A Lawyer's Cozy Game Tier List (2023) 

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Full time lawyer, part time RU-vidr, and cozy game connoisseur? How does Moon have time to live!

This video is a bit of a departure from the usual content! Let me know what you think: if you enjoyed the tier list (or have any complaints about it), I'd love to get your feedback.

now post the anxiety game list

As a non alcoholic working in high stress field rampant with alcoholism (dentist), I never expected lawyer like Moony to have similar experiences with me.

I love how often you bring up your sisters and how much you care for them in your videos, it's so wholesome

If you don't mind, i wouldn't mind another of these lists. Not only are they fun and informative, they are also deeply calming. Thank you. Ps. You seem worried at times that you're boring us with legal jargon, definitions, and history. But just like good cozy games take their time, i quite enjoy that you take the time to give those insights. Please continue doing what you do. Listening to you sets me at ease.

"these characters are too cool! i don't feel like i belong" said the youtuber with almost 100k subs, a compassionate heart despite literally working with devils, a wide and pondered worldview, a talent for being highly didactical while maintaining humility, and the angelic voice of a bass singer

* writes notes for paralegal's cozy game list *

Moony, your voice is the definition of cozy.

i have to pipe up because it always bothers the piss out of me when people describe the desert as lifeless - my tribe is southwestern and the desert is definitely a harsher climate than people may be used to but in the US, at least, our deserts are actually really full of beautiful features and plants and flowers and so on. and it snows! and it's teeming with life! and that's why you're right about sandrock :\ everyone builds their deserts based off of like wild west movie stereotypes and has them be boring and barren when someone with a good eye (or a native american designer...) could make a desert setting feel very, very cozy, but folks are so married to the stereotype than the reality that it makes their works WORSE. sandrock felt so empty to me it was like uncanny valley. edit: love the video btw. i tend to be really picky and not very into cozy games so taking them seriously and laying out good reviews is super useful.

"Lawyers often develop coping mechanisms to deal with the stress of the profession" Me, thinking of how many friends I lost over their drinking while I afk runescape while playing Roots of Patcha on my switch. Naaaah who needs coping mechanisms we are all fine just fine (Finally was able to watch one of your vieeos on launch!!)

A Short Hike has to be hands down the coziest game I have ever interacted with. Also while not "cozy", Katamari never fails to make me smile, even on the worst of days somehow

kind of in love how you, a lawyer, open the video by defining terms. This is the most lawyer way a video has started ever and it's not even law related haha

My quintessential cozy game series is Atelier. Theyre mostly turn based jrpgs, sometimes have time limits, and have deep crafting systems but the character writing focus, music, and small scope of each game make them the coziest games Ive ever played.

Moonie i have an illness of some sort and i must say that this video feels cozy in and of itself. This is so comforting. I would watch you talk about decorating your towns and who you wanna romance for hours given the opportunity

Potionomics was a life changing game for me. After starting the game, instead of playing it, I spent an entire weekend creating an excel spreadsheet that optimizes the potion making for me. That game made me learn VBA. It was almost as much fun as playing the game itself.

For me, with a high stress time sensitive job, cozy games aren't usually the typical "farming" sims, but visual novels. A level of escapism and fantastical plots that can whisk me away from the stresses and responsibilities of real life. They might have tense and "stressful" moments, but I never feel like I'm hindered by grinding or purposefully bloated out game concepts. I do love jrpgs and farming sims, but if I had to choose a "cozy" genre, VNs would be it. Hence why the Ace Attorney series is top tier cozy for me.

I can't believe that you casually dropped that you were a top 200 StarCraft 2 player in a cozy game tierlist. (Thank you for the tierlist I've been absolutely itching to play a new cozy game this past week) Also, please keep making these, I have a bad habit of playing these in very early access and then not knowing which games are worth coming back to when they're finished!

My daughter just learned how to say cozy the other day. What great timing.

