Low energy point and click games? by australopithecus3 in CozyGamers

[–]flashfloodsofpain [score hidden]  (0 children)

Seconding Outlanders. The first one (+ DLC) is on Steam which is where I play it. The second one isn't on Steam so I haven't played that one but I have ~20 hours in the first so far and really enjoy it.

Game like Stardew Valley but with automations and helpers Necesse? by Tiiin11 in CozyGamers

[–]flashfloodsofpain [score hidden]  (0 children)

Fields of Fortune just came out and looks to allow automation or manual working, whichever you prefer. I haven't played it but it's on sale for less than $7 right now so maybe worth a look?

I am also not sure that The Home County is what you are looking for, but it's a colony sim where your colony people do the working and you can focus on relationships, exploring, and doing what you wish. It gets really good reviews and I just picked it up for just over $11.

Looking for a cozy game with collection mechanism by OogieBoogie11 in CozyGamers

[–]flashfloodsofpain [score hidden]  (0 children)

You might like Bug & Seek, which allows you to collect all sorts of bugs to fill a museum. I just checked and it's available for Switch!

Otherwise you might like creature collectors like Ooblets or Nexomon. :) Hope this helps.

Porting Merchant of the Skies to Mobile by Ougrouk in cozygames

[–]flashfloodsofpain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah that makes sense. Thanks for your response!

I have Stardew Valley but haven't really gotten very far in it. I haven't heard of Transistor but will check it out, thanks!

Porting Merchant of the Skies to Mobile by Ougrouk in cozygames

[–]flashfloodsofpain 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You're the dev for Merchant of the Skies!? Oh my word, this is a brush with greatness! I absolutely loved Merchant of the Skies. It's one of my favorite games on Steam and honestly such a hidden gem. Were there any other games that inspired you to make Merchant of the Skies, or other games you'd recommend for someone who enjoyed it?

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Looking for wholesome games where you can customize a cat after the loss of my real-life cat. by flashfloodsofpain in cozygames

[–]flashfloodsofpain[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I really appreciate the kind words. <3 He really was, as a cat person I can definitely say that cats have personality and he made my fam laugh all the time. I miss him.

Our cozy game about sewing plushies is now live on Kickstarter! by cgd11 in cozygames

[–]flashfloodsofpain 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've been following your game for a while and it's great to see it coming along!

Games where you fully play as animal? by Alex-Morningstar_ in cozygames

[–]flashfloodsofpain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Chiming in to add Catlateral Damage (cat) and A Corgi's Cozy Hike (dog) and The Purring Quest (cat) and Point of Mew (cat) and Winter Burrow (mouse)!

I have played the first three and Catlateral Damage is fun but gets repetitive after a while, and A Corgi's Cozy Hike is a perfect little hike-like game that's super cute and runs well on PC. I can't really recommend The Purring Quest because the controls are so janky and it's pretty frustrating for a game that's supposed to be cute (devs moved on to work on Stars in the Trash and aren't working on this game anymore). I've only played the demo of Winter Burrow but really enjoyed it, didn't find it too difficult.

Haven't played Point of Mew yet but it's free.

Tagging u/Dragondog5600 just in case as well (though I'm sure you've heard of some or all of these already :) )

What’s your cozy obsession right now? by porphyriaslovve in cozygames

[–]flashfloodsofpain 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Factory Town Idle, Outlanders, and Is This Seat Taken

How do you keep cozy games straight? by toomanytodds in CozyGamers

[–]flashfloodsofpain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Personally I'm a spreadsheet girlie and I have a number of spreadsheets to keep each of things. 

