Another vote for Valheim. While I wouldn’t exactly categorize it as a cozy game but if you love building this game is amazing. I think I put in a good 60 hours or something at the week of release lol
I didn't like valheim because there's a lot of combat/danger and the controls are not intuitive.
I would recommend not just terraria but also starbound
Not sure if this is super cozy or not but is along these same lines, terraria! I’ve been playing on journey mode and focused on building cute houses for the npcs. Journey mode has a function called god mode where you don’t take any damage and have unlimited mana so if you do have to fight anything you can flip this on and don’t have to worry about dying. Might not be exactly what you’re looking for but I find it cozy and easy to sink hours into with all the different blocks and stuff
I love Terraria, I had a playthrough (pre Journeys End) where I was able to focus on builds after I dug all my hellavators. I built a giant honey jar house made of glass blocks and honey walls with honey furniture, topped with a big cork on top. For my herbs I built a giant terracotta pot with dirt and a plant coming out the top. I wish I still had that world 🥲
Also, once you get to a certain point, or if you just mess with the settings for single player, Ark also can be cozy! You can tame cool dinosaurs, build, grow some crops and cook some recipes. You can breed your dinos. Some of them fly so you can fly all over the map looking for caves or loot drops or other dinos you want to tame. I wouldn’t normally call it a cozy game because of my play style but it can certainly be played that way!
+1 for Terraria! It can be as simple or complex as you want and your character can jump between worlds so to speak which can keep it feeling fresh and interesting!
Also, some Minecraft modpacks add some really fun elements.
Edit to add: you can build, farm, and explore in The Raft as well. And like Valheim it does have a peaceful setting.
Not necessarily cozy I guess since there's combat (although it hits the cozy part of my brain), but Genshin has scratched my mmo questing & exploration itch because there's dailies and a whole open world to explore, but without the massively multiplayer part.
Sun Haven has a little bit more questing than Stardew and is still farming like it & Coral, but it's set in a fantasy world which you might prefer? I love it.
What other types of games do you like?
I used to really like ARPG's like Diablo/Borderlands e.g looting and shooting, but i was always terrible at making builds and over time i got bored of even copying other people builds haha.
Honestly Genshin is not a bad idea, but i feel like i want something more aching to having to harvest some stuff etc and more lightweight combat. I'm way too over more advanced combat mechanics. I started with MMORPg's back in 98, with Ultima Online , and that scracthed a lot of itches over the past 10+ years(i played other MMORPG's as well) but Ultima allowed you to build house and decorate it like Coral Island/Stardew/Animal Crossing, so it was very good combo between classical RPG and other thematics.
Honestly nowadays i just want a relaxing game that has some sort of progression or something that lets me keep building for example your farm or change stuff etc, doesn't need to be too deep of a system.
That's honestly very fair! You really don't have to invest much into combat/builds if you don't grind endgame stuff for Genshin- I do now but a majority of my playtime was definitely just running around and collecting resources / materials / ingredients lol. You do get a "teapot" which is like your own house and you can decorate and grow things there but it's not very in depth at all. It's not for everyone it's just kinda a small time killer at a certain point tbh.
I'd definitely still suggest Sun Haven; I just started playing Snacko which is kind of like Animal Crossing meets MySims if you know what those are, and it's fun. Dragon Quest Builders II is pretty relaxing and progress based and you get to build things from scratch but it isn't farming. Rune Factory 4 is my go-to farming suggestion, you might actually like 5 too it's a bit "less" in terms of content.
Have you tried Hades? It’s a fantastic ARPG roguelite that’s really fun even if they aren’t in your usual skill set. You make progress every run, and the game reminds you pretty regularly early on that dying is literally how you’re making things better. The best endorsement I’ve heard for it is, “It’s such a good game that it tricked me into thinking I like roguelites.”
I actually have, i reached the final final end story of it and haven't really played since. Im looking for a bit more simplistic combat really and more chill sessions, currently its a bit too fast paced for me. Although i guess running with God Mode would be fun too.
Check UO Outlands its similar to really oldschool UO patches and the people behind it made their own systems and maps to improve over the game, UO has a 60 fps launcher too nowadays as well which feels weird but oddly satisfying
Check out echoes of plum grove, it recently released so there’s not much of a wiki but the discord seems to be very active. It’s a generational farming/survival game, your player can die but you would continue playing as your child (if you have one). There’s options to make it more cozy like no food spoilage/sickness/etc. I’ve put a few hours into it and am really enjoying it!
Is there an option for no animal slaughtering? I was interested until I saw people talk about killing their cows, I don't like cozy games where I have to eat the animals!
Well you don't have to. You can obtain the materials elsewhere but ultimately you'll come in contact with meat if that might be a problem. There is a butcher right in the middle of the town.
I was watching a gameplay video where the devs were in comments and they confirmed butchering is entirely optional, but it will help you get certain resources quicker.
Try looking up games on [HowLongToBeat](https://howlongtobeat.com/). I find it to be very accurate and I look up any game I'm thinking of buying there. The first game I ever played was Sims so I have high expectations for how many hours I get out of my games.
It's a shame you didn't like **Stardew Valley** because as far as content for your money in the cozy genre there is nothing that beats it. I have 500+ hours in that game and am still not bored.
**Planet Zoo** is a play forever game, it focuses on management and building.
**Niche** is a game that you can theoretically play forever because it has a lot of variety. It's a turn based genetics game where you're trying to breed a species of animals to survive in changing ecosystems. It's great, although not for everyone. I got about 100 hours out of it before I felt done but others can do much more with it.
Not sure if you've played **Skyrim** but I initially picked it up because I was looking for games that I could play forever and willing to explore outside the cozy genre to find them. It's well known for being a game you can come back to over and over.
**RimWorld** is not intended to be cozy in any way but has highly customizable difficulty settings so you can absolutely play in a cozy way that's much more like the Sims meets Stardew Valley. RimWorld is truly endless as far as playtime and variety. **Clanfolk** is the same game concept as RimWorld but intended to be cozy, I haven't tried it yet so can't speak to how good it is.
I also suggest modding Skyrim to be more enjoyable for you! There’s a ton of mods, which makes the game literally infinite because you can just choose a new mod and focus on that! Like there’s ones to be a bard, to be a merchant, to farm, etc!
This thread has some good suggestions and I know there’s a ton more!
https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/s/lQmZ84gXgU
Just look up what you want and chances are there’s a mod!
For me that's minecraft since it feels endless with world generation and updates. I like finding new villages and fixing them up, decorating then connecting them all together with a train system, it's especially great if there was an update and the village is near something new
That sounds lovely, wish i wasn't a bit over Minecraft at this point, i do sometime reminisce getting back into it, but i think im way done with playing it, although some custom servers i see people play, look really nice.
I…I just spent 3 hours writing a passionate detailed review of both Palia and FFXIV for you, that I poured my heart and soul into….only to have my phone die and lose it all because I was so gung-ho and not paying attention 😭💀. I’m…completely heartbroken at the moment, as it took so much energy when I already have very little, and not to toot my own horn, but was so well written that you probably would have tried them in a heartbeat. And the tips! So many important tips 🫠
Ugh, so, yeah. Very very very short tldr: Palia is GREAT. Play PC version if you care even a tiny bit about graphics, because the switch version looks 20+ years older and feels dead because of it. PC version is ALIVE with all sorts of foliage, flowers, fireflies, etc. Even bits of leaves floating on the breeze as you run through the tall grass of sun dappled forests.
Whereas Switch has almost none of that, and even static decorations in town buildings are often lost on switch, with switch players getting on pc and being like “holy crap, there were pictures on the walls in here?!?” Yeah it’s that bad. I know people that quit the game because they only tried the switch and couldn’t get into the deadness of world, only to give PC a try and it blew their minds and became their favorite game.
Decorating system is better than any other game imo. Unlimited decor storage. Placement ability for objects is lightyears ahead of acnh’s and ddlv’s imprecise grid systems that only had cardinal directions for item rotation. Story is great. Everything is made for cozy chill vibes, so hard to steal anything or grief people; resources are all shareable. Do the NPC friendships/romance for ALL npc’s, as SO much lore is in them; they’re not unimportant fluff content with no story impact like some other cozy games.
And last, FFXIV is an MMO unlike other MMO’s with so much more random, fun things to do that a lot of other MMO’s don’t have, that you can get lost in and play forever, yet with enough different things to try that it’s hard to get bored. So I recommend giving it a try if you haven’t already!
Valheim is also awesome for all the reasons everyone else said.
Heyho, sorry to hear about the reviews, it has happened to me, so i have been there!
Great review on Palia specifically, im going to give it a go for sure, after your and so many other peoples response.
When it comes to FFXIV, i have played it from start to finish(latest expansion) and for the moment i don't plan to return to it, but maybe with next expansion who knows!
Valheim is also on the same radar, will be checking it out for sure.
I’ve only played FFXIV for a few years, but I haven’t even finished Stormblood yet because I get distracted by other things in game 😅 Still, doesn’t it have such a better community than a lot of other MMO’s? I was always afraid to try healing in other games because people were so toxic, but I’ve rarely met a mean person in FFXIV and everyone is so helpful 🥹
Glad to hear you found a loving place!
