Welcome to the Cozy Zone, the corner of SG dedicated to sharing and discussing cozy games. Get yourself a blanket, some hot chocolate or herbal tea, get comfy in your chair and enjoy the good vibes and the good gibs too.

I'm certain most of you are familiar with the concept of "cozy gaming/games" by now, but to avoid any confusion here are some excerpts I stole from articles written by people who are better with words than me, which should give you the idea:

These kinds of games encourage players to take things slow and enjoy the cozier things in life, which is why they've gained a reputation for being 'cozy games'. While there isn't an official definition for what a cozy game is exactly, those that do fall under this categorization have a particular vibe that is easy to spot. Typically, a cozy game will be laid back, have minimal, if any, combat, an endearing art style, and will wrap its action around a wholesome story.
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Whether the ideal cozy game consists of task-based satisfaction or getting to project personal feelings onto a melancholy storyline, there are options suitable to gamers of all backgrounds. The genre is very flexible, populated with RPGs, platformers, point-and-click adventures, life sims, and much more. These are the games to play after a long day of work, on rainy days, and when you just don't feel like crawling out of bed.`
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The core idea behind [cozy gaming] is the combination of appealing colors, atmospheric music, and playability. In addition, a game should also be fun and relaxing, contributing to the experience that can be referred to as cozy.
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Cozy games are predominantly identified by the comfortable atmosphere, aesthetically pleasing design, and task-focused gameplay. Cozy games are not always easy or relaxing, though they can be.

Links: 1 2 3 4


With that out of the way and skipping the whole "in these hard times we all need more cozy time in our lives" preamble (heh), let's get straight to what the Cozy Zone is supposed to be about:

My giveaways of cozy games. To be honest (at first) I just needed a place for my next gibs, as it so happened that I was in possession of some amount of keys for this particular type of games, but instead of going with just another one-time train I decided to make it an ongoing thread. So for now the plan is to do GAs for this thread with games of the cozy kind on a somewhat regular basis.

Your giveaways of cozy games. Everyone is welcome to join me in making GAs for games that fit the theme. No strict guidelines, use your own discretion when deciding if the game is good for this thread. In general, fitting games usually have one or more of these tags on Steam: Relaxing / Family Friendly / Cozy / Wholesome / Cute / Comedy; and here are some tags that these games usually don't include: Violent / Gore / Survival / Psychological Horror / Hentai / Dark / War / Military / Dystopian (these are just some examples of some of the most popular tags). In any case, if a game seems cozy enough to you, feel free to give it away. Just make your GAs private (aka invite-only).
Special Cats tag exception: as a result of the FCDSCGC-2023 event, cats were proclaimed the mascot animal of our thread and thus any game that has a 'Cats' tag on Steam is allowed to be given away here, whether it's cozy or not.
Every active giveaway will be featured in the OP (if I'm around at the time it's running).

General discussion of cozy games. Random cozy games discoveries, thoughts on latest games you've played, discounts alerts and everything else related to games of the cozy kind.

Recommendations for cozy games. Do share your favorite games, well known or not. Hidden gems are especially welcome though, cause many niche games often go largely unnoticed.

Cozy events. So, events have become a semi-regular occurrence in our thread, and I'm looking to make them an integral part of the Cozy Zone experience moving forward. If you want to host an event in the thread which requires some coordination or have an idea for a future event, please contact me on Steam; otherwise, feel free to post your cozy trains, celebratory GAs, puzzles and whatnot at any time. You can also contribute by either partially or fully sponsoring the prize pool and/or by donating cozy games for events (as I might struggle to fully cover these prize/GAs-wise on my own, so some help is always appreciated; again, contact me for this).

If you wish to just bump the thread, feel free to so, but keep in mind that the recommended way to bump is the cozy way, which is achieved by posting:
♦ pics of your adorable pets ♦ pics of your cozy gaming space ♦ pics of anything cozy or cute ♦ light-hearted memes ♦ links to relaxing music (make sure to check out our own cozy playlist ♫ too) ♦

One rule in this thread: good vibes only, so please let's make it comfy for everyone and keep the negativity to the minimum.


Active giveaways

from Ellendyl Euro Truck Simulator 2 (lvl 2+)
from s4k1s 4 games cozy Cakeday train (lvl 1-2+)

Current streak of consecutive days with at least one GA running has been going since: January 15, 2023 (approximately)


Previous giveaways and events:

Thanks to everyone who contributed with cozy giveaways and recommendations. ʕっᵔᴥᵔʔっ

View attached image.
2 years ago*

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Thank you for the great idea Bronson and for the gibs!

One of my favorites from the "cozy" genre is Eastshade. It's an immersive journey through an island called *wait for it*... Eastshade.
You get to talk to all sorts of strange anthopomorphic creatures, paint beautiful landscapes, do some light crafting and fulfill various errands as you unlock more sections of the island.
Some people have described it as Skyrim without combat. I find the world beautiful, relaxing and a joy to walk around.

