Apr 17, 2024Indie Highlight
Neko Odyssey by developer SECRET CHARACTER is for the cat lovers out there. Set out on a casual adventure in this beautifully atmospheric pixel art game where you take pictures of cats. Upload each of your photos to your social media in order to earn likes from your followers. As your popularity increases, your followers will even share tips on where to find more cats!
It’s not as easy as pointing and shooting, though. Each cat in Neko Odyssey is different and may require you to establish a friendship first. That’s not all you get to do in this charming game, though. As you explore the town and find different cats, you’ll unravel a storyline full of mysteries about the town. The pictures you capture will help you unwind those mysteries as they contain necessary information about what’s going on!
Neko Odyssey is set to release on Steam sometime this year!
Cat Cafe Manager is another cat-centric cozy game to try!
Apr 17, 2024Indie Highlight
Play as a rancher by day and a vampire by night in this upcoming new farming sim called Vampire Rancher by solo developer borispixel. In this charming new game, you must balance your life as a rancher and vampire. You require blood, which you can take from the town’s visitors, but you need to make them happy by restoring the town or they won’t come visit! That blood essence you get can be used to upgrade different skills like turning into a bat, resisting garlic, and being immune to sunlight.
Run your ranch and care for chickens, pigs, and cows in Vampire Rancher. Pet them, feed them, and generally tend to their well-being, and they’ll take care of you, too. You can also farm a variety of different crops, which you can use in recipes to attract visitors. But more importantly are your responsibilities to the town! It’s up to you to restore the town so you can have more tasty meals of blood, er, visitors! Plus, you can get to know a unique cast of neighbors who will task you with different quests. Or go explore the vampiric ruins to find rare resources.
This game promises a uniquely cozy experience with a vampiric twist!
Vampire Rancher is currently listed on Steam, where you can add it to your Wishlist. There is no release date available, but remember the developer is solo!
For more vampire fun, check out Brocula, Voltaire: the Vegan Vampire, and Moonlight Peaks!
Mar 21, 2024Indie Highlight
Play as the fierce former Fae Queen in the cozy Final Profit: A Shop RPG by developer Brent Arnold. Your daughter felt your plans to save the realm from financial ruin were too radical so she exiled you. You merely wanted to beat the financial predators at their own game! Even the Fae Council thinks you don’t have a chance at taking down the Bureau of Business, but you’re determined to prove them wrong. Starting with nothing and certainly with no help from your kingdom, you set out to become Lord of Business by creating a successful business!
Final Profit offers a combatless experience where progression is tied to running your shop. Gather products and find customers to buy your wares in order to earn a profit. You can buy different buildings to add to your passive income, as well as invest in stocks. Spend your money on upgrades and paying off your debts. Automating your shop is even possible. Then, set out to explore an exciting world full of quests, minigames, and magic. Learn spells to help you in your adventures. Make decisions as you interact with people that will add to your Generosity or Ruthlessness stats, and affect how the story unfolds for you.
Will you save your people or will you reject your morals and become a ruthless agent of capitalism?
Final Profit: A Shop RPG is available now on Steam!
Wonder Wandelier is another fantastic shop management game!
Feb 21, 2024Indie Highlight
In Grimshire (from developers Acute Owl Studio, who also made Bone’s Cafe, your town has been enveloped in chaos. You barely made it out of there safely, but you did and have found the quaint village of Grimshire. It’s an isolated little mountain town full of friendly residents who are happy to welcome you to your new home. You are given an old farm and you get to spend your days tending to your farm, restoring the house, and more. Your idyllic peace is in danger, though. The plague is coming, and you need to work together with the community to survive it.
The muted color palette of Grimshire really gives the feel of doom and gloom to this cozy game with a twist. Even the villagers are different, giving this game a great sense of uniqueness. The villagers, including your character, are anthropomorphized creatures. And the critters you can tame from the wild are fantastical looking creatures that will provide you with milk, eggs, and meat. Work hard to keep your root cellar stocked. Salt, pickle, can, dry, and smoke different foods to preserve them. Explore the valley and go fishing in the lakes, mine ore, and decorate your homestead. Befriend the villagers, 10 of whom you can romance. Help them gather resources and build up the town, or donate items for research to increase the odds of survival against the plague.
