Live simply with these cozy video games

Let’s be real: Life’s pretty stressful. It’s a tiring world out there, and you need something to help let off steam after a long day. When the world is not covertly plunging children into gambling addictions, gaming as a hobby is actually a pretty healthy way to handle the pressures that come with this whole existence thing.

So if you’re looking to add some new titles to your library so you can chill out after a long day, here are a few of my personal favorites.

"Cities: Skylines"

"Cities: Skylines" is to "SimCity" as Diet Coke is to Coke — it’s all the tasty, urban planning goodness of the best-selling city planning simulation series, without all those pesky Electronic Arts calories to factor into your diet.

Much like "SimCity," "Cities: Skylines" puts you in the role of a mayor and tasks you with building a booming metropolis from scratch by balancing the area’s residential, commercial and industrial zoning needs, all while keeping your citizens healthy and content.

Much unlike "Simcity," the company behind "Cities Skylines" actually cared about the series and didn’t completely torpedo its future for the sake of a short-sighted reboot. 

Although it might sound like a dull concept for the uninitiated, I’ve poured several hours into meticulously planning out my cities. The game’s main gameplay loop may be meeting your city’s Residential, Commercial and Industrial (RCI) demands, but you also have to keep in mind factors like engineering smooth traffic flow and strategically placing pollution-producing facets so as to not impact your citizens.

"Plants vs. Zombies"

Keeping with the theme of Electronic Arts cashing this series in, the first Plants vs. Zombies was released for PC and Mac in 2009 and still holds up pretty well more than a decade later.

Plants vs. Zombies, at its core, is a tower defense game that places you in the shoes of an unnamed homeowner tasked with defending your property from hordes of zombies with an array of deadly plants.

The game’s relaxing effect comes from its relatively slower pace, in combination with its catchy soundtrack and satisfying gameplay loop. Plus, focusing on the task of keeping away the animated troops of the undead will definitely keep your mind off your responsibilities for a while.

"Super Mario Maker"

Although "Super Mario Maker 2" may be the most recent entry in Nintendo’s Mario stage creator series, I feel inclined to recommend the original game on the Wii U, despite the imminent increase in difficulty for its acquisition.

"Super Mario Maker 2" may include such features as a functional, fairly healthy online community, in addition to a more in-depth course creation system. But I feel that the limitations of the original "Super Mario Maker" make it more relaxing in a sense.

There may be less to it overall, but I feel the game’s concept works better for the Wii U than it does for the Nintendo Switch. The Wii U GamePad may have knee-capped the platform by placing an additional burden on third-party publishers to use it inventively, but when the tablet controller fit for a game, it was a match made in heaven. And "Super Mario Maker" fit that description to a T.

Most notably, much like the "Nintendo DS" line of handhelds, the Wii U GamePad featured a stylus pen, allowing for more precise use of its touch screen. This made placing course creation elements in "Super Mario Maker" not only easy but also quite enjoyable, streamlining the process and still being versatile enough to allow users to truly let their imagination run wild.

When it came time to bring the series over to the Switch, a problem presented itself in the form of the console’s touchscreen being much different from the Wii U’s. Additionally, there was the added challenge of making the game accessible to be played in both handheld and TV modes. Although Nintendo’s attempts to transfer the course creation tools were admirable, I feel the game overall isn’t as fun as the Wii U original version.

"Stardew Valley"

Try to pretend you didn’t see this one coming.

Indie developer Eric Barone’s (also known as Concerned Ape) farming simulator might have become the de facto relaxing game to define the late 2010s, and I think that it's earned every piece of praise it’s received.

"Stardew Valley" is less of a straight-up farming sim and more of a farming, mining, dating, fishing and monster fighting simulator in the style of "Harvest Moon," and honestly? What can I say about "Stardew Valley" that dozens of other outlets haven’t already said?

It’s a delightful experience, available across several different platforms, that has a place in even the least experienced of gamers’ libraries. It's what most people think of when someone talks about "cozy gaming," and that's definitely for a reason.

Cozy gaming may not be what first pops into someone's head when people talk about gaming in general, but it's an often overlooked component of the medium. Many of the most popular video games like "Red Dead Redemption," "Call of Duty" or "Grand Theft Auto" may all be popular for a reason, but they can be violent, stressful and take a little too much thought.

Sometimes, after a long day, you really don't want to add more stress to your life, you want to relieve it. So pick up your console or set up your PC, grab a warm drink and a nice snack and relax with one of these cozy games.