From wandering through lush landscapes to building, farming, or simply soaking in the scenery, cozy open-world games are the comfort food of gaming.
10 Best Cozy Games Where Grinding is Fun
Grinding doesn’t have to be boring (or stressful)!
They offer the perfect escape from the everyday hustle. Whether you’re cast in the role of the town McGyver, befriending pixels, or just enjoying the peaceful vibes, these games know how to help you unwind and recharge.
With no rush and plenty of freedom to do things your way, here’s a roundup of theperfect cozy gemsfor some relaxing escapism.
13William and Sly
You Are A Fox
Microsoft Windows
26 Feb, 2024
Developers
Lucas Paakh
William and Sly transforms the beloved flash games into full-fledged 3D adventures and offers a refreshing departure from the familiar gameplay formulas of many cozy games.
Its dreamy and relaxing gameplay loop will have you leap across massive trees, climb through mountains, and traverse a vast landscape like a graceful fox. It’s the perfect game to play after a longsession of boss-huntingor an exhausting round of competitive gaming.
With beautiful songs accompanying you during the journey, your only task is to untangle the mysteries revolving around the forest while taking in the beautiful, hand-painted scenery along the way.
Collective Coziness
Palia takes all the best things of a farming and life simulator and blends them with a solid sense of online community.
While itinvites other players into your cozy escape, you can explore and enjoy Palia at your own pace. Go pick flowers, spend some time fishing, or search for materials to build the fantasy home of your dreams.
If you prefer social interaction, though, Palia encourages you to build the world around you alongside your friends and other people as well. It’s cozy with other people included!
11Creatures of Ava
Coziness With A Touch of Narrative
Creatures of Ava
As one of the most recent creature-saver games, Creatures of Ava takes you to a planet on the brink of total extinction and lets you play as a young nature explorer adamant about saving the planet.
It also draws inspiration from the genre’s best examples while seamlessly blending puzzles, action, and adventure into its relaxing gameplay.
If constant farming and building to make a bigger town was too much for you, you should definitely check out Creatures of Ava, as it offers a chill experience with a feel-good narrative.
10Lil Gator Game
Childhood Fun Done Right
Lil Gator Gameblends cozy vibes with a hilarious gameplay loop where you’ll get to jump into a playful adventure across a lush island playground.
In an open world that is clearly designed for pure fun and shenanigans, MegaWobble’s celebrated title also introduces delightful quests and goofy characters.
It’s also incredibly wholesome as it captures the carefree spirit of childhood and allows players to climb, glide, craft, and explore on a lovely island.
It’s a game that captures the same energy of a child creating a pillow fort on a Saturday afternoon, and if that’s your vibe, you’ll love Lil Gator Game.
Unwinding With Wombats
Drawing clear inspiration from the great Australian outdoors, Dinkum might be your next farming simulator addiction, as it has everything for any type of cozy gaming enthusiast.
Tired of building towns for the oddly happy NPCs of the town? No problem. Dive into a 70-hour-long achievement-hunting quest and catch all the bugs on the island. And even if that doesn’t cut it, you’re able to hop onto your friend’s island and start taking care of giant wombats.
Dinkum takes the cozy farming atmosphere to a whole new level, and makes you fall in love with the Australian outback. Plus, it’s great to play with friends.
8 AAA Games That Need A Cozy Spinoff
Cozy games are rarely celebrated outside the indie sphere, so here’s some Triple-A’s that could be doing it better.
8Slime Rancher 2
Cozy In A Colorful Package
Slime Rancher 2
The sequel to the incredibly popular Slime Rancher takes you to Rainbow Island, a vibrant and whimsical open world bursting with life and slime.
If you somehow missed the original,Slime Rancher 2allows you to step into the shoes of Beatrix LeBeau as you get to explore colorful biomes, collect quirky slimes, and expand your ranch like an obsessed gold miner.
The core gameplay loop of Slime Rancher 2 is incredibly fun, and it lets you experiment with farming, resource gathering, and slime wrangling, all while upgrading your conservatory.
With a wealth of new content and significant improvements over its predecessor, Slime Rancher 2 is the ultimate cozy game for those with a touch of ambition.
7Wildmender
Cozy Gardening At Its Best
PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Microsoft Windows
8 Nov, 2022
Muse Games
If gardening’s your thing, Wildmender will definitely scratch that chill gaming and farming itch. It masterfully blends survival elements with in-depth gardening mechanics.
Your gardening efforts are not in vain, either. As the game lets you turn its sprawling desert open world into a vibrant paradise.
And if that gets too cozy for you and you want a little more action, you can also explore the ancient ruins and unlock secrets in Wildmender’s procedurally generated open world.
6Eastshade
A Blank Canvas
Vastly different from other suggestions on the list, Eastshade takes a first-person approach to exploration and lets you take in the breathtaking scenery while traveling through the overgrown forests and tiny settlements of Eastshade.
Eastshade might not boast a huge open world, but it does hit the right boxes with its condensed and superb worldbuilding.
You’ll meet weird locals, complete small quests, and uncover the island’s culture while capturing its beauty along the way.
5Littlewood
How Does A Hero Rest?
Littlewood
Kudos to you! You’ve saved the world and defeated the big bad villain. Now it’s time to rebuild, take in the scenery, and delve into the domestic life of the hero who saved the world.
Littlewood offers pretty much everything you would ask for in a relaxing life simulation game. In fact, it does more by introducing RPG elements, as well.
If the cozy gameplay loop of similar titles doesn’t cut it, Littlewood will keep you hooked with a myriad of things to do in its lovely open world.
4A Short Hike
A Must-Play For Any Chill Gaming Fan
A Short Hike
Unlike a myriad of cozy farming and life simulations, A Short Hike has a much more refreshing take on the genre, and puts you in the shoes of a bird called Claire and takes you to the Hawk Peak Provincial Park.
The loveliest place on the planet, Hawk Peak serves a condensed open world that allows you to hike, glide, fish, dig for treasure, or simply chat with its peculiar inhabitants.
Although your mission is to reach the summit, A Short Hike does everything in its power to encourage you to take it slow and seize the simple moments of joy.
With its lovely pixel art, gentle soundtrack, and hilarious characters, A Short Hike is the cozy open-world game you never knew you needed. You can alsofinish it in one sitting.
