The Best Cozy Games for Winter: Rune Factory, Dragon Quest Builders 2

Winter. Cold air outside is exasperating the need for nesting with pajamas with a fuzzy blanket. A comfy nook. Maybe a cup of hot coffee, and a really good video game that is so good it immobilizes you for hours. If that sounds like you during winter time, we have a couple of cozy games to recommend to you. They are mostly casual and lighthearted, suitable for gamers of all ages. Check out our favorite cozy games below and make sure to check out Ircha Gaming who inspired us to think cozy this season.

Rune Factory 5

Rune Factory 5 is my favorite cozy game of the season because it combines elements from many of my favorite games into come comfy package. It’s kind of a mashup of Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, Zelda’s Breath of the Wild, Pokémon, and Ni no Kuni.

When the game kicks off, you find yourself in this quaint little town called Rigbarth, and you have amnesia. Clean slate. The town then takes care of you, and you’ve decided to help out around the town. Like running errands for others, fighting monsters and keeping the town safe, and completing tasks to earn gifts. You farm to live; and you farm to make a living. Get to know each town folks and develop friendships. You may even fall in love and get married! There are a few events that may cost you, but decisions you make in Rune Factory 5 are generally non-consequential.

Rune Factory 5 is binge-worthy because there are so much to unlock. You are enticed to keep leveling up just to unlock new recipes or open up new area on the map. There are crafting, cooking, forging, and smithing recipes to collect. As all of these activities require raw materials, naturally you want to hoard as much as your bag can carry. You never know when something might come in handy later, i.e. fur and cheap cloth.

How about some in-game fishing? Majority of the water locations in Rune Factory 5, like Pond of Hope in Rigbarth, are available for fishing. Fishing is a great way to earn money quickly early in the game. If you have enough cooking skill, consider turning the fish into a dish and sell with a markup. While you can catch most fish from solo fishing, few rare fish can only be caught via tag team fishing. 

Majority of the monsters and wild animals in Rune Factory 5 are tameable. If you have played Ni no Kuni before, it is very much like taming familiars into being your allies. Some creatures are excellent fighters. Early in the game, I have won many battles with a Chipsqueek and a Flower Lion. Separately, different creatures may produce different “droppings” for you. A Chuckadoodle gives you eggs; a Buffamoo gives you milk. 

While Rune Factory 5 is like an open world game, interactions are often restricted as the main plot is limited and controlled. It is refreshing because it reduces in-game decision fatigue. It feels tremendously satisfying when you’ve learned a new recipe or you’ve grown a level 5 pumpkin. That is why Rune Factory 5 is elected as one of our recommended cozy games.

If you’d like to get a copy of Rune Factory 5 and simultaneously support our site, please use this link.

Rune Factory 4

Rune Factory 4 was released in 2013 and was exclusively for Nintendo 3DS game. After 3DS was officially discontinued in 2020, Neverland, creator of Rune Factory 4, released the game for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation and Xbox in 2021. The opportunity to be remastered and redistributed 7 years after its initial release showed Rune Factory 4 was a successful title with undeniable entertainment value and demand.

It was winter 2014. I recalled having just finished Fantasy Life on the 3DS and was combating the emptiness from finishing the game. This was before Stardew Valley. Role-playing life-simulation was still at its infancy. Despite there wasn’t many option, I went on a mission to find the next role-playing game with comparable awesomeness as Fantasy Life. I needed to fill the void.

Then Rune Factory 4 came to me. It quickly became my cozy game that winter. The town was Selphia, and I spent endless hours farming there. I could grow a variety of fruits and vegetables, I could craft things, and I could fight monsters and collect loots. But it was like Rune Factory 4 was trying to push me out of my comfort zone — it forced me to socialize and form romantic relationships with NPCs in the game. It triggered my social anxiety on a medium level. It didn’t last long, after I had a chance to personally get to know each of the NPCs, they became friends, and just like that, the social anxiety was gone.

The biggest difference between Rune Factory 4 and Rune Factory 5 was the graphics. RF4 was cutesy; RF5 was beautiful. Graphics in RF4 was more pixelated and less proportional. I hadn’t try playing Rune Factory 4 on a Switch or other non-3DS consoles. Essentially, RF4 was a top-down world based on a fixed collection of scenes, and was shown in a 2D static perspective. It was kind of like Stardew Valley where you’d enter a scene from, for example, top left corner of the screen and then you would exit by traveling to the bottom right corner of the screen — all while the scene or map remained stationary.

