The Best Endless Cozy Games
When you’re in between games and just want something to mindlessly wind down with, it can be hard to find a game that doesn’t require your full attention. Today’s post is covering those “endless” (compliment) games that you can play with a podcast or music on in the background.
The list contains games that are forever games. They have a minimal story if one is present, it isn’t super necessary to the gameplay, and the gameplay itself is never-ending. These are the perfect games to have readily available in your library whenever you wrap up a lengthy narrative and need a brain break, or when you only have a few minutes to play and need something that isn’t overly complex.
Dorfromantik
Available on Nintendo Switch, PC/Steam Deck
Dorfromantik is a city-builder puzzle game where the city is made up of hexagonal tiles. The tiles are provided to you one by one in a random order, and your task is to place each tile down in any location you like to slowly build up your town. What’s nice about this game is that there are quests and goals for you to hit along the way towards building up your village that will reward you with new tile types or more resources.
As you expand, you’ll be able to see the village come to life with usable train tracks and flowing waterways. It’s the perfect game to check out when you want to calm your mind but still have a checklist of sorts to hit.
Sticky Business
Available on Nintendo Switch, PC/Steam Deck
If you’ve ever had the dream of running your own sticker shop, Sticky Business is the perfect endless game to kickstart your creativity. In this cozy simulator, you’re an independent sticker shop owner in charge of designing stickers, taking orders, packing orders, and expanding your inventory. Customer orders arrive via mail to help get you started, but you ultimately have a lot of freedom in designing the stickers of your dreams.
The gameplay loop has you design stickers, set up the sticker sheets, pack and ship the orders, and use the profits to further expand your inventory. You can purchase new packing supplies, fun add-ins, additional sticker types, and more. This is a game that is best played in short bursts as it can otherwise feel like quite the grind as you work towards unlocking the perfect sticker pack.
Garden Galaxy
Available on PC/Steam Deck
Garden Galaxy is a bite-sized garden builder that, much like Dorfromantik, provides you with blocks and items one at a time. Although there aren’t any quests, you can quickly get lost in the gameplay loop of finding the perfect spot for your new vase, or swapping out the desert block for a snowy biome instead. The goal is whatever you want it to be.
This is a game I started while in a gaming rut thinking I’d pop in for 15 minutes or so, but nearly 4 hours went by without even realizing it. Garden Galaxy is very easy to get lost in with its peaceful music, beautiful visuals, and addicting gameplay loop. It’s incredibly calming and fun to place objects little by little and watch your garden grow.
There’s a demo available on Steam, so give it a download to see if this game is something you would enjoy.
Tiny Glade
Available on PC/Steam Deck
Tiny Glade is the newest game release on the list, and it has quickly filled my social media timeline with so many gorgeous designs created by players. In Tiny Glade, there aren’t any objectives or quests, so it’s up to you to have internal goals and tasks in mind if that’s something that you like. Instead, Tiny Glade is a sandbox castle builder where you have a set amount of building materials, greenery, and fencing that you can use to create the cottagecore building of your dreams.
The visuals paired with the incredibly pleasing sound effects of morphing closed towers into open doorways makes Tiny Glade the perfect endless game to play when you just want to unleash a bit of creativity.
If you’re unsure whether or not you’ll like a game without any objective, I strongly recommend checking out the demo that’s available on Steam. It has just enough to give you a taste of what the full gameplay loop is like, so you’ll know right off the bat if the game is something you’ll want to purchase.
Potion Craft
Available on Nintendo Switch, PC/Steam Deck, Xbox, Playstation
Potion Craft is an endless shop simulator with a bit of a unique twist in that it has strategy and puzzle elements in the gameplay that reward you with new potion recipes as you slowly reveal the full map. In Potion Craft, you are responsible for taking orders, interpreting what the customers want (as it isn’t always straightforward), and using your ingredients to map a path to the potion you are trying to create. Each ingredient is paired with a directional path, which gets longer on the map as you grind the ingredient down to a powder. That path enables you to travel further on the map, which is how you stumble upon the recipe to create specific potions.
A merchant will pop into your store on occasion for you to replenish ingredients, but you also have a garden nearby where you can source a few ingredients for free each day. As you build up your potion recipes, you store them in a recipe book and customize the bottles, labels, etc. In addition, the customers you service are both good and evil, so it’s totally your choice on who you accept and reject. While that aspect will affect your store rating and thus further influence the types of customers you get, it ultimately won’t have a negative impact on your profits.
Of the games on the list, Potion Craft is my personal favorite because it has the perfect mix of endless gameplay, progression quests, checklists, and grind. It can get very grindy in the later chapters of the game, but I find that I usually get my fill of the game by the time I reach that point.
