All posts tagged in indie game
Apr 16, 2025
Full-blown games with great graphics, fun mechanics, and in-depth storylines are great. They’re what take up the bulk of gaming, cozy or not, and offer some incredible experiences for everyone. However, you sometimes just want something scaled back. Something to play for a few minutes at a time while you work on homework or take a break from your work-from-home job. These 10 mini desktop games are perfect for that! They sit at the bottom of your screen (some can sit vertically down the sides, too) and run in the background while you do your thing.
Rusty’s Retirement
Rusty’s Retirement started it all for me. This was the first cozy bottom-of-your-screen game I encountered and it’s the perfect one to start with if you love farming sims. Start out small and grow your tiny farm piece by piece. Rusty will work while you’re busy, farming, caring, and gathering crops. You can even employ worker robots to help speed up the process, too. There’s also a Focus Mode to slow down crop production if you feel things are moving too fast while you’re busy with other tasks. This makes for an even less distracting game!
Bao Bao’s Laundromat
If you prefer a business-based game over a farm sim, then try Bao Bao’s Laundromat instead! This one doesn’t sit as tiny on the bottom of the screen as others, but it will sit in the background and continue playing as you work on other tasks. In this cute game, you help Bao Bao open a laundromat and turn it into a bustling mega-business. Install washers and dryers, buy land to expand, hire different types of pandas, and more. Relax to the excellent soundtrack and set the Focus Timers to assist you with study or work sessions. There’s not much better than a gamified productivity tool.
Tiny Vending Machines
Here’s another business-based mini desktop game. Tiny Vending Machines is about building your vending machine empire. Buy and manage a variety of vending machines. Stock them with products like drinks, candy, ice cream, fruit, fast food, salads, soups, and so much more. Keep your machines stocked as customers will show up randomly to make purchases. Upgrade the vending machines to increase their capacity. Their highest upgrade fully automates them, too!
My Little Life
Take a life sim and make it tiny, and you get My Little Life! Watch as your little character leads their life as you complete work. They’ll choose a career based on what they’re good at, and their paychecks increase based on their skills within that career. You can then spend their hard-earned money on items to decorate their home with. You can even recruit more people to play with and build separate homes for everyone, or make one mega mansion. It’s an idle game, but you have some fun choices to make!
Desktop Cat Cafe
Desktop Cat Cafe is another adorable business-based mini desktop game. This time, you get to design your dream cafe and serve cute cats. Design the outdoor cafe using hundreds of decor options. Unlock 150+ recipes to serve in your cafe. Serve tasty items like cannolis, bubble tea, and matcha cake. Automate the business by hiring some cats so they can serve customers while you’re busy with work. Happy customers means more money, after all.
Cozy Littlequarium
Cozy Littlequarium takes relaxing aquarium building to the next level by putting it at the bottom of your screen and letting you care for it at your own pace! Study, work, or even play other games while your aquarium hangs out at the bottom of your screen. Purchase a variety of tropical or freshwater fish to stock your tank. Decorate with a number of different items to create a peaceful, natural, vibrant, or magical look to the aquarium. You can even breed fish and discover new types to fill out your compendium!
Deskquarium
Deskquarium is another aquarium idler, but it sits comfortably in the corner of your screen. Choose which aquarium type you want, and get to work filling it how you want. Pick from different kinds and colors of fish. Decorate the tank with fun plant life or rocks. There are even different water pumps to simulate a real aquarium build. Play around with your options to create our favorite aquascape and let it hang out on your desktop for some relaxing vibes.
Ropuka’s Idle Island
Ropuka’s Idle Island is described as a “playable sticker”. It’s a small little game that sits anywhere on your desktop. On that tiny island is a cute frog who spends his days cutting the grass that grows constantly. Watch Ropuka cut the grass day in and day out, and watch him take naps, too. Then, use the grass as currency to upgrade his tools or buy decorations to make the island super cozy. You can change the color of the grass, add bushes and plants, decorations, and more to make things super cute!
Whimside
If you prefer creature collectors, then Whimside is the perfect bottom-of-the-screen game for you! Explore the tiny world of Whimside and adventure through some enchanting environments in search of Whimlings to capture. You can also breed Whimlings to get hybrids. Each biome you encounter has its own secrets and rare breeds to capture. Use decorations to create your very own Whimling paradise and have your favorite creatures live there. These Whimlings will keep you company throughout the day while you get work done!