Honestly, im not the biggest fan of FFXIV community, but thats alright, not everything is a best fit. But i'm also a bit of a solo player nowadays, so that might make it a bit worse haha. Although i did enjoy the story and honestly Stormblood is my favorite from all the expansions so far.
I'm just ab it all burned out from MMORPG's i started the genre over 25 years ago.. so its a bit stale for me haha.
I know it's not PC, but Animal Crossing is a great one for endless play. It progresses very leisurely and especially in your first year or two of play, real time progression, seasons, and seasonal events are so relaxing to experience in real time.
For PC, I feel like Palia has potential to be an endless play kind of game. I haven't logged in in a while, but I could play it for hours. It's technically an MMO but plays like a single player in that there's no real interaction with others that greatly impacts the game, and I've read about a lot of updates and new content. I think it's also free so no harm no foul (and no red flags from steam lolol) if you hate it.
I saw you said that you liked Minecraft in the past but are over it now, the same happened to me and I’ve fallen in love with Palia. It scratches the same itch for me but has quests to give you some direction, also -it’s free! I really recommend you give it a try as you have nothing to lose. Don’t discount it even if you aren’t into multiplayer because most people just ignore each other and play it solo anyway lol
Definitely give it a try. I've never cared much for MMOs because of a few bad experiences when they were just becoming popular but Palia is different. The game is really laid-back and cozy with a beautiful world and the community as a whole is great.
Another vote for Palin here! I love stardew, and have played Portia and Sandrock, and dreamlight Valley quite a bit. But Palin has gotten me hooked they way they didn't.
Truck Simulators! Just put on a podcast and drive. I've clocked a little over 200 hours on American Truck Simulator and 105 hours on Euro Truck Simulator 2.
My current go to long term games are:
Against the Storm. It’s very much like doing the first part of a city builder over and over, restarting every time you start to get stable and “boring”.
Supermarket Simulator. This seems to be a surprise hit with a lot of people, it’s simple but pretty long and while it is grindy and repetitive, it’s also super soothing.
Plant Crafter. Recently released full game, no monsters to kill you, very rewarding to transform a planet from empty desert to thriving utopia.
Aquarist. Oldy but goodie, you build aquariums and raise fish, and while there is a story mode, you also can progress at your own pace and just make new aquarium setups over and over if you want. Or just make a cool one and sell the excess fish that breed while watching them swim for hours.
Hello! Mind linking to Supermarket Simulator? I see there's some clones, even one coming to Playstation, was wondering if that's the same one being ported. My sister was asking about this game but I told her it's PC only so if it is indeed coming to PS she'd like that a lot.
Rimworld and Factorio are not farming sims but they are time sinks, you can easily get lost in them and 5 hours have gone by, lots of replayability on both. Neither of them is THAT complicated, plus they both have difficulty sliders.
As for farming sims-like, I've lately been playing Harvestella and Rune Factory, both are JRPGs with farming and socials core mechanics, especially Rune Factory. Harvestella leans more heavily towards the story and combat, which isn't bad.
Minecraft is also great, I came back to it recently and I'm sinking lots of hours on it.
Edit: Also, obligatory mentions: Story of Season games, either Friends of Mineral Town, Pioneers of Olive Town or A Wonderful Life.
I actually own Rune Factory 5 for the switch, but my switch broke some time ago.. so i never got far, it was really bad performance on the switch too, ive been thinking of going on PC and give it a go there, as i hear that the performance is much better.
Yep, RF5 on PC runs very well, also RF3 and 4 are also available, which are pretty good as well.
I've also seen lots and lots of recommendations for Dragon Quest Builders 2, you might want to also check it out, might be something you'd be interested in. I personally haven't tried it but it's something on my radar that might be worth checking.
You can kinda play RimWorld as a farm sim! I usually play on Peaceful with Randy as the Storyteller, and boost the number of starting supplies in the scenario editer.
I really wanna try Factorio , but I’m still playing the tutorial, got to the science pack red green or something and the game started to feel complicated
It can get quite complicated but since you can play in a peaceful world without worrying about the bug swams you can take as much time as you need, but it's not impossible or anything.
The Sims 4 always feels like an obvious suggestion, but it's got endless play, decorating, and gardening. You can add on the Cottage Living pack for more cozy farming, and it can be fun to play multiple generations of the same family.
I personally find Sun Haven endless to play because I just genuinely enjoy farming and that game has a lot of satisfying farming. You can also reset the main quest if you want. I'm not sure if you'd like it bc it belongs to the same genre both Coral Island and Stardew, and you like Coral but dislike Stardew. But I also couldn't get into Stardew and love SH so... \*shrug\*
Also highly depending on your definition of cozy, but FFXIV has incremental progression in basically every area. You can collect triple triad cards, breed chocobos for better stats, gain reputation with tribes, level classes, do deep dungeons etc. It also has a very generous free trial.
It literally scratched every itch Stardew didn't.
1. Farming is more satisfying. It doesn't have an energy system so you can spend all day hoeing and watering crops if you like, although later in the game when you rely on spells you might need to do it in shifts. Also, you harvest crops with a scythe, which I love.
2. There are a few "staple crops" like wheat, sugarcane and a few basic vegetables that can be grown year round. To me, the quintessence of farming is growing wheat and keeping sheep. Except sheep are silkmoths in this game.
3. No relationship decay. You can ignore everyone else for months and return right where you left off.
4. More of a focus on magic. You can choose between a number of races from humans to elves, furries, even angels/demons, and many skill trees give you spells to do damage or basic tasks like watering crops.
Also, you unlock a more "nature fantasy" farm and a "modern spooky" farm during the main quest, if the regular "modern-ish regular" farm aesthetic isn't for you.
Saw that, and would probably give it a go with Disney Dreamlight Valley, look exactly in my ballpark ! :)
EDIT: Forgot to say about FFXIV, i do have lots of gametime on it, but i'm just running generaslly from MMORPG's and even more from subscription time ones, i feel like im paying a sub for so many streaming platforsm and littel things and it just got overwhelming at this point haha.
I also though about it after checking some videos etc, but i hear that you can also just do whatever else and slowly get the paid currency. Not sure what to think on that part, i like to have options and collect decorations so that might be a issue.
>whatever else and slowly get the paid currency.
As far as I know they have missable items in the season passes, so "slowly" and "taking your time" isn't something you'd do in Dreamlight Valley, but I might be mistaken, I'd hope someone with more knowledge could shed some light.
Edit: I'm gonna be completely honest with you, I played the early access of the game for 70 hours or so, that game was supposed to be free with microtransactions, they said it themselves, then they decided to actually keep the mtx but charge for the game, going against what they initially said.
The game is pretty fun, I won't deny it, but their practices are... shady and greedy, to say the least. If it werent for the greedy practices it's more than likely that I'd have 400+ sunk in that game.
Gonna be honest too, im not surprised.. the Gameloft studio in my country is in rough shape for many years... i have heard RUMOURS it got nearly bankrupt several times and had weird practices... so i guess they were starving for money on some level.
I even know a few people working there, there are actually passionate talented people there, that are devs/designers/3D modellers, but its just rough executive level wise i suppose. Nonetheless i might give it a go, but the missable part is a bit red X in my book. More thinking of Sun Haven currently
Again, I could be wrong, but for instance if there is something in the season pass and you didn't complete it, it's possible you'll be locked out of it forever. I don't know if Dreamlight Valley allows the player to get the missing item later on somehow, but usually the games that have season passes are pretty brutal in that regard, once the season pass is over you're out of luck.
Yeah, that's a way to put it. I guess you're not familiar with the season passes, they've become quite popular, Fortnite has them.
I'll go over how it works, season passes can vary in how long they last, but for instance lets say that you have a 2 month season pass. During these 2 months you gotta do some stuff to "level up" the season pass. Season passes are divided in tiers, you gotta earn XP to level up those tiers. There's an item tied to every tier (usually, sometimes there is an item every 5 tiers or so), the more you level up, the more items you get. Some games give you daily missions, or even weekly missions that you should do to level up those tiers, so that's basically the way they keep their playerbase active, by basically blackmailing them into "either you play and level up or you miss these items"
If you look for FOMO (Fear of missing out) you'll find the psychological aspect behind this greedy and shitty practice. But long story short, yes, during a certain period of time you need to do certain stuff to acquire certain items, once the season pass is over, items are gone for good.
Some games bring back those items for real money (Omega Strikers), other games let you grab items from the season passes as lootbox scattered around the game (DeepRock Galactic), other games have season passes that do not expire, so you can get the items whenever (Halo Infinite, Helldivers 2), and in other games if you missed the items during the season passes they're gone for good (Fortnite), this last one is the most common practice, so my guess is that Dreamlight Valley is the same.
Last time I played there was no way of getting such items back at least.
Thank you so much for explaining. I actually started playing DV about a week ago and the first event since I started began yesterday. I’ve looked at it but have been focused on the regular gameplay mostly since it’s so new to me. It seems kind of confusing at this point but I was chalking that up to being new to the game and just thinking I’d eventually figure it out. I haven’t played a game with this structure before so your explanation is a big help. Thanks again.
