If you didn’t have the chance to check out Steam’s Next Fest running from February 24, 2025 to March 3, 2025, we have some games to add to your wishlist. There were so many cozy and cozy-adjacent games with demos to try.
It’s worth checking some of these games out if they still provide the option to download a demo. Some developers will leave demos up so people can continue to try their game, while others will remove them since they are showing a concept which may change as they review feedback from the community.
This collection of games has been so interesting to experience. There have been unique concepts, and new twists on traditional gardening activities. If nothing else, it’s been an absolute joy to sit back and experience the passion and love that has gone into these games. These are not in any order except for the order in which the demos were played.
Wanderstop
Wanderstop is a unique game that explores what happens when we push ourselves past our limits, and worse, when we associate the ability to do so with our identity. In a society that has demanded and praised people who “pull themselves up by their bootstraps”, we all may have a tendency to think being able to push through is some sort of gold star assessment of our character.
Wanderstop follows the story of Alta who introduces her past a little bit through striking visual-panel sequences. Her past was full of the need to be unbeatable. It defines her.
Now, she struggles when her body no longer cooperates with her indomitable will. She’s always been able to power through everything before, and she’s not sure why things are suddenly different.
The game is charming, and walks you through the steps of tea making as Alta comes to terms with what it means to rest. There are interesting garden mechanics, and the music is lovely.
The controls work fairly well, though there is a lot of mouse-clicking that could probably be better served with something like an “F” to interact. It’s possible there may be keybinding available, or controller support in the future but it’s not too difficult to get used to the playstyle.
One thing to note, however, is that the field of view and movement may effect some people. Changing the anti-aliasing style and the resolution seemed to help a teensy bit.
| If you normally suffer from headaches with certain third-person games, or certain movement styles, you may want to play in small doses to test out your reaction. |
Overall a beautiful game, an interesting way to tell Alta’s story, and possibly the most wholesome NPC ever (Boro).
Book Bound
If you’ve ever wanted to manage your own book store, Book Bound might need to be on your wishlist. The entire game, at least the demo portion, consists of ordering books, arranging your bookshelves, decorating your store, and opening for business.
The pacing is great, and there are interesting activities such as leaving your store to talk people into shopping, or group marketing which starts a minigame.
Just don’t accidentally open your store instead of the book catalog. Once you open, you can’t close your shop, but you CAN order books at least.
There wasn’t much of a tutorial about the opening or selling process in the game, but you’ll catch on. During a sale, you’ll get a window with tons of details, but you really only need to look at how much change you owe the customer, and click the coordinating coin amounts to give the proper change.
You’ll unlock special themed furniture, along with new book titles as you play. With a great balance of hands-on work and management, this is a very cozy game that could be played for one in-game day, or as many real-world hours as you want.
Tiny Book Shop
Book lovers are getting another cozy treat with Tiny Book Shop. You get to customize your trailer, and sell at various locations around the map once you’ve unlocked them.
The shop is quite calm. Most customers will come in, browse, buy (or not), and leave. Occasionally, you’ll be asked to recommend a book based on some information from the customer.
You’ll also get the opportunity to meet and chat with some of the townspeople as you settle into this new life. The pacing of the game really captures the feel of a more relaxed seaside shop and freedom of selling when and where you choose.
The look and feel of this game create an interesting yet exceptionally relaxed experience. If you want a taste of what it might be like to have a relaxed hobby business, this should go on your wishlist.
Grimoire Groves
Grimoire Groves is a whimsical take on gardening. You play as Primrose, a young girl, learning how to become a helpful witch and repair a damaged garden and forest. Controller is the recommended way to play.
This isn’t like your average gardening game though, you use your magical powers to feed plants and restore the forest. You can encounter new plants, learn elemental magic, and visit the forest as much as you want to collect items to improve the garden.
You’ll have a host of characters to befriend, and you’ll learn more about the garden as you play. It’s difficult to tell how deep the story is, but the roguelite trips to the forest to collect items and tend plants is just enough excitement to keep you wanting more.
If you’ve never really tried a roguelite game, or you’re not sure if you’d like them, but you enjoy farming games then this is the best blend. The forest “dungeons” are cute, challenging, and necessary to help heal the forest. If the demo is available, give it a try or just add it to your wishlist.
Solar Punk
This survival crafting game is very peaceful, at least when it’s not thunder storming. You do have to watch your health statistics, but overall this game is cozy and relaxing.
You’ll collect items, grow crops, and craft to progress. Did we mention airships? While they might be tricky to maneuver, you’ll be able to travel around with an airship to access cool new features.
You’ll be able to create a sustainable living using the power of nature, and your own ingenuity. The powered technology is wonderfully simple to link and operate, making it a very pleasant experience.
