Cozy/Comfort Games Recommendations

[Starry✧･ﾟDaze]

Could someone please recommend me quiet, comforting video games that aren't too fast or complicated?
Some games that I usually love are just too much for me rn. My mind is just overwhelmed pretty easily and I want to pass some time until I find a way to buy RC for my ctb method.
Scrolled through older threads, but couldn't find what I was searching for or maybe I'm just blind.
I've played so many games already, so here is a list of comfy games I personally enjoyed.

I also highly recommend all of them in no particular order:

Dragon Age Series
Elder Scrolls: Skyrim/Oblivion/Morrowind ( RPG classics)
Eastshade (you are a painter in a very beautiful world, no fights, deep, well-written NPCs, Elder Scrolls-feeling, very unique game)
Pokémon and Cassette Beasts
Stardew Valley and Sun Haven
Calico
ABZU (diving in the ocean with wildlife ♥)
Okami
Minecraft
Diablo 3
The Legend of Zelda
Animal Crossing
Secret of Mana
Yoshi's Island
Myst
Starbound
Wytchwood
Journey
Night In the Woods


MMORPGs:
Elder Scrolls Online
World of Warcraft


Examples of games I've played and loved, but are too heavy, too fast or just too much for my weird brain rn:

The Witcher 3, Horizon Zero Dawn, Fire Emblem Three Houses, Hollow Knight, some newer Final Fantasy games, No Man's Sky, Gothic Series, Hogwarts Legacy, Borderlands, Monsterhunter, Alice: Madness Returns, first four Assassin's Creed games, Left4Dead 2, Cyberpunk 2077, Bioshock, Detroit: Become Human,...


I'm thankful for any suggestions ♥

 

[Crono]

I recommend Subnautica, it's very comfortable to play, and it's fun because you can use your creativity to build underwater houses and you can explore the ocean by swimming or aboard a submarine.

 

[MindFrog]

There's Dave the Diver if you're fine with fishing collectaton + diner dash games. It's just managing a sushi resto while catching some fish. I really liked the pixel art it has and the storyline's pretty wholesome.

You can also try Dredge. Also a fishing game but with some horror elements. It's not that scary tho, and the item management part is pretty fun.

 

[Aesthetic guy]

i always play Don't starve together for relaxation.
sand box games usually are best option, but this game is just something else for me. super cozy.

 

[carac]

Have you played To the Moon? it's basically like play through a story, it can get a bit emotional though

 

[LostinCyberspace]

Yume 2kki is very relaxing

 

[cgrtt.brns]

ive never played it but moonglow bay looks nice and cozy.
one game i love to zone out and listen to music while playing is viscera clean up detail, its so comfy just getting into a routine of cleaning and once you finish a level its quite satisfying.

 

[winamp]

LSD Dream Emulator but I guess some people find the game scary so it's 50/50 depending on the person

Stardew Valley which is already mentioned I think

Old School Runescape

Avalanche 1080 (50/50)

Crazy Taxi (once again 50/50)

Phantasy Star Portable

The Sims 2

I usually play calm or relaxing games while either listening to a podcast or music

 

[ApparentlyNot]

GRIS (reminds me of Journey, is easy, and visually stunning)
Harvest Moon
Stardew Valley
Terraria
Super Mario Galaxy or Sunshine (although, these games are very difficult if I'm being honest)
Ori and the Blind Forest or Ori and the Will of the Wisps (I know you said Hollow Knight was too serious, and I consider these games similar, but Ori is significantly easier mechanically speaking)
Genshin Impact (for fun, lighthearted exploration)
Oxenfree

If you like horror and darker themes:
Omori
Night in the Woods
Little Nightmares II
Bramble
Pinstripe

 

[Starry✧･ﾟDaze]

Wow, thanks for all the great suggestions!

Most of these are exactly what I've been looking for, so I'm gonna add them to my wishlist tomorrow.

I'm still open for more if anyone else has a recommendation ♡

 

[CH349]

I love slime rancher 1 and 2, they're both great (altho sr1 has my heart)

 

[dirtcube]

Disco Elysium, incredible RPG, basically a playable novel about a depressed detective
Kingdom Come: Deliverance, super comfy, unmatched immersion

 

[Sweet Tart]

LSD Dream Emulator but I guess some people find the game scary so it's 50/50 depending on the person

Stardew Valley which is already mentioned I think

Old School Runescape

Avalanche 1080 (50/50)

Crazy Taxi (once again 50/50)

Phantasy Star Portable

The Sims 2

I usually play calm or relaxing games while either listening to a podcast or music

LSD Dream Emulator sounds cool!

 

[winamp]

LSD Dream Emulator sounds cool!