Not everyone will survive the plague. Will you?
This adorable game isn’t set to release until all the way into 2025. You can currently add it to your Wishlist on Steam, though!
REKA is another upcoming dark, but cozy game.
Feb 7, 2024Reviews
It’s February already, and that means it’s Steam Next Fest time! I’ve written about past Next Fest demos that I fell in love with here and here. This time, I’m bringing you an even bigger list of cozy games because this Next Fest is packed full of great ones. From interior design games, farming sims, and creature collectors, to gardening and diorama makers, there’s so much to see this time around. So, without further ado, here’s a whopping 10 different Steam Next Fest demos you need to try this month!
Make Room is a relaxing little diorama designer game. Use hundreds of different items to craft the perfect spaces in each environment. Set up a charming country kitchen, build a comfy reading nook, or design the coziest living room you can think of. You have total control over where items are placed, so you can make your interior design visions come true.
The icons in this game are SO small, but the item options and color choices are perfect for creating some great rooms. The sandbox mode is great for strictly creating on your terms. The objectives mode is easy and relaxed, even though you must build to certain specifications. And creating things on a smaller scale makes creating a lot less overwhelming.
Critter Crops is a gorgeously designed game where you play as Sylvie. She’s a newfound witch who’s been run out of her town because of her abilities. As Sylvie, you arrive on Mutter Island where you discover you can grow magical Critter Crops. These special plants can help you restore the island to its former glory. When you’re not farming, explore the lovely little island you now call home, gather resources, mine, and get to know the people you come across.
What a delightfully whimsical game! The art is very unique, and the crops are too. Raise creatures by growing crops that are very, very different from what you’re used to. The town and crops and creatures are all slightly spooky, which is perfect for the Halloween-loving player who dislikes actual scary things. The color palette and the music is super pleasing, too. Talk about a farm sim with a twist!
In Everholm, you play as Lilly, a young woman looking for her lost sister, Melanie. While out searching, you come across a mysterious portal that beckons you to the cute and cozy little island of Everholm. Weirdly, everyone there seems to recognize you, too, like you’re an old friend. So, embark on an adventure full of mysteries, magic, and relationships as this sim game is all about learning new skills and living together in harmony with others. Farm, forage, fish, raise livestock, and more.
Here’s another beautiful game. This time, it’s a lovely pixel art style game with a great story behind it. I like that your character actually holds a conversation with the NPCs, too. You’re not just subjected to a one-sided monologue. Plus, the NPCs exhibit some really great personalities through their speech. It’s clear this game was lovingly made.
Furnish Master is a relaxing interior design game where you furnish apartments, houses, commercial estates, and outdoor spaces. Use intuitive controls to place each piece of furniture and decor how you like it. Painstakingly choose color schemes and materials for your furniture to match the theme of each room. Even resize items so they fit perfectly in a space. As you complete spaces, earn money so you can buy new properties to continue decorating. You can also engage in story mode where you can buy properties across a single city. Even take on some challenges and puzzles in story mode to unlock new items.
Here’s another diorama-like interior design game, but this time has a far more complex system and more involved missions. Paint the walls to certain specifications, furnish a whole kitchen with specific items, and use your hard-earned money to decorate your own place or buy other properties. There was even a puzzle level in the story mode where you search a room for puzzle pieces and put it together. If the levels have that much variation, I think it’ll be a really fun game. Not to mention the furniture options are varied, there’s a pretty great placement mechanic that includes snapping, and the graphics are nice. This is great for folks who want a little more direction and a more involved interior design game.
Botany Manor takes place at a stately home in 19th century England, and you play as Arabella Greene, a retired botanist who lives at the manor. Spend your days exploring the different rooms of your historically accurate manor. Get to know Arabella and her career as a woman in science through your explorations. Discover beautiful gardens and sprawling countryside vistas as you take in the relaxing nature around you. Take care of a variety of plants by finding their seeds and planting them in the appropriate environments. Inspect newspapers, letters, paintings, and more to get a better understanding of the needs of your plants. Care for them and help them flourish by meeting their exact needs, and watch as your efforts are rewarded!
