Sometimes you want a game that feels like a soft blanket and a warm mug of your favorite hot beverage. Doubly so if you just spent a week grinding through sweaty shooters, tense boss fights, or anything with a ranked ladder breathing down your neck
Cozy games are the perfect antidote to that burnout. And while Stardew Valley inspired a whole generation of comforting farming sims, cozy doesn’t have to mean planting crops or juggling daily checklists. Cute as they are, not everyone wants virtual chores when they’re trying to unwind.
So, for this list, we focused on non-farming cozy games that are relaxing in spirit, mechanically gentle, and available on Steam. The goal was simple: find titles you can sink into when you’re tired, overwhelmed, or just not in the mood to sweat. Games that are compelling and comforting, but without turning your downtime into a second job.
Metacritic scores helped shape our picks, but just as important was covering a wide range of genres, so that you can pick the exact flavor of cozy you’re craving.
12 honorary mentions
Before we kick off the main shortlist, here are a few of honorary mentions:
- Journey—from the art director of ABZÛ came an outstanding puzzle adventure with a cozy atmosphere and a seamlessly executed co-op gimmick.
- Fear the Spotlight—something out of the left field, the coziest horror game you’ll ever play.
- Gaucho and the Grassland—technically a farming sim, but without crop farming; just you, cattle, fish, and the vast Argentinian horizon.
- Potion Permit—a fun indie that combines pixel coziness and alchemy.
- Kind Words (lo fi chill beats to write to)—pen words of encouragement for real people, or send a request and receive some of your own. A uniquely cozy experience with an outstanding soundtrack.
- TOEM—arguably the coziest black-and-white game to date.
- GRIS—a beautiful comfort platformer about a girl dealing with loss.
- Dordogne—a cozy coming-of-age story with a mesmerizing watercolor aesthetic.
- Townscaper—a goal-free sandbox city builder with an idyllic setting reminiscent of a cozy Italian town.
- Dystopika—imagine Townscaper, but replace the Italian coastline with Blade Runner‘s LA. Yes, the end result is still cozy, maybe even more so.
- Persona 4 / Persona 4 Golden—in spite of being structured like a murder mystery, its immaculate atmosphere, catchy soundtrack, and outstanding cast brought to life by some of the best voice actors in the business today make it play like a cozy school summer recess adventure.
- Almost any Kairosoft game (Epic Astro Story, Game Dev Story, Dungeon Village 2, etc.). Kairosoft games all follow the same formula involving pixel graphics, a cozy setting, and management sim gameplay focused on making numbers go. They are very well-paced and comforting to play. Apart from the rare exception like Pocket Harvest, most Kairosoft games don’t have farming mechanics and despite being mobile-first titles, they don’t have daily tasks either.
10. Donut County
- Metacritic: 77/100
- Genre: Physics Puzzler
- Release Date: August 28, 2018
- Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS
- Why It’s Cozy: Short, very forgiving physics puzzles that are satisfying to solve, paired with upbeat music, charming graphics, and a lot of humor.
Donut County is basically reverse Katamari with raccoons and trash. Instead of sticking things to a ball, you swallow them with a hole. Anything that falls in makes the hole bigger, letting you swallow larger and larger objects until you’ve hoovered up the entire level. There’s a story about gentrification and terrible raccoon decisions, but moment-to-moment, it’s just about the simple pleasure of watching objects plop into the void. Levels are small, making them straightforward to clear.
The whole game is a few hours long, making it ideal for a single lazy weekend or a couple of evenings. There are no lives, no fail states, no high score grind—just playful physics, a fun soundtrack, and a tone that never takes itself seriously. If you’re too tired for a sprawling cozy sim and just want something self-contained and toy-like, Donut County is a great one-and-done comfort play.
9. Little Kitty, Big City
- Metacritic: 79/100
- Genre: Sandbox Adventure
- Release Date: May 9, 2024
- Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
- Why It’s Cozy: You’re a silly cat in a small city, free to explore, collect hats, and cause harmless trouble.