It is based on a 10 year dream diary/journal that I have yet to read by Hiroko Nishikawa it bothers me a bit when people automatically assume its about actual LSD (Lovely Sweet Dream) since it is titled that along with the absurd or bizarre visuals (and the fan games from the LSD game jam are great too someone made one with cats thats very cute and I suggest the game Soup 0.9 which is a bit similar but very short and not as entertaining but very mysetrious)

and it's by one of my favourite artists Osamu Sato I highly suggest looking into more of his games, music and art
here's some gameplay from it


and all/most of the cutscenes from it they are always fun to watch

 

[stilldreaming]

Oh I'm afraid I'm not much of a gamer, though I was given for Christmas Cult of the Lamb and I found it adorable and demonic and adorably demonic. I also just so happen to be playing your first suggestion, and have you considered other Bioware titles? As I understand it their Mass Effect trilogy is like a sci fi Dragon Age (I would guess it's maybe not 'cozy' but will be extremely well-written with very charming characters you can grow to care too much about!).

There's a boardgame, Wingspan, that can be played single player (and on Steam) that I find incredibly relaxing and comforting, with lovely artwork and music. (And, you get to learn a bit about birds!)

It sounds like you've got some great suggestions though, so I hope you're lost in these digital worlds soon :)

 

[Starry✧･ﾟDaze]

Oh I'm afraid I'm not much of a gamer, though I was given for Christmas Cult of the Lamb and I found it adorable and demonic and adorably demonic. I also just so happen to be playing your first suggestion, and have you considered other Bioware titles? As I understand it their Mass Effect trilogy is like a sci fi Dragon Age (I would guess it's maybe not 'cozy' but will be extremely well-written with very charming characters you can grow to care too much about!).

There's a boardgame, Wingspan, that can be played single player (and on Steam) that I find incredibly relaxing and comforting, with lovely artwork and music. (And, you get to learn a bit about birds!)

It sounds like you've got some great suggestions though, so I hope you're lost in these digital worlds soon :)

Yes, I've actually considered diving into the Mass Effect series, too. But I'm still not so sure about the shooter elements and if they are too much for me rn. One day I will definitely try them tho.

Oh, I love Wingspan. I don't own the steam version, but the board game and used to play this with friends when I was feeling more social. Such a beautiful game ♡

Cult of the Lamb looks very interesting to me, thank you!

I'm so grateful for everyone's recommendations.
So many cool games to try out, you folks helped me a lot! ♡

 

[natthebrat]

I always find the Picross series to be relaxing.

 

[Final_Choice]

Terraria is a lot of fun and doesn't feel like too much. My favorite go-to comfort games are Terraria and Stardew.

 

[SolomonKado]

definitely NO MAN's SKY!

You can lose hours just building your own amazing fantasy resort, just looking around for gathering resources, quests that take you all over the universe, even space ship collecting, or fly for Infiniti for the hell of it lol. Small chit chat from NPC's so you don't have to worry about walls of text like this!

 

[WonderingSoul]

Earthbound
Dragon Quest 3
Dragon Quest 7
Persona 3 (Gets a little fast paced by the end of the game)

 

[esthe]

Terraria, many people recommended it and I'll do the same, it's so comforting, at least to me! Then Slime Rancher, Superliminal (even though it can get a little tricky but it's one of my favorites), Omori and Yume Nikki (which can get a bit dark like Night in The Woods, but are straight up fantastic, especially Omori), A Short Hike, One Shot, and Death And Taxes

 

[just_so_done]

I'm not the familiar with the games you like but theres an online site i've used, not sure if they have the type of games you like but its free. its called boardgamearena.com, just need to make a username and password, good distraction

 

[CTB Dream]

Awww v nice amaze list, can say KH v relax amaze game seres

 

[Brew]

I knew in my heart a thread like this had to exist. Tysm

I was actually looking up for recommendations but now I'll recommend one of me favorites ever:



In full honesty everything about this game is immaculate to me. Don't make the same mistake as me and try and play it for the achievements or anything, it's much better if you just try your best to experience it as you go instead of doing checklists.
Y'all can check it out here [obligatory ps3/4/5/6/9 has no games joke]


What other games y'all think should count as comfort games? I know some people would prefer some that can actually pose a challenge and get a good distraction out of that, instead of something like a Winnie the Pooh game. Too bad I only know infuriating ones...
Wonder if we are allowed to go beyond PC games with emulation discussions, although it'd be probably better not to bring any more headache to the mod team...
OH YEAH I FORGOT ANOTHER ONE



ITS HOB PLAY HOB EVERYONE I SWEAR IT'S GOOD NOW

I hear the reviews on it about how repetitive it can be at points but in all honesty it's worth going all the way to the end, even with a guide telling you exactly where to go at times if you have trouble with the lack of dialog and text. Exploring the world you make rearrange itself like a magic cube or purify from... weird purple things I don't really know what they are.