One thing I have noticed among white collar friends is that they all enjoy crafting or farming based games in order to relax. I can only hypothesize that when your work is exclusively theoretical where you have no material thing to point to as the product of your labor you kinda go look for that material actualization somewhere else. Multiple of them have even asked me if I could teach them basic craftsmanship or do projects together. Personally I like playing similar games cause as a mechanic working in a system which forces me to work monotonously with little change or innovation I enjoy the planning and expansion side of the same games, meanwhile a teen with excess energy might find a highly stimulating shooter to be their comfort game. What's cozzy may be dependent on where you are in life

i played the demo of spiritfarer on my switch and was blown away with how much i wanted to keep playing and i ended up buying the full thing for xbox. i dont really cry easily but i got around 75% done with it and just couldnt take the heartbreak anymore. though it's such an amazing game i ended up recommending it to my friend without realize how soft and mushy she is lol she hasnt played it but i cant imagine the reaction the events will get out of her when they tore me to pieces

The only complaint I would have is that this is focused on a specific genre of fantasy agrarian farming. By whatever name we call it, it's rather precise, when there are other games in other genres that cab be cozy as well. Certain jrpgs, and even a platformer or 2 can be cozy, and many others in many other genres. It tends to be more of an aesthetic to me, rather than it always needing to be about the mechanics, but, those are important too. As you said, YMMV.

I realized I haven't really seen much discussion about cozy games (with the exception of animal crossing and stardew valley). It feels as though cozy games are usually not taken as seriously as games in which you mainly murder your way to victory. Now I'm a big fan of both, but variety being the spice of life, I would be happy to see more thoughtful videos and reviews on cozy games :)

I would 100% watch that video on the differences between Stardew Valley-like and Harvest Moon-like games. Agreed that Stardew Valley is pretty amazing and I’ve been enjoying the wave of knock offs in its wake. Some of them have been really creative.

Today we learnt Moony likes redheads :P No but, really, another great video! I would say, this is a cozy video about cozy games. Thanks, Moony!

The opening of this video reminded me of something that I thought I'd share, both because I find it kind of funny and it works as a comment on drinking in the law profession. Back when my sister was in law school she got pulled over for a D.U.I this caused her a great amount of distress and she called my mom saying she was worried she'd never get a job because of this. My mother who has been a lawyer for many years decided to calm her down by telling her that every lawyer has had at least one D.U.I.

as a court reporter and a gamer, I appreciate you.

i love the way you open a video completely deadpan, it always give me a good giggle even if it's not meant to be a joke lol

In college ATM, autism makes it painful sometimes, so a list of good cosy games is something I really appreciate, especially given that I've mostly been into very desktop-oriented strategy games. Will definitely being buying at least some of the games on this list

I would absolutely love this to be a series

I would absolutely love to see this become a yearly thing! Also, I would absolutely recommend playing both Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life as well as Sakuna: Of Rice And Ruin! I'm not actually sure you've played them, since I didn't see them mentioned, but the original Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life/Another Wonderful Life hold a special place in my heart, and I feel those are the best example for Harvest Moon in general. So if you haven't, please consider giving them a shot! Sakuna is also fantastic and cozy, and has a very simple story executed very well.

you are the embodiment of cozy!

The teirlists are great, I think an annual release would be great for cozy games.

neko atsume is the mobile cozy game for me. i have so many fond memories of when the neko atsume craze started. it was so special to have everybody sharing their rare cats or faves on social media also, if i can say, its so heartwarming to see your friendship with your sisters, you guys are really cute!

RUNE FACTORY MENTION LET'S GO!!! I hugely agree on RF4 being the best game of the series! personally my heart lies with RF1, but i do love almost all the characters in these games so much. it's a shame that RF5 was only okay though.

The scope you have to these games, the coping mechanism part, brings an interesting and unique point of view. Loving your channel in general! Keep on!

I feel like the reason i stick around moon channel in general IS your use of legal terms and controlled definitions and it makes me want to listen to you speak on the topic the video is about. Even if normally I dont care about the topic being spoken about, hearing you clarify and allowing me to understand these terms better has actually given me some interest in topics that i had previously been either avoiding or indifferent to. Also i wishlisted several games from this video and hope others have found some new things to like also! Thanks moony! You are carving your niche very well! :)

I love that your example of fantastical supernatural in Stardew is Emily's psychadelic trip instead of ... the wizard, the shadow creature, or the dwarf.