The visuals are just breathtaking in this game. They’re by no means highly realistic levels of art, but the designs of plants, the architecture, and the dynamic lighting work perfectly together to create such a charming environment. The manor grounds are to die for. I’d love to have my own home with a garden and orchard as beautiful as this one! Searching for clues on how best to grow the plants adds an element of fun beyond simple gardening. It gives you a reason to look around the manor, but also makes you feel like a researcher, which the character you play is! If you play nothing else on this list, play this game. It’s so worth it.
Welcome to Minami Lane! This lovely little life sim lets you build your very own street where you can decorate and manage shops. Build homes to attract villagers to your street. Keep them happy by beautifying the area with decorations, shops, and attractions. Build ramen shops, boba cafes, bookstores, and more. Each shop has its own inventory and effects on the neighborhood. Play missions for a challenge or sandbox mode to focus on the creative side of building.
This was such an enjoyable experience. There are goals and missions to complete, but they weren’t super high-stakes or difficult to complete. The overall graphics are gorgeous and soft and adorable. I love the Japanese-inspired architecture and street design. It’s nostalgic for me, and brings a sense of comfort. Overall, this game is perfect if you want a city-builder with more than just creative building.
Lightyear Frontier is the cozy farm sim set on an alien planet and uses mechs to farm! That’s right, you get to pilot your own fleet of mechs to get things done around the farm or go out exploring the gorgeous world around you. Build your new home and develop a flourishing farm by growing alien crops. Explore your surroundings and restore them by cleaning up pollution and clearing invasive weeds. Discover the secrets of the world, and do it all while playing solo or together with friends.
What’s better than a farm sim? A farm sim with semi-realistic art where you pilot a mech suit to farm and explore, of course! This is seriously such a fun concept, and the different advanced tools you have access to make things even more fun. Vacuum up some water or seeds. Use your spikesaw to obliterate rocks and bushes. It’s a very modern sci-fi take on farm sims, and I love it!
In Night Stones, you find yourself trapped in a dream in a world full of magic and a rich story. Upon waking, you find yourself still in this world and must discover the secrets of the world and find a way home. Explore the beautiful world of Mythica where you’ll encounter Night Stones. These stones will turn night into day, and vice versa, allowing you to meet new characters. Complete quests to gain new abilities that will help you to further your mission. There’s no combat in this game, but there are enemies you’ll need to outsmart to accomplish your goals!
This was such a short demo, but I loved it. Movement is smooth. Controls are super easy. The art is cartoony, but lovely. Animations looked great, too. All of it comes together to present such a good demo that makes me excited for the full game!
Kamaeru is an adorable farm sim where you farm, raise frogs, and preserve nature. Transform the surrounding wetland into a hospitable home for your amphibian friends. Meanwhile, feed, breed, and care for a variety of frogs. In fact, there are over 500 frogs for you to collect! You’ll need to figure out how to attract new types of frogs, then breed them together to unlock rare colors and patterns. Take pictures of your cute pals, and decorate the refuge to make the coziest little from rescue!
I loved the watercolor-like art in this game, and a comfortable creature collector. Playing is calm and easy. The frogs are adorable, plus restoring the wetlands is a fulfilling objective. Decorations are adorable and fun to place. There is a tic-tac-toe mini game to breed frogs together that adds a fun element, and there are more minigames mentioned to be coming with the full version. This makes me excited for the full version because it ought to be packed with a lot of great things to do.
Summerhouse is a relaxing building game. That’s it! Build structures on a small scale to create cute neighborhoods. Set your neighborhoods near the sea, in the middle of the city, or nestled in the majestic mountains. There are no rules, no goals, and no objectives to this game. The focus is purely on creative building. So, kick-back and relax with some building!
This one reminds me a lot of Townscaper. You just simply unleash your creativity and build, but instead of creating whole cities and villages, you’re creating houses, apartment buildings, or shops. The art is beautiful and relaxing, and so is the music. This is a great game if you’re looking to get creative without the constraints of missions or timers.
Feb 1, 2024Reviews
I’ve had my eye on Little-Known Galaxy by developers Carbon & Kay for a bit now. In fact, I’ve written about it before because it’s so cute and looks like it will be a great farm sim with a different setting. Recently, the game received a demo on Steam, which I took some time to play, and it was such a fun experience.