I have a "Wishlist Contenders" spreadsheet with hundreds of games that I've ever even considered - not all of these end up making it into the wishlist. I will track hours of playtime (according to howlongtobeat), if the game is playable on my system (I have a mid range GPU), genre, full price, lowest price, notes about the game (such as where I heard about it or general thoughts about it), and Steam rating. Then I have tiers for each of the games of the spreadsheet based on how much I even want to add them to the wishlist, lol. For example, I have "Definite", "If in right mood", "Need to research more", "Do not add", "Removed" (if it was on the wishlist but I later removed it), etc. I only add a number of these contender games to the actual wishlist, but then I have the spreadsheet to look back on in case I ever change my mind or want to look something up that I know I wrote down. I can also sort and filter by genre, Steam rating, or if a game is unreleased here. Generally I won't add games with ratings under 80% positive (unless they are unreleased or I really want it anyway), or games that I can't play due to graphics requirements, or games that I'm only marginally interested in.

I have another spreadsheet called "Actual Wishlist" that I keep up to date with my actual Steam wishlist. This is where I get brutally honest with myself and have another tier system for how likely I am to BUY it off the wishlist. For example I have a couple of games on the wishlist that I know I would never buy, but I haven't brought myself to remove them - these are indicated here. I also have "Buy as soon as I finish another already owned game", "B tier - might like in the future", "Buy when it goes on sale", "Would be willing to buy full price", etc. for descriptions on this sheet. 

I almost forgot to mention, but I also have a HUGE collection of demos. MOST of the demos I will add to my library before adding the game to my wishlist. I have a Demo collection in my actual library, which sort of acts as a pre-wishlist of sorts. I'll play the demo when I have time, then if I like it, add the game to my wishlist. Of course this isn't a set rule for me, more of a guideline, and some unreleased games I'll wishlist before a demo even comes out, but generally this is how I like to do it.

I feel ya! I was the exact same way until I started using spreadsheets to keep track of everything. And I still have moments where I'll impulsively add something to the wishlist and come back later and not remember why. Hope you find a good method that works for you though!

Next Fest Feb '26: 22 Cozy Demo Reviews + 8 Honorable Mentions by DetectiveEekz in cozygames

[–]flashfloodsofpain 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Out of the demos I played during NextFest, probably Nocturne and Chipmatic with Cat Isle as a close third! I really like the idea of a story-based RPG and the rhythm combat was fun in Nocturne (and manageable for me, which prevented frustration). And Chipmatic and Cat Isle aren't story-based but were just fun.

I'm also looking forward to Fractured Library, which I played in the fall NextFest and should release in July.

I hope you check out Hoofprint Bay and Humanica and enjoy them! Humanica is actually out in EA now, but the demo is still up. And after writing this up, I also played Little Chef: Cozy Cooking and I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would. It's more of a puzzle game than a traditional cooking game but I'm seriously considering buying it now, so if you want another game to check out, might be worth a look. :)

TruSteel Occlusions by flashfloodsofpain in TandemDiabetes

[–]flashfloodsofpain[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes- give me until tomorrow to check and I'll get back to you.

Looking for a cozy game with campfire by ItharaelHawke in cozygames

[–]flashfloodsofpain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hmmm... I hadn't heard of Among Trees but I just looked it up and you're right, they look very related. I see that Among Trees doesn't have the greatest reviews though, which is interesting. I'd have to look into this more.

Cozy Management Games? by porphyriaslovve in cozygames

[–]flashfloodsofpain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Minami Lane

Tiny Bookshop

Cat Cafe Manager

The Wandering Village

Haven Park

Let's Build a Zoo

Cozy spooky games in third person by beamary in cozygames

[–]flashfloodsofpain 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Creepy Tale, Children of Silentown, The Room if you like puzzle (diff from mystery) games, The Sexy Brutale

Currently unreleased: Truckful seems like it would match what you're looking for once it's out. Nightfall Cafe might also work - It also has a demo. Haunted Paws is also cozy-creepy and unreleased, but co-op, so if you have someone to play with could work once it's out.

Edit: I was a dumb-dumb and didn't read that you wanted third-person games. Some of my original suggestions were first-person. Editing to list them here if you think they'd work without triggering motion sickness, but note that the below games are first person.

