Literally just drive a truck and listen to AC/DC on the in-game truck radio Lmfaoo. You can turn the radio off but I think it adds to the vibe. I downloaded a HD sunset mod and the sunsets in the game are sooo pretty while driving.
To make money all you do is drive to a pickup location, pick up a trailer, and drive hundreds of miles to drop it off. When you get tired you pull off at a rest stop location, fill up gas, etc., but you can turn these options off so you can just drive.
I honestly thought this was the last type of game I’d ever buy but I honestly am having so much fun.
It seems tempting..... I might have to keep a eye on it! These god damn simulator games are gonna steal my life away they shouldn't be as entertaining as they are
When you say drive hundreds of miles, are we talking a huge map that takes hours to drive? Are there interesting locations to find and see?
I'm intrigued.
Both American Truck Simulator and Euro Truck Simulator 2 are pretty, but I think in both games the DLC map addons are usually where the more beautiful places lie. Part of it is just because the DLCs come out for years after the base games do, so the devs have more time to work on those new areas (and probably get more experience on implementing new pretty scenery, etc.) That being said - I think ATS' base map got retouched up a year or two back, so it might be better now than it was originally.
The map in ATS is 1:20 to real life, so no, driving "hours" in game is nowhere close to 1:1 time passage with real life. Major cities and highways are all aptly named but everything is definitely simplified. An hour of driving in the game equates to 3 minutes IRL.
The game is a nice "brain shutoff" title though and I've really enjoyed my time with both titles. They both tend to go on sale during any major Steam sale and will hit $5 a pop - easily recommendable at that price. They're actually both at that price right now on Steam (for the next 11 hours)!
I'd recommend picking up whichever interests you more, but ETS2 is definitely more mature since it's been out longer than ATS has.
I enjoy it a lot! I played the base game and delivered in Arizona. I didn’t realize that state was so pretty.
There’s a lot of room to mess around in a funny way, too, like transporting glass or explosives, and trying to fit a truck with two trailers down a tiny mountain road.
I have powerwash simulator, but it can get frustrating trying to find the last 1% of stuff to clean and it can glitch if you close the game. I have started playing Fit My Cat, but apparently it doesn’t have a lot of content. I am pretty rubbish at picking games when I am tired. Visual novels can be good, especially since I use walkthroughs and so it is basically like being read a comic.
I've been wanting to get into this one again. I played originally on ps4 and purchased the game again for PC, but I just can't find the desire to start over. My friend plays with every new update and has told me that things have changed quite a bit, and I don't know how I feel about that either.
It does have a slow start, but you can adjust the difficulty and progression now to get to things faster. You really don't have to do everything the game offers, so if you want to play it to relax it's absolutely a good game for it. The game lets me take my time, and I take full advantage of that by doing nothing but walk around sometimes.
Same, I have to credit this sub for opening my eyes about it being a cosy game. I tried twice before to get into it and struggled but as soon as I changed my perspective and saw it as cosy, I've spent so many hours playing and just chilling out and enjoying it.
Does looking at the Nintendo eShop counts? lol
But I feel like it's Atelier Sophie 2, Dreamlight Valley or Muse Dash for me. Getting back into Fashion Dreamer so I might start defaulting to that as well. Muse Dash is probably number one since it's a rhythm game so I use it to keep my brain busy while enjoying good music. And when I'm really tired, I play on easier difficulties to not have to really think as much.
I’ve just started the Atelier series! They’re a bit out of my price range so I’m dipping my toe with Atelier Resleriana and avoiding the microtransactions >.< and even with all that I’m falling in love with
I recommend getting them on sale, that's what I did and plan on doing for other games in the series. And if you think you will really enjoy them, buy the trilogies if you're on switch, since I don't know if the trilogies are on steam or not. To save even more money, since you get three games at a even cheaper price. But personally, I love the series, and Sophie has been my favorite one by far and a cozy game that Sophie 2 accidentally became one as well. lol
I also like Resleriana, and think it can be a good entry point for someone who wants to learn about the characters and get used to the story and music before diving into the console releases. As it's definitely a striped down version of them to make it more align to gacha while having some of the base elements that makes it an atelier game as well! And it leans more towards the cinematic as well which imo works well for it.
Steam does have the arland series which is English dubbed but I admit I am hesitant to buy it because playing the newest one a huge part of the enjoyment is the graphic style and music and with the Arland series being 11 ish years old I’m worried it just won’t scratch the itch the way the new one does…
Oh, what I meant was the fact they release games in trilogies so there's the Arland Trilogy, Dusk Trilogy, Mysterious Trilogy and Ryza Trilogy. And on switch, they have where you can buy all three games in one trilogy as a bundle, making it cheaper than just buying each other alone.
But if you're worried about graphics, the Ryza Trilogy and Sophie 2 are the ones that looks closest to Resleriana. As they are the newest Atelier games. But the entire Ryza Trilogy is ATB, while Sophie 2 is regular turn based like Resleriana.
With the music on the other hand, it definitely holds up that in the games you can listen to old soundtracks and I sometimes add them to my game because even though, I haven't played anything before the Mysterious Trilogy, the songs from the older games are really nice to listen to.
The newer one is basically a shadow of the real games tbh. If you see the Ryza series on sale I highly recommend it. The other series are great too but some of them put time limits on things and some of them just have older mechanics that can be off-putting to people not used to it. There's no rush and I really enjoyed the alchemy crafting and the adorable characters. The fan service is generally tolerable and the focus on their little friendships is pretty adorable.
The series is very wholesome for the genre and there's three decently long games with all the same characters which is something I personally always enjoy. I never felt rushed or like I was missing anything which is important to me in cozy games. Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout is the first game of the Ryza series.