Little-Known Galaxy puts you in the shoes of a brand new space captain-in-training who has been assigned to their first ship by the Space Alliance. It’s your job to work with your crew to solve the mysteries surrounding an ancient alien relic found on the Grey Planet. You also get to do things like build relationships with the crew, take on some new crew members as your progress, explore alien worlds, grow crops, decorate, and more!
I’ve been excitedly waiting on the Little-Known Galaxy demo, and played it as soon as I heard it was out. And it did not disappoint. It’s a very introductory look into the game, as most farm sim demos are, but it gives a good feel to many things. You meet the base crew members, who are so unique and so quirky. There’s humans, aliens, old people, young people, and some robots, too. They’re sure to be a ton of fun as you progress through the story. Also, their dialogue matches their personalities and they appear to have actual, real conversations with you.
The overall aesthetic of the Little-Known Galaxy is just adorable. You’re plopped onto a derelict ship that’s in need of serious upgrades, but the common areas are pleasant. The shops have personality, and the crew homes match their inhabitants. Nothing is too bright or over-the-top. Everything feels like it has its own place and meshes with its surroundings well. Using robots for the sales bin and the family bots adds to the sci-fi, futuristic too. Throw in container gardening on a space ship and I think the developers have nailed having a farm sim on a spaceship.
I found the introduction of the Little-Known Galaxy’s captain’s quarters to be funny in how similar it is to other farm sims. It’s a wreck. There’s debris and trash everywhere, much like your farms start out on Earth! The clean up is far more satisfying, because you receive a cleaner ray to zap away the boxes and debris. It’s an oddly satisfying and comforting start to a game that I really enjoy having. Another fun aspect is finding random sparkly spots throughout the ship where hidden parts or money can be found reminds me a lot of checking the trash cans in Pokemon games for items. It was a touch of nostalgia that added to the charm of the game.
I can’t wait to experience this game in full. I want to explore the universe!
You can find the game, along with the demo, on Steam. You can Wishlist it, but there is currently no release date listed.
Galactic Getaway is another life sim set in space!
Jan 31, 2024Indie Highlight
Have you ever wanted to play as a cute, sentient little garlic bulb who builds equally adorable construction projects? Garlic Builder by developer Cave Liquid lets you do just that! You play as Garlic, who has taken over the family construction business. This cute game is set in a tranquil mountain village where you collect various building resources to create pixel builds.
Take customer requests to build objects they desire, then experience a deeper story in Garlic Builder. A story full of corporate conspiracies as the nearby city encroaches on your village’s peace. Meanwhile, use the building resources you collect to accurately build what your customers ask for in a timely manner. You also get feedback to see how your building has impacted your customers!
This super casual building RPG feels like picross with a good story behind it.
Garlic Builder is available now on Steam!
Looking for a more realistic tycoon-type game? Check out United Penguin Kingdom!
Dec 28, 2023Feature
I truly don’t know where the year went. It’s been an interesting year, and it’s certainly been full of a ton of top-tier games. We’ve seen the release of Palia, a lovely cozy MMORPG that lets you gather friends and strangers alike to farm, mine, and more. The Moonlight Peaks demo dropped recently, too! Then there’s Spells & Secrets, a great roguelite wizarding adventure. dotAGE is the perfect survival city builder. And Roots of Pacha takes top spot for my favorite farming game this year. Some other notable games are Spirit City: Lofi Sessions and Smushi Come Home. But what’s in store for next year? Well, time will tell, but here are nine games to look forward to in 2024!
First on the list is Little Kitty, Big City! You play as a kitty who’s lost in a big city. You can hurry on your way and find home, or you can take time to explore this brand new place. Cause a little chaos as you explore, too.Dive into trash cans, knock potted plants off their ledges, and walk through some fresh paint to leave behind your paw prints. Meet stray animals on the streets and become friends with them. Find different adorable hats to wear. Plus, so much more!
Next up is Bloomtown: A Different Story. You play as Emily and her younger brother Chester as they spend their summer holiday in their grandpa’s cozy and quiet town. Underneath this sleepy little town, however, a demon world is growing and children are going missing. Embark on a grand adventure to save the towns from this mysterious demon world. The demons are the fears and vices of the townspeople that have come to life. As Emily, figure out the mysteries and the disappearances and save the souls of everyone! Face off against giant demons and dungeon bosses in the Underside using a turn-based combat system. Fight alongside your friends, who each have their own sets of abilities, as well as summon your own inner demons. Even capture new creatures to use in other battles by weakening them during combat.