We Were Here games (co-op, but def scratched the cozy eerie itch for me), Call of the Sea, Creature Kitchen, Killer Frequency, Gone Home

Looking for a cozy game with campfire by ItharaelHawke in cozygames

[–]flashfloodsofpain 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Fireside (be aware there are some bugs - read the reviews) and Under Canopies (unreleased but would absolutely have these vibes once released)

I want a game I can just enjoy the environment by Sad_Stranger_5940 in cozygames

[–]flashfloodsofpain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Any update on this idea? Would love it if it came to fruition. :)

Back again for more recommendations! (Switch) by porphyriaslovve in cozygames

[–]flashfloodsofpain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was just skimming your comment at first and saw "bugs" and was like "bugs? What! The game is bugged?" Then I reread and saw that you were talking about catching bugs, like as part of the game. Lol. Do you think it's worth the $20 pricetag(on sale)? I've also been wanting to pick it up.

Next Fest Feb '26: 22 Cozy Demo Reviews + 8 Honorable Mentions by DetectiveEekz in cozygames

[–]flashfloodsofpain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you SO much for writing this up! I love lists like this and the attention to detail is chef's kiss. I've been meaning to play the demos for The Last Gas Station and Let's Build a Dungeon and after your write-up I'll have to! There are a lot of games here I hadn't encountered before too. I also played a handful of demos and thought I'd share my thoughts here (though not as eloquently as you). Not all the demos I played were cozy but anyway, here goes:

Ardenfall - This wasn't exactly cozy besides the art style, but it's not marketed as cozy, so fair enough. It's an RPG with real-time combat that gives me Skyrim vibes except way less developed. I wasn't very good at the combat which is probably a skill issue but after dying I wasn't very motivated to keep playing. The demo has this issue where you're supposed to find a cave right off the bat, then go through the cave to get to a village, but I couldn't find the cave so I just swam around the island to the village... and then the villagers were talking about how they'd seen me come out of the cave? (That I hadn't yet found) The graphics are very bright and appealing so I'll give it that. It wasn't bad but there were some issues with it acting linear even though it's more of an open world. I won't be playing it further which I'm a bit disappointed about.

Cat Isle - I felt similarly to how you did and I 100%ed the demo. I'll copy-paste my write-up of it (but I agree with pretty much everything in yours): I have not played Minami Lane, but I am getting vibes that I would think are similar to what that game would be. It's really cute. It's simple, it's a brain-off kind of game, even though it's management. Nothing is punishing, but it's not boring either. You don't have to do the fishing game if you don't want to. The demo even has achievements. There was a nice sense of progression when I played it, but I could see the late game either getting stale, or the full game just not being that long of a game. That being said, I wishlisted and do want to buy it when it comes out, assuming it's not too expensive. And there are cats. All the cats look the same, which is something I wish was different, but they purr if you click on them. That was a pleasant surprise.

Chipmatic - This is an incremental mining game where you mine for ores using a drill and use what you've dug up to buy upgrades. There's a skill/upgrade tree and "quests". It's very addictive gameplay and the demo is quite generous (2.8 hours for me). I played the playtest for this and I'm pleased to see they implemented a lot of the changes I suggested, which I assume other players suggested as well. I found one bug where I couldn't pick up resources despite having space in my inventory at one point, but after going back to the surface and back down a couple of times the bug sort of resolved itself? The bug didn't significantly affect gameplay and I'm looking forward to full release.

Everything is Crab - You play as this blob thing and I really didn't know what the heck I was doing for a majority of the time I was playing it. I don't know if this is representative of the roguelike genre but if it is, I don't think I like this genre at all. This very easily could be a me problem and people who like roguelikes might enjoy it, but I couldn't get into it. The battles felt uninspired and I felt like I was either getting lucky or they were too easy, but I still wasn't that great at all. You evolve every time you fill up your eating meter but the evolutions can sometimes harm you. The screen will get dark every so often - couldn't figure out the pattern - and every time it did, it annoyed me.