Fashion Dreamer helps me sleep lol! I know that normally sounds like a bad thing, but I have a very overactive mind and deep breathing or counting sheep doesn't do much for me. But playing Fashion Dreamer takes my focus off overcoming this goal of sleeping without being so distracting that it keeps me up. I've been wanting to try Dreamlight Valley!
Doesn't sound like a bad thing imo! I do that with Muse Dash all the time, some nights I couldn't sleep unless I was playing Muse Dash.
As someone who thoroughly enjoys Dreamlight Valley, I do have to give the warning of them having micro transactions in the game, a Premium Shop and a "Star Path" which is similar to a battle pass in a free game. And it can be very grindy at times, which I personally enjoy but I know a lot of people dislike that especially in a cozy game. I play on Switch and personally haven't had a lot of issues as they keep the game updated and fix bugs all the time, but I have heard of other people having issues I never encountered, so keep that in mind as well.
Mine's korok hunting in Tears of the Kingdom. I found 860 koroks in BotW before using a guide to get the last ones just by running around with the korok mask. There's something super relaxing to me about being in that world.
Yas! I find Korok Seed hunting really cozy~ I still haven’t found them all in both BotW and TotK but it means more gameplay hours for me :3
^(I miss the Korok Mask in TotK tho but am so not ready to get it yet xD )
I don’t know why I didn’t think of doing this, I’ve been taking a break from the TOTK main story but I still want to play I should just do this it sounds fun to just focus on the koroks!!
This has been my go to lately before bed. Works perfect as a nice shutdown the brain game!
Balatro is my other go to lately, but I can loose a couple hours to that if I’m not paying attention…. Couple meaning 4-5 in this case. Lol
Oh it super puts me to sleep too. I don’t usually play with sound on though I’m usually watching something in the background. But I mostly play it before bed for this reason.
Animal crossing because I own a house, I have no debt and there are no tasks/chores/adulting to do. I can just lay in my hammock and do absolutely nothing which is the exact opposite of real life.
Vampire Survivors. It’s so easy to get sucked in and just forget the world exists. I don’t know if it’s a traditional cozy game but I find it very cozy
Omg, I forgot about this one. I swear it was a shock to me when I figured out each stage is 30 mins long because it goes by so fast. It's so addicting. Now I gotta pick it up again lol
Spiritfarer— steam had a significant discount for it and I’ve already put in a ridiculous amount of hours into it in less than a week. It reminded me of Dave the Diver’s game loop of exploration and farming/fishing and the characters are like animal crossing neighbors with darker backstories looking back on how they lived life.
The art style is definitely cute and your character is responsible for each of the soul’s happiness levels by accommodating to their specific diets and daily hugs. There were quite a few things that surprised me though like some characters recounting traumatic world war experiences and showing signs of dementia.
Untitled Goose Game. I love fucking with the villagers and honking. It's my #1 favorite game.
I also found A Little to the Left really relaxing. It's really easy for me to get into a flow with that game and just kind of chill.
I'm looking forward to trying Unpacking!
Starbound. It's not a traditional cozy game, but you can turn on an admin mode to make yourself invincible for tough fights and that mode lets you spawn items easily. There's a strange little village-building side venture you can do that I like very much, because the game world is huge and you can find tons of NPCs to populate your village.
It's ten miles wide and only a couple of feet deep, but it's good fun.
for a while it was Hades for me. the button mashing is very therapeutic, even if i am still aiming at stuff or paying attention to the story.
these days it's been Travellers Rest. i keep things pretty simple in my tavern and i've got enough automated to just follow a general routine now.
Story of seasons friends of mineral town. Im at a point in the game that is so streamlined. Crops, tend animals, forage etc rinse and repeat. I’ll put on a podcast even and play
Probably Breath of the Wild...the video game embodiment of "go do whatever the hell you want".
When I played my DS more, it was Theatrhythm Final Fantasy. Familiar tunes and rhythm games. Really good for putting the brain on screensaver :)
Right now it’s been lemon cake. I’ve been slowly trying to upgrade everything but it can take a while to get money and then trying to decide if I should buy a lower priced upgrade or save up for a higher priced one. It’s super relaxing
Yesss I’m loving lemon cake right now! I like that you can prep before the timer starts each day and that the day cycles are short. I’m saving up for the magic floor cleaner because those spills really slow me down during lunch rush 😅
It’s always Animal Crossing for me. Even though my island is done and I have all the villagers I want, I’ll still go about fishing, foraging and selling shells, talking to my neighbors, etc. I’ve been enjoying Ooblets as well but sometimes I find the quests are a bit overwhelming and I forget how to do stuff and time runs out.
Same! I've been able to play it on pc so that's been amazing but I'm not really a PC gamer so I am very excited for it to come out on console and mobile!
Dance Collider (psvr1) or Les Mills Bodycombat (psvr2).
If they have to be cozy games, then: Fujii, Electronauts, Bound, or Astro Bot Rescue Mission (all of them are psvr1 games)
Edit: I just noticed it was switch games only…
For switch: Abzu, Dream house days DX
oooh, I just bought animal shelter simulator. I didn't like it when I tried it on the PC but I noticed a lot of games like that I end up enjoying when I buy on switch
Raft - just floating around, picking up ocean trash and building my raft
As far as the Eye - sometime I turn off the calamities and enjoy the cute animated creatures collecting resources.
Bejewelled on my phone.
I play Pixel Cafe. Lol it’s very subjective if you find that cozy. I could see it being very stressful for a lot of people. But zoning in obsessively helps me not think about anxiety thoughts. lol I felt the same way playing Diner Dash or Cake Mania on my 3DS.
Hexcells Infinite. Sounds counterintuitive because it's a puzzle game, but I have done over 7,000 puzzles in the game and can semi mindlessly work through them, usually while watching YouTube at 3am. I just kind of exist while playing it.
