Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition (Switch)

Dragon Quest XI is a game designed for people who want to wind down after a long day of work. It's a typical JRPG like Final Fantasy or Xenoblade — save the world, gather friends to create a party, travel from town to town to complete quests — but unlike many other JRPGs, it's so chill. It's cute, it's low-stakes, and it's pleasant for 10-minute or 5-hour sessions alike.

Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town (Switch)

This remake of the Game Boy Advance game, Friends of Mineral Town, is everything Harvest Moon fans should want. It offers a glossy remake of the visuals, plus a slight reworking of everything else to make it a more pleasant experience. Tend your farm, raise animals, and get married — or just head into the mines for a week, if you want. This is the best non-Stardew farming you'll find on the Switch.

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Windosill (Switch eShop)

Windosill has been out for 13 years, and its gentle, unique aesthetic and surreal puzzles have clearly left a stamp on games like Donut County and Monument Valley since. Now it's on Switch, you can experience this game for yourself.

This is a game that's 100% focused on relaxation, exploration, and fun surprises. It's all about investigating and toying with your surroundings, revelling in how tactile and responsive everything is as you work to find the little cube you need to open a door and trundle your cute toy car into the next room.

Beacon Pines (Switch eShop)

Playing Beacon Pines feels a bit like early winter nights, where you’re surprised by how quick the darkness creeps up – yet comfy and warm under a blanket. It fits snugly in with the Switch’s other cosy offerings.

You play as Luka, a 12-year-old deer who's dealing with the loss of his parents and a Twin Peaks-inspired takeover of his town. The story is told through a literal book, which you help to write by choosing words to fill in the blanks — but your word choice will influence the story itself, leading to a number of different endings. Also, all of the characters are adorable anthropomorphic animals wearing clothes. It's so cute.

Tinykin (Switch eShop)

What if Pikmin was less existentially horrifying, and way cuter? It's possible, because that's what Tinykin is — a sort of Borrowers-meets-Chibi Robo game in which a tiny gaggle of the titular Tinykin follow you around and help you solve puzzles.

Tinykin is more than just a wholesome, stress-free 3D platformer or 'Pikmin Lite'; it's a lesson in appreciating the simple things in life, including the help from those around you. Even with a mass of collectables and a free-flowing storyline to follow, Tinykin never feels cluttered or overwhelming. Despite feeling a lot like a certain Nintendo series when you first pick it up, the game has enough of a unique identity to separate itself from the pack, offering a pleasant, pure platforming spin on Pikmin.

Kirby's Dream Buffet (Switch eShop)

Kirby's Dream Buffet is a colourful and chaotic slice of slapstick party game action that serves up a nice range of modes to play either offline, in online ranked matches, and with friends in split-screen or local play modes. This is an easy, breezy game to jump into, perfect for beginners and young gamers, with plenty of courses, lots of unlockable goodies, and a budget price point to boot, making for one delicious treat that we're gonna be digging into for some time to come.

Cult of the Lamb (Switch eShop)

Yes, Cult of the Lamb is about demonic rituals and satanic practices, but that doesn't mean it can't be cute, too!

Gameplay is one part survival sim and one part action-roguelike, divided neatly between your duties tending to your ‘flock’ and your efforts to fight your way through the forests of heretics. Dungeon runs help you get materials and new followers, and heading back to your base means taking care of your existing followers' faith, needs, and hunger. It can be stressful, but no one said running a cult was easy.

Cozy Grove (Switch eShop)

It's literally got "cozy" in the title. We personally didn't love our time with Cozy Grove, admittedly — but you might, if you want a game that limits your play time to just 15 or 20 minutes a day. It's a beautiful game, too, with the signature cube-bears that developers Spry Fox are known for. Give it a go!

Shin chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation -The Endless Seven-Day Journey- (Switch eShop)

This never-endingly titled game is a mash-up of Shin-chan (an impish five year old who has his own manga and anime series) and My Summer Vacation, a series from the early 2000s about a boy whiling away a month of summer days in the Japanese countryside, exploring, chasing bugs, fishing, having dinner and a bath, and generally letting his imagination find adventure in a place with nothing too thrilling to do.

