I played 27 new cozy games this year and my top 5 only includes 2 farm sims, I promise

This year's crop of cozy games felt like it ran completely perpendicular to the trends in PC gaming as a whole. The main release calendar for this year was mostly lacking obvious blockbusters, leaving room for some really delightful surprise hits. Meanwhile, the best cozy games of this year mostly wound up being the ones that I'd been anticipating since last year and I wasn't as taken in by the surprise hits that this indie-infused corner of the hobby usually delivers.

I'm certainly not closing this year disappointed though.