How cozy gaming is taking mindfulness mainstream

You are a small, pixelated human living in a hamlet known as Pelican Town. On your late grandfather's farm, life is all about toiling the land, improving the tiny village, and forming meaningful relationships with fellow townspeople.

That bucolic simplicity is at the heart of Stardew Valley, a 2016 farming simulation that turned turnip harvesting into an uplifting community activity. Nearly ten years later, the game has sold more than 41 million copies, becoming the main example of a growing genre known as "cozy games." 

Cozy games are the future of gaming

Mary Kish, Head of Community at streaming giant Twitch, was one of the first people to review Stardew Valley after it launched on PCs in 2016.

"Stardew Valley's meditative activities often lead to personal reflection in the real world," Kish wrote in her GameSpot review of the farming sim. "It’s a game that tugs at your curiosity as often as it does your heart. Stuffed with rewarding opportunities, Stardew Valley motivates naturally, with blissful optimism."

Stardew Valley had a huge impact on a generation growing tired of Shoot 'Em Up (or "Shmup") games. "I think it might be the most prolific example of what a cozy game is, at least for this generation of gamer," Kish says now. "When I got to play Stardew Valley, it almost felt like time froze. I could feel myself completely letting go of my day-to-day concerns." she said.

Not only did Kish sleep better, she had Stardew dream — the best dreams I've ever had," she says, and would wake up "with a sense of agency."

Cozy gaming has grown since then, in an appropriately low-key way. Twitch's "chill" stream tag was the most watched tag of 2024, and has been added to 3.43 million broadcasts in 2025 so far. Games like Stardew Valley and mega-popular Animal Crossing continue to rack up millions in both sales and Twitch views.  'Engaging in genuine play is good for you'

What makes a cozy game? They tend to be low on stimulation, built around aesthetics many of us would call "cute" or "soft." Many revolve around life simulations — running a coffee shop, or power washing a particularly dirty town. Most importantly, cozy games aren't really about winning. They encourage players to enjoy the ride. 

Soaring in popularity during the pandemic, cozy gaming became an oasis for many during a period of increased anxiety and depression. Gamers often describe cozy games as helping them enter relaxed, meditative states and reduce stress. And  science can explain why.

The psychology behind mindfulness and cozy gaming

Here's what research on wellbeing, social and emotional learning, and play tells us: "Engaging in genuine play is good for you and is restorative," says Kurt Squire, a professor of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine and a veteran video game researcher. "Being surrounded by cuteness and/or positive things is also good." 

Research also suggests gaming can help in achieving meditative flow states, which is why more creators are designing video games explicitly for mindfulness and meditation. Games studied include the nature-driven Flow or the Stardew Valley precursor Harvest Moon. And then there are breath counting games, for which Squire received a grant to build and study with the help of neuropsychologist Richard Davidson, founder of the Center for Healthy Minds. 

In 2019, the Center for Healthy Minds published a study that showed specially designed video games could help young players train their attention and minimize distraction. This was essential to building positive emotional responses, as well as improve focused meditation and open mindfulness practices.

One of the study's authors, Tammi Kral, says mechanics matter just as much as cozy vibes. A game "can have really beautiful art and music, but if the mechanics are frustrating it won't be calming," she says. "Some games might not seem calming, but if someone is able to easily play the game and they enjoy it, they might find relaxation."

Games can foster a feeling of relaxation and contentment, with low learning curves that help keep frustration at bay. This, says Kral, is essential. In clinical studies, such games can be seen reducing a player's levels of the stress hormone cortisol — just as mindfulness practice does.

Casual video gamers show greater engagement and can better restore their moods in response to stressful stimuli, as well as lower heart rates and blood pressure at levels comparable to meditation. A study by researchers at the University of Central Florida, Orlando found that one particular low-stress puzzle game, Sushi Cat 2, had a measurable effect on players' emotional states. 

The cute kittens definitely helped.

Cozy games show an evolution in digital habits 

Cozy games, and the Twitch streamers who play them for thousands of viewers every day, don't explicitly advertise themselves as cortisol-reducing, or flow state-inducing. Still, so-called comfort creators are riding a wave of wellness and mindfulness-centered trends on platforms like TikTok.

