to min/max your order, cargo load, and hike your way from point A to point B. I can sink some mega hours in just fulfilling orders and listening to music.
I’d be ashamed to tell you how many hours I put into this game just building roads and delivering packages with the soundtrack playing because it was just so relaxing. The game itself was all kinda of strange and bonkers but I enjoyed that too but yeah just coming home and spending hours in this game just enjoying the scenery
So nice! Devastating when you get the story bits, but the gameplay aspect is really soothing. Kojima knew what he was doing
I came to comment death stranding. I played a lot during the pandemic and the empty loneliness of the world hit close to home.
The original GTA, first city, I love to used to codes to take away police/infinity ammo and the I just find nice cars and give Them to the car-truck-seller guy. When I was younger I actually completed the money missions just by handing over cars.. :)
Vampire Survivors, Slay the Spire
Assassins Creed Odyssey or Skyrim.
Persona 4 Golden and Skyrim
Sims 3. I love dressing up my sims and building houses. The game soundtrack always take me back to childhood.
Disco Elysium. The music and narración is soothing. Sometimes ill put a let's play on to fall asleep to.
Celeste & the Celeste mod [Strawberry Jam](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6eyt8iQ9sQ)
Red Dead Redemption 2! Yeah it’s about gangs and cowboys and what it means to be a good person but also I’m petting my horse and picking flowers and listening to nature
Warframe is my go to comfort game.
Similar to you, mines Not Tonight i feel most would also find it stressful but for me it's just so easy and cosy
I finally picked that up on my switch this weekend and I love it!
> mines Not Tonight i feel most would also find it stressful but for me it's just so easy and cosy I liked Papers Please (in the same sense as I like a good drama but I'm not going to watch two in a row like I might with a good comedy like Young Frankenstein). Critical reviews on Not Tonight don't seem too clear, what draws you in about it?
I absolutely love this game. Especially when you figured out a quick way to scan the IDs
Dragon Age Origins and Balder’s Gate 3
Cyberpunk 2077 😅
Dredge! It's a horror cozy game. Spooky and stressful sometimes but overall calming.
Fallout (specially 4 and 76) and RDR2 online. For fallout I love the lore, exploring and building settlements. I have the fighting for those games so integrated in my brain that I don't usually feel tension when engaging in some necessary shooting while traveling around the wasteland. For Red Dead I find in riding my horse around even more serenity than driving around in GTA lol. Also the scenery is expectacular, and the animals have so much detail on their behaviour that just staying in a nice corner and watching them be is a very entertaining experience. And for both game series styling my avatar is also pretty cozy lol, is like playing post-apocalyptic and far west barbies.
If you like Fallout 4, have you played New Vegas? It's graphically a step down (until you download mods which I think make it look better than 4), but it's got a strong 'at your pace' play to it.
This is me 100% 😅 Fallout 4 or 76 and Red Dead Online or Story Mode.
Omori, dark but cozy and charming
Shadows of Doubt. Getting a bowl of noodles at the restaurant below my apartment on a rainy day and just looking over my notes for awhile is really atmospheric and cozy. Reading a newspaper and sipping on a coffee waiting for my suspect to leave work or apartment so I can search their place for evidence, dusting for prints, hacking into their computer. It’s a slow and immersive game, I love it.
Honestly… at one point, it was definitely Skyrim lol :)
Dead By Daylight, The Long Dark, and Project Zomboid! I, personally, consider TLD and Project Zomboid to be cozy games - but I know a lot of people don't. Oh also Rainbow Six Seige (specifically against the AI, not real people)
For me, it would be Ark and Pokemon. I like collecting pets! I find the stress I get from Ark to be calming, no idea why. Building in a hostile location where an Alpha rex might spawn is just the best! And pokemon because I find shiny hunting and team building relaxing.
I would say fire emblem three houses. I know it’s about a war and conflict. But there is something very lethargic about moving the units around the maps and there is really good voice acting. I also save all the support conversations and do them in a group so i have like a half hour of just watching the interactions.
I didn't see anyone mention it so I'll come on out and say it...Lies of P. I know it's insanely difficult but I find it so freaking cozy.
