18 Cozy Games That Feel Like A Warm Blanket

Disney Dreamlight Valley could have been an easy cash grab that put House of Mouse characters in a serviceable life sim, happy to take most of its cues from giants like Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon. To be sure, that idyllic day-to-day farming, decorating, and adventuring DNA that destroys your time is front and center in Dreamlight Valley, but the RPG surprised everyone by putting its own spin on the genre. Not only does Dreamlight Valley make clever use of all the Disney movies it taps, but the dialogue is richer than what you’ll find in most other games in the genre. In addition to experiencing the mystery and wonder the game evokes, you’ll also live alongside many iconic villains—life in the valley always keeps you on your toes.—Patricia Hernandez

Try to imagine something cozier than wearing a big snuggly Christmas jumper, there’s a fire roaring, and you’re calmly and methodically placing in pieces of a lovely 1,000 piece jigsaw. It’s the holiday idyll, you can practically see the first few flakes of snow falling out the frosted windows, as a kindly aunt bustles in with a lovely mug of hot chocolate for you. And while all that might sound ridiculously unlikely this year, you can get awfully close to recreating it with Jigsaw Puzzle Dreams.

This is unlike any other jigsaw puzzle game you might have seen released on Steam. First of all, it’s all set in a 3D home that you can decorate as you wish. Secondly, it embraces physics, where every other jigsaw sim saps the concept of all its tangible life. So whether at a table, on the upstairs landing, or just sprawled out on the living room floor, you can take on any of the game’s dozens of jigsaw designs, or import any picture of your own, then click it all together. You can pick how many pieces, up to ludicrous numbers in the high thousands, and then meticulously sort the edges from the insides, pile them up or spread them out however you wish, and get to work.

It’s such an authentic recreation, but with limitless numbers of puzzles, no clutter, and no losing pieces in the couch. (Although you genuinely can have them fall off the table, given the accuracy of the physics.)—John Walker

This new chapter in the Monkey Island saga, which sees series creator Ron Gilbert returning to the helm for the first time since 1991's Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge, might not seem like a natural fit for a list of cozy games. It’s about pirates, after all! But it really is a delightfully warm, pleasant game. If you grew up with Guybrush and his early adventures, it feels all the more like reuniting with an old friend as he reflects on how life both is and isn’t what he thought it would be, but you don’t need that background to set sail with Guybrush on this adventure. He’s eminently likable, one of the great charmers in all of video games, and that’s still the case in this poignant, heartfelt, funny adventure. Oh, and if banging your head against adventure game puzzles sounds like the opposite of cozy to you, rest assured both that the puzzles here are actually sensible and well-designed, and that you can just use the game’s built-in hint system to keep things moving along. —Carolyn Petit

First of all, I have a confession. I haven’t actually played Potion Craft. What business do I have, then, putting it on a cozy games list, you may ask? A very fair question. Well, I’ve certainly spent plenty of time watching people play it as a way of relaxing late at night. For instance, this video by ASMR creator (or “ASMRtist”) JubileeWhispers does a great job of introducing you to the game’s basics in a way that’s as chill and centering as the game itself.

You play as a novice alchemist who moves to an abandoned home that once belonged to a wizard. You soon begin making potions for the townspeople, which involves the wonderfully tactile business of grinding ingredients in a mortar and pestle. It’s so satisfying and calming to watch, and I can only imagine that it’s only more so to play. (One of these days I’ll actually try it myself!) There’s great progression systems, haggling mechanics, new recipes to learn and skills to acquire. But it all stays calm and pleasant, with a wonderful art style that’s easy on the eyes and conducive to a low-key mood.

(Incidentally, JubileeWhispers has tons of other relaxing game-related videos on her channel as well. She even makes driving around in GTA V a cozy, calming experience.)—Carolyn Petit

Listen, it has cozy right in the name. But if that’s still not enough to sell you, imagine this: you’re on a seemingly deserted island that you quickly learn is populated with the spirits of various bears. You play as a Spirit Scout, and it’s your job to help these lost spirits find their way. Each character has their own story, and some are open to your guidance while others are apprehensive.