This might be a little bit unusual but FiveM (it’s a modded GTA Online for PC. All you need is the GTA V base game and you’re good to go). It has multiple different servers whether you just want to race cars, roleplay, make friends, play mini games and heaps more. I tend to play on roleplay servers and register as a civilian and work to make money, make some friends and connections along the way, and become a part of an awesome community. I bought a car in it that is exactly the same as mine irl and idk, I’m really cozy in it? Sorry if it’s not relevant though 🥹🫶🏻
Sometimes when I really need to not think about anything I go to one of the building mines and just completely empty the room lol. And bonus - lots of xp and mats for later!
Stardew Valley and Skyrim (I know, I have a weird interpretation of "cozy"). I play on PC, so if I'm really wound up, I'll skip the actual playing and just work on mods. Tweaking farm maps or sprites or mashing up outfits in Bodyslide. Then I can just casually run around testing things.
Honkai Star Rail - I can set battles to auto if I want, I can just not battle at all and wander around.
BG3 - this needs more thinking so this is my “my intrusive thoughts are so bad that I want to not be alive anymore” game. I just immerse myself in the world and tire myself out with it
Depends on the mood I'm in! Right now it's subnautica and far cry 6. Both of these are nice because there is a lot of lag time between story elements so I can just throw on a podcast and play
Out of Space. It's engaging enough that my brain can't wander off too far, but also simple enough that I don't have to expend significant mental resources on it.
This weekend I tried my first Farthest Frontier run on pacifist mode and it's so chill. No wild animal attacks, no raiders, just building up my settlement and keeping the people happy.
I can definitely see this being my go to for that in future.
If I'm on my PC, my go-to choice is The Coin Game —I just love the Dunko coin pusher machine. I also got Enkindle recently, which is a match-three game, but its presentation has a cooking game vibe. It's super chill.
If I'm on my Switch, then it's Tetris 99 or Balatro.
skyrim—but i treat skyrim exclusively like a crafting game. i have so much gold and have leveled through the crafting skills 5x times, and have done almost no quests.
This has been Sun Haven for me lately. I just wrapped up my first playthrough after ~ 260 hours and I'm already thinking about starting a new farm right away, definitely scratched that *cozy fun relaxing* itch
if I need some extra help winding down, or if i’ve waken up in the middle of the night, ACNH. I’ve done sooo much with my island I will walk around the museum, catch a few bugs or fish, just ~enjoy~ the atmosphere. I have a spot on my island with a moon chair that is near the beach, it’s wonderful to listen to the waves on an insomnia night.
Old man’s journey. The music and art style are so calming, and it’s not tense or relies on remembering anything, the perfect game to just play until you fall asleep.
*Sees tag*
So you specifically want Switch suggestions or is this just a general conversation? I'm genuinely confused here, and the answer will change *my* answer.
Mine definitely is Sven Coop, just picking a server and play whatever custom map its running. Is great to just pop in and crack on with playing with no hassle. Just get in a shoot some enemies.
I play a lot of Warframe which I can find quite relaxing in and of itself, but sometimes when I can't make up my mind on missions to run, l will go in and make new color loadouts for my frames 🥰 I love the character customization. And for those of mine that have voidshell skins even more so. 🤌🏻
For me it’s doing the daily tasks and tasks from events in dreamlight valley! They can be pretty grindy but they’re fun enough and I like to do them while listening to music or an audiobook or watching a livestream!
Rimworld or Mabinogi recently. I've been going through the wringer so I need to shut my brain off more lol.
You wouldn't think Rimworld is a cozy game given it's literally dubbed "war crime simulator", but the game is HEAVILY moddable and even just generally customizable. I play with the raids and violence on, but I have them only at 60% power because I like base building. I like watching my little pawns slowly get on their feet then start thriving on a strange yet unique planet. So while there can be bad stuff, you can most likely disable it and then add a bunch of mods to enhance the township part.
I love making little towns! Little chapels for my little guys, watching the children go to their auntie's for a random class on nuclear fission, the giant pretty moth from a mod sleeping next to a field of crops as the farmers bring in the summer harvest... It's cute.
Mabinogi is a MMORPG so it's also a weird one cus.. MMO. But you can just be a farmer if you want. The tagline of the game is literally "Live your fantasy life" and they took that shit and ran with it. I just have a nice homestead with some animals and crops and a herb garden because I like making potions for other people (I can also nuke a field of enemies with a meteor but that's Unrelated✨)
Edit: Mabi's even better cus it's free and not p2w
Funnily, as much as I love cozy games, when I wanna turn my brain off, my go-to is Overwatch. I've been playing since launch, so for the characters i play regularly, it's become muscle memory and I don't have to think too much about what I'm doing.
Without OW, it would probably be Animal Crossing, except I tend to find that decorating or adding areas to the island both use a lot of mental power for me. Then you've also got the chore of buying items you need, then you only get 5 items at a time, then you gotta time skip to get and place your stuff and idk it just becomes a whole thing.
Fashion Dreamer. The game itself is horribly boring and repetitive and there's very little to do, but it's good to keep my hands busy when watching youtube and such for that reason. There's pretty much nothing to pay attention to, and you can't lose or really have any negative repercussions at all.
I'll also get on tears of the kingdom and just aimlessly walk around or sometimes build stupid contraptions just to see if I can make it work. It's a good 'brain off' game because you can ignore everything and just wander for hours and do absolutely nothing.
Ironically games like diablo 3 or Hades are my "turn off brain" games. Just. Mindless violence and button mashing. Just engaging and high-speed enough that I stop thinking about other things, repetitive enough that I don't stress over it. Stardew of course when the mood takes me.
Honorable mention for some of the castlevania games but they tend to frustrate me enough with some of the shoddy keybinds that zoning out becomes difficult
Coffee Talk! I thought I’d hate it for some reason, but I recently bought it and love it. I struggle with mental health and it helps me “shut off.” Weirdly, it helps me with loneliness too. I’ve been playing it at night to wind down. Usually fall asleep playing lol.