2 years ago
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Looks gorgeous. I may try it even though first person perspective in some walking sims have been an issue for me in the past

2 years ago
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I added this one to my wishlist recently, the beautiful visuals are really appealing, but I'll wait for -70%.

2 years ago
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forgot about it earlier, here is my cat getting kind of cozy on top of a box

View attached image.
2 years ago
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Cat was confused as to why the box wasn't open. 😺

2 years ago
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Some cozy games I found that are coming soon and have a free demo :) So far I've tried Sprittea, Research Story, A Little to the Left, and Potion Permit!

Aka

Lonesome Village

Garden Galaxy

Wildfrost

Diluvian Winds

Ship of Fools

Spirittea

Ogu and the Secret Forest

Path of Kami: Journey Begins

Research Story

Sprout Valley

A Little to the Left

Potion Permit (This one released Sept 22)

2 years ago
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Thanks for the list, gonna try some of these demos out. Which one did you like the most?

2 years ago
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They were all really unique I can't pick a favourite! Potion Permit is probably the most well made one, Spirittea is really cool too! Reminds me of Studio Ghibli :) You take care of a bathhouse visited by ghostly creatures, I love the artwork aswell, very calming!

2 years ago
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Thanks for so many cool recommendations!

Here are a couple gibeabays for y'all:
https://www.steamgifts.com/gibeabay/G-K9-FH/carto
https://www.steamgifts.com/gibeabay/DH-3J-o/the-wild-at-heart

2 years ago
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Thanks for your contributions, I love the art style in both of these games, so adorable. (^・ω・^)

2 years ago
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Bump!

2 years ago
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I love me some cozyzone 🎮
Does this have a SteamGroup ? It should, no ?

2 years ago
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Nope, it's just this thread. A group would work better for making regular giveaways, so can't say I didn't think about it, but I decided to go with just the thread for various reasons. But obviously it's not some unique or fresh idea, so if anyone wants to make a group, be my guest.

2 years ago*
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Bumpalicious

2 years ago
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Bump.

2 years ago
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View attached image.
2 years ago
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Here's a giveaway for a game that is apparently very relaxing. (have not tried it myself)
https://www.steamgifts.com/gibeabay/removei//m2JNiB/treasure-hunter-simulator

2 years ago
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Looks like a pretty chill game, thanks for your contribution. 😺

2 years ago
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Loved this forum. : )

2 years ago
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✦ Updated the OP, we have 8 9 giveaways currently running, check them out if you haven't yet.

2 years ago*
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Such cute art style in this one, thanks for the GA. 😺

2 years ago
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Deleted

This comment was deleted 1 year ago.

2 years ago*
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Wanted to say that I never heard about this one, but I somehow already have it in my library lol. Low-poly style looks nice for nature stuff, thanks.

2 years ago
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Equilinox is a great little game. Definitely cozy!

2 years ago
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I really enjoyed this one.

2 years ago
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I believe Mountain is apt to enter the list [Or not, who knows]

2 years ago
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This one was one of the first (if not the first) games that introduced me to the concept of cozy gaming. I was pretty confused back then by it not having much gameplay and just offering a chill experience haha.
Speaking of lists, since there's many good recommendations in this thread already, I guess I'll probably compile them all in some sort of list at some point.

2 years ago
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Thanks, bump. Faolan - Song of Cyder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOCa2--6P5A

2 years ago
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Zero 7 is always nice if you want to chill. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSsJE5sHJjA&t=280s

2 years ago
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Does Dear Esther count as cozy?

Well, even if it doesn't, here's a giveaway for it!

2 years ago
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Well, it does look cozy, but it's also a narrative-driven experience, so in this case it really would depend on what topics the story touches upon and how emotional it gets (there is "Emotional" tag there, after all). I'd really prefer that the games are given away here would at least be somewhat fitting, and I'm going off of your "even if it doesn't" part here when I assume that you really don't know if it does fit (but if you're just joking around, my apologies). With that said, I asked someone who played the game and they said that the story is not that emotional, so I'd say it's cozy enough, but barely, haha. Thanks for the GA.

2 years ago
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Yeah, I really don't know, I've never played it and don't know much about it, other than it's a walking simulator with decent reviews.

I will try to do some more research before making my next Cozy Corner giveaway!

2 years ago
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Thanks, I appreciate it. /ᐠ. ᴗ.ᐟ\

2 years ago*
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Did someone already mentioned Strange Horticulture?
It's also 35% off right now

2 years ago
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Have you played it? The art style is endearing, and I love plants hehe.

2 years ago
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i played the demo

2 years ago
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Bump

2 years ago
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I thought at first that the game was "The Answer Is 42". XD
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1199660/The_Answer_Is_42/

Thank you all~~

2 years ago
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B42uJMP!/removeJ/The-answer-to-life-the-universe-and-everything

2 years ago
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Cleaned up the list of GAs in the OP a little bit, all 11 active GAs are there.

2 years ago*
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