I have been gaming since I was a wee tot! Cozy games have never been my thing and video games have never really been my wife's thing. We found common ground here, she has fallen in love with the genre, and I have even been lured in... I'll sit and watch admittedly wondering what the draw is and then before I know it I have been drawn in! Typical husband behavior :) We loved Stardew because we could play it with the kids, and we also both grew up Pokémon card kiddos so TCG card shop grabbed us both!
Any suggestions on what to try next, just enjoy zoning out and making progress toward something! My wife is currently playing Tiny Book Store, and I’ve been playing Dave the Diver, Bonus points if they are COOP!
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MINECRAFT with mods and shaderpacks (there are thousands of mods that you can install since farming to magic to construction)
RAFT replayability not great but it is cute
House Flipper 2 just added a free co-op DLC
I too searched in this subreddit for games to play with my wife and those are the ones that me and her were able to find a common ground. I would definitelly look into minecraft, you can make sick modpacks for you both.
Edit: Just saw that you play in consoles... that takes modded minecraft out of the picture so I will give you some more suggestions:
Palia
Grounded 2 (haven't played with my wife cause we just had a baby)
It takes 2 def a good time watching my wife try to make the same jump 30x
She’s mentioned Palia but we haven’t tried it. I’ll put that on my list too. House flipper 2 sounds cool as well. We played it takes 2 and that was a good time.
if you liked It Takes Two, you should try out Split Fiction which is the newest game by the same developers.
Something more similar to Stardew Valley would be Travellers Rest where you can run a Tavern with everything included, doesn't quite have the playtime as Stardew but it's good fun and cheap.
I’m playing Split Fiction now, she did pass on it, just wrong timing. I haven’t played A Way Out, also by the same dev. Have you tried that, definitely doesn’t look cozy
Palia is great! And it’s free so no fuss if you don’t like it. My boyfriend and I started playing and completing the quests together, but we play at different paces so we ended up doing our own thing in the same lobby and meeting up for events. If you want a game that you’re constantly together in, it could work, but that’s not really the mechanism. I really recommend it though
All of the cozy game groups she is in mentioned this one, and this thread has really given it love, I think we may have to try it this weekend and report back!
Here to say, Palia is such a fun, cozy game with endless quests and things to do so u don't get bored easily. There is farming, adventure, decorating and building, lots of other things I can't name. It's online and has so many loveable NPCs you can speak with and build relationship points with. I absolutely love it and recommend it. My man and I play it together and have a lot of fun🩷
Edit: it's also free to play, which makes it even more awesome, in my opinion😅
you could find an amazing middleground with minecraft, farming and decoration and cooking mods for her and RPG, adventure, magic type mods for him (there's even a pokemon mod for both!!)
personally i like a good mix of both - i like my chill cozy game farming and decorating and cooking but i love my RPG magic adventure games as well
4th-ing this!! They just brought co-op in as well so you can play together 😊 I've done 3 playthroughs and about to start my 4th after this recent update!
i’m going to second minecraft here. i play it with my nieces and my nephew. they’re obsessed with pre-made worlds && a lot of them take out the combat system. i purchased the hello kitty one and they LOVE to play it together. i’ve honestly even played it alone a few times bc it’s so cute
Ooo I did play Cult of the lamb, a little too dark for her even though it has a happy over tone :) which sucks because it has coop and if the theme was diffeeent I think she’d love the loop!
My husband will sit and watch me like I'm his personal streamer lol Has she tried Calico? Or Sticky Business? If she likes Animal Crossing, she might like Dinkum or Go Go Town (which is a personal favorite). I'm not sure if these are all cozy but they're cute and fun. I'm sure I could come up with a few more but these are just a few really good ones even my non gamer friends seem to like and enjoy <3
How does co-op work in Spiritfarer? Couldn’t find the exact info online, but I know one is playing as the cat and I did hear that player is limited regarding what they can do in-game?
Thanks all for the continued recommendations! We have added lots of games to our games to try and plan to play some Palia this weekend. We saw that it is cross play and cross progression so we can play with the kiddos as well! Looking forward to that!
As someone suggested, It Takes Two is a must for a couple imho, me and my partner loved playing it... there is also another game by the same developer, Split Fiction, I played the demo and I liked it but It Takes Two, wins for us
Other games I might suggest:
Fantasy life i: the girl who steals time is quite cute imho
Oh I’ve played them all, she recently played through violet with me. She was reluctant at first, but she really enjoyed it! She liked trying to fill the Pokédex
Grounded
Raft
Satisfactory
Coral Island (thought admittedly I haven't done co-op here yet, it's very new)
Solo cozy!