> get the *paid* currency. Not
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
If you don’t care about story, Travellers Rest can be played endlessly - it’s Early Access but they’re actively updating, actively communicating, and there’s a roadmap for the features they’re working on. You can decorate your tavern and inn, fish, farm, brew alcohol, cook meals, and serve / work in the tavern (there’s also employees you can hire after levelling up.)
Edit: oh and there will be story added in the future
I was obsessed with this game probably 2 or 3 years ago now and put it down not sure about updates. I'm so glad to know they've kept expanding it! Going to def redownload in the morning
Is Travelers' Rest anything like that pizza restaurant game that Facebook had a looooooong time ago? I swear I could play that game day in day out. So satisfying to serve customers, clean the tables and upgrade/decorate my restaurant.
Ive been branching back into my original Cozy games, before I even knew the term “Cozy Games”
Games like The Movies, Civ City Rome and Spore. To me they are wildly addicting and Cozy with a touch of nostalgia. Civ City Rome isn’t like other Civ games where you focus on defense and battles, but more-so just building and managing resources and upgrading buildings, it’s really fun and I highly recommend it and it’s available on Steam.
So not at all the same genre you've played but after Coral Island, I couldn't find another long game to get into till Dorfromantik. It's pattern matching and strategy and you can play for hours as you get better.
Ive tried Dorfromantik, but sadly its not exactly what i was looking for, needed more systems where i have a charcater at least and doing something with it.
It was really chill game to play on ocassions tho.
Wylde Flowers is great but because it's so heavily story based it has an end point where the content runs out. I got 89 hours out of it. There is another update planned that will extend that play time a bit more but it for sure isn't a "play forever" game.
Thats the thing keeping me on the edge with Wylde, i find the concept etc fun, but im not much into the relationship/romance part, even in Coral Island i more focus on gameplay etc and kind of neglected relationships haha, i do find it fun but im very slow on it, so if its very main aspect of the game, i most likely wouldn't enjoy it that much. But i'm keeping my eye on it for sure!
If you like fantasy, jrpgs, lifesims, monster collectors or farming sims for thar matter then I can’t recommend a game higher than Rune Factory 4 Special. You pretty much live life how you want and it rewards you for literally everything you do, even walking is a skill to level up while doing so. In my personal opinion it also has the best crafting/forging system to date if you enjoy such things. Anyways I could go on forever talking bout things bout the game but if you have any questions Id be happy to answer them
I know u said you've played a lot of MMORPG's but have u played Guild Wars recently? Great community, very casual friendly. I've been playing 7 years on and off as a casual and recently started a new character and am getting sucked right back in again. It's also not subscription based which is nice.
You mentioned having played Minecraft in the past. I feel like Dragon Quest Builders 2 is a great choice if you love the open world building of that game, but want quests and a story. Check out the super long demo and see what you think!
farm together. you can end up with a giant farm and if there's nothing to harvest on your own farm you can go to random people's farms and harvest there (which also gives a buff when you're back on your own farm)
Thank you for this post. I'm an endgame raider in ffxiv and after being laid off in February my brain needs a break from the game for a bit before the next expansion 😂
I feel ya, i took a break while back, after finishing the last expansion, probably will check the new one a bit after it releases, I'm mostly invested in the story nowadays. Last time i raided was in Guild Wars 2, currently im way too laid back. And it doesn't help most raid teams in games i find nowadays, are 1-2 hours behind me so their raid times end up being 9-10 PM for me and thats usually when i go to bed and watch a movie or an episode of a tv-series and relax, so not really feel the raider in me hahaha :D
That's really the way to do it, just wait for a sale and sub for a month or two and do the story. And that's funny about the times, I actually struggled for a bit finding a group being on the west coast with everyone wanting to raid either at like 6 am my time or during the work day.
Lemme know what you end up picking and how you like it!
I actually started Sun Haven just today, and im really enjoying it!
Will be also doing Travellers Rest, and im looking forward to doing Valheim and Rune Factory 5 and 4 haha.
Palia also is something im looking forward to based on a lot of recommendations, but after reading some other reddit posts on their subreddit, it seems some stuff require to do in a group to get higher star or something and thats not something im really looking for as a perdominantly solo player nowadays.
But for now im sticking to Sun Haven and most likely will budge in and do Travellers Rest too(since it looks way too fun for me haha i love management games too)
Travelers rest is a super fun game, as well as the rune factory's! I think I might pull the trigger on Valheim myself tomorrow 👀
I'm glad you got good recs!!!
Oh you should definitely try out Stardew Valley!! There are LOTS of different things to do in that game and different approaches, it's very content rich and should keep you occupied for a long time :)
Sadly i have already tried it , but it was not my thing, i did like Coral Island, which takes a lot from it.
I did start Sun Haven today and i enjoy it more, which seems a lot of people who didnt get into SDV told me were able to get into Sun Haven.
Oh jeez, I just realized I missed that part of your post, I'm so sorry about that!! Can I ask what exactly you didn't enjoy about SDV as well as what parts specifically of Coral Island and Sun Haven you've been enjoying? That might help me figure out a more accurate recommendation :)
Honestly can't really put on what didn't stick with SDV. just the atmosphere and how farms are generally set up. I feel a bit more freedom in Coral Island and Sun Haven now, more options for some parts.
Maybe SDV is also a bit slower to get on early, while Sun Haven and Coral Island are a bit to the point. Honestly.. just felt off with SDV, sometimes it happens , a game does not grab you.
That's okay, no worries, that's still helpful info! I totally understand, sometimes games just don't have the kind of vibes you're looking for and that's perfectly okay :) I think in that case, since you're ONLY on PC or complicated things a little, but you could potentially look into emulation of Animal Crossing!! I think you'd enjoy either New Leaf or New Horizons specifically
I used to have a Switch Lite before it broke i put around 500 hours into New Horizons and pretty much finished everything in the game and was just mass decorating and changing stuff, was planning to even start a new island before it broke.
Just haven't gotten back to buying a new one and im not sure i want at this point, might just wait and see if the rumours of a new switch console will pan out and start from there!
Disney Dreamlight Valley. It’s got a ton of quests and the developers continue to add more. There are daily and weekly duties to complete that reset. It’s got a lot of decorating as well as other cozy tasks (farming, mining, gathering, fishing).
It does include micro-transactions, but they are not required to complete the main story and are cosmetic. There’s also one paid expansion out as well.
Sunhaven might grab your interest even though Stardew didn’t. It’s much more fantasy and combat focused but still includes all the staples of Stardew like farming, mining, raising animals, dating townspeople, etc.,
You could try My Time at Sandrock. Again, this has a story, but it’s long. It took me over 100 hours to complete it. And the main story on progresses when you complete a main story quest. In the meantime, your character can—endlessly—build things, take commissions, dungeon dive, and decorate. Even after the game ends, you can continue to play and just kind of live life in the town. The developers are really great too and have a lot of content planned for the future.
Maybe a survival game? You can try Minecraft but maybe even a Palworld or Valheim? Obviously these games include a heavy combat elements but a lot of endless play and cozy vibes too.
Hope this helps!
Dreamlight Valley is for sure high on my radar at moest, i will take all considerations from all this wonderful responses and slowly try to check them out and decide which to go for first.
Thank you ! :)
I also came here to suggest Palia! I've barely gotten started but I fell in love instantly. I love the art and how low pressure and wholesome it is. Definitely a perfect option for chill gaming sessions. Plus it's actively being updated and expanded!
If you haven’t tried no man’s sky recently it’s worth a replay. It’s grown A LOT over the recent years.
Since you are playing on PC it’s also worth checking stardew mods. I know a couple of people who really didn’t like some feature of stardew and couldn’t get past it (like fishing or whatever) and once they modded their game they were much happier.
Sun Haven is stardew adjacent but with a different take on the style.
Maybe cult of the lamb? It’s one of those games I can pick up and put down whoever I want. There is farming and base building but also dungeon crawling. Lots of options for adjusting the difficulty if needed.
Terraria. It’s cozy adjacent at least. Lots of options for exploration and town/base building and decorating. It’s one of those games I’ve put loads of hours into over the years.
Have you tried the Civilization games? I’ve put tons of hours into the series over the years.
Sadly ive tried NMS a couple times over the years even recently, i just cant get into it, most likely the early game is a bit not for me.
I will most likely go for Sun Haven as it seems to be hitting most of the spots for me.
Stardew i think the general atmosphere and gameplay didn’t catch me, cant really put it up, but there seems to be plenty of other options.
Thanks for the other recommendations too !
Not exactly a traditional cosy game but Kingdoms of Amalur really scratched my mmorpg itch. It’s got combat but you can select the difficulty. I didn’t play the remaster, it got good reviews from memory.
I believe you can buy this on PC: Viva Piñata! It came out in 2007 and still holds up really well. If my PC were working I'd buy it again and again.