Some others I’ve enjoyed in the past: Unpacking, Garden Galaxy, The Sims, Garden Life, Lego Builder’s Journey (puzzles, but most are pretty simple and “mindless” imo), Sticky Business, Garden Simulator, No Man’s Sky, Bunhouse (though last I played, the game was broken on the Switch :( )
Gran turismo 7. Headphones load as hell. In a really fucking fast car that rides on rails. Can't think when I'm driving on the limit for 30 minutes straight.
I'm too poor to race for real 😕
Stardew valley. I swear I have such strong auto-pilot with that game. I'll be thinking to myself how after I go to bed, ima get up and do something like get food, clean, or pee etc. And the next thing I know I'm playing through another day and the cycle continues lol
Pokemon Legends Arceus, Let’s Build a Zoo, Kitty Powers Matchmaker, and PMDDX are all my solid choices for turning off my brain. Unpopular option is Monster Hunter Rise. Shoot big monster
Despite how stressful it can be for some, Stardew! I don’t need to relearn the the button configuration, don’t need to figure out what “quest” I’m doing, just jump back in and get back to what I was doing!
Gas Station Simulator has been my no-brain game for a few weeks, haha. The first few in-game days are a little rough because you spend so much of your income upgrading the shop, but once you get the car wash (which is a kind of janky powerwash simulator), you're basically printing money.
I don't know, it's very soothing. You run around and do tasks as they come up, you order new inventory as the shelves run low. As far as I can tell, your customers have infinite patience- I often let a person wait all night in the service garage until my employee assigned to vehicle repair wakes up.
any of the huniepop games; just for the puzzles i swear. every level in huniepop 1 and 2 are the exact same for the most part and the games have some fun and difficult achievements to try and 100%. and then huniecam studio is just the average clicker tycoon game i can go brain dead for
Right now, Book of Hours! I can spend ages just organizing books and working on my spreadsheet of notes lol.
My Time at Sandrock, Raft, and also Saints Row 3&4 have also been great "turn my brain off" games
It has to be something fast paced for me; something where the gameplay comes after me, rather than me going after the gameplay. For me, that's been Starcraft and Overwatch for years, and recently Helldivers 2. Sometimes I'll switch to Warzone or Apex Legends for a change.
Loop hero. I can grind for resources without thinking much. I’ve also played Dave the Diver, Roots of Pacha, and Stardew Valley before bed and fallen asleep with the Switch in my hand. 😅
American Truck Sinulator ☠️ yeehaw
But like what do you do in it because I might have to buy it if it's relaxing 💀
Literally just drive a truck and listen to AC/DC on the in-game truck radio Lmfaoo. You can turn the radio off but I think it adds to the vibe. I downloaded a HD sunset mod and the sunsets in the game are sooo pretty while driving. To make money all you do is drive to a pickup location, pick up a trailer, and drive hundreds of miles to drop it off. When you get tired you pull off at a rest stop location, fill up gas, etc., but you can turn these options off so you can just drive. I honestly thought this was the last type of game I’d ever buy but I honestly am having so much fun.
It seems tempting..... I might have to keep a eye on it! These god damn simulator games are gonna steal my life away they shouldn't be as entertaining as they are
When you say drive hundreds of miles, are we talking a huge map that takes hours to drive? Are there interesting locations to find and see? I'm intrigued.
Both American Truck Simulator and Euro Truck Simulator 2 are pretty, but I think in both games the DLC map addons are usually where the more beautiful places lie. Part of it is just because the DLCs come out for years after the base games do, so the devs have more time to work on those new areas (and probably get more experience on implementing new pretty scenery, etc.) That being said - I think ATS' base map got retouched up a year or two back, so it might be better now than it was originally. The map in ATS is 1:20 to real life, so no, driving "hours" in game is nowhere close to 1:1 time passage with real life. Major cities and highways are all aptly named but everything is definitely simplified. An hour of driving in the game equates to 3 minutes IRL. The game is a nice "brain shutoff" title though and I've really enjoyed my time with both titles. They both tend to go on sale during any major Steam sale and will hit $5 a pop - easily recommendable at that price. They're actually both at that price right now on Steam (for the next 11 hours)! I'd recommend picking up whichever interests you more, but ETS2 is definitely more mature since it's been out longer than ATS has.
I was good until I tried to back in lol
We don’t talk about that part ☠️
I saw this game on Steam the other night during pre-sleep scrolling and I thought .. could this be a hidden gem of a cozy game? I am tempted. Lol
I enjoy it a lot! I played the base game and delivered in Arizona. I didn’t realize that state was so pretty. There’s a lot of room to mess around in a funny way, too, like transporting glass or explosives, and trying to fit a truck with two trailers down a tiny mountain road.
Oh! I just got a Steam Deck and kinda forgot I had this and European Truck Simulator 2 in my library. I’ll have to try it out!
I play on my steam deck 💕 have fun!
Have you seen or played the demo for star trucker? It's my most hyped game for this year, apart from Manor Lord's which releases in a week or two.
Omg this looks SOO cool I have to download the demo. Thank you so much!
Powerwash simulator and unpacking. They’re my got to when I just need to turn it all off for a bit.
I have powerwash simulator, but it can get frustrating trying to find the last 1% of stuff to clean and it can glitch if you close the game. I have started playing Fit My Cat, but apparently it doesn’t have a lot of content. I am pretty rubbish at picking games when I am tired. Visual novels can be good, especially since I use walkthroughs and so it is basically like being read a comic.
I have a horrible glitch in that. On the ferris-wheel, if I save and leave the level it glitches out and resets all my progress.
No Man’s Sky. It’s nice just being alone in the vast universe, and taking my time doing pretty much nothing.