Id like to also recommend Bear & Breakfast where you play as a bear who puts on pants and runs a bed and breakfast.

I absolutely loved how you described a cozy game as not necessarily evoking coziness, but instead hygge, that it’s more of a satisfying completing feeling, it makes so much more sense!! 🙏🏻

Law student here - also no slouch as far as what scares me (nothing to a fault), basically never a crier - and yet WAS BAWLING HYSTERICALLY at Spiritfarer. It’s a magnificent, beautiful game, but it will wreck anyone with a soul.

Moony, you seem like such a great brother. As a younger sister I wish that my older brothers would play cozy games with me sometimes. It's really sweet hearing you talk about your sisters and this was a fantastic video :)

I usually don't like tier list videos, but there's something about this one, from the premise to the execution, that made it incredibly enjoyable regardless! I think it might be because the tier list feels more like a framing device to do a discussion on a variety of games, rather than on strictly ranking them. Either way, I liked it!

I hereby declare this video to be officially cozy.

Great video! It's so interesting to hear other people's opinions on Stardew. I personally don't enjoy it as much as Rune Factory 4 or Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns because, I feel, Stardew can be somewhat lacking in character depth. Which feels weird to say-considering most people's opinions online-but I just couldn't get attached to any of the characters. It is a great game, though!

i get the intended high quality rip experience every time with your channel moony, you’ll have me invested in a certain point and then i’ll ponder on it before realizing ‘that’s not the wii shop channel music in the background!!’

You perfectly expressed how I feel about DDLV. I wanted to love it, it had all the factors that SHOULD make me love it, I was obsessed with it for about 3 months and then it just... got stale.

The most shocking thing about this video is that you were able to remember most of the words to "the missile knows where it is because it knows where it isn't" video in the outtakes.

new moon channel video released. my back, no longer aching; the wind and sunlight, refreshing again; vision returned to 20/20; truly a blessed day

Long time listener first time commenter. What a great video! Earlier this year I was getting the cozy game itch really bad. My ACNH file, with many many hours on it, started having frame drops, and so I looked for alternatives and watched a ton of videos. I am annoyingly picky when it comes to these games, and your parameters are a great way to put exactly what I look for into words. “Hygge” (what a great word), Scope, and character design/art style are paramount to me, and unfortunately Stardew Valley just didn’t hit any of those for me. SoS:PoOT (heh) held me over for a bit, then the loop got stale really fast, with not a lot in the other parameters to keep it going. Also, those terrible """crafting station""" TV box things just really destroys the land's aesthetic. So, after much agonizing, I broke my “no early access crafting games” rule and picked up Sandrock in March, and what a time I’ve had. I’m excited to see if you play it more, and what thoughts you might have on it with more time. It takes a bit, but the whole concept of “why the hell are these people making a town in a wasteland desert?!” gets answered in some very satisfying ways, and in different ways per character. Many of the characters themselves are great, and I like how the romance system has more to it than just giving people a gift every day. I mean, it has that as well, but at least there’s other options like cute dates. As for stressors, there are settings that basically allow you to extend the day cycles to get more done, which is a godsend. I don’t want deadline stress in my cozy games, at least not a lot of it. I was pretty well off before the year was even over, but it’s not required to play like that. “Optimization makes brain go brrr”, though taking it easy is completely fine. I appreciate the flexibility. The post-post-post apocalyptic setting is intriguing. As a huge fan of the Numenera setting itself, particularly the TTRPG, this ticks a lot of boxes for me, just with a more grounded flavor. There are a lot of notes you can find from the previous inhabitants that are scarily accurate to how we handle doomsday devices today, just presented in a funny or amusing way. The story goes places with some big turns and even some political intrigue, but without getting too heavy. I kinda wish it did, though others might really appreciate that aspect, and it’s not a deal breaker. The combat follows that trend, being fairly easy with some light options. Just entertaining enough without being anywhere near overwhelming. Sandrock did have a full release recently, which I’ll probably get to once this semester is done… Which is tomorrow… (oh gods I have so many assignments to do today). Hopefully they ironed out some of the jank, since that was a bit of an issue when I played. No where close enough to be a deal breaker, thankfully. Maybe watching a lot of ThorHighHeels's videos has helped me actually kind of like jank in video games, especially ones with a lot of save files so it's never game-breaking. On a side note, I’ve also played some Palia and it’s pretty okay. Might be worth a look, especially after some more updates. Anyway, thanks again for the great videos, and sorry for the lengthy comment!