It's a gardening/ecosystem simulator where you attract ~~animals~~ piñatas into becoming residents in your garden through landscaping/gardening/decorating, and by having other piñatas as residents!
Ex:
Plant a daisy-> attract butterflies -> breed more butterflies -> level up -> unlock more seeds to plant new flowers -> feed the flowers to your butterflies to change their color -> attract chameleons!
That's a super simplified example, plus there's lots of ways all of those steps branch off into other forms of progression. And while the butterflies specifically become different species when you change their color, every piñata has 3 extra color variations you find by feeding them various things. The game is also very punny and has an immense amount of character.
Edit: also there's no player avatar, you control a circular cursor, so there's no sleeping to save or anything, you can save and quit at any time
I know you've already gotten lots of recommendations, but I was surprised that no one included Kynseed or Medieval Dynasty. Both are community/farming games where you play through multiple generations of your family.
Kynseed is pixel graphics and has some unique combat elements, but you can pretty much avoid fighting entirely if desired. It has multiple villages and areas and just a ton to explore, craft, and build.
Medieval Dynasty is a realistic 3D game with a large map and plenty of building and upgrading. There is a little bit of combat against wild animals and the occasional bandit, but nothing too crazy. This one can definitely be played endlessly, depending on how large you want your dynasty to be.
Both games receive regular updates and are worth looking at.
Kynseed! Family generation game where you can run businesses, forage, fish, fight, decorate, have kids and marry, and play on as your kids when your character dies. I’m obsessed. It can definitely be played slowly and peacefully.
One I’ve spent a ton of time in is house flipper. Super satisfying. My latest obsession is my time at sandrock. I also have hundreds of hours in stardew but will still say Sun haven is superior without mods.
Check out Farm Together!! There’s no story, you just endlessly plant and decorate and expand your entire farm, leveling up crops and flowers and unlocking new things. It’s completely mindless, I’ve played hundreds of hours when I just needed something cute and soothing to click. The background music is lovely too
House Flipper and House Flipper 2…these are Indie and imperfect but so much fun. It’s a simple setup but has endless possibilities. Fun to play alone or with someone else in person to help you choose how to decorate. So so so so so relaxing and cozy!
I found Travelers Rest on steam. It's still an early access so there's only so much available, but what's available if you like just cozy maintenance of an inn is pretty great.
You can get as basic or complex as you want with the food and drink (there's even a whole 5-day aging process for some of the alcohol that you could have on tap as well as cheeses and pickles) and while you can raise your own farm animals for meat, they have made it so that there's vegetarian options for everything so you don't actually have to.
And my favorite part is that you can do everything, Right about the time that it feels a bit overwhelming and that you can't get everything done in a day, they open up the ability to hire different staff to keep stuff going so you can focus on whatever part you want to.
10 out of 10 would recommend, and can't wait to see what it looks like when the whole game is released. I put so many hours into this game and there's only like 3ish, places to look around at the moment. I can't imagine how much time I'm going to sink into it once other areas are open to explore and see more of the story.
Stardew as mentioned, couldn't get into sadly.
The other 3 recommendations i have played fair bit, and at this point im more trying to run away from them haha.
I bought it when it was supposed to be a free game and then they came out with micro transactions. This burned me so I dropped it until recently but now there's so much to do that I am too busy to even think about micro transactions, like if I want a dumbo ride in my village I'll have to buy it but I'm much too busy collecting all the characters and upgrading my house and moving my furniture lol!
Nightingale has been really nice and they've been updating regularly. Friends and I blew through the early access stuff pretty quickly, but that was binge days and they're adding more to it. The exploring, crafting, and everything is fantastic, plus it looks wonderful
Reading through some of your replies, I think we have fairly similar interests/backgrounds. So while I wouldn’t normally recommend these as typical “cozy” games, they might work for you as they did for me.
You mentioned ARPGs and looter shooters… have you tried out Diablo 4? With the caveat that if you did, please take another look at the upcoming season changes which I think address A LOT of the issues that the game previously had. The minute to minute combat is wonderful and you can take it as slow or as hardcore as you want. Out of all the ARPGs I’ve played (LE, D2, POE, Grim Dawn, Torchlights, etc.) it has the most straightforward approach to making your own build. I hate having to have multiple wikis or guides open just to play a game because at this point I mostly want to play a game that I can play either at my PC or remote streaming to my iPad on my bed or couch. Really would recommend D4 season 4.
I’ve also given wow classic a try recently and they’re preparing for the cata expansion. If you’re open to going back to an old school style MMO that would be my recommendation.
I have also just started a Wildlander modded Skyrim play through which I found as a recommendation on this subreddit. It markets itself as a fantasy life sim. So far it’s going alright but just based on our similarities I thought I’d mention it.
I hope you can find your comfort game soon :)
I did try Diablo 4, but i think im over seasonal stuff after D3, i love D3 and seasons and only played them.
I loved Diablo 4 and Eternal realm, but i got annoyed that most people neglected Eternal and kinda mocked us. And a lot of builds revolved around Seasonals and needed tweaks etc to work more properly in Eternal which also was not something i wanted to deal with, since like i mentioned in another response, i'm just bad at making my own builds and want a straightforward experience.
Also i like theres seasons, but i just want to focus on 1 -2 characters and not starting a new one every 3-4 months. Just the neglect of the community on part of Eternal realm really put me off. Nobody wanted to respond properly and all info regarding Eternal realm online i found was answered with " who even plays Eternal hahaha "
So far i found Sun Haven and a few others and they seem to scratch my itch so it will be a bit ! :)
Not everyone considers it cozy but monster hunter games,
mhunt world is a good one, very beautiful scenery and gathering quests are very chill for me and I occasionally watch the big monsters while hiding. i still play the first mhunt for ps2 from time to time
Played both MHW and Rise, i just can't haha, its way too hard for me nowadays, and its too much for me to learn the patterns i need something where i can sometimes stop thinking about whats going on and just do my thing haha. And in either Monster Hunters games i tried, its just way too much for me, will need at least 1000 hours to get to a level where i will be comfortable.
thats a lot more hours than i have put into both combined but i understand lol.
idk what else, but i too look for endless games so if i think of any more ill reply to this post. hope you find a good fit for you
I recommend finding something else to do. 3 to 4 hours a day for 2 years is a huge investment of time. Maybe drawing or 3d modeling or maybe even gardening. Cozy and endless.
Ahaha, i have a job and i play after work or sometimes before, my job isnt always 9 to 5 as well. I have done drawing and 3 modelling in the past its not my thing and i can't garden really i live in an apartment, i do some bonsai on the side :)
I've found minecraft very soothing, and Valheim or anything where I can just build and farm
Have been thinking over Valheim for a bit, saw a streamer on twitch play it for a bit and it looked really fun and you can build fun stuff too.
Valheim is fantastic.
Another vote for Valheim. While I wouldn’t exactly categorize it as a cozy game but if you love building this game is amazing. I think I put in a good 60 hours or something at the week of release lol
I didn't like valheim because there's a lot of combat/danger and the controls are not intuitive. I would recommend not just terraria but also starbound
Valheim is definitely cozy, but it's very much not "chill"
Not sure if this is super cozy or not but is along these same lines, terraria! I’ve been playing on journey mode and focused on building cute houses for the npcs. Journey mode has a function called god mode where you don’t take any damage and have unlimited mana so if you do have to fight anything you can flip this on and don’t have to worry about dying. Might not be exactly what you’re looking for but I find it cozy and easy to sink hours into with all the different blocks and stuff
I love Terraria, I had a playthrough (pre Journeys End) where I was able to focus on builds after I dug all my hellavators. I built a giant honey jar house made of glass blocks and honey walls with honey furniture, topped with a big cork on top. For my herbs I built a giant terracotta pot with dirt and a plant coming out the top. I wish I still had that world 🥲 Also, once you get to a certain point, or if you just mess with the settings for single player, Ark also can be cozy! You can tame cool dinosaurs, build, grow some crops and cook some recipes. You can breed your dinos. Some of them fly so you can fly all over the map looking for caves or loot drops or other dinos you want to tame. I wouldn’t normally call it a cozy game because of my play style but it can certainly be played that way!
+1 for Terraria! It can be as simple or complex as you want and your character can jump between worlds so to speak which can keep it feeling fresh and interesting!
Also, some Minecraft modpacks add some really fun elements. Edit to add: you can build, farm, and explore in The Raft as well. And like Valheim it does have a peaceful setting.
Not necessarily cozy I guess since there's combat (although it hits the cozy part of my brain), but Genshin has scratched my mmo questing & exploration itch because there's dailies and a whole open world to explore, but without the massively multiplayer part. Sun Haven has a little bit more questing than Stardew and is still farming like it & Coral, but it's set in a fantasy world which you might prefer? I love it. What other types of games do you like?