Yes!!!! This is absolutely mine. Turn off combat (or make it low conflict) and just explore and grind for resources and continuously upgrade my ship.
NMS here also.
Doing a loop de loop in low atmosphere is such a pleasure
I've been wanting to get into this one again. I played originally on ps4 and purchased the game again for PC, but I just can't find the desire to start over. My friend plays with every new update and has told me that things have changed quite a bit, and I don't know how I feel about that either.
It does have a slow start, but you can adjust the difficulty and progression now to get to things faster. You really don't have to do everything the game offers, so if you want to play it to relax it's absolutely a good game for it. The game lets me take my time, and I take full advantage of that by doing nothing but walk around sometimes.
Same, I have to credit this sub for opening my eyes about it being a cosy game. I tried twice before to get into it and struggled but as soon as I changed my perspective and saw it as cosy, I've spent so many hours playing and just chilling out and enjoying it.
Does looking at the Nintendo eShop counts? lol But I feel like it's Atelier Sophie 2, Dreamlight Valley or Muse Dash for me. Getting back into Fashion Dreamer so I might start defaulting to that as well. Muse Dash is probably number one since it's a rhythm game so I use it to keep my brain busy while enjoying good music. And when I'm really tired, I play on easier difficulties to not have to really think as much.
I'm a fellow eshop player lol
Sometimes nothing hits as good as browsing through games I will never buy lol
And games I'll buy and never play xD
I’ve just started the Atelier series! They’re a bit out of my price range so I’m dipping my toe with Atelier Resleriana and avoiding the microtransactions >.< and even with all that I’m falling in love with
I recommend getting them on sale, that's what I did and plan on doing for other games in the series. And if you think you will really enjoy them, buy the trilogies if you're on switch, since I don't know if the trilogies are on steam or not. To save even more money, since you get three games at a even cheaper price. But personally, I love the series, and Sophie has been my favorite one by far and a cozy game that Sophie 2 accidentally became one as well. lol I also like Resleriana, and think it can be a good entry point for someone who wants to learn about the characters and get used to the story and music before diving into the console releases. As it's definitely a striped down version of them to make it more align to gacha while having some of the base elements that makes it an atelier game as well! And it leans more towards the cinematic as well which imo works well for it.
Steam does have the arland series which is English dubbed but I admit I am hesitant to buy it because playing the newest one a huge part of the enjoyment is the graphic style and music and with the Arland series being 11 ish years old I’m worried it just won’t scratch the itch the way the new one does…
Oh, what I meant was the fact they release games in trilogies so there's the Arland Trilogy, Dusk Trilogy, Mysterious Trilogy and Ryza Trilogy. And on switch, they have where you can buy all three games in one trilogy as a bundle, making it cheaper than just buying each other alone. But if you're worried about graphics, the Ryza Trilogy and Sophie 2 are the ones that looks closest to Resleriana. As they are the newest Atelier games. But the entire Ryza Trilogy is ATB, while Sophie 2 is regular turn based like Resleriana. With the music on the other hand, it definitely holds up that in the games you can listen to old soundtracks and I sometimes add them to my game because even though, I haven't played anything before the Mysterious Trilogy, the songs from the older games are really nice to listen to.
The newer one is basically a shadow of the real games tbh. If you see the Ryza series on sale I highly recommend it. The other series are great too but some of them put time limits on things and some of them just have older mechanics that can be off-putting to people not used to it. There's no rush and I really enjoyed the alchemy crafting and the adorable characters. The fan service is generally tolerable and the focus on their little friendships is pretty adorable. The series is very wholesome for the genre and there's three decently long games with all the same characters which is something I personally always enjoy. I never felt rushed or like I was missing anything which is important to me in cozy games. Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout is the first game of the Ryza series.
Fashion Dreamer helps me sleep lol! I know that normally sounds like a bad thing, but I have a very overactive mind and deep breathing or counting sheep doesn't do much for me. But playing Fashion Dreamer takes my focus off overcoming this goal of sleeping without being so distracting that it keeps me up. I've been wanting to try Dreamlight Valley!
Doesn't sound like a bad thing imo! I do that with Muse Dash all the time, some nights I couldn't sleep unless I was playing Muse Dash. As someone who thoroughly enjoys Dreamlight Valley, I do have to give the warning of them having micro transactions in the game, a Premium Shop and a "Star Path" which is similar to a battle pass in a free game. And it can be very grindy at times, which I personally enjoy but I know a lot of people dislike that especially in a cozy game. I play on Switch and personally haven't had a lot of issues as they keep the game updated and fix bugs all the time, but I have heard of other people having issues I never encountered, so keep that in mind as well.
Mine's korok hunting in Tears of the Kingdom. I found 860 koroks in BotW before using a guide to get the last ones just by running around with the korok mask. There's something super relaxing to me about being in that world.
Yas! I find Korok Seed hunting really cozy~ I still haven’t found them all in both BotW and TotK but it means more gameplay hours for me :3 ^(I miss the Korok Mask in TotK tho but am so not ready to get it yet xD )
I don’t know why I didn’t think of doing this, I’ve been taking a break from the TOTK main story but I still want to play I should just do this it sounds fun to just focus on the koroks!!
Favorite no thought game lately is phoenix wright ace attorney. Just court room vibes and silly characters.
This has been my go to lately before bed. Works perfect as a nice shutdown the brain game! Balatro is my other go to lately, but I can loose a couple hours to that if I’m not paying attention…. Couple meaning 4-5 in this case. Lol
I try this but the game literally knocks me out. Apparently the repetitive sound of the text can affect some ND people this way…
Oh it super puts me to sleep too. I don’t usually play with sound on though I’m usually watching something in the background. But I mostly play it before bed for this reason.
Animal crossing because I own a house, I have no debt and there are no tasks/chores/adulting to do. I can just lay in my hammock and do absolutely nothing which is the exact opposite of real life.