"which is perhaps a topic for yet another video" has become my favorite sentence to hear. love the videos

i remember once when my friend recommended stardew valley to me, i gave it a try and after just one play session i came out with such a strong feeling of unfulfillment that i couldn't bring myself to play it again. to this day i'm not quite sure what happened considering it's never happened to me before or since (well, it did, but when it'd happen again i'd know exactly why). it was a pretty strange thing to experience but i guess it's not for me

10:00 "Coral Island feels like a tech influencer Resort in Bali which might be heaven for some people but is a little closer to hell for someone like me." LOL, that is quite accurate. For me, though, the game itself is a bit of a heaven, but again, may be I like it because I'm Asian and it has a bit of that Southeast Asian theme. I will say even though Coral Island has come out of early access last month. The game is not complete yet. Two out of the four altar rewards are only working right now in the game - the Dig site and the Savannah do not exist yet in-game. Most of the core stuff like festivals, mining, farming and what not are in-game. You will get many hours playing from this game, but keep in mind that the mainline quests and some endgame stuff are not in yet. It will give off the feeling of "not complete." However, the devs are still working on the game post-launch including bug fixes.

Honestly this has become one of my "cozy channels", especially after your christian videogames video made me feel a bit better about being religious myself. Keep up the good work!

subnautica is my all time favorite video game and it is easily a cozy game for me. yeah it scares the piss out of me, but its something where i can just sit down, do the same tasks ive done hundreds of times, and progress. its a beautiful game with a fantastic soundtrack. never thought to call it cozy until you brought it up but thats a damn fine way of putting it. one of the few games i play without listening to spotify

I was waiting for Factorio to be mentioned on a list, but I didn't expect it to be described as not cozy( Guess the cozyness is in the vibes of the beholder. Love me to chill in the factorio, nothing more cozy than plotting another assembly line, opens up my latent coder and architect chakras

I am frankly astonished that this video was ad-libbed, it was easily on par with your more researched videos in terms of presentation and entertainment (maybe not scope, but that's not a bad thing as you showed here 😊). Would love to see more of this "cozy Moonie" content, on this or entirely different topics. Btw the missile bit was great. Keep up the good work 👍

If you are insane enough, Factorio eventually becomes a cozy game. Running around putting out low intensity fires and fixing random bottlenecks is really relaxing once you stop having to think about HOW to fix stuff... That cozy feeling starts at about 2000 hours.

2:29 totally feel that. I play Castlevania 1 to relax as I am good at the game and it feels good to play it well. Although I wouldn’t call it cozy.

This was a very sweet little video. Reminding me of Spiritfarer made me cry, and I'd love for this to be an annual thing. I'd also love a video on why they're Stardew likes and not Harvest Moon likes, that sounds like fun to ne

Kamelåså reference acknowledged! (Such a good skit!)

I absolutely *adore* Cozy Grove, and I'm still playing it 500 hours later. The limited number of things to do each day was frustrating at times, but ultimately I'm glad it's there because it limits my obsessive tendencies. I don't think I ever spent more than three days on a single quest, and while completionism is getting grindy, the game doesn't incentivize that completionism, it's just a thing I want to do, so I can't hold that against it.

I enjoy your videos, as I like content that dives deeper into video games as a whole. But as a gal who largely only plays cozy games, I was ecstatic to see this one from you! Thank you so much for taking the time to cover cozy games, I would love to hear more of your thoughts on this genre in the future. I also very much appreciated the way you described the necessity for cozy games in terms of "the celebration of mindfulness, contentment, and belonging." I thought that was a beautiful way to put it.