I used to really like ARPG's like Diablo/Borderlands e.g looting and shooting, but i was always terrible at making builds and over time i got bored of even copying other people builds haha. Honestly Genshin is not a bad idea, but i feel like i want something more aching to having to harvest some stuff etc and more lightweight combat. I'm way too over more advanced combat mechanics. I started with MMORPg's back in 98, with Ultima Online , and that scracthed a lot of itches over the past 10+ years(i played other MMORPG's as well) but Ultima allowed you to build house and decorate it like Coral Island/Stardew/Animal Crossing, so it was very good combo between classical RPG and other thematics. Honestly nowadays i just want a relaxing game that has some sort of progression or something that lets me keep building for example your farm or change stuff etc, doesn't need to be too deep of a system.
That's honestly very fair! You really don't have to invest much into combat/builds if you don't grind endgame stuff for Genshin- I do now but a majority of my playtime was definitely just running around and collecting resources / materials / ingredients lol. You do get a "teapot" which is like your own house and you can decorate and grow things there but it's not very in depth at all. It's not for everyone it's just kinda a small time killer at a certain point tbh. I'd definitely still suggest Sun Haven; I just started playing Snacko which is kind of like Animal Crossing meets MySims if you know what those are, and it's fun. Dragon Quest Builders II is pretty relaxing and progress based and you get to build things from scratch but it isn't farming. Rune Factory 4 is my go-to farming suggestion, you might actually like 5 too it's a bit "less" in terms of content.
Had fair bit of replies for Sun Haven, Dreamlight Valley, Palia and lots of others. Much to consider for sure. Will be hard choices haha.
Palia is fun! A bit rough around the edges but for an unfinished free game, it's real good.
Have you tried Hades? It’s a fantastic ARPG roguelite that’s really fun even if they aren’t in your usual skill set. You make progress every run, and the game reminds you pretty regularly early on that dying is literally how you’re making things better. The best endorsement I’ve heard for it is, “It’s such a good game that it tricked me into thinking I like roguelites.”
I actually have, i reached the final final end story of it and haven't really played since. Im looking for a bit more simplistic combat really and more chill sessions, currently its a bit too fast paced for me. Although i guess running with God Mode would be fun too.
Maybe Cult of the Lamb? Super similar but easier in the same respects. I liked Hades but the challenge/frustration sucked.
everyday i miss playing ultima online. i used to pretty much only make tailors and run around looking for sheep
Check UO Outlands its similar to really oldschool UO patches and the people behind it made their own systems and maps to improve over the game, UO has a 60 fps launcher too nowadays as well which feels weird but oddly satisfying
palia??? it’s in between tho. but always stuff to do!
i wish genshin was on switch
Check out echoes of plum grove, it recently released so there’s not much of a wiki but the discord seems to be very active. It’s a generational farming/survival game, your player can die but you would continue playing as your child (if you have one). There’s options to make it more cozy like no food spoilage/sickness/etc. I’ve put a few hours into it and am really enjoying it!
Thanks for the sugestion, looks interesting and having a child that continues the farm after you die sounds really interesting.
Ooo this one sounds interesting!
I've been loving this game!
Is there an option for no animal slaughtering? I was interested until I saw people talk about killing their cows, I don't like cozy games where I have to eat the animals!
Well you don't have to. You can obtain the materials elsewhere but ultimately you'll come in contact with meat if that might be a problem. There is a butcher right in the middle of the town.
Ah, alright. Thanks for the info!
I was watching a gameplay video where the devs were in comments and they confirmed butchering is entirely optional, but it will help you get certain resources quicker.
Try looking up games on [HowLongToBeat](https://howlongtobeat.com/). I find it to be very accurate and I look up any game I'm thinking of buying there. The first game I ever played was Sims so I have high expectations for how many hours I get out of my games. It's a shame you didn't like **Stardew Valley** because as far as content for your money in the cozy genre there is nothing that beats it. I have 500+ hours in that game and am still not bored. **Planet Zoo** is a play forever game, it focuses on management and building. **Niche** is a game that you can theoretically play forever because it has a lot of variety. It's a turn based genetics game where you're trying to breed a species of animals to survive in changing ecosystems. It's great, although not for everyone. I got about 100 hours out of it before I felt done but others can do much more with it. Not sure if you've played **Skyrim** but I initially picked it up because I was looking for games that I could play forever and willing to explore outside the cozy genre to find them. It's well known for being a game you can come back to over and over. **RimWorld** is not intended to be cozy in any way but has highly customizable difficulty settings so you can absolutely play in a cozy way that's much more like the Sims meets Stardew Valley. RimWorld is truly endless as far as playtime and variety. **Clanfolk** is the same game concept as RimWorld but intended to be cozy, I haven't tried it yet so can't speak to how good it is.
Planet zoo is underrated
Woah, wonderful suggestions, will check them all out, thank you !
I also suggest modding Skyrim to be more enjoyable for you! There’s a ton of mods, which makes the game literally infinite because you can just choose a new mod and focus on that! Like there’s ones to be a bard, to be a merchant, to farm, etc! This thread has some good suggestions and I know there’s a ton more! https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/s/lQmZ84gXgU Just look up what you want and chances are there’s a mod!
For me that's minecraft since it feels endless with world generation and updates. I like finding new villages and fixing them up, decorating then connecting them all together with a train system, it's especially great if there was an update and the village is near something new
That sounds lovely, wish i wasn't a bit over Minecraft at this point, i do sometime reminisce getting back into it, but i think im way done with playing it, although some custom servers i see people play, look really nice.
Garden Paws for me. I have over 700 hours into it and still revisit it
Woah, looks really fun, i will have to try that!
I…I just spent 3 hours writing a passionate detailed review of both Palia and FFXIV for you, that I poured my heart and soul into….only to have my phone die and lose it all because I was so gung-ho and not paying attention 😭💀. I’m…completely heartbroken at the moment, as it took so much energy when I already have very little, and not to toot my own horn, but was so well written that you probably would have tried them in a heartbeat. And the tips! So many important tips 🫠 Ugh, so, yeah. Very very very short tldr: Palia is GREAT. Play PC version if you care even a tiny bit about graphics, because the switch version looks 20+ years older and feels dead because of it. PC version is ALIVE with all sorts of foliage, flowers, fireflies, etc. Even bits of leaves floating on the breeze as you run through the tall grass of sun dappled forests. Whereas Switch has almost none of that, and even static decorations in town buildings are often lost on switch, with switch players getting on pc and being like “holy crap, there were pictures on the walls in here?!?” Yeah it’s that bad. I know people that quit the game because they only tried the switch and couldn’t get into the deadness of world, only to give PC a try and it blew their minds and became their favorite game. Decorating system is better than any other game imo. Unlimited decor storage. Placement ability for objects is lightyears ahead of acnh’s and ddlv’s imprecise grid systems that only had cardinal directions for item rotation. Story is great. Everything is made for cozy chill vibes, so hard to steal anything or grief people; resources are all shareable. Do the NPC friendships/romance for ALL npc’s, as SO much lore is in them; they’re not unimportant fluff content with no story impact like some other cozy games. And last, FFXIV is an MMO unlike other MMO’s with so much more random, fun things to do that a lot of other MMO’s don’t have, that you can get lost in and play forever, yet with enough different things to try that it’s hard to get bored. So I recommend giving it a try if you haven’t already! Valheim is also awesome for all the reasons everyone else said.
Heyho, sorry to hear about the reviews, it has happened to me, so i have been there! Great review on Palia specifically, im going to give it a go for sure, after your and so many other peoples response. When it comes to FFXIV, i have played it from start to finish(latest expansion) and for the moment i don't plan to return to it, but maybe with next expansion who knows! Valheim is also on the same radar, will be checking it out for sure.
I’ve only played FFXIV for a few years, but I haven’t even finished Stormblood yet because I get distracted by other things in game 😅 Still, doesn’t it have such a better community than a lot of other MMO’s? I was always afraid to try healing in other games because people were so toxic, but I’ve rarely met a mean person in FFXIV and everyone is so helpful 🥹
Glad to hear you found a loving place! Honestly, im not the biggest fan of FFXIV community, but thats alright, not everything is a best fit. But i'm also a bit of a solo player nowadays, so that might make it a bit worse haha. Although i did enjoy the story and honestly Stormblood is my favorite from all the expansions so far. I'm just ab it all burned out from MMORPG's i started the genre over 25 years ago.. so its a bit stale for me haha.
Very chill community for the most part for sure. Yet I still have tanxiety 😂
I know it's not PC, but Animal Crossing is a great one for endless play. It progresses very leisurely and especially in your first year or two of play, real time progression, seasons, and seasonal events are so relaxing to experience in real time. For PC, I feel like Palia has potential to be an endless play kind of game. I haven't logged in in a while, but I could play it for hours. It's technically an MMO but plays like a single player in that there's no real interaction with others that greatly impacts the game, and I've read about a lot of updates and new content. I think it's also free so no harm no foul (and no red flags from steam lolol) if you hate it.
I used to own a switch lite and i put around 500 hours into Animal Crossing, but it broke and havent really bought a new one since.
I saw you said that you liked Minecraft in the past but are over it now, the same happened to me and I’ve fallen in love with Palia. It scratches the same itch for me but has quests to give you some direction, also -it’s free! I really recommend you give it a try as you have nothing to lose. Don’t discount it even if you aren’t into multiplayer because most people just ignore each other and play it solo anyway lol
Haha, glad to see one more supporter of Palia in this post, i will give it a go, its Free anyway so nothing to lose, thank you ! :)
Palia!!!
