I played 31 new cozy games this year, and my top 6 picks are all completely different

At the end of every year I always feel impressed by just how many cozy games launched, and more specifically how many I actually found the time to play. Looking back, 2025 was a year where cozy games really broke the mold and appealed to a wider audience.

Notably though, I found that I didn't just spend hundreds of hours in a dozen farming simulators. This might be a conscious effort on my part, because other than becoming infatuated with Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar, I actually didn't sink much time at all into finding my next farming obsession. So if you want to do the same, here are my favorite cozy games from 2025.

Top six cozy games of 2025

• Once Upon a Katamari
• POCO
• The Guardian of Nature
• Vending Dokan!: Kozy Kiosk
• Out and About
• Hello Kitty Island Adventure

Some other games I spent more time than I like to admit playing, but didn't quite make the top six: Ritual of Raven, Discounty, Instants, Is this seat taken?, and Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time.

Once Upon a Katamari

Style: Puzzle

The release of a new mainline Katamari game is always exciting, as someone who's poured hundreds of hours into the series already, and even more so when the game is absolutely fantastic from start to finish. These fast, time challenge levels that give you just one simple objective are incredibly moreish, and never have I felt the "one more run" mindset so hard. The story sends you hurtling through different time periods, never giving you enough repetition to get bored of.

Once Upon a Katamari also introduces new elements, welcoming new players while also refreshing the old experience for series fans. Rolling around has been streamlined through a new control scheme that simplifies movement, and new tools have been added to each level such as a rocket to help you move faster and a radar to pinpoint the location of valuable items like crowns. Anyone can pick up Once Upon a Katamari and have a good time, which I think is one of the reasons why I ended up loving it so much this year.

I wouldn't say that Once Upon a Katamari is your typical cozy game. If anything, it's much more chaotic than the casual, laid-back simulators I'd usually describe as "wholesome" or "cozy". But the amount of joy a few hours in this game provides me is what makes it so worthy. It might not have the lo-fi pastel colored goodness we're used to, but it does pack in simple rules, and adorable characters you get familiar with which in some way makes it a cozy game.

Poco

Style: Point-and-click adventure

Something about cozy games lends itself to unsettling concepts, and Poco is definitely a prime example of that. This free-to-play point-and-click adventure following the story of the world's smallest clown really stuck with me when it launched in May, and I haven't stopped thinking about it since. I've even dipped in a few more times to make sure I saw every possible ending.

It's the world that really enchanted me, which is mostly down to the combination of 2D and 3D elements. Throughout Poco you'll have to use the environment to progress, whether that's picking flowers to turn into paint, or tracking down items to return to the cast of oddities (referred to as Homunculi) who you befriend along the way. The challenges are simple, but there's something so incredibly enthralling about it that you'll be gutted when it's over.

Poco is cozy in its time commitment too: I rolled credits within the hour. It's certainly a game that leaves you wanting more, and if they announced a sequel at any point I would be absolutely thrilled. I feel like Poco was a real hidden gem this year.

Vending Dokan!: Kozy Kiosk

Style: Idle management simulator

2025 has been the year of idle games for me. When I feel like I don't have the time to sink into a full-blown adventure, I've loved having a little desktop pet or idle game running in the background while I work. There's something oddly satisfying about getting passive virtual income from something that slowly ticks away, and Vending Dokan!: Kozy Kiosk was a sleeper hit for me.

After it shadow dropped during the Wholesome Direct showcase, I immediately downloaded it and started stocking my first few machines. Before long, I was raking in cash from an empire of vendos and decorated alleyways for my customers to sit and enjoy. So many idle games I've played, like Rusty's Retirement, Ropuka's Idle Island, and Tiny Pasture tick away whether or not you interact with them. Vending Dokan is a little more hands-on, which kept me more engaged.

You need to keep on top of your stock, order in the drinks your customers want if they aren't available in your current rotation, keep the area clean, and decorate to improve the general aesthetic. It doesn't require your constant attention, and you will spend a lot of time just waiting to earn enough money, giving you an excuse to actually work on the real life to-do list you've been putting off while playing. No—I'm definitely not projecting.

Out and About

Style: Foraging simulator

I may have strayed from the farming simulator this year, but that doesn't mean I've cast all simulators aside. Out and About was on my list of most anticipated games for 2025, and it certainly lived up to my expectations.

In Out and About, you'll set off to start a new life in an incredibly run down town. With a little bit of help and inspiration from the people around you, your skills as a forager help the local square flourish and re-build a community that had been impacted by a devastating storm. You'll learn all about plants and their properties, including what to look for when you're picking them.

Before you can take them back to the kitchen and cook something, you'll need to successfully identify the plants you've found. You wouldn't want to eat anything poisonous by accident. When you have made a mass of items, you can sell them at the market and match their properties to the needs of your customers, and then use that money to reinvest in the town.

What I love most about Out and About is the level of detail that has gone into the foraging mechanic. All the plants you encounter in the game are foragable in real life, and there are tons of recipes that can all be recreated in real life too. From teas and treats to salves and soups, there are over 100 recipes to learn in-game and out, and it's made foraging as a hobby feel a lot more accessible and less intimidating.

The Guardian of Nature

Style: Point-and-click puzzle

The Guardian of Nature is an incredibly peaceful point-and-click puzzle game, but even though it feels relaxing, it tells quite a heavy story. You'll play as Henry, a botanist who can shrink down to the size of an ant or grow back to his regular, human size. You'll use this skill to visit parts of the forest that the human eye may miss otherwise, like burrowing underground to reconnect plant roots or to helping out any animals who've gotten lost along their way.

It's not just about reconnecting parts of the forest though, as some unusual characters have started chopping down trees and using them to build houses for their kind, and you need to put a stop to that before the world Henry's used to changes entirely. Henry never actually speaks, communicating entirely in little grunts, but I wound up feeling so connected to him anyway. The animals you help out are particularly cute too, which helps.

It's the sort of game that can be played for a few hours at a time without feeling like you need to tie up the entire story in one sitting. This feeling is definitely encouraged by the fact it launched in episodes, giving you bitesize chunks to work through at a time, which I definitely appreciated and saw as a welcomed cozy break among the constant releases from the year.

Hello Kitty Island Adventure

Style: Life simulator

It would be a sin for me to not mention Hello Kitty Island Adventure this year. I've been pining for a PC release ever since it launched as an Apple Arcade exclusive in 2023, so I embarked on my adventure to Friendship Island the very second I could. Throughout 2025, I have adored every second spent with Hello Kitty and friends, most importantly my beloved PomPomPurin. Hello Kitty Island Adventure has really patched up the Animal Crossing-shaped hole in my heart.

Island Adventure has all the cozy game hits: crafting, fishing, cute characters, easy enough quests, and a long list of chores to keep you busy. For example, you'll get different visitors every now and then, like friends and family for the islanders, and you'll need to prepare cabins for them. Each character has very specific requirements to meet before they will visit, such as the location of their cabin and what furniture they need inside. Having this to occupy your time on top of quests and befriending the main cast keeps you busy and really brings the island to life.

The release of the Wheatflour Wonderland DLC in September only reinforced my love, and has left me excited to see where the game goes next. Hopefully, we continue to see more development on Friendship Island through 2026, including more characters to befriend and new realms to explore.