Some players live for cozy gaming and have libraries with dozens or hundreds of adorable indie titles. Others live and breathe action titles and come to that one familiar game to wind down.
Whatever your story, having a cozy game to call home is one of the best ways to keep the stress of modern living at bay.
RPGs lend themselves specifically well to this category, as they give you enough time to build and grow attached to your character and those around them.
These are the best cozy RPGs out there today, for farmers, couriers, and hunters alike.
8 Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Late Medieval Living
Living in Bohemia in the Middle Ages may not sound cozy at first, but it only takes a few minutes of playing Kingdom Come: Deliverance to see why many gamers gravitate to it when they’re looking for a comfortable ride.
The game’s overarching theme is vengeance, but it offers a vast open world to make your journey your own. Kingdom Come: Deliverance thrives on its immersion, thanks in no small part to Warhorse Studios’ meticulous approach to historical accuracy.
This makes you value the little things, like walking back to your quarters after a busy day while the sun sets. Yup, today was a good day.
7 Dragon Age: Inquisition
A Tale Of Friendship
This is one of those games that you either hate or love unconditionally, with no real middle. I got this game in 2017, and it sits firmly among my favorite RPGs, so you can guess which camp this is written from.
Dragon Age: Inquisition is a major departure from the previous titles in the series, which takes it to a more modern RPG style of combat and management.
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There are some questionable design issues, especially with fetch quests, but the main storyline and character writing make those easy to forgive.
Unlike some other entries here, Dragon Age: Inquisition is cozy not because of its themes or setting, but because of how familiar the characters become over time.
The game has an easy time distracting you with companion shenanigans and gathering supplies at your own pace. It is a beautifully written saga that balances grit and comedy well and makes you connect with NPCs in a nearly unmatched way.
6 My Time At Portia
It’s The End Of The World
And I feel fine. My Time At Portia takes the warm fuzzy vibes of Stardew Valley and transports them to a post-apocalyptic setting.
Unlike the cozy stalwart though, My Time At Portia gives you a lot more agency over how to play the game. You can put all your eggs in the crafting, farming, or cooking baskets, or specialize in fishing, fighting, or solving the many puzzles and mini-games in the game.
The art style may not be as refined, and the combat is pretty simple, but once you are done building your own home, the sense of accomplishment is unmatched.
My Time At Portia gives you more granular control of the time passing in the game, which takes some of the pressure away if you are busy. It also runs well on MacOS and on the Steam Deck, which is not a given for many of the titles on this list.
5 Medieval Dynasty
The Quaint Peasant Life
If dying of simple diseases does not faze you, but you are not too fond of combat, the Medieval Dynasty scratches that Middle Ages itch in a more pacifist way than Kingdom Come: Deliverance.
Medieval Dynasty angles itself as a survival RPG, but it is hard to see it as anything other than a cozy farming game, in the best way possible.
The game makes you hunt, plant, and build as you and your village brave the seasons and try to make it through the joys of Medieval living.
Things get stressful when they don’t work out, but the atmosphere and visuals are so relaxing that you feel at peace with impending doom from starvation.
4 Valheim
Norse Farmsteading
- Released
- February 2, 2021
- Developer(s)
- Iron Gate AB
- Engine
- Unity
- ESRB
- r
- How Long To Beat
- 75 Hours
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- File Size Xbox Series
- 1 GB (November 2023)
- Platforms That Support Crossplay
- PC, Xbox One & Xbox Series X|S
- Steam User Rating
- 95%
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
- Cross-Platform Play
- PC, Xbox One & Xbox Series X|S
It is hard to find another game with such a harsh contrast in its gameplay. Valheim is a survival title inspired by real-world Viking living at home but with plentiful mythology in combat.
The combat in Valheim is a brutal affair where you go up against giant mythical beasts after hours upon hours of preparation.
While dodging divine might is hardly a cozy experience, everything that happens up until that point is Norse Stardew Valley.
Most of your time in Valheim is spent gathering resources, building a cozy settlement, hunting, and having a generally chill time with your Viking buddies. The love and care you put into the prep phase makes the inevitable death a little less painful.
3 Undertale
It Is Better Down Under
It would be criminal to make this list without the poster boy for modern indie excellence. Undertale came out in 2015, and it spawned an entire generation of games that aim, with varying degrees of success, to replicate its quaint and minimalistic style.
Undertale evokes strong nostalgia for the Gameboy Color era, where handheld gaming had about three pixels to express a whole host of emotions.
Developer Toby Fox packed the game with humor and tragedy, sprinkled finely throughout the story and potentialized by quirky game mechanics.
This game feels like home because, after a while, it is. You might kill some people here and there, you might feel bad about it, or find it fun. This is your journey.
2 Death Stranding
One Step At A Time
Being a delivery driver is a common experience in this day and age. Still, your average Uber Eats courier is not hauling your burger through a post-apocalyptic hellscape under the threat of parcel pirates and dead souls that can nuke an area.
The weird part about Death Stranding is not the usual Kojima strangeness, but the fact that doing all of this is one of the most relaxing gaming experiences you can ever have.
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Death Stranding is, first and foremost, a game about hiking. It packs a fantastic balancing model that ties in with the modular approach to loadout, so the act of walking is enough to keep you busy, and the views are breathtaking.
Yes, you tripped and fell down a cliff, half your cargo is ruined and you almost died, but you got to see Conan O’Brien!
1 Red Dead Redemption 2
A Cowboy Chillout
“Grand Theft Auto with horses” is not exactly a perfect pitch, but it isn’t too far off. The difference is that while GTA is all about the chaos, Red Dead Redemption 2 thrives in the quiet moments.
Riding your horse across the plains or waiting in ambush for your prey in the woods is a lovely reminder that even if you are leading a busy life of crime, there is peace in the small moments.
The combat in Red Dead Redemption 2 is far from the best among gunslinging RPGs, but the cozy experiences and compelling storylines override any of those downsides.
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