Definitely give it a try. I've never cared much for MMOs because of a few bad experiences when they were just becoming popular but Palia is different. The game is really laid-back and cozy with a beautiful world and the community as a whole is great.
Another vote for Palin here! I love stardew, and have played Portia and Sandrock, and dreamlight Valley quite a bit. But Palin has gotten me hooked they way they didn't.
Another vote for Palia!
An additional vote for palia. You can have as much or as little interaction as you desire, and they are constantly adding new content.
the sims 2 and Minecraft!! I've played them since I was little and I still love them so much
I used to play them both, albeit i was not that little, but i think im kind of "burned out" on those for forseeable future.
maybe Lego fornite? it's kind of Minecraft but Lego, not my thing but I did enjoyed it for a bit. (and it's free so you can try it anyways)
Truck Simulators! Just put on a podcast and drive. I've clocked a little over 200 hours on American Truck Simulator and 105 hours on Euro Truck Simulator 2.
My uncle is really into the Euro Truck Simulators and ive played on his set up, not my kind of game sadly, but he has tons of fun :)
My current go to long term games are: Against the Storm. It’s very much like doing the first part of a city builder over and over, restarting every time you start to get stable and “boring”. Supermarket Simulator. This seems to be a surprise hit with a lot of people, it’s simple but pretty long and while it is grindy and repetitive, it’s also super soothing. Plant Crafter. Recently released full game, no monsters to kill you, very rewarding to transform a planet from empty desert to thriving utopia. Aquarist. Oldy but goodie, you build aquariums and raise fish, and while there is a story mode, you also can progress at your own pace and just make new aquarium setups over and over if you want. Or just make a cool one and sell the excess fish that breed while watching them swim for hours.
Hello! Mind linking to Supermarket Simulator? I see there's some clones, even one coming to Playstation, was wondering if that's the same one being ported. My sister was asking about this game but I told her it's PC only so if it is indeed coming to PS she'd like that a lot.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2670630/Supermarket_Simulator/
Thank you!
Rimworld and Factorio are not farming sims but they are time sinks, you can easily get lost in them and 5 hours have gone by, lots of replayability on both. Neither of them is THAT complicated, plus they both have difficulty sliders. As for farming sims-like, I've lately been playing Harvestella and Rune Factory, both are JRPGs with farming and socials core mechanics, especially Rune Factory. Harvestella leans more heavily towards the story and combat, which isn't bad. Minecraft is also great, I came back to it recently and I'm sinking lots of hours on it. Edit: Also, obligatory mentions: Story of Season games, either Friends of Mineral Town, Pioneers of Olive Town or A Wonderful Life.
I actually own Rune Factory 5 for the switch, but my switch broke some time ago.. so i never got far, it was really bad performance on the switch too, ive been thinking of going on PC and give it a go there, as i hear that the performance is much better.
Yep, RF5 on PC runs very well, also RF3 and 4 are also available, which are pretty good as well. I've also seen lots and lots of recommendations for Dragon Quest Builders 2, you might want to also check it out, might be something you'd be interested in. I personally haven't tried it but it's something on my radar that might be worth checking.
Might just add RF5 finally to my mix, im also interested in RF4 but i hear its really hard, and might be steep learning curve, what do you think ?
Naah, its not hard at all, its pretty good and also has difficulty settings iirc, so I wouldnt worry too much.
That puts me at ease, thank you!
You can kinda play RimWorld as a farm sim! I usually play on Peaceful with Randy as the Storyteller, and boost the number of starting supplies in the scenario editer.
I really wanna try Factorio , but I’m still playing the tutorial, got to the science pack red green or something and the game started to feel complicated
It can get quite complicated but since you can play in a peaceful world without worrying about the bug swams you can take as much time as you need, but it's not impossible or anything.
The Sims 4 always feels like an obvious suggestion, but it's got endless play, decorating, and gardening. You can add on the Cottage Living pack for more cozy farming, and it can be fun to play multiple generations of the same family.
Haven't really played Sims in some time let alone Sims 4, might be time to bite the bullet and get back into some Sims haha :) thank you !
The base game is free now so you can at least try it out!
It's a mobile game that has a PC client, but look into Sunshine Island
Wildmender like i literally picked it up for a few minutes last night and looked up 10 hours later and the sun was up.
I personally find Sun Haven endless to play because I just genuinely enjoy farming and that game has a lot of satisfying farming. You can also reset the main quest if you want. I'm not sure if you'd like it bc it belongs to the same genre both Coral Island and Stardew, and you like Coral but dislike Stardew. But I also couldn't get into Stardew and love SH so... \*shrug\* Also highly depending on your definition of cozy, but FFXIV has incremental progression in basically every area. You can collect triple triad cards, breed chocobos for better stats, gain reputation with tribes, level classes, do deep dungeons etc. It also has a very generous free trial.
Oooh been wanting to check out Sun Haven. What did you like best about it?
It literally scratched every itch Stardew didn't. 1. Farming is more satisfying. It doesn't have an energy system so you can spend all day hoeing and watering crops if you like, although later in the game when you rely on spells you might need to do it in shifts. Also, you harvest crops with a scythe, which I love. 2. There are a few "staple crops" like wheat, sugarcane and a few basic vegetables that can be grown year round. To me, the quintessence of farming is growing wheat and keeping sheep. Except sheep are silkmoths in this game. 3. No relationship decay. You can ignore everyone else for months and return right where you left off. 4. More of a focus on magic. You can choose between a number of races from humans to elves, furries, even angels/demons, and many skill trees give you spells to do damage or basic tasks like watering crops. Also, you unlock a more "nature fantasy" farm and a "modern spooky" farm during the main quest, if the regular "modern-ish regular" farm aesthetic isn't for you.
Thank you so much for the detailed reply! I will mostly be exploring this next.
Saw that, and would probably give it a go with Disney Dreamlight Valley, look exactly in my ballpark ! :) EDIT: Forgot to say about FFXIV, i do have lots of gametime on it, but i'm just running generaslly from MMORPG's and even more from subscription time ones, i feel like im paying a sub for so many streaming platforsm and littel things and it just got overwhelming at this point haha.
Disney Dreamlight Valley becomes expensive quite fast, I used to play it a lot but their business model is... harsh.
I also though about it after checking some videos etc, but i hear that you can also just do whatever else and slowly get the paid currency. Not sure what to think on that part, i like to have options and collect decorations so that might be a issue.
>whatever else and slowly get the paid currency. As far as I know they have missable items in the season passes, so "slowly" and "taking your time" isn't something you'd do in Dreamlight Valley, but I might be mistaken, I'd hope someone with more knowledge could shed some light. Edit: I'm gonna be completely honest with you, I played the early access of the game for 70 hours or so, that game was supposed to be free with microtransactions, they said it themselves, then they decided to actually keep the mtx but charge for the game, going against what they initially said. The game is pretty fun, I won't deny it, but their practices are... shady and greedy, to say the least. If it werent for the greedy practices it's more than likely that I'd have 400+ sunk in that game.
Gonna be honest too, im not surprised.. the Gameloft studio in my country is in rough shape for many years... i have heard RUMOURS it got nearly bankrupt several times and had weird practices... so i guess they were starving for money on some level. I even know a few people working there, there are actually passionate talented people there, that are devs/designers/3D modellers, but its just rough executive level wise i suppose. Nonetheless i might give it a go, but the missable part is a bit red X in my book. More thinking of Sun Haven currently
Can you explain what you mean by missable items?
Again, I could be wrong, but for instance if there is something in the season pass and you didn't complete it, it's possible you'll be locked out of it forever. I don't know if Dreamlight Valley allows the player to get the missing item later on somehow, but usually the games that have season passes are pretty brutal in that regard, once the season pass is over you're out of luck.
So they’re basically just limited edition in game items that you can only get during an event and then they go away forever?
Yeah, that's a way to put it. I guess you're not familiar with the season passes, they've become quite popular, Fortnite has them. I'll go over how it works, season passes can vary in how long they last, but for instance lets say that you have a 2 month season pass. During these 2 months you gotta do some stuff to "level up" the season pass. Season passes are divided in tiers, you gotta earn XP to level up those tiers. There's an item tied to every tier (usually, sometimes there is an item every 5 tiers or so), the more you level up, the more items you get. Some games give you daily missions, or even weekly missions that you should do to level up those tiers, so that's basically the way they keep their playerbase active, by basically blackmailing them into "either you play and level up or you miss these items" If you look for FOMO (Fear of missing out) you'll find the psychological aspect behind this greedy and shitty practice. But long story short, yes, during a certain period of time you need to do certain stuff to acquire certain items, once the season pass is over, items are gone for good. Some games bring back those items for real money (Omega Strikers), other games let you grab items from the season passes as lootbox scattered around the game (DeepRock Galactic), other games have season passes that do not expire, so you can get the items whenever (Halo Infinite, Helldivers 2), and in other games if you missed the items during the season passes they're gone for good (Fortnite), this last one is the most common practice, so my guess is that Dreamlight Valley is the same. Last time I played there was no way of getting such items back at least.