Creators like JubileeWhispers, stream whimsical cozy games, like the popular diorama building game Tiny Glade, and classic games like Super Mario Odyssey all while adding elements of ASMR by whispering to their audiences.  

Kennedy, also known as Cozy.Games on TikTok, has become something of a spokesperson for the community. She first got into what she'd later call "cozy gaming" to destress from law school. The budding cozy games community, then mainly on Instagram, felt like a welcoming oasis compared to other gaming spaces.  "We will always stumble into uncomfortableness in our lives, especially in games. It's how you approach your problems that defines you."

When Kennedy started playing Harvest Moon, something clicked. "I grew up playing platformers, like Mario, and shooters. There weren't really moments to slow down and be and exist. Harvest Moon was the first moment for me where that happened. I was like, 'This is where I want to be forever and ever and ever.'" 

Dedicating much of her life to cozy games has changed Kennedy's own perception of her time and mental health. "I think it's really valuable to be able to read your own emotions," she says. "I realized over time that you couldn't just force yourself to do an activity because you wanted to do it. Sometimes your brain's not ready to do that activity.

"Instead of beating myself up about that, I've come to realize you just have to work with where your brain is in the moment, and sometimes you just need a little 'brain off' time."

Now, cozy games are marketed by big game developers, like Nintendo and Xbox, and have their own category at the annual game awards. Still, Kennedy says that the community have remained overwhelmingly conflict-free, with the main arguments stemming from whether or not a game is "cozy enough." 

That's a rare feat within an industry that is often exclusionary. Online hate and harassment is still a major problem among women and people of color in gaming spaces. Strong moderation is essential to a beneficial gaming experience. In removing the pressure of IRL socialization, Kral says, these spaces can help members of marginalized communities, such as trans players and gamers of color. 

People who ritually played "less serious" video games, and felt uncomfortable claiming to be more than a hobbyist, may find community and identity in being a "cozy gamer," Kral adds. 

Much has been written about the COVID-19 lockdown creating a new cohort of gamers. But it also encouraged lifelong gamers to slow down and take a breath. "Now they're seeing this community of people who are very proud to say, 'Yeah, I am a gamer, and here's how I game a little bit differently. And I'm proud that it's different,'" said Kennedy.

Cozy games foster mindfulness, even if you're not playing them 

On a growing number of Twitch streams, Twitch's Kish says, users are seeking stress-free, relaxed, and immersive environments. "It's not just about de-stressing, it's actually about finding commonality among other people, other gamers, that understand and empathize," she notes. "You're not just watching a game on Twitch. You're actually hanging out with the streamer, and you're hanging out with everybody in chat too."

While more study is needed into the benefits of watching another person play, Squire and Kral both say watching cozy streams could have a similar effect to playing cozy games. 

"There's a ton of research in general, and some research specific to gaming, showing that people can have vicarious experiences," explained Kral. "Just by watching someone else do something, you can gain and you can share in that experience." Mirror neurons, essential to empathy building, fire when looking at video games as much as they do when staring at a fellow human.

Watching others navigate less cozy, more complicated games could have positive benefits, too. "There is a sort of camaraderie and feeling of connection," said Squire. "Part of it is also learning to reframe your mistakes as growing opportunities. Watching other people do it can be revelatory." Comfort creators, in other words, may be modeling social emotional processing for viewers.

And that could have wider implications for the streaming community at large. Kish says game developers, seeking to meet the evolving demands of cozy players, may choose to invest more in building games that have replayability. If you've wrung out all the benefits you can out of playing a cozy game, maybe there's a little more juice left in watching others do so.

"It's like a slightly cheaper, easier way to potentially get some of those benefits or experiences that the actual player is having," says Kral.

"That separation allows you to enjoy their experience passively," adds Kish. "The reality is that we will always stumble into uncomfortableness in our lives, and especially in games. It's how you are able to approach your problems or the obstacles that you face that defines you."

Young people are spending more and more time online, seeking socialization and companionship in an often unhealthy digital environment. And that's where games centered around social-emotional learning can help. 

"Having an activity where you are spending time with yourself and you are able to regulate your emotions after a long day is so important," says Kennedy. "Have that routine, even if it's just like 5 to 10 minutes a day, where you're having intentional time with yourself."

Cozy gaming, she adds, "can truly be so beneficial to your mental health."