Little Kitty, Big City is one of those games where objectives technically exist, but the real fun is just being a menace in the cutest way possible. You’re a cat that’s fallen out of an apartment window, and technically you’re trying to get back home. In practice, you’re squeezing into boxes, knocking over plant pots, pestering birds, and befriending other animals. The city is compact and dense with tiny interactions that feel more like playground equipment than “content.”
Because there’s no combat and no real punishment, you can just vibe. Quests are short and silly (“steal this fish,” “find all hats”), and the controls are forgiving enough that nothing feels fiddly. It’s the perfect pick if you’re mentally done with more demanding games and just want to spend a few hours as a ridiculously round cat doing crimes that reset the moment you walk away.
8. Coffee Talk
- Metacritic: 79/100
- Genre: Visual Novel
- Release Date: January 29, 2020
- Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
- Why It’s Cozy: Night-shift barista sim where you listen to people’s problems and make them warm drinks.
Coffee Talk is like a visual novel, and a coffee shop ASMR video had a baby. You’re a barista in an alternate-universe Seattle, serving fantasy creatures—werewolves, succubi, elves—who have extremely human problems. Each night you open the café, chat with regulars, and brew drinks based on very loose recipes. There’s no strict fail state; messing up a drink mostly just changes dialogue and gives you a reason to replay a scene.
The cozy factor comes from the whole package: the lo-fi soundtrack, the rainy city backdrop, and the slow, text-heavy pacing that invites you to read rather than react. If you’re exhausted by games that constantly demand skill expression, Coffee Talk throws that formula out the window, requiring only some empathy and maybe remembering who likes what in their latte.
7. Dungeons of Hinterberg
- Metacritic: 80/100
- Genre: Action RPG
- Release Date: July 18, 2024
- Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
- Why It’s Cozy: Vacation-in-the-Alps vibes with Persona-like social downtime and incredible accessibility.
Dungeons of Hinterberg is one of the coziest action RPGs in recent memory, maybe ever. The game casts you as a burned-out lawyer on a holiday in an Alpine town where dungeons have become tourist attractions.
Days are split between exploring colorful locations full of monsters and puzzles and hanging out in town, chatting up locals, and slowly building relationships. The art leans hard into flat colors and stylized landscapes, which keeps the whole thing feeling more like a summer anime than a grim RPG grind.
While no sweatfest can be considered truly cozy, Dungeons of Hinterberg is nothing of the sort. It’s a highly accessible experience with multiple difficulty options, including the self-explanatory Vacation Mode that lets you just chill. With a good part of the game being dedicated to building your social links, this debut title from studio Microbird Games plays like an incredibly cozy blend of Switch-era Zelda titles and Persona.
6. Station to Station
- Metacritic: 80/100
- Genre: Management Sim
- Release Date: October 3, 2023
- Platforms: PC
- Why It’s Cozy: Low-stress railway building with chunky voxel art, simple goals, and comforting visual rewards.
Station to Station is a train game for people who don’t want to memorize signal rules. Each level hands you a handful of stations and industries, then asks you to connect them with rail lines so resources can flow. You’re nudged toward efficiency, but the stakes never feel punishing; it’s more “huh, I can optimize this” than “oh god, my entire network is collapsing.” The voxel dioramas morph from dry desert to lush forests as you succeed, which is incredibly satisfying to witness.
Because levels are self-contained, you’re not stuck with a single “forever save” like in heavier sims. You can hop in, solve a map in 10–20 minutes, admire your tiny world, and hop out. The soundtrack and sound design are very “podcast in the background”-friendly, too. It’s perfect if you want something a bit more thinky than a walking sim, but still nowhere near the stress of a hardcore management game.
5. Islanders
- Metacritic: 82/100
- Genre: City Builder
- Release Date: April 4, 2019
- Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, Meta Quest
- Why It’s Cozy: Minimalist city building, short runs, no disasters, just vibes plus (optional) score chasing.
Islanders is what happens if someone takes a city builder, strips out all the spreadsheets and catastrophes, and leaves you with a handful of buildings and some extremely pretty islands. You place structures in ways that earn points based on adjacency: lumberjacks near forests, houses near city centers, that sort of thing. When you hit the target score, you move on to a new island. Runs are short, so nothing feels like a long-term commitment.