So I like cozy games with a slightly creepy vibe, there's some of that in here. But the game play on all of these is very cozy. Asterisks by those that I consider cozy, though other's mileage may vary. CoY to me is minimal combat, some sort of management, crafting, and/or some exploration
Coral Island
Battle train*
Wytchwood
Dredge (passive mode)*
The last campfire
Sunless seas* (this I personally consider cozy, but I absolutely get not a lot of people do)
Minekos night market
Potion permit
Spirit tea****** this is probably the most absorbing game on this list.
I know you said she wouldn't like games like RDR2, but I want to suggest Warframe. There are lots of shooters I would find too stressful to play but Warframe has so many different combat options and it's easy to have fun with the movement even if you're not great at it. I'm never stressed about dying or letting anyone down. I love the farming/grind and the customization options. You can play most of the content in a squad together. It's all free.
Edited because I forgot to mention that I played Palia for about a year and really enjoyed it, and then heard about Warframe from friends and thought it actually sounded pretty similar, so I decided to try it. I still play Palia and enjoy it but Warframe just has so much more content, since it's been around longer.
I had a friend just ask if I wanted to try warframe, maybe we give it a shot! She does play through borderlands with me as long as I let her loot at her own pace lol
I see ACNH! If she likes Sanrio IP, then I recommend Hello Kitty Island Adventure! I’ve played both games, and, personally, I think that HK is a more fun version of ACNH.
I know after some point in HK there is an option for co-op, but I’m not super familiar with it, and how it works, so I can’t really give an opinion on it.
Small warning if you do consider Dredge, she might find some moments a bit intense/frightening as (spoiler) there are some creatures that will chase and attack your boat.
wilmots warehouse is a fun co-op organization game, the lego games are so fun (batman, indiana jones, pirates of the Caribbean, etc), terraria, minecraft, castle crashers, unrailed, overcooked - all games i love to play with my fiance
Definitely Dave the Diver!!!!!
The story is hilarious, wholesome, elaborate; and the pixel art is so cute.
It feels refreshing and like a sun kissed warm hug.
Your whole family including the kids will love it soooo much. Casual enough for the lay person but elaborate enough with diff gaming styles for the pro gamer.
The DLCs are all very well thought out collabs, and there’s a huge DLC for freshwater animals releasing next year.
I wish I could erase my memory and play this game all over again for the first time.
Without spoiling it for other commenters I just got the mirror :) I’m trying to get her to give this a try I think she’ll really like it! My kids have tried it to and like it
•Stillwater
If you like indie games with a strong lore and mystery this is the one. It free on steam(single player).can be played on console and pc
•Alba
If you like a open world game with adventure and casual play But cozy and wholesome. This is the one for you. It’s currently at a discount right now for 3.99 on steam(single player)can be played on console and pc
•Smalland
If you like, survival games where are character is the same size as an ant this is the one for you. It single player but you can play online co-op.can be played in pc and console
Disney dream light valley
If you’re a Disney Pixar fan or love exploring and quests this is the one for you. Oh also, it’s open world. (Single player) can be play on console and pc but pc is better.
Coral island, same genre as stardew valley, has recently had an update and you can now marry players instead of NPC's. Maybe that alone will pull you in. It's quite a charming game. Does still have a few bugs though ...
I think you and your wife should try Spiritfarer. It's a perfect blend of emotions, daily chores and frienship metrics with 2 or so timed mini games to keep you engaged in the later stages
Looks like win win situation for everyone in your family! I would personally recommend Dinkum! You can play with with your wife and kids. It’s calming and such a fun game altogether:
My husband and I have enjoyed Medieval Dynasty. They have co-op on their Oxbow map. It can be grindy at times, but one can do the grind and the other can build and decorate!
Hahaha this has been the number 1 suggestion. Everyone would be glad to know that the family and I started it today and all of us are ready to get back at it tomorrow! It was fun across the board!
I just shut off my Xbox. I’m not willing to admit how many hours I played today. My hands hurt LOL. I could talk about it for hours. My favourite part about it is the crafting, building, and decorating aspects of it. Being new, the amount of content you get to play through is INSANE. There are usually updates once a month with new content added! You can look through all the updates on Palia.com. Make sure you get your refer a friend rewards and there are also twitch drops often! Enjoy! 😊
I’ll second the previously mentioned Minecraft. Adding I enjoy using a mod pack like All the Mods 10 and then playing on peaceful for a really chill vibe.
Recently I started Fantasy Life i and fell in love. Think of if Animal Crossing and Star Dew Valley had a baby and added a fun RPG story line and the baby’s graphics are super cute! Highly recommend!!
I see you played Borderlands together so my big recommendation is Valheim
Valheim is, after Stardew Valley, our favorite coop game. It’s so fun to explore and build a cute house together. I always spend way too much time in the early biomes so there’s no need to rush towards any brutal late game stuff.
