What Makes a Cozy Game?
Update: We’ve updated this list and given it a spring clean. Along with that, we’ve also added two newer releases to the pack: Botany Manor and Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley. Enjoy!
What exactly makes a game cozy? Is it the player’s state of mind while playing? Is it an adherence to specific aesthetics or messages? Is it the inclusion of birds? Well, you might be forgiven for thinking it’s the last one, because at least ten of the games on this list are about birds specifically, but the idea of a “cozy” game is a bit more nebulous than that.
It’s more of a feeling, really: a game that you can relax to, that can be challenging but never punishing, with elements of friendship, community, and kindness. But not always — some “cozy” games (like a certain game about a bad goose) are more about letting the player go a little bit wild, but always in a way that’s gentler and less severe than chopping people’s heads off in a Dark Souls or a Witcher game.
Without further ado, here we are: the bestest coziest games on the Nintendo Switch.
Unpacking
The multi-award-winning Unpacking sounds simple: take stuff out of boxes, put it in the house you just moved into. However, the interactions with the items you own and the rooms you’re unpacking into are surprisingly — forgive the pun — moving. It’s a charming little experience that’s perfect for winding down after a long day.
A Short Hike
A Short Hike has a lot of the hallmarks of a great cozy indie game: talking animals, a message about stopping to smell the roses, and the kind of soundtrack that you want to listen to in the bath. It’s just downright lovely.
Untitled Goose Game
What do you think of when we say the word “cozy”? Is it a little family of pigs, wearing knitted jumpers? Perhaps it’s an anthropomorphic fox drinking tea? Well, you’re all wrong. The most cozy thing is a horrible goose terrorising a village with a chaotic accompanying classical piano soundtrack.
Yoku’s Island Express
Bugs in pinball might sound more like a job for the vacuum cleaner than a video game, but hear us out: Yoku’s Island Express is one of the most hidden-est gems on the Nintendo Switch. You’re a lil beetle, and you need to deliver post; what better way to do it than to fling yourself around the map in a pinball-puzzle-platformer game?
A Little To The Left
Similar to Unpacking, but with its own twist, A Little To The Left is all about rearranging objects in your house just so. This means stacking papers in size order, books in height order, and lining up game cartridges perfectly. It’s satisfying to make things look nice and organised, and ALTTL nails that feeling.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
At a very specifically not-cozy time in our lives — the beginning of a global pandemic — Animal Crossing: New Horizons came out, and soothed a lot of our worries away with its candy-coloured, animal-befriending holiday island.
Alba: A Wildlife Adventure
From the makers of Monument Valley comes Alba: A Wildlife Adventure, a charming little bird-watching, animal-identifying, squirrel-washing game that’s all about saving the wildlife in a cute little pastel town.
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
We’re not trying to sound smug or anything, but we liked Toads way before it was cool. Years of being teased for picking the lil mushroom guy in Mario Kart 64, and we never stopped believing. Now that the best Toad of all — Captain Toad — has his own game, we feel vindicated.