Tiny Pasture
Tiny Pasture is last on our list, and also another idler that has to do with animals. Cozy up with a variety of adorable animals like red pandas, deer, rabbits, alpacas, and more. Feed them, interact with them, and watch them grow on your screen. Put up a Mystery Curtain in the pasture and choose two adult animals of the same species to breed them and get more cute babies. Also buy magical items to help you care for and clean up after the animals to keep them happy and in tip top shape! You want them to keep you company while you work, after all.
- Apr 11, 2025
Have you ever dreamed of fighting evil by moonlight, having magic powers and cute outfits, or just healing the world around you? Pretty Sweet Healing Guardian lets you take on that special magical girl role! Customize your very own character with fun hairstyles that are reminiscent of your favorites. Then, take on the job of local Magical Girl in a cozy little town full of people in need and beautiful pastel scenery. You’re in charge of helping the locals find balance in their lives by aiding them in overcoming problems.
The people’s emotions need balancing, and you’ll do that by ensuring you have the appropriate amount of candy magic! Pretty Sweet Healing Guardian is a light management sim, so you’ll need to be sure you have the inventory necessary to care for the townspeople. Visit the candy store to stock up on different candies, and start each level with what you need to succeed! As you help people, you’ll earn hearts that can be used to upgrade your powers and new locations to visit.
Can you help everyone in this nostalgic magical sim?
Release Date
Pretty Sweet Magical Guardian is coming soon to Steam. Add it to your Wishlist to be notified of its release!
- Apr 3, 2025
Remember those awesome Polly Pocket clamshell toys? You know, the ones shaped like a quilted heart or a flower or there was even a shell shaped one. They were tiny little scenes, like a living room on top and a park on the bottom, with tiny little people to play with. I loved those toys and had several growing up, which makes Tiny Garden such a perfect mix of cozy and nostalgic! Except, this game has a fun farming and puzzling element to it instead of being purely for your imagination.
This stress-free game is all about chilling out with some gardening and decorating. Grow a variety of vegetables, flowers, and more. Each plant has its own unique mechanics for you to learn, too. Once you harvest your plants, trade them for decorations to create your very own unique space inside the clamshell toy. Tiny Garden has no time-limits and no fail states. Simply garden and decorate ‘til your heart’s content!
Coming to Steam
I’ve been waiting for Tiny Garden for a while. The demo was really enjoyable, and just left me wanting the full game. Thankfully, it finally releases on Steam April 8th! That’s just next week, so be sure to check out the game, Wishlist it, and grab it when it’s ready!
- Apr 2, 2025
In Piece by Piece, you inherit Grandpa’s beloved repair shop and take on the role of fixing the precious antiques of your neighbors. Piece together beautiful bells, cheerful toys, and so much more in this casual puzzle game. Each forest friend you encounter will have something new for you to repair. But that’s not all there’s to do in this adorable little RPG!
You can also grow berries in your garden to create your own paints. Create new items to sell for a profit. Even use your paints to make them unique. Plus, you can decorate your cute little shop in Piece by Piece. Place fun rugs, counter runners, and cozy pieces of furniture. Most important of all, though, is keeping your floors clean, the fireplace lit, and the cookie jar full to keep customers happy and returning!
Release Date
Piece by Piece does not have a release date listed. You can find it on Steam, where you can Wishlist it to be notified of its release. There’s also a demo, which I highly recommend. It’s adorable and just enough of a taste to get you hooked!
- Mar 27, 2025
Guide Lila the Mouse Through a Heartwarming Adventure
After a terrible thunderstorm passes through the French village of Saint-de-clare, and bestows one unlikely creature with a new power and a new friend! The Spirit and the Mouse follows Lila, the mouse, as she works with her new ally, Lumion the spirit, to restore peace and balance to their village. Lila will also need to befriend the Kibblins, to help in her quests.
Kibblins are playful electricity spirits who are running wild through Saint-de-clare, and will be the key to solving the village’s electricity problem. By helping the Kibblins and the villagers, Lila will be able to return Lumion to where he came from too
The Spirit and the Mouse is a rich, narrative-focused adventure game where you play as adorable Lila. Explore every dark corner and each little hidden spot you come across to complete objectives and collect items you’ll need to aid you in your journey. Meet the villagers, listen to their problems, then go find the Kibblins to solve the problems.