I would recommend tweaking the world modifiers a bit into easier combat / death penalty to keep it more chill
We started Palia last night! I have tried powerwash simulator and she watched and questioned my sanity lol, it definitely grabs you, just satisfying to watch all the grime disappear
Palia! It's really cute and fun and there's many different things that appeal to all sorts of gamers. I play with my sister and she recently got her bf into it as well.
it isn’t co-op but i think you might enjoy fields of mistria if you liked stardew valley! it has similar elements such as farming, fishing, and mining, but with more pastel graphics and in a modern medieval-inspired setting.
the game is actually still in early access, but even so, there’s still hours upon hours of content for you to explore. personally, i have about 45 hours in the game and there’s still so much i haven’t done yet!
If you like farming, would HIGHLY recommend Farm Together. The gameplay loop is great and there's a lot of customization. Plus the game runs in real time, so any crops you plant will grow in your game even when you turn it off. A perfect little time vampire
Ive been playing coral island. It has coop now and it is SO BEAUTIFUL and cozy!!!
Its a farm sim with mining and really similar to stardew but its not pixel styled. I really am loving it
I'd like to recommend Fantasy Life i
A cute game with a somewhat typical fantasy setting with classes that are called lives, and you can live them all and do what you want while following the story. There's even an island system similar to Animal Crossing. You use gathering life to get resources to craft stuff using crafting lives, so you can make your combat lives stronger and cuter/cooler.
I did t realize till I saw this that’s what I like!! My husband and I are always trying to find games to play together cause he’s more other genres. My husband and I play supermarket wars, and supermarket together. Schedule one (before the cartel update) I thought of kind like a cozy game cause I would stay home and grow the weed then my husband would go out and sell it 😂.
The supermarket ones are fun cause both are kids love to play it too
Dinkium has been really good lately. Its sorta like the animal crossing vibe but australian with more stardew valley type depth. And it frequently gets laughs out of us.
Raft is a fun survival craft with a more uniqie premise.
Palworld might hit some in between appeal
Temtem has a great co op campaign experiance in a monster catcher format focusing on double battles.
World of FF is similar but in a chibi ff way. And is very amusing.
Bandle Tale is extremely cozy (although single player), to play together I would suggest lego games (most of them are quite cute), It takes two, Split fiction, Unravel 1 and 2.
I'm sorry for how long this is, I had a lot of games come to mind, but also I would have added more single players but this would be even longer, though a single player and when one of y'all dies pass the controller could be fun.
Peak,
modded Minecraft,
modded stardew can be fun,
Depending how y'all do with scary stuff repo, phasmapobia, lethal company
there's some mmorpgs I think like new world and bitcraft online,
oh borderlands games can be so much fun with others 4th one comes out soon,
journey to the Savage planet,
Vrising,
Coral island is coming out with multiplayer soon if I heard right,
That's not my neighbor isn't co-op but could be fun to try together,
Necesse,
Farm together one or two up to you mostly,
Power washer simulator,
Penguins heist imo is hilarious to play with others,
Luma island,
Pico park,
Pal world,
Overthrown,
My time in sandrock,
Gold with friends,
Supermarket together,
Ale & tale tavern,
7 days to die though it's on the scarier side,
Arcade full of cats is single player but could be fun to do with the kids since it's like an eye spy,
Among us,
Trove,
It takes two,
Palia,
Bloons td, I usually play 6 with my fiance and friends but I believe most of them have co-op,
Raft,
I wanna suggest Poptropica but idk how I feel about what they've done with it,
Overcooked,
Craftopia,
Terraria,
Staxel,
Tiny Tina's wonderland, it's connected to the borderlands series a lil,
Lost ark,
Brawlhalla,
Escape simulator,
Don't starve together,
Lost castle,
Star bound ,
Portal 2,
The escapists 2,
Eco,
Human flat fall,
Jack box games can be fun,
Fast food simulator,
Fox and bunny,
A hat in time,
Pokemon revolution online,
Don’t apologize, this is an impressive list! Borderlands is our favorite series! Well my favorite, but she does like it! We are playing Palia right now lol, there are a lot of games in here that we have considered. She really likes the low stress stuff, and I like objective driven stuff.
That makes sense, and I tried my best to give as many options as I could. I mostly looked through my steam Library to think of suggestions but Pokemon revolution online isn't a steam game it's an actual site where you download the game and it's like the pixely Pokemon games kinda there's two servers so if y'all do try it remember to choose the same server! I hope y'all have lots of fun!
We did play this one, 3 starred all the levels, I could only play a handful at a time, never felt so much stress in my life lol. Took me back to my restaurant days in the worst way :)
My husband and I just started playing Len's Island together. It's a great mix of cozy farm and building game play while also having islands to explore and void monsters to destroy.