Coming to Steam and PlayStation!
Third on the list is Chill Town! This game promises to be a soothing blend of idle game and life sim. You run around collecting resources on a beautiful island. Catch bugs, visit the shops or town hall, fish, farm, and tame cute creatures. Unleash your creativity in build mode and create your perfect home using a variety of different decor items. Even add your personal touch to the outside of your home with benches, light posts, and more. Plus, take care of your very own furry friend!
Coming to Steam!
Horticular is a relaxing garden-builder with a little magical twist. You’ve been summoned by mysterious gnomes to restore an abandoned garden. Immerse yourself in a magical world with a day-night cycle, weather patterns, and adorable animals. Meanwhile, build your dream garden with hundreds of unlockable items. Create lush flower gardens and flourishing crop plots. Attract creatures by fulfilling their requirements and taking care of them. You’ll need to fight off decay and corruption by using the magic within your garden. You’ll also get to rename inhabitants to personalize your gardening experience. And if you want to prove your abilities, enter the in-world competition, plus much more!
Coming to Steam!
Next on the list is Critter Cove, an open-world life sim set in a post-apocalyptic world. You’ll restore an old town, and sail across a gorgeous archipelago. Collect relics and treasures as you explore. Fish for a variety of sea life. Craft everything you might need from tools to decor. You’ll even get to find new residents to invite to your town. And so much more! There’s tons to do in this game, and it’s all up to you to restore it to its former glory.
Coming to Steam!
Next up is Chef RPG! The beautiful little seaside town of White Ash harbor is your new home, and once was a thriving tourist destination. Now, it’s up to you to help revive the town using your experience as a traveling chef. In Chef RPG, you’ll run your very own restaurant to serve up delicious dishes in order to attract tourists back to town. Hunt, harvest, and shop for the ingredients you’ll use in your cooking. Build a thriving restaurant and become a successful chef!
Coming to Steam!
Sixth on the list is Tavern Talk, where you find yourself to be the owner of Wayfarer’s Inn. It appears to be a normal inn in the middle of the world, but looks can be deceiving. And you can infuse beverages with magic that can influence someone’s fate. You’re known for helping the people of the realm via these magical drinks. Listen to the stories of the unique cast of beautifully designed adventurers that come in. From boasting about their glory or commiserating about failures, you’ll experience a variety of different personalities and tales. Help them find a place that feels like home by building relationships and creating an inviting environment inside the inn. Craft different interesting drinks, while you’re at it, but be careful what you serve. Your drink choices will alter their fate and the path their quests will take. Your choices shape the story of Tavern Talk!
Coming to Steam!
Welcome to SunnySide. You’ve just purchased your first plot of land located in an aging town in Japan’s countryside. Your goal is to create a homestead you can be proud of. You’ll learn to collect your own water, generate power, grow crops, craft food, care for your animals, and much more in order to help your local economy. You’ll get to ferment soy sauce, grow and grind your own flour, and even make cheese. Then, you can take it all a step further and cook recipes using your homemade ingredients. SunnySide also features a colorful cast of characters for you to interact with. Life in the small town is peaceful, but not without its problems. What sets this game apart from the other farm sim games is that it seeks to combine modernism with the old.
Coming to Steam!
In the last game on the list you play as Anna. Anna has faced a terrible tragedy and lost her spouse. Now, she has taken over her great-uncle’s forge and become the new blacksmith. You’ll build your house from scratch (and decorate it too!), customize your character’s appearance, and befriend animals, nature, and your neighbors (some are even romanceable!). You’ll even be able to complete quests for the villagers or trade with them. With the loss of your spouse, you’ve gained the ability of clairvoyance, which you’ll slowly develop and perfect as you play. Enter the magical world of energy where you’ll meet new inhabitants, explore lost places, and discover the secrets of the universe. In this 3D open-world, with 19 places to visit on the map (so far), there’s just SO much to do and see. Plus, there’s farming, animal companions, cooking, and alchemy for you to enjoy!
Coming to Steam, with plans for Switch, Xbox, and PlayStation!