RF5, on the other hand, was a 3D open world, kind of like Hyrule in Zelda: Breath of the Wild. With fluid 3D perspective, monster-fighting became more intense in RF5. Monsters could be out of sight and right behind you. Non-fighters would probably enjoy RF4 more because you would be fighting from an overview perspective, which you could easily spot danger in your surroundings.

Dating in Rune Factory 4 was one of the addictive elements that could keep you hooked for hours. Many aspects of the game was repetitive for you to level up; dating was hardly repetitive, which made it intriguing for players to keep playing to find out if you would have a happily ever after with your beloved NPC. (That sounds weird…)

Even though RF5 was the latest and greatest release in the Rune Factory series, the best version yet would still be RF4, for it had the “right” amount of challenges and content density to keep the game entertaining without feeling daunting. While RF5 deserved praises for the technical leap, it felt light and experimental with a mildly anticlimactic story plot.

If you’d like to get a copy of Rune Factory 4 for Switch and simultaneously support our site, please use this link.

Dragon Quest Builders 2

Dragon Quest Builders 2 was released during Christmas 2018, but I did not discover the game until mid 2019. It was a random weekend afternoon, and I was browsing the Nintendo eStore for new titles and searching for good demo games. DQB2 offered a “jumbo demo”, so I downloaded the demo from Nintendo and started playing.

Believe it or not, the free “jumbo demo” kept me entertained for months! Square Enix, the creator of DQB2, was serious when they called it a “jumbo demo” — the demo was literally the entire first act taken from the full version. The demo would “end” after you beat the first big boss. Then you would be given a chance to pick up from where you left off if you wished to keep playing beyond the demo. Pay the full price then the rest of the game would be unlocked. You wouldn’t have to level up from the beginning again, and you got to keep all the goods you had collected from playing the demo.

The jumbo demo got me hooked. My son got interested as well so I told him to play the demo. He loved sandbox game so he really enjoyed playing DQB2. I ended up buying a digital copy of the full game AND a physical copy so him and I could play at the same time.

DQB2 was a fun and intriguing cozy game because it had a huge library of “things” to unlock, and everything in the game was very cute and pleasant to look at. There were activities like farming, cooking, fighting, foraging, and socializing with NPCs. As resources and “things” continued to unlock, your list of available resources, like wood and stones, would expand, which would allow you to create beautiful scenery and buildings. I particularly enjoy the multi-players mode, because I got to visit my son’s island and vice versa. I would help him collect resources and fight monsters. 

 

 

Nintendo 3DS

Fantasy Life

Fantasy Life is a role-playing and life simulation game that allows you to experience different aspects of life in a fantasy world called Lilyland. The game features 12 “Life” classes, or career paths, that you can choose from, such as a blacksmith, alchemist, angler, and more. You can be a fierce warrior taking on all sorts of monsters. Or you can be a master chef, whipping up delicious meals for the townsfolk. Each class has its own set of skills, weapons, and equipment. As your skills level up, you will learn to craft valuable items, stronger equipment, and powerful weapons. 

The game features an open-world environment, and its main storyline follows your journey to become a “Master of All Life Classes”. Along the way, you will explore different towns, forests, caves, and treacherous mountains while completing various challenging tasks and quests. You will encounter a variety of interesting NPCs, such as the quirky and colorful townsfolk, the mysterious and powerful sages. There are also dangerous enemies and bosses to battle, and a day-night cycle that influences the behavior of the NPCs and enemies. During day time, NPCs are more likely to be found in towns and other populated areas, and enemies are less aggressive. But at night, NPCs are less likely to be found in the open and some of them might go to sleep, while some enemies are more active and aggressive, making them harder to fight. This feature adds realism and a sense of immersion in the game, as it makes the game’s world feel more alive and dynamic. It also provides an additional layer of challenge to the game as you must be aware of the time of day and adjust your gameplay accordingly, i.e. by avoiding certain areas or enemies at night. 

Fantasy Life is like having twelve games packed into one. You can be months into playing the game and still be discovering new contents. Great entertainment value.

 

For serious gamers looking for dramatic experiences…