If childhood summers sound like bliss to you — the warmth of the sun on your scalp as you fish for frogs in the local pond, that kind of thing — then just know that this game nails it.

Disney Dreamlight Valley (Switch eShop)

Disney Dreamlight Valley might be a Mickey-flavoured take on Animal Crossing, but that doesn't mean it's not well worth a look. You don't even really have to be a Disney fan to enjoy its flavour of life sim, with plenty of cooking, farming, fishing, and house decorating to charm your Frozen-themed socks off — although if you are a Disney fan, you'll have a great time with all the references to your favourite movies.

Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (Switch)

Snuggle up with a thick slice of bara brith for Level-5's Welsh-tinged adventure RPG, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, which plays like a Studio Ghibli film with a weird little fairy as your companion and a Pokémon-like battle mechanic. The environments are lush, the character animation is worthy of its Ghibli comparisons, and the story feels like a real-life fairy tale that's suitable for kids, but gets deep and dark enough for adults, too.

Now, over to you — which "cozy" games do you think deserve to be on this list? Let us know in the comments below.


This article is one of our Switch Essentials guides which cover a wide variety of genres, including the Best Switch FPS Games, the Best Switch RPGs, the Best Switch Games For Kids, the Best Switch Couch Co-Op Games and the Best Switch Fitness and Exercise Games. We can also help out hunting down the Best Switch Horror Games, the Best Switch Racing Games, the Best Switch Action-RPGs, the Best Nintendo Switch Roguelikes, Roguelites and Run-Based Games, the Best Free Switch Games, the Best Remakes And Remasters, the Best Switch Music And Rhythm Games, Best Feel-Good Switch Games, Best Switch Open-World Games, Best Switch Soulslike Games, Best LGBTQ+ Switch Games, and even Games to Play After You've Finished Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Whatever your favourite genre, we've got you covered: Strategy Games, Metroidvanias, Puzzle Games, Party Games, Online Multiplayer Games, Local Wireless Multiplayer Games, Shmups, Twin-Stick Shooters, Visual Novels, Kart Racers, Fighting Games, Football Games, Funny Games, Golf Games, 'Walking Sims' And Narrative Games, Switch Games For Lovers And Lonely Hearts, Detective Games, Hidden Gems, 2D Platformers, 3D Platformers, Puzzle Platformers, Tabletop Mode Games, Run and Gun Games, LEGO Games, Sports Games, Survival Games, Beat 'Em Ups, Camera Games, Chill Games, Family Games, Retro-Inspired Games, Short Games, Card Games and Deck-Builders, and Life Sims And Farming Games.

Still hungry for more? Elsewhere we look at Wholesome Games, TATE Mode Games, Flight Sim and Space Combat, Point and Click Adventure Games, and the Best Switch Exclusives, as well as Every Arcade Archives Game, Every ACA Neo Geo Game, Every SEGA AGES Game On Switch, plus the Best Switch Ports, Best Wii U-To-Switch Ports, Best Switch Collections And Compilations, Best Cheap Switch Games, Best Switch Demos, Games That Are Better On Switch OLED, Switch Games Under $10, $20, $50, and Switch games with the Best Soundtracks and the Best Graphics. Phew!

If you're looking for the best Switch games regardless of genre, our reader-voted selection of the Best Nintendo Switch Games should help you out, and you can also find the Best Nintendo Switch Games of 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. And finally, if you're interested in other Nintendo consoles and retro games, check out the Best Game Boy Games, Best GBC Games, Best GBA Games, Best Nintendo DS Games, Best Nintendo 3DS Games, Best NES Games, Best SNES Games, Best N64 Games, Best GameCube Games, and Best Wii Games, and Best Wii U Games, as well as Every Available Nintendo Switch Online Retro Game, and ranked lists of Every Nintendo Switch Online NES, SNES, N64 and Sega Genesis / Mega Drive Game.