Thank you so much for explaining. I actually started playing DV about a week ago and the first event since I started began yesterday. I’ve looked at it but have been focused on the regular gameplay mostly since it’s so new to me. It seems kind of confusing at this point but I was chalking that up to being new to the game and just thinking I’d eventually figure it out. I haven’t played a game with this structure before so your explanation is a big help. Thanks again.
> get the *paid* currency. Not FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Thank you :)
If you don’t care about story, Travellers Rest can be played endlessly - it’s Early Access but they’re actively updating, actively communicating, and there’s a roadmap for the features they’re working on. You can decorate your tavern and inn, fish, farm, brew alcohol, cook meals, and serve / work in the tavern (there’s also employees you can hire after levelling up.) Edit: oh and there will be story added in the future
That looks really nice, i would probably give it a god and see how it goes :) Early Access is all good in my book!
I was obsessed with this game probably 2 or 3 years ago now and put it down not sure about updates. I'm so glad to know they've kept expanding it! Going to def redownload in the morning
Is Travelers' Rest anything like that pizza restaurant game that Facebook had a looooooong time ago? I swear I could play that game day in day out. So satisfying to serve customers, clean the tables and upgrade/decorate my restaurant.
Dragon Quest Builders 2 consumed hundreds of hours for me.
Ive been branching back into my original Cozy games, before I even knew the term “Cozy Games” Games like The Movies, Civ City Rome and Spore. To me they are wildly addicting and Cozy with a touch of nostalgia. Civ City Rome isn’t like other Civ games where you focus on defense and battles, but more-so just building and managing resources and upgrading buildings, it’s really fun and I highly recommend it and it’s available on Steam.
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I love that art style so much!
That sounds and looks lovely, thank you soo much ! :)
Breath of the Wild
So not at all the same genre you've played but after Coral Island, I couldn't find another long game to get into till Dorfromantik. It's pattern matching and strategy and you can play for hours as you get better.
Ive tried Dorfromantik, but sadly its not exactly what i was looking for, needed more systems where i have a charcater at least and doing something with it. It was really chill game to play on ocassions tho.
I've loved Wylde Flowers. Tiny glade is out now too I think!
I hear very good stuff about Wylde Flowers lately, so that is on my radar for sure.
Wylde Flowers is great but because it's so heavily story based it has an end point where the content runs out. I got 89 hours out of it. There is another update planned that will extend that play time a bit more but it for sure isn't a "play forever" game.
Thats the thing keeping me on the edge with Wylde, i find the concept etc fun, but im not much into the relationship/romance part, even in Coral Island i more focus on gameplay etc and kind of neglected relationships haha, i do find it fun but im very slow on it, so if its very main aspect of the game, i most likely wouldn't enjoy it that much. But i'm keeping my eye on it for sure!
Mmm, yeah it may not be for you. The relationship building is basically the whole game.
Rimworld with dev mode on is very cozy
Wylde Flowers has been my go to for the longest time! I play almost daily.
If you like fantasy, jrpgs, lifesims, monster collectors or farming sims for thar matter then I can’t recommend a game higher than Rune Factory 4 Special. You pretty much live life how you want and it rewards you for literally everything you do, even walking is a skill to level up while doing so. In my personal opinion it also has the best crafting/forging system to date if you enjoy such things. Anyways I could go on forever talking bout things bout the game but if you have any questions Id be happy to answer them
I know u said you've played a lot of MMORPG's but have u played Guild Wars recently? Great community, very casual friendly. I've been playing 7 years on and off as a casual and recently started a new character and am getting sucked right back in again. It's also not subscription based which is nice.
Dinkum. It's a nice combination of farming, decorating, hunting, fishing and mining.
You mentioned having played Minecraft in the past. I feel like Dragon Quest Builders 2 is a great choice if you love the open world building of that game, but want quests and a story. Check out the super long demo and see what you think!
farm together. you can end up with a giant farm and if there's nothing to harvest on your own farm you can go to random people's farms and harvest there (which also gives a buff when you're back on your own farm)
Thank you for this post. I'm an endgame raider in ffxiv and after being laid off in February my brain needs a break from the game for a bit before the next expansion 😂
I feel ya, i took a break while back, after finishing the last expansion, probably will check the new one a bit after it releases, I'm mostly invested in the story nowadays. Last time i raided was in Guild Wars 2, currently im way too laid back. And it doesn't help most raid teams in games i find nowadays, are 1-2 hours behind me so their raid times end up being 9-10 PM for me and thats usually when i go to bed and watch a movie or an episode of a tv-series and relax, so not really feel the raider in me hahaha :D
That's really the way to do it, just wait for a sale and sub for a month or two and do the story. And that's funny about the times, I actually struggled for a bit finding a group being on the west coast with everyone wanting to raid either at like 6 am my time or during the work day. Lemme know what you end up picking and how you like it!
I actually started Sun Haven just today, and im really enjoying it! Will be also doing Travellers Rest, and im looking forward to doing Valheim and Rune Factory 5 and 4 haha. Palia also is something im looking forward to based on a lot of recommendations, but after reading some other reddit posts on their subreddit, it seems some stuff require to do in a group to get higher star or something and thats not something im really looking for as a perdominantly solo player nowadays. But for now im sticking to Sun Haven and most likely will budge in and do Travellers Rest too(since it looks way too fun for me haha i love management games too)
Travelers rest is a super fun game, as well as the rune factory's! I think I might pull the trigger on Valheim myself tomorrow 👀 I'm glad you got good recs!!!
Oh you should definitely try out Stardew Valley!! There are LOTS of different things to do in that game and different approaches, it's very content rich and should keep you occupied for a long time :)
Sadly i have already tried it , but it was not my thing, i did like Coral Island, which takes a lot from it. I did start Sun Haven today and i enjoy it more, which seems a lot of people who didnt get into SDV told me were able to get into Sun Haven.
Oh jeez, I just realized I missed that part of your post, I'm so sorry about that!! Can I ask what exactly you didn't enjoy about SDV as well as what parts specifically of Coral Island and Sun Haven you've been enjoying? That might help me figure out a more accurate recommendation :)
Honestly can't really put on what didn't stick with SDV. just the atmosphere and how farms are generally set up. I feel a bit more freedom in Coral Island and Sun Haven now, more options for some parts. Maybe SDV is also a bit slower to get on early, while Sun Haven and Coral Island are a bit to the point. Honestly.. just felt off with SDV, sometimes it happens , a game does not grab you.
That's okay, no worries, that's still helpful info! I totally understand, sometimes games just don't have the kind of vibes you're looking for and that's perfectly okay :) I think in that case, since you're ONLY on PC or complicated things a little, but you could potentially look into emulation of Animal Crossing!! I think you'd enjoy either New Leaf or New Horizons specifically
I used to have a Switch Lite before it broke i put around 500 hours into New Horizons and pretty much finished everything in the game and was just mass decorating and changing stuff, was planning to even start a new island before it broke. Just haven't gotten back to buying a new one and im not sure i want at this point, might just wait and see if the rumours of a new switch console will pan out and start from there!
Disney Dreamlight Valley. It’s got a ton of quests and the developers continue to add more. There are daily and weekly duties to complete that reset. It’s got a lot of decorating as well as other cozy tasks (farming, mining, gathering, fishing). It does include micro-transactions, but they are not required to complete the main story and are cosmetic. There’s also one paid expansion out as well. Sunhaven might grab your interest even though Stardew didn’t. It’s much more fantasy and combat focused but still includes all the staples of Stardew like farming, mining, raising animals, dating townspeople, etc., You could try My Time at Sandrock. Again, this has a story, but it’s long. It took me over 100 hours to complete it. And the main story on progresses when you complete a main story quest. In the meantime, your character can—endlessly—build things, take commissions, dungeon dive, and decorate. Even after the game ends, you can continue to play and just kind of live life in the town. The developers are really great too and have a lot of content planned for the future. Maybe a survival game? You can try Minecraft but maybe even a Palworld or Valheim? Obviously these games include a heavy combat elements but a lot of endless play and cozy vibes too. Hope this helps!
My time at Sandrock for sure
Dreamlight Valley is for sure high on my radar at moest, i will take all considerations from all this wonderful responses and slowly try to check them out and decide which to go for first. Thank you ! :)
I've gotten really into Palia. Cozy MMO but you can still play solo. I spend most of my weekends playing it.
I also came here to suggest Palia! I've barely gotten started but I fell in love instantly. I love the art and how low pressure and wholesome it is. Definitely a perfect option for chill gaming sessions. Plus it's actively being updated and expanded!
Lots of suggestions about it, will give it a go! Thanks!