You’ll complete cute mini-games to appease the Kibblins, as well as help you complete your quests for the villagers. Use Lila’s new-found electric powers to help solve puzzles and travel around Saint-de-clare. You’ll also want to collect energy and happiness to unlock new abilities through your journeys.
Available Now!
You can find the adorable The Spirit and the Mouse on Steam, Nintendo Switch, GOG, and Epic Games right now.
For more fun games where you play as an animal, check out Stray, Kitaria Fables, and Aka.
- Mar 20, 2025
If you’ve ever fantasized about running your own bookstore, daydreamed about how cozy and comfortable it is to languish between shelves full of books. Then, check out Book Bound! You run a charming little shop in a bustling city. You start with an empty canvas and through hard work, can build your dream store. Decorate with your favorite aesthetic and stock the books you think your customers will love. See where you can take your tiny endeavor!
In Book Bound, you can choose from a variety of decorations like standard wooden bookshelves, to lush plants and comfy armchairs. You can even decorate the shop based on different book genres like Sci-Fi, Romance, Fantasy, Thriller, and Non-fiction. And you’re free to place your decor wherever you wish. There are no set spaces to place your shelves or art! Then, pick the books you want to sell to customers. Sell at least one of each genre to unlock fun bonuses. You can even design your own books and advertise your business around the city!
Release Date
You can find Book Bound on Steam now. There’s even a free demo available so you can try before you buy!
Tiny Bookshop is another great book store game to check out!
- Mar 19, 2025
Step into the role of train conductor in cozy train-based life sim Locomoto! In this adorable game, you explore the countryside in your modest little train. You’ll get to discover some beautiful landscapes while you serve customers and deliver goods. Help each passenger reach their destination in comfort. Clean up any messes they make, too. And of course, tend to your train so it can continue running!
You also get to decorate your Locomoto train. Paint the outside of each car to suit your tastes. Wallpaper the insides and furnish the passenger car with comfortable seating to give your passengers a cozy experience! You can even expand your train by adding more passenger cars so you can serve even more customers. They’ll even reward you with friendship and their unique stories, so make sure you get to know everyone!
There is currently a free demo available on Steam for this cute game, and I recommend grabbing it! It was such an enjoyable little snippet. Getting to explore a new world, getting to know the NPCs, and just having a different type of gameplay was refreshing!
Release Date
You can find Locomoto listed on Steam. It’s expected to release sometime this year, but has no specific release date listed. And don’t forget! You can add the game to your Wishlist to keep an eye on it and be notified when it’s available.
- Mar 13, 2025
Go-Go Town is an excellent city builder game where you play as the newly minted mayor of a run-down town. This town was once a bustling hub of tourist activity, but now it’s a ghost town. Your job is to restore it by building food stalls, shops, attractions, and even homes. Revive the local resource industry to gather the materials needed to build the town into an exciting place to visit. Even explore some hidden areas to discover fun secrets and new vehicles you can travel with!
Spring Cleaning Update
The devs behind Go-Go Town have been incredible at listening to community feedback, and have given players some really great new content. There have been some really cute decorative items added for Lunar New Year. You can also decorate a player house to make the perfect cozy environment to relax in. Plus the Dinkum collab, a bigger map to explore and build on, zone customization, fast travel, more decor items, and so much more.
Now we have the Spring Cleaning update! This is the fourth major update for the game and adds even more great content. You’ll be able to rotate the camera 360° so you can see your gorgeous little town from every angle. To go along with the camera rotation, houses and apartments can now be rotated and placed in any direction! Get even more creative with your designs now.
Go-Go Town Couriers will deliver up to 5 different items to market stalls to keep them stocked and operating. Of course, you can still add items yourself, but this will help you better run the stalls. The trader UI has been improved, and lets you buy as many items as you want from available stock, purchase from the back catalog, and you can view items you have yet to collect. Automated feeders will be available for purchase, too, making your farm animals happy!
But Wait, There’s More!
Store your tools and personal vehicle in a fancy new dimensional pocket. Explore your town’s information like what fitouts you have, where your workers are, and more all through the new Town Info App. There’s so much more fun music to love, too, and you can now make playlists to suit your tastes. You’ll find a new food truck to set up in your town. Caves and sewers aren’t as dark as they once were. Plus, you can access your phone while in a vehicle, too! Don’t forget to check out all the fun new decor, either.
Available Now
Of course, there’s much more to Go-Go Town‘s Spring Cleaning update than just all of this. You can find the full update log on Steam now!