My #1 cozy game is Meadow. Unlike all of the games listed here it's mainly a social game which sets itself apart by not having any definitive form of communication outside of a few emotes. Trying to communicate within such a limited scope turns out to be really fun, it's almost like a puzzle, and it makes all the social aspects very approachable even for people who generally aren't that social such as myself. It does have a gameplay loop around collecting stuff but to me that's just a sort of icebreaker to get things moving. Interacting with others and goofing off is where most of the fun is for me.

Oh my god the "Dream a Little Harder" bit made me laugh out loud. Always happy to see a Twisted fan in the wild.

The most cozy game I've played is 'A short hike'. The scope is somewhat short, but it is called a Short hike after all

the fact you call your younger sister "pearly" is so sweet

That "the missile knows where it is" joke really wouldn't have fit in with the script, but I'm so happy you kept it in at the end there.

Kynseed is like if the fae (the scary, tricky ones) made a farming game. The quality of the products you get can vary based on normal things like weather and fertilizer, but also things like the day of the week and what effect you currently have. It's impossible to remember everything, and frustrating when you just want one 5 star tomato what do you MEAN I have to wait specifically until the first week of summer and have the flatulence effect while harvesting!? Despite this, the generational mechanics are nice and I enjoy seeing people grow and new villagers being born and introduced. I always get this uncanny valley feeling when I play a game for many in game years and yet no one ever ages.

It might sound strange, but my cozy game was Talos Principle 2. I just find solving puzzles and philosophy to be relaxing.

just boy stuff 💅 but seriously it's cool that you and your sister just vibe with something together, whether it's her liking "boy stuff" or you liking "girl stuff".

I was never into any of these cozy games ever since they were announced but I'm thinking about getting them for myself to try them out.

35:37 Sakuna is SUPER good if you can really dig into the rice-growing. I couldn't, and the game makes one wonder how the hell did like 60% of all people ever subsist on the most finicky god damn crop imaginable.

This is indeed a cozy video and I love that I actually play most of these as well!! It’s nice to see something aside from the normal video just for fun and see what you enjoy and why! Edit: after watching that, I really loved your take on all these games and describing in an orderly fashion why and how they are fun to play, I’d love many more of these videos :)

Will this be on the bar exam?

I started cackling at the cut "the missile" reference. I love this channel, it's always fun to watch, and the deadpan delivery of jokes always results in a delayed laugh as it sinks in. Slow thinker, it seems 😂

I've been in a cozy game mood recently so this video feels very timely for me! Would definitely vote ye for an annual cozy game video.

I know the devs say it is a cozy game and yes it has cozy elements, but I wouldn't classify Spiritfarer as cozy myself. It's not very cozy weeping uncontrollably every time another character leaves... but it is a learning experience, an important one at that. Most cultures tend to shy away from death but I think avoiding it can only make it more difficult when you inevitably experience it. When I played the game I had just given my best friend and closest companion the gift of humane euthanasia (yes he was a cat) so Spiritfarer was a particularly raw experience for me. But it was also giving me a lot - showing me that death was more than about loss, and helping me to accept the inevitability and inherent naturalness of death. It's also a hella beautiful game and really enjoyable to play. So if anyone feels a little scared off playing it, I encourage you to be brave and dive in, because you will get a lot out of it.

Hey Moony, not sure if it'd count as a "cozy game", since it doesn't really fit alongside the games featured here, but Here Comes Niko is a super wholesome game that gives mad cozy vibes. It's a 3D platformer, but it's a very chill game that never really puts you in danger (or has like, any failure states). It's also got a super adorable art style, and super charming writing and characters. I'd recommend checking it out!

are you a lawyer or an attorney?

I'm Asian myself and i think you're right about Coral Island, when I first played it I felt a sense of disconnect I couldn't quite explain. Old harvest moon and games like Plum Grove feels more relatable to me

Rune Factory deserves so much more attention than it gets. I have hundreds if not thousands of hours in Rune Factory 4.

+1 for the original HM.... But as time pass my favorite game related to the genre is Rune Factory Frontier who let you choose if you play cosy or more adventurous. Yoh, who was team Maria back in time...

A new upload to get me through finals!! Thank you Moony!!