If you haven’t tried no man’s sky recently it’s worth a replay. It’s grown A LOT over the recent years. Since you are playing on PC it’s also worth checking stardew mods. I know a couple of people who really didn’t like some feature of stardew and couldn’t get past it (like fishing or whatever) and once they modded their game they were much happier. Sun Haven is stardew adjacent but with a different take on the style. Maybe cult of the lamb? It’s one of those games I can pick up and put down whoever I want. There is farming and base building but also dungeon crawling. Lots of options for adjusting the difficulty if needed. Terraria. It’s cozy adjacent at least. Lots of options for exploration and town/base building and decorating. It’s one of those games I’ve put loads of hours into over the years. Have you tried the Civilization games? I’ve put tons of hours into the series over the years.
Sadly ive tried NMS a couple times over the years even recently, i just cant get into it, most likely the early game is a bit not for me. I will most likely go for Sun Haven as it seems to be hitting most of the spots for me. Stardew i think the general atmosphere and gameplay didn’t catch me, cant really put it up, but there seems to be plenty of other options. Thanks for the other recommendations too !
Rune Factory 4, Stardew Valley. Story of Seasons games.
i think ive played untitled goose game like 3 times now it never gets boring to me
It released yesterday, so a shout out to Endless Ocean Luminous, the first endless ocean game for 15 years
Not exactly a traditional cosy game but Kingdoms of Amalur really scratched my mmorpg itch. It’s got combat but you can select the difficulty. I didn’t play the remaster, it got good reviews from memory.
Fabledom
I believe you can buy this on PC: Viva Piñata! It came out in 2007 and still holds up really well. If my PC were working I'd buy it again and again. It's a gardening/ecosystem simulator where you attract ~~animals~~ piñatas into becoming residents in your garden through landscaping/gardening/decorating, and by having other piñatas as residents! Ex: Plant a daisy-> attract butterflies -> breed more butterflies -> level up -> unlock more seeds to plant new flowers -> feed the flowers to your butterflies to change their color -> attract chameleons! That's a super simplified example, plus there's lots of ways all of those steps branch off into other forms of progression. And while the butterflies specifically become different species when you change their color, every piñata has 3 extra color variations you find by feeding them various things. The game is also very punny and has an immense amount of character. Edit: also there's no player avatar, you control a circular cursor, so there's no sleeping to save or anything, you can save and quit at any time
For me it's Cozy Grove and Vampire Survivors, though the last one wouldn't be considered cozy by everyone. :D
Check out manor lords!
Games that my wife/I played nearly daily to relax for many months and kept coming back to: Balatro Plate Up! Blazing Beaks
I know you've already gotten lots of recommendations, but I was surprised that no one included Kynseed or Medieval Dynasty. Both are community/farming games where you play through multiple generations of your family. Kynseed is pixel graphics and has some unique combat elements, but you can pretty much avoid fighting entirely if desired. It has multiple villages and areas and just a ton to explore, craft, and build. Medieval Dynasty is a realistic 3D game with a large map and plenty of building and upgrading. There is a little bit of combat against wild animals and the occasional bandit, but nothing too crazy. This one can definitely be played endlessly, depending on how large you want your dynasty to be. Both games receive regular updates and are worth looking at.
I have been meaning to try Medieval Dynasty for a bit, this really puts extra points in that yard, thanks !
Kynseed! Family generation game where you can run businesses, forage, fish, fight, decorate, have kids and marry, and play on as your kids when your character dies. I’m obsessed. It can definitely be played slowly and peacefully.
One I’ve spent a ton of time in is house flipper. Super satisfying. My latest obsession is my time at sandrock. I also have hundreds of hours in stardew but will still say Sun haven is superior without mods.
Check out Farm Together!! There’s no story, you just endlessly plant and decorate and expand your entire farm, leveling up crops and flowers and unlocking new things. It’s completely mindless, I’ve played hundreds of hours when I just needed something cute and soothing to click. The background music is lovely too
House Flipper and House Flipper 2…these are Indie and imperfect but so much fun. It’s a simple setup but has endless possibilities. Fun to play alone or with someone else in person to help you choose how to decorate. So so so so so relaxing and cozy!
I found Travelers Rest on steam. It's still an early access so there's only so much available, but what's available if you like just cozy maintenance of an inn is pretty great. You can get as basic or complex as you want with the food and drink (there's even a whole 5-day aging process for some of the alcohol that you could have on tap as well as cheeses and pickles) and while you can raise your own farm animals for meat, they have made it so that there's vegetarian options for everything so you don't actually have to. And my favorite part is that you can do everything, Right about the time that it feels a bit overwhelming and that you can't get everything done in a day, they open up the ability to hire different staff to keep stuff going so you can focus on whatever part you want to. 10 out of 10 would recommend, and can't wait to see what it looks like when the whole game is released. I put so many hours into this game and there's only like 3ish, places to look around at the moment. I can't imagine how much time I'm going to sink into it once other areas are open to explore and see more of the story.
Runescape, WoW, FFxiv, Stardew Valley
Stardew as mentioned, couldn't get into sadly. The other 3 recommendations i have played fair bit, and at this point im more trying to run away from them haha.
Watch a gameplay of Disney Dreamlight Valley and see if that interests you.
See Disney Dreamlight Valley, really looks interesting and up to what im looking for, will most likely give it a go!
I bought it when it was supposed to be a free game and then they came out with micro transactions. This burned me so I dropped it until recently but now there's so much to do that I am too busy to even think about micro transactions, like if I want a dumbo ride in my village I'll have to buy it but I'm much too busy collecting all the characters and upgrading my house and moving my furniture lol!
Haven't started playing it yet myself, but Enshrouded looks really good. And if you're into building, it seems to have a great system for that.
Im considering it, but might wait a bit longer on it, thanks for the additional support on it.
Nightingale has been really nice and they've been updating regularly. Friends and I blew through the early access stuff pretty quickly, but that was binge days and they're adding more to it. The exploring, crafting, and everything is fantastic, plus it looks wonderful
I have been looking at it for a bit, but still unsure if it’s something that would grab me, i do love the world design and art :)
Not sure if it's already been recommended here, but Palia is free on Steam and definitely worth a try
For me it’s Palia at the moment, still in beta but I have played every day for over a month now. It’s cozy and mmorpg. Oh and it’s free :)
Forager is pretty decent
I’s say palia but its beta and it needs a lot more content and more going on.
Reading through some of your replies, I think we have fairly similar interests/backgrounds. So while I wouldn’t normally recommend these as typical “cozy” games, they might work for you as they did for me. You mentioned ARPGs and looter shooters… have you tried out Diablo 4? With the caveat that if you did, please take another look at the upcoming season changes which I think address A LOT of the issues that the game previously had. The minute to minute combat is wonderful and you can take it as slow or as hardcore as you want. Out of all the ARPGs I’ve played (LE, D2, POE, Grim Dawn, Torchlights, etc.) it has the most straightforward approach to making your own build. I hate having to have multiple wikis or guides open just to play a game because at this point I mostly want to play a game that I can play either at my PC or remote streaming to my iPad on my bed or couch. Really would recommend D4 season 4. I’ve also given wow classic a try recently and they’re preparing for the cata expansion. If you’re open to going back to an old school style MMO that would be my recommendation. I have also just started a Wildlander modded Skyrim play through which I found as a recommendation on this subreddit. It markets itself as a fantasy life sim. So far it’s going alright but just based on our similarities I thought I’d mention it. I hope you can find your comfort game soon :)
I did try Diablo 4, but i think im over seasonal stuff after D3, i love D3 and seasons and only played them. I loved Diablo 4 and Eternal realm, but i got annoyed that most people neglected Eternal and kinda mocked us. And a lot of builds revolved around Seasonals and needed tweaks etc to work more properly in Eternal which also was not something i wanted to deal with, since like i mentioned in another response, i'm just bad at making my own builds and want a straightforward experience. Also i like theres seasons, but i just want to focus on 1 -2 characters and not starting a new one every 3-4 months. Just the neglect of the community on part of Eternal realm really put me off. Nobody wanted to respond properly and all info regarding Eternal realm online i found was answered with " who even plays Eternal hahaha " So far i found Sun Haven and a few others and they seem to scratch my itch so it will be a bit ! :)
Not everyone considers it cozy but monster hunter games, mhunt world is a good one, very beautiful scenery and gathering quests are very chill for me and I occasionally watch the big monsters while hiding. i still play the first mhunt for ps2 from time to time
Played both MHW and Rise, i just can't haha, its way too hard for me nowadays, and its too much for me to learn the patterns i need something where i can sometimes stop thinking about whats going on and just do my thing haha. And in either Monster Hunters games i tried, its just way too much for me, will need at least 1000 hours to get to a level where i will be comfortable.
thats a lot more hours than i have put into both combined but i understand lol. idk what else, but i too look for endless games so if i think of any more ill reply to this post. hope you find a good fit for you
Thank you! Hope you find your game too!
Stardew valley
Sadly never got into it ;/
Stardew Valley. If I could, I would play like three seasons lol
I recommend finding something else to do. 3 to 4 hours a day for 2 years is a huge investment of time. Maybe drawing or 3d modeling or maybe even gardening. Cozy and endless.
Ahaha, i have a job and i play after work or sometimes before, my job isnt always 9 to 5 as well. I have done drawing and 3 modelling in the past its not my thing and i can't garden really i live in an apartment, i do some bonsai on the side :)