Highlights
- Video games provide a comforting escape from the challenges of life and immerse players in engaging experiences.
- Cozy games offer a more casual and relaxing gameplay experience, allowing players to unwind without critical thinking.
- From controlling a house cat in Stray to exploring a wooly world in Yoshi's Wooly World , there are various cozy games available to suit different preferences.
Life can be hard -- a cruel fact that slowly dawns on many the older they get. That's why video games can be comforting to a lot of people. It helps them keep their minds off of the troubling things in life, whether it be work, family, health issues, and so on. There are a lot of mediums to go to for distractions, like movies or anime, but video games are the one interactive thing that can help fully immerse players in an engaging experience.
Players can travel to the past, like in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, or they can go to more fantastical realms like Eorzea in Final Fantasy 14. Those examples are a bit more intense, and sometimes players want something a bit more casual at home to unwind to. Something that can feel like a warm fuzzy blanket where not a lot of critical thinking is needed. That's where cozy games come into play.
8 Stray
There aren’t a lot of games out there that let players control a seemingly ordinary house cat. In Stray, players get separated from their pack and stumble into a futuristic city of androids. It’s a puzzle platformer at its core, and it can be intense. There are moments of combat and chase which could prove stressful for some. However, getting to explore such a cool area as a cat can be calming enough to recommend it on this list. Catlateral Damage was a close second choice for another cat-related adventure.
7 Disney Illusion Island
Disney Illusion Island is the latest game in the Illusion series and the first in about a decade. Mickey, Donald, Minnie, and Goofy all wind up on a mysterious island wherein they get enlisted to help save the native people. Players can choose to play as any of these four character and can swap on the fly. Also, the game offers a four-player co-op for big multiplayer groups. The nice thing about this casual Metroidvania is that there is no combat, and players can adjust damage levels for a more accessible experience.
6 Yoshi’s Wooly World
Yoshi’s Wooly World is another platformer on the list that offers co-op in a two-player option. Cozy games are supposed to give players warm and fuzzy vibes, right? What could be cozier than playing in a world made out of wool, yarn, construction paper, and other creative items?
There is combat, and it can be difficult to 100% levels, but a lot of the harder stuff can be avoided. Kirby’s Epic Yarn preceded this, which also used household items for its visual style. Nintendo should test out more of their series with this aesthetic.
5 Chicory: A Colorful Tale
Chicory: A Colorful Tale’s gameplay basics are right in the title. The world has lost its color, and it’s up to the player to bring it all back via a magic paintbrush. The game visually looks like a black-and-white coloring book, and players can mess around with colors in the environment and with colors they choose for NPCs. It’s a creative puzzle game that has the bonus feature of co-op. It’s a chill game with plenty to do, and the puzzles aren’t going to cause any aneurysms.
4 Tetris Effect
Tetris Effect is the most chill entry in this series, and it probably won’t be topped. It launched on PS4 first and support for the PSVR headset. This created an almost trance-like experience like no other that is hard to describe. The visuals, headset, and headphones all coalesced into this groovy vibe. The multiplayer version via Tetris Effect: Connected is also worth giving a nod to as it added multiplayer. The VR version is this game in its purest form, though.
3 Minecraft
Minecraft is the LEGO equivalent for the digital space. From day one, in the alpha build, players were getting wildly creative. Now, a decade plus later, fans have recreated entire cities in Minecraft. That may sound too intense to be a cozy game, but that’s the great thing about Minecraft.
Players can easily wake up, grab some coffee and breakfast, and then sit at their computer and console all day without feeling the burn in their pajamas. The online connectivity also makes it fun to join friends for a giant creative bonding exercise.
2 Journey
Journey is the indie game that broke through the mold the hardest in the early years. It invited casual players into an otherwise hardcore platform that was the PS3. There is no combat, only exploration, and it’s a short jaunt as well. Players can meet a random person online along the way and make the journey together. The brilliant thing is that players couldn’t communicate vocally, which created this almost haunted and surreal experience.
1 Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the ultimate definition of a cozy game. It was THE cozy game of the pandemic, which was released just before things started to lock down in North America. Players could go to their own place on this new island paradise to get away from the world. They could plant trees, harvest rocks for materials, talk to NPCs, and so on. They could also invite friends digitally to come check out their island; it’s the best integration of multiplayer in an Animal Crossing game so far.