You made me gasp during the Sun Haven section. What an Elden Ring scope hahaha

i didn't finish watching your last video, but i watched this cozy video about cozy games i wanted to play the potion game for what is now a long time, but just for the potions, i didn't know it's a cozy game ^-^

This was a cozy review. ~^^~ I would love for this to become an annual list.

Last year, in trying to find a new cozy game for my MIL to play after Animal Crossing, I stumbled upon a trailer for an iOS-game ported to the Switch called "Wylde Flowers". It is closer to Stardew than Animal Crossing when it comes to the setting, story, and relationships with the other island inhabitants, but much closer to Animal Crossing in terms of aesthetic and approach to farming/collecting. I think most of all though, I was blown away by two things: first was how polished everything was and how perfectly the mechanics gelled with the narrative, and second was the incredible production values for everything. The character models and animations, the island and environments, and all the menus and UI are just so nicely done and look so "cozy", but the voice acting is what really blew me away. So many cozy games have these awesome narratives woven into their townsfolk, but it's almost never voice-acted. Wylde Flowers is not only fully voiced, but it sounds so professional and all the characters will stay in my mind's eye forever. Now, the game does have some sadness in it with the loss of a main character, but even through that the game continues being cozy and I think you would really enjoy it. My MIL did, which I expected, but I did not expect to also count it as one of my own personal favourites. Just my two cents though. Amazing video, as per usual, thank you for uploading it. :)

I don’t play too many cozy games but there is one game I play a lot and am a big fan of that you might be interested in. It’s called Touhou Mystia’s Izakaya and it’s a restaurant simulator game, a game I can think of that is close enough for comparison is Dave the Diver in the sense of the general gameplay loop of collecting ingredients then opening business for the night as well as doing certain quests for characters. I can’t say for certain if you’ll enjoy the characters as it’s a fan game so it’s going to appeal more to people who are already familiar with the original source material but it’s well designed enough that even if you know nothing about the original material it’s still enjoyable

Every time I watch one of your videos I am surprised about how much you sound like my uncle. Although he is a doctor, not a lawyer. Either way, your voice provides comfort to me. Just as much as Stardew Valley provides me comfort! Great video! Happy holidays!

This was a surprisingly fun video. When I see a video game rating I expect the typical game reviewer "best graphics, best gameplay, yadda yadda...," but you offer very unique perspectives on top of being very funny :)) you're quickly becoming one of my favorite channels

unironically though my personal cozy game series is ace attorney…listen its technically a visual novel so playing it is kinda relaxing to me

loved the 'missile knows where it is' gag. thanks for a good laugh

I just love how much mooney uses classy siivagunner tracks

is... is that an 8 bit version of bad romance playing int he background? Yes, yes it is. Laughed so hard.

My main takeaway from this is that there are far more farming/life sims out there than I was familiar with, and I thought I knew at least a decent amount. Rune Factory 4 will always be my personal jam, though I am a little surprised to hear you say that 5 was only 'okay' - granted, I haven't had the time to sink my teeth fully into it, but I've enjoyed what I've experienced so far. Weirdly enough, Stardew Valley is one of those games that I'd no doubt enjoy if I ever got around to playing it, but its legacy feels kinda overwhelming to me at this point and I can't help but feel I wouldn't be in the right mindset to get lost in it like I normally would. Edit: How could I forget to include my own romance report after mentioning RF4? Leon was my first interest, though I eventually couldn't stand his constant teasing and shifted my interest to Dylas, which is a choice I didn't regret in the slightest. It's as you assume, I didn't focus on romance until I was far into the game, but I wasn't particularly in the idea at all when I first got the game. It was more something that I built an interest in as the game went on. My second playthrough had me marrying Margaret, and my current playthrough has Arthur as the target of my affection.

I appreciate this video. I adore cozy games and it's good to hear about ones I'm less familiar with.

I just love your video work Moonie 😋 I appreciate that you take the time outside of your busy schedule to compile these vids. And most of all, your manner of speak, no matter how much 'lawyer' come through, its not annoying at all. Its part of what makes you wonderful 😁

I really like this kind of video! It's a nice break from the usual law/history video essays. Not that those are bad ofc ❤