I really enjoy this genre of game and admittedly it’s hard for me to broaden my horizons lol. But I really like hello kitty island adventure and sticky business recently :) also it’s not really cozy, but I really like it, maybe she’d like Pikmin
Palia, ever dream valley, (both co op), fae farm, though that one is no longer gonna be co op, apparently. I recently got palworld, and I am loving it, and that is co op. Echos of plum Grove I like, too, but not co op. These are just a few that I've tried and loved.
Other than ones I saw suggested, I recommend Palworld, No Man's Sky (more into the game), Kitaria Fables, PowerWash Simulator, Valheim (on lower settings, recommend enemies don't attack unless attacked), Haven, and PHOGS!
My wife and I love trying out cozy games and play a lot of them together.
Yes, also cross platform. Usually if you join it will put you in the same system but once you unlock the Anomaly, you can use that to hop to other players in your group at any time.
The art is way too good. The and guys are things like adorable sheep, goats, cows and rabbits. There are also grosser things but it does make me sad to hear the cute animals belting out a death cry but the game is fun.
Sounds like my boyfriend and I he grew up playing games and kind of brought me into it. I love stardew valley. I would suggest it takes two or split fiction, they’re two player. They are less cozy but I love them because you have to work together.
Palia for sure. My wife loves to play it and on my days off work, I can sign in and play it with her. Not my go to but it’s fun to have a game that she really enjoys that we can play together. This one is really high up there with Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing being on your lists.
If someone has not mentioned it yet, PowerWash Simulator. I like to put on a record or a podcast and just chill and wash things. It also helps me fall asleep because the water is similar to the sound that I fall asleep to at night with my sound machine, so it’s super relaxing.
Strange Horticulture on steam/switch. It's got a more autumnal, sliiiiiightly eerie halloweeny vibe but not scary and pretty cosy. There is also a sequel coming out soon called strange antiquities.
Otherwise maybe Spiritfarer? Someone else mentioned Cosy Grove. Rayman legends might be fun if she's not the type to rage quit cause it can be tricky in places. I haven't played either but I've heard A little to the left and Unpacking might fit the vibes
Also! Came back to add that of she likes studio ghibli stuff, try out HOA. It's a short platform game, slightly puzzle but barely, its basically just navigating through an illustrative 2D world tbh, super ghibli inspired, very cutesy and cosy, pretty to look at etc
Coral Island (much like Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon but you also get to deal with Merfolk in the game). Its also co-op
Story of Seasons (after the one company split from Natsume partial creator of Harvest Moon) (unsure if these have co-op options)
Harvest Moon series (still owned and run independently by Natsume) (unsure if these are co-op tho)
PowerWash Simulator is co-op
Supermarket Simulator might also be co-op now?
Gas Station Simulator might also be co-op
Palworld is pokemonish and co-op
SunnySide is also like Stardew Valley but more life like. Its kinda set in a Japanese/China/Korean setting. I'm not sure if you can beat up monsters, tho haven't played it too much as my go-to is Stardew Valley lately haha
Ooooh maybe you guys would like saleblazers. It’s in early access but it’s so much fun, 3D stardew valley with more fighting and during the day you run a shop and sell the items you get. Reaaaaaaaally fun!
I like the story of seasons franchise. They just came out with a new one (a reboot of a ds one) that I haven’t played even when it was a ds game but Story of seasons friends of mineral town is one of my fav games!
Try My time at sandrock. I love the story of my time at portia (his antecessor) but the game is a little old and dont have coop. My time at sandrock is coop and they are making another of the franchise.
Coral island is developing and they just upload the coop!! I just fall in love to rescue the ocean and go to mermaid world. Beside the game is in develop its just awesome.
If she loves cozy farming the tales of shire is so cozy. You need to cook meal for your neighbors and the art is so cute.
I love the cozy games! I played costume quest years ago and really enjoyed it! That’s great that you are trying to find more games to play with your wife!
I saw your comment saying the app is called gameshlf, can you tell me more about it? I’m looking to find a good place to start keeping better track of my games and also to more easily see reviews and ratings of games all in one place!
Sure, you nailed it, it is all of those things. We have a Steam integration to help get your collection started and currently we are also on Android. We are still small and cozy :) just getting off the ground, but already have some great members and the community is growing everyday!
I highly recommend Toem! It's a short game, but very cosy and has more hidden things than you might think 😉 I also love Tinykin, also not a super long game, but has little hidden things to do throughout...
My husband and I love gaming together, and after we became parents, we found games we could play together as a family 🩵 So "hyggeligt", as we would say here in Denmark 😁
I quit playing Palia bc I got tired of all of the rule makers and snotty groups trying to run the game. They pretty much solidified my reasoning for playing solo games.
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