Cozy Grove encourages players to take things slow and works in real-time. In many ways, it draws comparison to Animal Crossing. Both offer new things to do and collect each day and seasonal changes. But Cozy Grove has a bit more heart to it. It’s much more emotionally resonant than it first appears and features meatier dialogue but without becoming too gritty or dark.

A mashup of old English fairy tales and Stardew Valley village-simming, Kynseed is a luscious pixel art chillout game with something for everyone. You can become a farming tycoon, master blacksmith, famous merchant, fearless dungeon explorer, or something else altogether. When you die your children take over, making for a journey that spans multiple generations, but mostly it’s just to putz around and fiddle with its myriad systems—from fishing to planting—in a very pretty world. The game still feels like it’s in Early Access, but what’s there is welcoming and full of promise.—Ethan Gach

It’s coloring book that’s also a coffee shop where people chat about life without judging one another. You can think of Chicory: A Colorful Tale as a breezy RPG adventure where you make friends and unlock secrets about the world around you by doodling with a paint brush. If you don’t come to it with your mind already relaxed, Chicory will quiet it down soon enough with its generous characters and intimate conversations about art, creativity, and flourishing. Imagine Undertale without the nihilism. There’s tension but no stress. The game will even tell you exactly where to go next if you know how to ask.

Core Keeper not-so-quietly took over Steam earlier this year. A Minecraft block-puncher about digging through caves and making them feel like home, it’s as if you took Terraria’s 2D levels and turned them into top down labyrinths. There are slimes to fight, light RPG elements, and the occasional boss fight, but the real emphasis is on taking all the junk you harvest and using it to build an underground paradise dotted with crop gardens and smelting depots. Still in Early Access, Core Keeper has nevertheless delivered several updates in 2022, adding new biomes, tools, and features, including a recent holiday patch that turns your network of tunnels into a festive winter wonderland.—Ethan Gach

What’s more chill and cozy than just sitting around looking at some Pokémon? Yeah, you’re inside an autonomous vehicle. And sure, you’re supposed to take pictures, but no one is stopping you from just kicking back and enjoying the ride. Though there’s a bit of tension at first as you feel the pressure to perform for Professor Mirror and friends, after a few trips through the New Pokémon Snap islands, you realize you can do this all day. Time is meaningless, and the pocket monsters will always be there, waiting for you to take some pictures. Or just wave as you float on by. I see you, Pikachu. I see you.

Potions, potions, potions. That’s the heart and soul of Little Witch in the Woods, and it could not be represented in a more charming and lovely way. You play as an apprentice named Ellie who makes a home for herself in a mystical wood, discovering new plant species and making concoctions out of them to help her neighbors. Rather than hoarding resources or crafting new tools, you follow specific recipes—measuring ingredients and monitoring your cauldron—to make the perfect potion for every occasion. It’s another Early Access game, but developer Sunny Side Up is aiming for a full release next year.—Ethan Gach

The recent granddaddy of cozy games, which got plenty of new life with its massive 2021 update and the subsequent release of its Happy Home Paradise DLC. The update added new items, more NPCs (including a few old player favorites), and new ways to spruce up your home with accent walls and ceiling decor. Happy Home Paradise built on that even more with yet more items, a new currency, gameplay challenges, and interior design details like the ability to shine furniture and add partition walls and counters. New Horizons is still arguably the chillest game in town.

Garden Story is a Zelda-like dungeon crawler in which you solve puzzles and defeat the invasive Rot…as a tiny grape warrior. While the mechanics aren’t the most intuitive, Garden Story makes up for it with nostalgic GBA charm. There’s always something unique to discover in the game’s colorful world, which is filled with quirky fruit and animal characters with unique personalities. Garden Story is an ideal game for anyone looking for a bit of nostalgia but with a creative twist.