This is a game that you can easily play for hours, and build as simply or as complex as you want. If you love survival crafting games, you might want to add Solar Punk to your wishlist.
Out and About
This cozy foraging game has lots of charm and potential. Some of the textures can look strange, which may depend on your computer’s video card, so be warned. The movement and controls work well and it’s clear a lot of care has been taken with character development, story, and incorporating foraging as a main element.
This is a very unique spin on a lot of the traditional farming sim games. While foraging itself isn’t a unique concept to farming games, it’s really intriguing to have it as the focal point.
You’ll create a character with awesome customization options, and then explore designated plants to learn about each one. You’ll learn how to tell certain look-a-like plants apart with a sorting mini-game, and by carefully inspecting plants you encounter.
There’s also what seems to be a pretty involved story which rounds out the experience by putting those foraging skills to good use while you try to help your Granny and other townsfolk.
We need to give a shoutout for the absolutely flawless keyboard to controller detection this game provides. We had no troubles and didn’t even have to touch a settings menu to start using a paired controller.
This game is still in development, but with the level of polish in the story and tutorial this will be a game to keep your eye on. If you’re a fan of farming games with exploration, or you love foraging, Out and About will be a great addition to a wishlist.
Tiny Garden
Tiny Garden is a cute casual farming sim game. It’s an adorable concept that gives you the very basics but lets you try things and explore to figure out how to progress.
There’s a little bit of strategy to planning how you’ll grow certain crops, since certain crops cause the growing tiles to switch. This can be beneficial, or detrimental to crops. You risk losing your crops if you don’t plant mindfully.
There is a shop to trade for seeds and décor, and you’ll unlock additional farming tiles and décor zones as you progress. It’s a fun game that’s engaging, and can be played as little or as much as you wish.
The laid-back style creates a very cozy, chill vibe that will help most people relax. If strategy puzzle games make you frustrated, this might not be your cup of tea.
If, however, you really enjoy a light challenge and engaging strategy, this is a game to add to your wishlist.
Piece by Piece
For anyone who enjoys shop simulation games and literal puzzles, this game is an absolute treat. Controls are smooth and responsive, the visuals have a charming aesthetic and instead of the popular tavern for a management genre, you run a repair shop.
In order to repair items, you’ll complete 3D puzzles rotating both the piece and the unit being repaired to try and sync the two perfectly. It’s a nice, light challenge, and taking care of customers and the shop creates a cozy relaxing blend for how you spend your time.
You have options to customize your shop, and make some improvements. The music is light-hearted and the next day won’t begin until you hit the button to continue. For a calm, cozy game with a unique spin on shop management this is a delightful pick.
Tailside
The Tailside game is about running a coffee shop. You get to be the barista providing different drinks such as espressos, macchiatos, and lattes.
There’s plenty to keep you busy, and you’ll also unlock shop decorations as you progress. The game is still in development and they are welcoming feedback. It runs well, and is an endearing game.
From playing the demo, it seems there will be more customers and animal friends to meet, and plenty of décor options. There might be pastries to offer at the café in the future as well from some of the dialogue hints.
The sound design and music are lovely, and it’s easy to see how this shop management game might be a little addicting, just like coffee. Fans of cozy shop management games might want to wishlist this so they’re notified when it is released.
Seeds of Calamity
Fans of Stardew and Fields of Mistria may want to pay attention to this cozy farming game. There are dungeons on days when you’d prefer a bit more action and adventure.
Otherwise, there are a few townspeople to chat with, but not an overwhelming amount of them. You’ll also have a watering can that will never run out of water to make play sessions a little more calm.
Keyboard and controller both work fine for control schemes, and the interface is easy to understand. The music is nice and chill, though ends abruptly at times before new music begins.
You’ll be able to do the familiar cooking and crafting, as well as book-collecting. You also have a magical animal companion that follows you around and has special abilities to help you with certain tasks, such as finding interesting artifacts.
The day and night cycles feel as though you have more time to explore and complete quests, so even though there is a fainting mechanic, the pace feels more relaxed than in some other farming simulator games. Definitely a game to wishlist if you love cozy farming games.
Monster Care Simulator
Monster Care Simulator is an interesting game that allows you to run a monster hospital. You’ll cure frozen status, burns, stings, and clean up dirty monsters.
The game is still in development and the plan as of now is to release it in early access so they can implement feedback during the development process. Since this is a work in progress, there are a few glitches, most of which do not effect actual gameplay.
We managed to put the broom away on the ceiling (such talent!), and monsters clipping into each other happened frequently, but you can pick up a monster and move it to get to another one. Despite these types of glitches, the gameplay wasn’t really impacted.
