With Christmas just a stone’s throw away, it feels like the world around us is getting just a little too hectic; everyone’s got somewhere to be, catch-ups to go to, presents to panic buy, and work for the year to wrap up. It’s exhausting, in all honesty, as many free-fall towards the end of the year with about 0.001% of their brain capacity left – how do you manage to unwind amongst all the chaos, though, you might ask? Get stuck into some cozy games.
Many of you may be well aware that I’m a cozy game truther, and stan being able to play a game that feels more akin to a warm hug on a chilly night than it does a demanding mission, particularly given that I think if someone was to open up my brain, they’d simply find Isabelle from Animal Crossing: New Horizons doing her idle animation on loop.
If you’re equally goo-brained as me, or just enjoy playing a cozy game to relax, I’ve got some recommendations for titles new and old to try out this holiday season to stave off that end-of-year menty b just a little longer. Let’s get into it.
I Was A Teenage Exocolonist
Platforms: PlayStation, PC, Nintendo Switch
This narrative-focused life sim style RPG sees you spending your teenage years on an alien planet as you grow up, study, explore the world around you, make choices that could impact your future and that of your colony, and maybe fall in love along the way. While perhaps slightly less of a cozy game than others on the list, I think it still falls comfortably within the category and is a perfect way to unwind as you discover the world around you and spend ten years on the world’s first extrasolar space colony. There’s also cool card-based battles to be had and gorgeous visuals to get lost in. What’s not to love?
Sea of Stars
Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, Xbox
Sea of Stars has been feeling the love since it launched, and for good bloody reason. It’s a turn based RPG which the developers say is inspired by the classics, and it’s got that old JPRG pixel art flair and lore-rich story and world that makes the classics so fondly remembered, while modernising the parts of our old favourites that have become a bit clunkier in their older years. There’s plenty to explore and discover, and an adventure to be had in a game that feels like you’re back at your childhood home on the school holidays in front of the TV, booting up a new game you got for Christmas now it’s finally your turn on the controller. Except now, you know, you might be paying rent for said home and just finishing work or something.
Coral Island
Platforms: PC
I’ve previously written about Coral Island, which one Steam reviewer described as “Stardew Valley, but everyone’s hotter,” and now that I’ve had time with the game, I’m still 100% in agreeance with them. Explore a tropical world filled to the brim with a diverse, interesting (and gorgeous) cast of characters – who you can also romance and marry if you so choose – but also partake in all the cozy game trappings of a farming or life sim that make this type of game so enjoyable. Farm, fish, dive (and explore the deep sea for even more cool surprises) and get involved in pastoral life many steps removed from your fast city lifestyle both in and out of game.
Terra Nil
Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch, Netflix
Terra Nil really dials in on the ‘leave no trace’ mentality in this cozy environmental strategy game about rewilding once barren lands and returning them to their flourishing, natural glory. Bring life back into the dry soil, reintroduce creatures of all types, and create the perfect environment for the earth to thrive – before recycling all your gadgets and taking off, as if you were never there. The added option to admire your handiwork before you move on to the next location is a nice touch, with gorgeously vibrant and diverse biomes to take in accompanied by relaxing music.
Lakeburg Legacies
Platforms: PC
Lakeburg Legacies is described as a social-based village management sim that sees you grow a tiny cottage into a prosperous kingdom over many generations, all the while meddling in the affairs of the townsfolk through matchmaking to create lasting, happy relationships. There’s of course a little bit of chaos thrown into the mix of this scenario, with enough romance and relationship drama to rival an episode of Love Island, but this makes it all the more fun. In my review earlier this year, I found the jaunty tunes and storybook art style enchanting in this medieval version of Tinder (even the matchmaker and psychic guide is called Tindra as a cheeky little nod) – it’s a good one to sit down and devote hours to as you build up your settlement and get into the nitty gritty of your villagers’ wants, needs, hopes and dreams.
Palia
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC
Palia is a free-to-play “cozy community sim MMO” that takes a genre mainly devoted to a sometimes-stressful grind and asks you to slow down just a little and enjoy the world around you. Play solo or with friends to farm, cook, live off the land, and engage in the modern-day fantasy of owning your own home and decorating it however you’d like. There’s crafting a-plenty, and all the best bits of games like Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley to take in – and that’s before we even get into the characters and stories in the game. There’s plenty to do in this wholesome take on the MMORPG genre, so it’s a solid cozy game to get hopelessly obsessed with over the holidays.
Wayward Strand
Platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PC
If you’re keen on a heartfelt story that asks you to stay a while and listen, Wayward Strand might just be the game for you. This was one of my 2022 games of the year, and the Aussie-made title still holds a soft spot in my heart for the emotional, gorgeous journey it took me on over the space of a couple of hours. Play Casey, a young girl tasked with accompanying her mum to work at an aged care home for a few days in rural 70s Victoria – the aged care home just happens to be on an airship suspended over the bay. Learn the stories of retirees, each one with their own very full lives lived, and tales a plenty to regale to you, if you only sit patiently and interact with interest, an open heart, and ears ready to hear what they have to say. It’s short and sweet, but highly replayable thanks to the finite ticking clock and range of characters to interact with. Be warned: this one made me cry, but it also made me smile, laugh, and reflect on time itself and just what wonderful stories I was missing out on by rushing through life.
There are so many more wonderful cozy games and titles with a wholesome twist to relax while playing as we get to the busiest time of the year for some, but hopefully, one of these seven has caught your eye enough to check out. Make a cup of tea, settle in on your couch or bed, take a deep breath and exhale out all the stress of the year almost gone, and indulge in a game to unwind, everyone. You’ve earned it.
Lead Image Credit: Sabotage Studio / Free Lives / Ishtar Games / Kotaku Australia
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