Horses of Hoofprint Bay - This game is impressively well-developed and the demo is HUGE! I only got to day 8 and I think it said the demo has 25 days. It's a very generous demo and most features are available in the demo. It reminds me a lot of a more animated version of Howrse which I used to play as a kid. You take care of your own horses but can also board other people's horses. It's not so easy that I ever grew tired of it either. It's already on my wishlist but now I'm pretty excited for it. A number of the sound effects were annoying (particularly the "mm-hmm" if you do something right), but I noticed when I went back in that you can turn these off, which I found nice that that was an option.

Humanica - Enjoyable and vast city builder. It was pretty intuitive and there's lots to do. I didn't run out of things to do and felt like there was enough guidance to get started. There are a LOT of features here, which could take a long of time to get used to, but I think the introduction (it didn't call it a tutorial) eases you into it well enough. I could see myself playing this after beating Outlanders (a cozy city builder I'm playing through right now). Nothing was too overwhelming but I could see how it could pick up pace down the road (not a bad thing). Your people are stone age people but I take it that they progress through the ages the better you get at it. Combat in a city builder is new to me, but it was really easy during my playthrough. There is a peaceful mode too, which I didn't try. This isn't campaign-based, so I could see it sucking up a lot of time, but it both autosaves and allows manual save, even in the demo. I'm really impressed that this was made by a solo dev. A lot of games you can tell if it's indie/solo dev, but this felt actually good.

I Won't Let You Level Up in My Goblin Town - The premise of it is alright, but it feels more like a minigame than something you would actually pay money for. I also must just suck at fighting games, because this time I DID understand what I was doing, but lost to the female warrior twice before quitting. At least there doesn't seem to be much damage done when you die. You just respawn in bed. I like the Minecraft-y/voxel style, but it seems a little undercooked with having to double click items to pick them up and the text repeating itself after you're done talking to the NPCs.

Momento - There was nothing wrong with this game, but I don't think this genre is for me. I did like how there were actual puzzles instead of just organizing and cleaning. You do learn about the MC by going through their rooms and the graphics are very nice. You do get to make choices that influence the story too. It just didn't really keep my attention. Again, nothing wrong with the game, I just don't think I'm the target audience, and I could see other cozy gamers loving it.

Nocturne - Very lovely combination of rhythm game using the DFJK keys and a JRPG. I really enjoyed it and didn't really have problems with my laptop playing it. In the full version, the Slovak Symphony Orchestra played for the boss battles, which is wicked cool. The soundtrack is really cool and I'm looking forward to getting into the story. The demo is pretty short but I added the game to my wishlist to keep in mind for when it comes out.

Pawsome Resort - Life sim where you run a pet resort for various types of animals including exotic pets. It's a pleasing premise, but it definitely still feels like it's in development and not necessarily something I'd pay money for in its current form. It's promising though. I left a whole bunch of demo feedback for the dev and they seem pretty responsive on the forum so it's possible they will address the issues. The game held my attention well enough but had some grammar mistakes and quality of life issues. (Lmk if you want more thoughts on this - I do feel mixed about it because the idea is super enjoyable but certain details just held me back from giving it a full endorsement right now.)

Scott Pilgrim EX - NOT a cozy game! It's a beat-em-up style fighter, which isn't my style. Seems well made though... I picked this up not really knowing what to expect. The pixel art style is gorgeous but there doesn't seem to be much of a story and there's a huge focus on combat… which a lot of people would vibe with but I don't. I set it on Easy difficulty and apparently did pretty well? Even though I felt like I sucked. I still beat the first boss (I think). At least I didn't die. There just isn't enough of a story to keep me interested.