There’s no traffic congestion drama, no citizens rioting, no climate disasters to juggle. Just chill, puzzle-y placement and satisfying “click” moments when a layout works out better than expected. If you like building games but don’t have the mental bandwidth for a 70-hour save file right now, Islanders scratches the same itch in teeny tiny relaxing sessions.
4. A Short Hike
- Metacritic: 82/100
- Genre: Adventure
- Release Date: July 30, 2019
- Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
- Why It’s Cozy: A tiny open world with no pressure—just climbing, gliding, and chatting with cute animals.
A Short Hike feels like someone shrunk an open-world game, removed all the grind, and kept only the good bits. You’re a little bird trying to get cell reception at the top of a mountain, but you can take as long as you like getting there. On the way, you’re fishing, helping strangers, gliding over forests, and poking into tiny secrets. The stakes are microscopic, the writing is warm and slightly goofy, and the music is chill distilled.
What makes A Short Hike great when you’re burnt out is how free-form it is. The game never judges how efficiently you’re playing. Don’t feel like climbing yet? Go dig up treasure or race a kid instead. Progress is mostly about collecting golden feathers to climb and glide better, but you’ll pick them up naturally just by indulging your curiosity. It’s the digital equivalent of a weekend cabin trip with zero obligations.
3. Botany Manor
- Metacritic: 83/100
- Genre: Puzzle Adventure
- Release Date: April 9, 2024
- Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
- Why It’s Cozy: Calm environmental puzzles, gentle pacing, and a sunny English manor full of plants.
Botany Manor is all about wandering around a stately home in the countryside, figuring out how to help unusual plants grow. Its puzzles have you reading notes, picking up little clues, and experimenting with conditions (time of day, temperature, placement) until your strange flowers finally bloom. There’s no timer, no penalty for being wrong, just the soothing feeling of a quiet afternoon spent puttering about a garden.
Because you’re uncovering more about the protagonist’s life and career through documents and postcards, it doubles as a light narrative experience without ever becoming text-heavy. The manor itself feels safe and self-contained; you’re just moving between cozy rooms, greenhouses, and lawns with birdsong in the background. If you like the idea of puzzle-solving but don’t want to be punished for not “getting it” immediately, this is a very low-pressure, tea-sipping kind of game.
2. ABZÛ
- Metacritic: 83/100
- Genre: Adventure
- Release Date: August 2, 2016
- Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Amazon Luna
- Why It’s Cozy: Pure underwater exploration with no combat, gorgeous visuals, and a meditative soundtrack.
ABZÛ is what you should play when your brain feels like a tangled cable. You’re a diver in a vast ocean, swimming through schools of fish, ancient ruins, and sunlit caverns. There’s essentially no HUD, no quest log yelling at you, just light environmental interactions and the occasional gentle “where do I go next?” nudge. The Austin Wintory soundtrack and the color palettes do a lot of the heavy lifting here—ABZÛ is audio-visual comfort food.
The game is also short and structured in clear chapters, so you can either binge it in one sitting or use it as a wind-down after a long day. Instead of asking you to perform, ABZÛ invites you to drift, observe, and occasionally hitch a ride on a whale. Virtual diving doesn’t get any cozier than this.
1. What Remains of Edith Finch
- Metacritic: 89/100
- Genre: Walking Sim
- Release Date: April 25, 2017
- Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, iOS
- Why It’s Cozy: Slow, linear, no fail states. You just walk, observe, and sink into poignant stories.
What Remains of Edith Finch is basically a rainy-afternoon book turned into a game. You’re just wandering through a weird old house, opening doors, and dropping into short, self-contained vignettes about each member of a dying family. There’s no combat, no puzzles to get stuck on for hours, just gentle interaction and really smart uses of first-person storytelling. It’s emotionally heavy at times, but while still managing to be comforting.
The house feels lived-in and tactile, full of little environmental details you can poke at without worrying about missing a “perfect route” or min-maxing anything. It’s cozy in the way a good, sad novel can be cozy: contemplative, intimate, and done before it overstays its welcome.