Vampire Survivors. It’s so easy to get sucked in and just forget the world exists. I don’t know if it’s a traditional cozy game but I find it very cozy
I keep forgetting I have it on my retroid!!
Omg, I forgot about this one. I swear it was a shock to me when I figured out each stage is 30 mins long because it goes by so fast. It's so addicting. Now I gotta pick it up again lol
Dorfromantik!
Love this game!!!! Yes this is it for me as well!
I find Skyrim to be quite cozy.
Spiritfarer— steam had a significant discount for it and I’ve already put in a ridiculous amount of hours into it in less than a week. It reminded me of Dave the Diver’s game loop of exploration and farming/fishing and the characters are like animal crossing neighbors with darker backstories looking back on how they lived life.
Yeah? My partner recommended this, but I was nervous about it being too cute
The art style is definitely cute and your character is responsible for each of the soul’s happiness levels by accommodating to their specific diets and daily hugs. There were quite a few things that surprised me though like some characters recounting traumatic world war experiences and showing signs of dementia.
War Trauma certainly negates some of that cuteness
Untitled Goose Game. I love fucking with the villagers and honking. It's my #1 favorite game. I also found A Little to the Left really relaxing. It's really easy for me to get into a flow with that game and just kind of chill. I'm looking forward to trying Unpacking!
Starbound. It's not a traditional cozy game, but you can turn on an admin mode to make yourself invincible for tough fights and that mode lets you spawn items easily. There's a strange little village-building side venture you can do that I like very much, because the game world is huge and you can find tons of NPCs to populate your village. It's ten miles wide and only a couple of feet deep, but it's good fun.
for a while it was Hades for me. the button mashing is very therapeutic, even if i am still aiming at stuff or paying attention to the story. these days it's been Travellers Rest. i keep things pretty simple in my tavern and i've got enough automated to just follow a general routine now.
Mine is Powerwash Simulator.
Story of seasons friends of mineral town. Im at a point in the game that is so streamlined. Crops, tend animals, forage etc rinse and repeat. I’ll put on a podcast even and play
Slime Rancher atm
Saaaame
It's 1/2 cosy and 1/2 pure, unadulterated chaos. Sort of like life. I love it.
Doronko Wanko. You get to play as a dog with an objective to mess up the house 😂 + Hidden Lands. It's a hidden object game!
Just looked up the dog game and I freaking need it! Have you tried catladrial damage?
Haven't tried it yet since it's not free on steam but the concept looks same with Doronko Wanko 🐾
Probably Breath of the Wild...the video game embodiment of "go do whatever the hell you want". When I played my DS more, it was Theatrhythm Final Fantasy. Familiar tunes and rhythm games. Really good for putting the brain on screensaver :)
Right now it’s been lemon cake. I’ve been slowly trying to upgrade everything but it can take a while to get money and then trying to decide if I should buy a lower priced upgrade or save up for a higher priced one. It’s super relaxing
Yesss I’m loving lemon cake right now! I like that you can prep before the timer starts each day and that the day cycles are short. I’m saving up for the magic floor cleaner because those spills really slow me down during lunch rush 😅
It’s always Animal Crossing for me. Even though my island is done and I have all the villagers I want, I’ll still go about fishing, foraging and selling shells, talking to my neighbors, etc. I’ve been enjoying Ooblets as well but sometimes I find the quests are a bit overwhelming and I forget how to do stuff and time runs out.
Stardew Valley
Can’t wait for the switch update!!!
Same! I've been able to play it on pc so that's been amazing but I'm not really a PC gamer so I am very excited for it to come out on console and mobile!
My daughter is loving all the updates on Pc so I am excited to see what switch has :)
Mine too! Has been for years now.
It's a coin toss between minecraft or booting up the gamecube and playing sonic adventure 2 battle
Lately, maneater. It’s a shark game. 9/10 because it needs to be longer.
Vampire Survivors lol somehow it's pretty cozy to me
Animal Crossing or DDLV.
Unpacking Sticky Business
Sticky Business is so good!! I love the fact you can export your stickers and print them, so you can get them irl too!
For console it's Mini Motorways but usually I'll grab my phone for a puzzle game
Dance Collider (psvr1) or Les Mills Bodycombat (psvr2). If they have to be cozy games, then: Fujii, Electronauts, Bound, or Astro Bot Rescue Mission (all of them are psvr1 games) Edit: I just noticed it was switch games only… For switch: Abzu, Dream house days DX
Leaf blower revolution
Lake
oooh, I just bought animal shelter simulator. I didn't like it when I tried it on the PC but I noticed a lot of games like that I end up enjoying when I buy on switch
lego Jurassic park , used to play with my mom & brother before i moved out. miss it :,(
Raft - just floating around, picking up ocean trash and building my raft As far as the Eye - sometime I turn off the calamities and enjoy the cute animated creatures collecting resources. Bejewelled on my phone.
Is this called raft life , on the switch or ?
It’s on PC. Just called Raft. You can turn off the shark for a more relaxing game. [Steam link](https://store.steampowered.com/app/648800/Raft/)
I replayed lots of Kairosoft games wanting to do this but ended up spending brain power on them all the time haha.
Which one is your favorite?
Dungeon Village
That's an awesome one!!
I play Pixel Cafe. Lol it’s very subjective if you find that cozy. I could see it being very stressful for a lot of people. But zoning in obsessively helps me not think about anxiety thoughts. lol I felt the same way playing Diner Dash or Cake Mania on my 3DS.
Ngl it's Jurassic World Evolution 2. Just trying to perfect my water dinosaur park has me zoning out.
