Paper Trail
PC—PS5— XSX— Switch— PS4— XB1— And— iOS | May 21, 2024
For our first relaxing game, we have Paper Trail. An adorable puzzle game about a budding astrophysicist who finds herself on a strange adventure. Here you help Page run away from home through the art of origami. I personally love the puzzles and I just love the feeling of “unfolding” a new chapter with a few careful moves, or even a stroke of luck. If you play on your phones or tablets, you can even play it free with a Netflix account.
Minami Lane
PC | Feb 28, 2024
Next up is Minami Lane. This is a casual management game where you build a bustling street filled with homes, parks, stores, and whatever your citizens desire. Aside from customizing buildings by their colors and styles, you can even manage each building’s inventory, recipes, and prices. There are new missions to tackle on each run, but you can also take it slow in Sandbox Mode.
Botany Manor
PC—XSX—Switch—XB1 | Apr 9, 2024
Fans of Strange Horticulture will probably love our next game: Botany Manor where you play as a retired botanist, researching all sorts of flora to discover how to regrow a long-forgotten plant. While the plants are all fantasy and the playtime is a little short, if you love puzzles and research, you’ll definitely enjoy your little vacation in this bright, summer house. You can get this game free with your Xbox Game Pass.
Garden Life: A Cozy Simulator
PC—PS5—XSX—Switch—PS4—XB1 | Feb 22, 2024
If your idea of relaxing is taking care of plants without the puzzles, then Garden Life is probably more your style. Garden Life is all about creating your dream garden, and all the hard work that comes with it. Like clearing out weeds, plotting your garden, choosing your plants, and watering them every day. With enough love, you’ll have your beautiful garden with plenty of flowering plants you can sell as bouquets. For the plant lovers, it also has a plant encyclopedia that shows you all the plants you’ve discovered with instructions for their care.
If you want to really immerse in your garden, I would suggest avoiding the Switch version. The visual and performance downgrades just makes the experience less.
Palia
Our next game is Palia. Palia has a big, vibrant 3D world where you can craft, cook, fish, hunt, and catch bugs…on top of taking care of your farmhouse home. Palia also has a multiplayer, so you can invite friends to enjoy the scenery with. It’s free to play and it can last as long as you want. The only downside is, you’ll have to pay in cash for their cute outfits.
Echoes of the Plum Grove
PC | Apr 30, 2024
Echoes of the Plum Grove isn’t your usual farming game. As the newest villager in the town of Honeywoood, you’ll still have to socialize, farm, and forage. What makes it different is its survival elements. Not only will you have to stock up for winter, you’ll also need to manage hygiene and vaccinations. Luckily the game manages the balancing act, resulting in loads of funny interactions and a fun story to boot.
Ikonei Island: An Earthlock Adventure
PC—PS5—XSX—Switch—PS4—Xbox One | 2024
For more cozy games with a survivalist twist, here comes Ikonei Island: An Earthlock Adventure. As four kids who find themselves stranded on a magical island, your mission is to bring the island back to its shining, sunny glory. The story isn’t the game’s strong suit, but it has a large map you can explore, filled with animals to befriend. Every purchased game comes with a free Friends Pass copy that you can give out to friends so you can explore together for the first two hours.
Time to Morp
PC | Mar 7, 2024
This next game kind of reminds me of Slime Rancher. Time to Morp is a simulation game where you colonize adorable alien Morps for resources and build an empire out of it. With the game’s many automations, you can create a well-oiled Morp machine for maximum efficiency. Or go the scenic route by discovering everything about this unknown planet. Your relaxation depends entirely on you.
Tamagotchi Adventure Kingdom
iOS | Jan 4, 2024
For cozy gamers on the iPhone, you’ll want to check out Tamagotchi Adventure Kingdom. You play as Mametchi who--after an apologetic meteor crashes into Tamagotchi planet--runs around town, meeting up with his iconic friends and offering help to whoever needs it. It’s a casual adventure, with simple quests, crafting and decorating, and some cute locations to explore. If you already have an Apple Arcade subscription, I highly recommend this.
Furnish Master
PC | Feb 20, 2024
Enough about planetary adventures for a moment. Furnish Master lets you enjoy the simple pleasure of decorating a room. It plays a little similarly to Unpacking, except instead of just arranging their belongings, you get to rearrange furniture, decide their colors, and interact with the room. There’s a story mode where you can go from small rooms to entire offices and houses. But, you can also have a zen designing session in Sandbox.
Princess Peach: Showtime!
Switch | Mar 22, 2024
Next, we have Princess Peach: Showtime. This is Peach’s first time in the spotlight and boy does she shine. In Showtime, Peach can transform into an array of different characters, from detective to ninja, to baker…each translating to a different kind of gameplay.
It’s mostly aimed at kids so the mechanics are pretty simple. Even the combat is forgiving. It’s about 8 hours of playtime for the main story, and you can just jump om every time you feel like being the star of your own show.
Sticky Business
PC—Switch | Jul 17, 2023 (PC), Apr 17, 2024 (Switch)
Who hasn’t dreamt about starting their own sticker business? Sticky Business lets you do just that. Not only can you make your own cute stickers within the game, you also get the satisfaction of packing them for your customers who send you little notes about their lives. You can really let your imagination shine as you ruffle through the game’s library of sticker elements.
With the Plan With Me DLC, you can get a few more notes from customers, as well as new sticker elements and stationery for bullet journaling!
Fabledom
PC | May 13, 2024
Our next game is Fabledom, a cozy city building game set in a fantasy-filled medieval age. Essentially, Fabledom is a dating sim where you choose from 6 eligible rulers to woo with your own kingdom’s strength or economy. Although it has some of the micromanaging of the usual City Builders, Fabledom’s magical elements and cute visuals manage to keep it light. It’s out on PC, with console versions coming later this year.
Pine Hearts
Another relaxing game in the same vein is Pine Hearts. The game’s main character is Tyke, a cute little hiker who enjoys doing small favors for his neighbors. The more you explore the world, the more of his childhood memories you can unlock, and let me tell you, this one’s a tearjerker. For all its simplicity, Pine Hearts is a wholesome and heartfelt experience.
Spirit City: Lofi Sessions
PC | Apr 8, 2024
Spirit City: Lofi Sessions puts a relaxing spin on your day-to-day productivity. Inspired by the Lofi Hip Hop Beats to Study To, Spirit City gives your own cozy space with lofi hip hop, a cute pet, and the soothing white noise of raindrops and crackling fire. You can personalize this space by customizing your character from head to toe, and decorating your room with all sorts of cute knickknacks. I think the best thing about it is that it actually has productivity tools you can use, like a pomodoro timer that times you for short focus sessions.
Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley
Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley is set in the same world as Tove Jansson’s children’s book series. You play as Snufkin who returns to Moominvalley hoping to reunite with his best friend only to find him missing.
In his search, we get to meet the iconic residents of the valley and solve puzzles with Snufkin’s handy harmonica. With its music and colorful Nordic landscapes, it really does feel like a storybook come to life. It’s already out on Switch and PC. A version for Android and iOS is coming out later this year.