The overall experience is fun, and managing monsters, customers, deliveries, and cleaning definitely keeps you busy. It seems like there may be plans in the full version to have upgrades for your hospital, and it might also be nice if hired help becomes an option.
Overall the game has lots of promise, and is a relatively chill game. The shop can get hectic, but customers appear to wait indefinitely which takes away some of the time management stress.
People who enjoy animal care games, or shop management games may find this cute monster care game very pleasant. The demo already provides enough interest to spend quite a bit of time caring for monsters, and adding it to a wishlist wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Pao Pao
For anyone who loves cooking simulator games such as Overcooked! 2, this is a game to keep your eye on.
Pao Pao has you shopping for ingredients, fishing, paying rent, and researching mysteries. Quite a few buildings in the demo indicate there are more features that will be available in the full version.
The game works with keyboard, and controller. Some things are easier to do by just clicking on an option with the mouse, but movement may be easier with a controller.
There’s not much of a tutorial, so you’ll need to figure out how to do the tasks required on your own. Once you become acquainted with the controls and tasks, however, you can settle into a nice rhythm to serve up perfect orders.
If cooking games are your cup of tea, this might be one to add to your wishlist. Cooking is always more fun with friends, so have some friends wishlist this as well so you can enjoy the co-op feature together.
Sugardew Island
Sugardew Island is a cute farming simulator game that allows you to help restore a damaged island. There’s a background story explaining the island and your presence on it.
You’ll eventually be able to have pets, farm animals, and unlock special “islands”. These seem to be more like small alcoves, but since it’s a demo, there could be much more to the special islands than what’s available in the demo.
Controller is the recommended way to play for this game, though we were able to also play with a keyboard and mouse setup. The music is bright, cheerful and relaxing.
One of the things we noticed in the demo was that multiple chests exist around the island, and whatever you stash in the chests is accessible at any other chest. This is especially handy when you have the reduced beginner inventory space.
You also get to run a shop, but it seems like if you want to do something else for the day, you have unlimited time. Night only seems to come once you open and close your shop, so it’s one of the most relaxing farming games in that respect.
There are a few glitches to the game, but so far we didn’t experience anything that negatively impacted the ability to play the game, just visuals with missing items during the tutorial, and clipping inside other characters in specific situations. Despite these few minor glitches, this is definitely worth wishlisting, especially if you prefer farming games without the strict day/night schedule.
Tales of Seikyu
Many, if not most, of the farming games available tend to make farming the central point of attention. Tales of Seikyu feels more like an RPG where farming is simply the job you have.
This game is heavily story-driven, with a mystery for you and your sibling to unravel. There is combat, which might be great for some people but less cozy for others.
Since you play as a Yokai, you farm in creative ways by taking on different forms to accomplish tasks. You’ll have quests to keep you busy, along with farming, crafting and cooking.
There were some loading screen glitches that would show an old screen, then quickly flip to the proper screen. This could be due to the weak graphic card on the PC used for testing the demo. Nothing impeded gameplay, however, and the unique Yokai concept integrated into a farming game provides an entertaining twist.
Dragon Song Tavern: Cozy & Adventurous
Last but not least, there is Dragon Song Tavern: Cozy & Adventurous. Even though you get to run a tavern, you still get to explore new areas, fish, cook, brew drinks, and shop in town.
It seems like there’s plenty more planned to be available in the full version, such as animal care and beekeeping. The music is pleasant, and while the planting and interaction happens on a sort of grid-system, it’s not too finicky to operate.
The movement is pretty smooth, and the demo seemed quite polished with the exception of some translations that weren’t complete yet. It seems like there’s a lot of potential with this tavern management game, and plenty to keep you busy.
The game also incorporates some story elements once in a while, hinting that there might be schemes going on around town. The pacing for the actual tavern management is nice, and less hectic than some other shop/tavern management games if you’re looking for something more cozy to add to your wishlist.
PC Spec Disclaimer
These games were tried on a desktop PC with the following main specs:
Windows 10 Home
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700 CPU @ 3.4 GHz
16 GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce GTX 970
64-bit operating system
It’s important to note that some of these game demos require a better graphics card as a minimum requirement. Obviously, despite the sad graphics card, we were able to run the games and had minimal issues.
Some games may have had lag, screen-loading glitches, or other issues that could be attributed to the graphics card performance (or lack thereof). Those weren’t really mentioned specifically if it seemed obvious that it was from a weak graphics card.
It’s pretty impressive that the games still ran, despite not having the minimum required graphics card. If you also have an older graphics card, and if the demos are still available, definitely give the demo a try before committing to a full purchase. You want to make sure the play experience is something you will enjoy despite any small issues.