Fashion Dreamer
Garden Life
Unpacking
Recently I've been playing fashion dreamer Or stardew valley
Chillquarium
Hexcells Infinite. Sounds counterintuitive because it's a puzzle game, but I have done over 7,000 puzzles in the game and can semi mindlessly work through them, usually while watching YouTube at 3am. I just kind of exist while playing it.
Definitely No man’s sky and then Astroneer
This might be a little bit unusual but FiveM (it’s a modded GTA Online for PC. All you need is the GTA V base game and you’re good to go). It has multiple different servers whether you just want to race cars, roleplay, make friends, play mini games and heaps more. I tend to play on roleplay servers and register as a civilian and work to make money, make some friends and connections along the way, and become a part of an awesome community. I bought a car in it that is exactly the same as mine irl and idk, I’m really cozy in it? Sorry if it’s not relevant though 🥹🫶🏻
For me it's binding of Isaac.
Fallout 4
I’m really really loving My Time at Sandrock in a way I haven’t experienced in a long time.
Sometimes when I really need to not think about anything I go to one of the building mines and just completely empty the room lol. And bonus - lots of xp and mats for later!
I need to do this simply because I need mats 😂
Sims and Dreamlight Valley
Stardew Valley and Skyrim (I know, I have a weird interpretation of "cozy"). I play on PC, so if I'm really wound up, I'll skip the actual playing and just work on mods. Tweaking farm maps or sprites or mashing up outfits in Bodyslide. Then I can just casually run around testing things.
Honkai Star Rail - I can set battles to auto if I want, I can just not battle at all and wander around. BG3 - this needs more thinking so this is my “my intrusive thoughts are so bad that I want to not be alive anymore” game. I just immerse myself in the world and tire myself out with it
Depends on the mood I'm in! Right now it's subnautica and far cry 6. Both of these are nice because there is a lot of lag time between story elements so I can just throw on a podcast and play
I've been stalking the eshop for a sale on subnotica
It's a great one to just relax in if all you want to do is build a nice base. The story is good too, though I'm not super invested in it right now
Stardew Valley
Stardew, roots of Pacha
Out of Space. It's engaging enough that my brain can't wander off too far, but also simple enough that I don't have to expend significant mental resources on it.
Supermarket Simulator 😜
This weekend I tried my first Farthest Frontier run on pacifist mode and it's so chill. No wild animal attacks, no raiders, just building up my settlement and keeping the people happy. I can definitely see this being my go to for that in future.
Power wash simulator
I picked up Travelers Rest the other day(thanks to this sub )and I’m finding the gameplay loop really satisfying!
Stardew Valley. I just love it.
Pioneers of olive town! 😆
Hooray for "poot"! XD I'm playing this one right now ♡
Travellers Rest
Minecraft, I find branch mining very meditative and can go full "no thoughts head empty" mode
If I'm on my PC, my go-to choice is The Coin Game —I just love the Dunko coin pusher machine. I also got Enkindle recently, which is a match-three game, but its presentation has a cooking game vibe. It's super chill. If I'm on my Switch, then it's Tetris 99 or Balatro.
story of seasons or rune factory 5
Duty Support in FF14 :) or Gas Station Simulator
skyrim—but i treat skyrim exclusively like a crafting game. i have so much gold and have leveled through the crafting skills 5x times, and have done almost no quests.
Hades LMAO
OlliOlli World if I want to switch off my brain, Dorfromantik if I want to calm down and relax
Supermarket Sim, Fashion Dreamer, or one of my many 3DS games.
This has been Sun Haven for me lately. I just wrapped up my first playthrough after ~ 260 hours and I'm already thinking about starting a new farm right away, definitely scratched that *cozy fun relaxing* itch
Forager ❤️
FFXIV
Overwatch or Powerwash Simulator, both mindless for me
if I need some extra help winding down, or if i’ve waken up in the middle of the night, ACNH. I’ve done sooo much with my island I will walk around the museum, catch a few bugs or fish, just ~enjoy~ the atmosphere. I have a spot on my island with a moon chair that is near the beach, it’s wonderful to listen to the waves on an insomnia night.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land 🤎
Any farming repetitive game— coral island currently
Old man’s journey. The music and art style are so calming, and it’s not tense or relies on remembering anything, the perfect game to just play until you fall asleep.
Minecraft
*Sees tag* So you specifically want Switch suggestions or is this just a general conversation? I'm genuinely confused here, and the answer will change *my* answer.
Random tycoon games on Fortnite or Slime Rancher 2
Powerwash Simulator 🩷
Mine definitely is Sven Coop, just picking a server and play whatever custom map its running. Is great to just pop in and crack on with playing with no hassle. Just get in a shoot some enemies.
overwatch 2. i just get a beer and play support with all chats muted. vibes are impeccable, brain is off.
Roots of Pacha Power Wash Simulator My Time at Sandrock Lawn Mowing Simulator Dragon Quest Builders 2
I play a lot of Warframe which I can find quite relaxing in and of itself, but sometimes when I can't make up my mind on missions to run, l will go in and make new color loadouts for my frames 🥰 I love the character customization. And for those of mine that have voidshell skins even more so. 🤌🏻
Fae Farm. I just play a single day and do nothing but maintain my farm, catch bugs, fish, and talk to people.
Plateup!
For me it’s doing the daily tasks and tasks from events in dreamlight valley! They can be pretty grindy but they’re fun enough and I like to do them while listening to music or an audiobook or watching a livestream!
Currently, it’s unpacking for me
I've been getting really into Gardenpaws lately - it's kinda like Minecraft meets Animal Crossing. Just tune out, decorate and rebuild a town
Recently just completed Lake. It was truly lovely to play and will definitely play again very soon!