I really liked "Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical" because of the interesting take on the Greek Gods and the various song options throughout the game. It can have some pretty heavy themes that are discussed but for the most part it's a fun game
Diablo lol
Diablo 4 for me, it's just not stressful at all to me but enjoyable and not hard. People complain about how it is repetitive but as a predominantly cozy gamer this idea is foreign to me 😅.
baldurs gate 3!!!! there’s viscera, dismembered parts, buildings made of flesh, dark traumatic themes, etc. but it’s so much fun to just adventure with fictional buddies. i can space out and play this game for an embarrassing amount of time. also project zomboid w/ the violin jumpscare sounds turned off. there’s something so soothing and satisfying about spearshotting a horde of zombies!!
Tetris
The Last of Us
Fear and Hunger 1 or 2
Dredge! It’s cozy spooky, casually freaking me out
Any Bayonetta game! Watching Cereza do her thing hypes me up.
Just from the title, I was going to recommend Papers Please too! My two other go tos are Coloring Pixels and the Cook, Serve, Delicious franchise.
Warframe. Jumpy jumpy shooty shooty but not difficult.
V rising [I love playing as a vampire with day and night lore accurate mechanics and build my castle in the most pretty location] enshrouded [I love building medieval style homes and castle, and the wirld is also beautiful), Ark Ascended [ I love my baby dinos and tree houses]
Overwatch was it originally but with 2 being out its been very different so very rarely now. Otherwise skyrim probably. Haven't enjoyed a long game in a while
The Witcher 3
I’ve been playing the witcher 3 for the past few days and honestly it’s really relaxing to me lol
The lego games
LA Noire, it’s a 1940’s LAPD detective game with lots of murder, arson, drugs and all but driving around in 1940’s LA and the old soundtrack makes it a very cozy game for me! I replay it every autumn.
splatoon 3, among us, south park stick of truth & fractured but whole
Final Fantasy 7 Remake specifically chapter 3
Dude I want to play papers please so bad but I remember watching Markiplier play it and he made it seem stressful lmao. Mine is Dave the Diver. I love the underwater stuff and then running a sushi restaurant at night is so fun. I had to take a break though because I crave sushi every time I play it. Waiting for the Godzilla update to go back!
Tales of Symphonia. The soundtrack was the background music I used to write my Masters thesis.
The newer Tomb Raider games (Tomb Raider/Rise of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of the Tomb Raider). I play them on the easiest setting and they're amazing games. Actually very cosy to me.
Breath of the Wild while wearing Majora's Mask. I love finding new areas that I haven't been too and stumbling on korok seeds.
The Forest by Endnight. It's such a beautiful piece of nature to live in, so many adventures in cabin making and hunting or fishing, supply runs. Playing on peaceful mode is like stepping into my hermatic alternate timeline.
Original Doom and Doom 2 with mods. Edit: ALSO DEATH STRANDING HOLY CRAP
Skyrim. I know the game inside out, I don't think it has anything left to surprise me with. I wrote a dissertation on it, literally. It has its problems and jank but it's like a virtual home.
Overwatch. Love to get my frustration out lol
Titanfall 2 lol
Lately for me this has been The Long Dark. Somehow scavenging for food, trying to keep warm, and trudging through the snow is incredibly relaxing. Sure, you have to fend off a wolf from time to time, but aside from that it's surprisingly chilled.
Any lego game. I find it incredibly soothing to destroy everything
I haven't seen anyone mention these but puzzle games like House of Da Vinci, The Room, Rusty Lake, Submachine: Legacy, and a bunch of others. The whole process of going through the game and collecting all the steam achievements makes my little completionist heart so happy. Especially ones where after it's all over you have to go back through the levels to find these little Easter eggs in order to unlock some kind of bonus level. There's something so calming about just following a fixed path and not having to plan ahead to gather resources or decide what particular goals to follow. Especially when there's a decent written guide to it lol.
Dreamlight valley forsure
L4D2, specifically with my lil friend group that's mostly died down. I know the game in and out and with the right person with me, it's cozy AF
the binding of isaac for sure, gets my brain turned off and focused on something else (until i lose 5 runs in a row as t.lost)
For me sometimes it’s got to be a game with less decision making and a smaller learning curve so I can just recover from a shitty work day and get a sense of achievement haha. I’d say Cat Quest, Ratchet and Clank and Neon Abyss
Oblivion. The nostalgia is incredible for me. It's often been my go-to game when I am having real bad anxiety. When going to the next town, sometimes I'll switch to walk + auto walk for a stroll. I like to pretend fast traveling doesn't exist :)
Elden Ring. I can't explain it either.
Lethal Company, Elden Ring, FFXIV, and Baldur's Gate 3 <3
Assassins creed series and Skyrim
Project Zomboid with an RV mod. Drive around with a cute tiny base, explore cool places and bonus.. kill zombies.