Skatebird asks the question: What if you stuck a cute bird on a skateboard? We have all, at one point or another, asked this question. Now, we have our answer. While it might not be the most competent skateboarding game ever made, it’s charming and cozy, with wonderfully adorable birds dealing with problems and asking you to solve them all with, you guessed it folks, a skateboard. Truly, what more can you ask for? (Besides better grinding physics.)

In real life, few things are more stressful than unpacking. But in a video game, unpacking is apparently a huge delight. That’s all you do in Unpacking, an isometric puzzle game from Australian indie studio Witch Beam: open up boxes and empty their contents. Every level plays out during a pivotal move in an unnamed woman’s life. One moment, you might be opening up boxes in a dorm room; the next, you’re taking the step of moving in with a partner. Along the way, you learn about her friends, her family, her interests and hobbies, and her off-center habits. Twee music, cartoonish art, and a preponderance of chicken dolls all further contribute to a game that seems designed for an evening in. Just don’t let yourself get too cozy: In its final act, Unpacking packs a surprising emotional wallop.

You know how Donut County didn’t quite work? Like, the idea of a giant hole swallowing everything was amazing, and the presentation was wonderful, but as a puzzle game, it never delivered on its awesome conceit? Sizeable is the game that does something similar and really gets it right.

It’s all about resizing everything in little diorama-like levels. Buildings, trees, windmills, batteries, mine carts, servings of fries. You do this to find each of the 21 levels’ three monoliths, which must be placed on marked locations (at the correct size) to complete the challenge. Sometimes this is too simple, essentially shaking the very pretty picture until they fall out, but other times it makes for some superb puzzles. One level involves working out how to influence the weather to create a tornado all to turn a windmill, to power a machine, to move a wall.

It looks so gorgeous you’ll want to cuddle your screen. And even when the puzzles are weaker, the whole thing is so endearing, so toy-like, that it’s just a pleasure to be with. It’s only made better when you learn it’s created by a developer called Business Goose Studios, whose emblem is…a penguin.

There’s nothing quite like solving puzzles while kittens purr and mew around you.

Meow Lab is essentially a tile-based puzzle game, in which you rearrange electric circuits to match the numbers of prongs on the sides of adjacent squares. And this works–it’s a solid puzzle idea, well executed, with bright, colorful, super-clear graphics. But the genius is the cats, who honestly serve no coherent purpose other than to prowl about at the bottom of the screen, offering occasional kitteny meows, perhaps having a little wash. Why? Because that just makes stuff better.

Oh, and there are the accompanying room-height jars containing what look like baby Cthulhu, but don’t worry about those. I mean, genuinely, they play no purpose in the game. Then again, nor do the kitties I suppose, but they’re very welcome. It’s so nonchalantly strange, and bless it for that.

Kasi is simply about growing a tree. You begin with some ground, and some sky, and I guess, in some way, it’s a game about connecting the two. Drawing a line from below the soil, up into the air above, you create your first shoot. From this, you can draw new branches and, indeed, new roots. And with water and sunlight you gain the ability to just keep on growing.

This itself would already be a superbly meditative experience, but things are more nuanced. There are special ways to combine shoots and leaves, which will eventually allow you to absorb moonlight, grow flowers, and then fruits. More magical, all your actions create the game’s score–each addition you draw plays a note, developing the ambience while the sun sets, the moon rises, summer turns to fall, animals wander in to nibble your fruit, and weather patterns roll through. The result is magical.

Dorfromantik has all the pleasures of a relaxing night of board gaming without needing the actual board. Or friends, either. It’s not even based on an existing board game. Dorfromantik is its own new thing, and its near-perfect system of placing landscape tiles to build a slice of village countryside is just a wonderfully chill experience. Yeah, there are points and combos available if you want to actually play it as a game, but like Townscaper, even your “worst” Dorfromantik session can still just be an excuse to build something beautiful.