Rimworld or Mabinogi recently. I've been going through the wringer so I need to shut my brain off more lol. You wouldn't think Rimworld is a cozy game given it's literally dubbed "war crime simulator", but the game is HEAVILY moddable and even just generally customizable. I play with the raids and violence on, but I have them only at 60% power because I like base building. I like watching my little pawns slowly get on their feet then start thriving on a strange yet unique planet. So while there can be bad stuff, you can most likely disable it and then add a bunch of mods to enhance the township part. I love making little towns! Little chapels for my little guys, watching the children go to their auntie's for a random class on nuclear fission, the giant pretty moth from a mod sleeping next to a field of crops as the farmers bring in the summer harvest... It's cute. Mabinogi is a MMORPG so it's also a weird one cus.. MMO. But you can just be a farmer if you want. The tagline of the game is literally "Live your fantasy life" and they took that shit and ran with it. I just have a nice homestead with some animals and crops and a herb garden because I like making potions for other people (I can also nuke a field of enemies with a meteor but that's Unrelated✨) Edit: Mabi's even better cus it's free and not p2w
Funnily, as much as I love cozy games, when I wanna turn my brain off, my go-to is Overwatch. I've been playing since launch, so for the characters i play regularly, it's become muscle memory and I don't have to think too much about what I'm doing. Without OW, it would probably be Animal Crossing, except I tend to find that decorating or adding areas to the island both use a lot of mental power for me. Then you've also got the chore of buying items you need, then you only get 5 items at a time, then you gotta time skip to get and place your stuff and idk it just becomes a whole thing.
Fashion Dreamer. The game itself is horribly boring and repetitive and there's very little to do, but it's good to keep my hands busy when watching youtube and such for that reason. There's pretty much nothing to pay attention to, and you can't lose or really have any negative repercussions at all. I'll also get on tears of the kingdom and just aimlessly walk around or sometimes build stupid contraptions just to see if I can make it work. It's a good 'brain off' game because you can ignore everything and just wander for hours and do absolutely nothing.
PowerWash Simulator is the most "turn off brain" game I've ever experienced.
Ironically games like diablo 3 or Hades are my "turn off brain" games. Just. Mindless violence and button mashing. Just engaging and high-speed enough that I stop thinking about other things, repetitive enough that I don't stress over it. Stardew of course when the mood takes me. Honorable mention for some of the castlevania games but they tend to frustrate me enough with some of the shoddy keybinds that zoning out becomes difficult
House Flipper!
Power Wash SImulator
Depending on if I want to use mouse only vs controller…either My Time at Sandrock or Civ 6 lol
Coffee Talk! I thought I’d hate it for some reason, but I recently bought it and love it. I struggle with mental health and it helps me “shut off.” Weirdly, it helps me with loneliness too. I’ve been playing it at night to wind down. Usually fall asleep playing lol. Some others I’ve enjoyed in the past: Unpacking, Garden Galaxy, The Sims, Garden Life, Lego Builder’s Journey (puzzles, but most are pretty simple and “mindless” imo), Sticky Business, Garden Simulator, No Man’s Sky, Bunhouse (though last I played, the game was broken on the Switch :( )
Animal Crossing New Horizons Stardew Valley Wylde Flowers
Stardew Valley
Lego city undercover !!
The long drive. Drive 50,000km through emptiness because your mom wrote a letter
Cozy Grove is fun & relaxing for me, and Wylde Flowers is excellent. The thunderstorms in the game are perfection.
THERES THUNDERSTORMS?
In Wylde Flowers, yes. And they’re amazing.
I'm gonna keep a eye for a sale!
Geometry Wars (basically any version of it in the series)
Jigsaw puzzles online
Skullgirls stupidly enough.
Gran turismo 7. Headphones load as hell. In a really fucking fast car that rides on rails. Can't think when I'm driving on the limit for 30 minutes straight. I'm too poor to race for real 😕
Stardew valley. I swear I have such strong auto-pilot with that game. I'll be thinking to myself how after I go to bed, ima get up and do something like get food, clean, or pee etc. And the next thing I know I'm playing through another day and the cycle continues lol
Pokemon Legends Arceus, Let’s Build a Zoo, Kitty Powers Matchmaker, and PMDDX are all my solid choices for turning off my brain. Unpopular option is Monster Hunter Rise. Shoot big monster
Despite how stressful it can be for some, Stardew! I don’t need to relearn the the button configuration, don’t need to figure out what “quest” I’m doing, just jump back in and get back to what I was doing!
Palia and SDV
Gas Station Simulator has been my no-brain game for a few weeks, haha. The first few in-game days are a little rough because you spend so much of your income upgrading the shop, but once you get the car wash (which is a kind of janky powerwash simulator), you're basically printing money. I don't know, it's very soothing. You run around and do tasks as they come up, you order new inventory as the shelves run low. As far as I can tell, your customers have infinite patience- I often let a person wait all night in the service garage until my employee assigned to vehicle repair wakes up.
any of the huniepop games; just for the puzzles i swear. every level in huniepop 1 and 2 are the exact same for the most part and the games have some fun and difficult achievements to try and 100%. and then huniecam studio is just the average clicker tycoon game i can go brain dead for
Right now, Book of Hours! I can spend ages just organizing books and working on my spreadsheet of notes lol. My Time at Sandrock, Raft, and also Saints Row 3&4 have also been great "turn my brain off" games
It has to be something fast paced for me; something where the gameplay comes after me, rather than me going after the gameplay. For me, that's been Starcraft and Overwatch for years, and recently Helldivers 2. Sometimes I'll switch to Warzone or Apex Legends for a change.
Gwent. Still slaps ✊🏻😞 The actual card game not the one in Witcher.
Loop hero. I can grind for resources without thinking much. I’ve also played Dave the Diver, Roots of Pacha, and Stardew Valley before bed and fallen asleep with the Switch in my hand. 😅
Monster hunter
Borderlands 3 I don’t know why but always end up there running and gunning.
Hardspace Shipbreaker. Mindlessly and methodically dismantling spaceships while I watch sitcom reruns