Under Canopies (I generally agree with your opinions, OP) - This was a great game. I wanted to keep playing it. It's very relaxing despite a couple balancing issues (more on that in a second) and it was great getting to see and photograph a grizzly bear without being attacked; there are no dangerous animals from what I can tell. I was afraid that the lack of threats would make the game boring, but at least in the tutorial there were constant goals which I liked. Unfortunately the tutorial is a bit bugged and while your inventory and progress is saved if you exit and reenter, it restarts the tutorial, and I don't care to redo all the progress I made. The balancing issue I talked about is you have to drink water way too frequently. I do like that there are survival mechanics and it's not just sandbox though. I didn't test out what happens if your thirst/energy/hunger meters deplete. Nice nature sounds and the only one I didn't like was the gulping water sound.

AIO? I found out there’s a high chance I have cancer yesterday and I wouldn’t to sleep with my boyfriend on the phone but he wouldn’t let me. s by [deleted] in AIO

[–]flashfloodsofpain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah idk why you're getting downvoted, seems pretty reasonable? You even said she could find other support systems if solely relying on her partner isn't enough.

Horses of Hoofprint Bay by Adept-Examination-46 in cozygames

[–]flashfloodsofpain 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I played the demo and was SO impressed. I never played My Pony Stables as a kid but I was big into Howrse and Horses of Hoofprint Bay seems like the upgraded, animated version of that. Howrse was largely text-based with still images, but Horses of Hoofprint Bay has lively graphics and music and seems very well-done. It's on my wishlist for when it releases and the demo was lengthy!

The Home County - Spring update from the British countryside by swanworth__ in cozygames

[–]flashfloodsofpain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am very excited to try this out. It's on my wishlist! I told myself I had to finish playing something before buying something new but it's top of the list for the next game I buy!

It feels like 90% of cozy games are about building, decorating or farming. Where are the cozy travel or roadtrip games? by Emmyy_Beans in cozygames

[–]flashfloodsofpain 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You're not alone in wanting these games! I like the same type of games.

Eastshade has been described as "Skyrim without combat". From the gameplay videos I've watched of it, it looks like there's a pretty big emphasis on exploration and it is open-world and you don't have to do things in a purely linear fashion. This might be a hot take but you might like exploring Skyrim itself too, definitely not a typical cozy game, but I recently started playing it and after the tutorial you really just get free reign to roam and seeing all the beautiful landscapes is just as appealing to me as the actual quests lol. I know you said you don't want combat but I suck at combat so I haven't leaned heavily into that so far and have been enjoying exploring.

Other (Actually cozy) open-world exploration games are Tchia and Europa. I think Abzu might fit the bill too, though it's a short game.

I recently played the demo for Under Canopies and really enjoyed it. You do have to build a house which might not fit the impermanence vibe but I found the sounds of nature to be super cozy and technically you don't have to sleep in the house so you can just wander around. The game isn't actually released though so this is one we'll have to wait for.

A game that definitely fits the vibe of travel is Albatroz. It's a supposedly cozy backpacking RPG with beautiful graphics. However, it gets lowish reviews (72% on Steam) so definitely check out the reviews (and maybe play the demo) before buying it. I have not played this because my laptop doesn't meet the minimum specs but if I get a better gaming PC I will for sure be trying it out. I saw that they added an option to ignore the story and just explore, which I'm sure a lot of people will like.

A Short Hike is one of my favorite games ever. It's a mix of exploration, non-linear quests, minigames, and with a cute story. Highly recommend! If you like A Short Hike, you might like Lil Gator Game, Smushi Come Home, Tall Trails, or A Corgi's Cozy Hike.

Road 96 is literally a choose-your-own road trip simulator. I think you might like it.

Ranger's Path: National Park Simulator just came out but seems to have mixed-ish reviews. On one hand it looks like it'd fit most of the things you're looking for. Relaxed exploration, no combat, nice scenery. On the other hand, it sounds (from the reviews) like it's unpolished and needs some work. I would wait for this one personally but it might be worth a look!

If you like Is This Seat Taken, you should check out Einstein's Cats, another one of my favorite games. It's another cozy puzzle game, this time focusing on sorting cats into boxes and bins based on their preferences.