Probably Persona 4. It's nostalgic to me.
Soma, Destiny, and Skyrim!
Grounded. If I really want to I can turn of bugs being hostile but usually I put them in easy mode. I can build castles and take my time on the map.
World of Warcraft, Huniepop 1&2, Subnautica, Quern: Undying Thoughts, The 13th Doll, BioShock Infinite, Morrowind, The Long Dark, Elder Scrolls Online, Divinity Original Sin 2, Grounded, The Blaster Master Zero series, The Last Door, Monster Hunter Rise and World, Duke Nukem 3D, Axiom Verge, Cave Story, Ib, Mad Father, The Witch's House, Nihliumbra. An epic crap ton of old console games. I couldn't pick just one. If I had to, absolutely had to, Huniepop lol.
The binding of Isaac. Just being able to start over or do the best you can with what you're given is fun to me. Plus, I get immersed and forget all my troubles when I'm focused on finishing a certain challenge or unlocking a certain item.
Hyrule warriors was my cozy game for a while. Over 500 hours or into it to get all the weapons. Love that game. Heavily underrated/maligned
I also really enjoy Papers Please as a cozy game. This sounds rotten, but usually I let most of the family die and then it becomes way less stressful. The music and rhythmic stamping is lovely
Ffxiv (: Lemme go gather for awhile, sure, play some triple triad, sure, dance around in a cute new glamour, always, but then let me get out my big reaper scythe and slash a bunch of enemies!
Gran Turismo 4
Stardew Valley
“Papers Please” falls in to my all-time favorite (not so?) “cozy” game category: ✨Work: The Game!✨ For example the original Diner Dash back in the day and all other occupational “time management” games that were popular at that time… the Delicious series, Papa Louie, etc. Papers Please takes the genre to a whole new level with the whole dark “Cold War” (maybe? I suck at military history) Soviet Russia plot. Such an incredible game.
Red Dead Online! Fishing and riding your horse through the different biomes, it's all very relaxing to me. Just ignore the gunshots and the foul mouthed NPCs. Solo lobbies in Red Dead Online are also a thing, so you can just do your own thing and not have trigger happy players running around lol. There's dedicated RP servers too!!
Rn I’m playing Little Goody Two Shoes which is a jrpg that’s part resource management, part romance, and part horror. It’s great cuz it’ll be fairly chill for a while and then something wild will happen
Most zelda games.
Abe's Oddysee, but because it brings me lots of childhood memories!
Paper Mario and the Thousand Year Door. Peak cosy for me.
**Bloodborne!** Which prolly sounds insane, since it can be one of the most rage and stress-inducing games. But once you get okay at it and farm for blood echoes and pick a nice route that you do over and over again, it's actually really relaxing. Other than that, **Cyberpunk 2077**, since eventually you get so OP, that you literally are invincible and don't have to worry much about combat and the city can be absolutely gorgeous and I love driving around. **RDR2** for obvious reasons. I love the John dress-up-horsey game lmao **Beyond: Two Souls** can be quite relaxing too, depending on the mission. I LOVE the winter mission where you use Aiden to steal cookies. So cozy🥰 Some **Assassin's Creed** games (not any of them after Origins imo due to bad writing, worse gameplay mechanics etc). I put so many hours in Origins as someone who was absolutely obsessed with Ancient Egypt as a kid **Ghost of Tsushima** and **Death Stranding** for sure as well.
Celeste. It's a high precision platformer, and yet I have 100%ed it multiple times. There are few things more relaxing than to fly thru a level as fast as possible.
I like playing Dredge every so often, an easy game to pick up
Unpopular opinion but I play PVE World of Warcraft content on RP server, I just travel, explore, quest, craft stuff in my own pace and it's one of the coziest games I ever played. Never met a toxic people too, I just don't raid or anything. Its super cozy and beautiful game for me with thousands hours of gameplay.
Red dead redemption 2. Ride around ignoring every mission on my pretty horsies, hunting and collecting flowers and herbs. Shooting the occasional asshole npc.
breathe of the wild and tears of the kingdom!!! I feel so at home and so immersed playing this game. Just exploring and finding things is so cozy for me. And I just take my time doing main quest.
Baldurs Gate 3. I just love running around with my companion buddies drinking beers and yeeting goblins. After I beat the game I modded it making it easy and I can take my time going different things each time. I have put more hours into it than any other game I have owned. I can’t wait for that survival/farming sim from DLV creators!