Three Cozy Games to Play for Winter-een-mas 2025, This Geeked Out Life Blog

25 Jan Three Cozy Games To Play This Winter

Posted at 11:10h in Geek Life, Video Games and Recommendations by geek girl blogger 0 Comments

Let's spread the geekiness!

Good-day, fellow Geeks, and happy Winter-een-mas! Today is officially the first day of the geeky gamer holiday and I wanted to start the celebrations by sharing three cozy (and maybe chaotic) games for you to play this Winter with me.

What is Winter-een-mas?

Winter-een-mas is a celebration of gamers and the games we love. The holiday was created by Tim Buckley in 2003 for his comic ‘Ctrl-Alt-Delete’, and is a seven-day celebration of all things gaming. Although the entire month of January is dedicated to the season of Winter-een-mas, the actual celebration is from January 25 to January 31. Here is how the founder, Tim Buckley, defines it:

“Winter-een-mas, in its essence, is a holiday for gamers. It is a celebration of games and the gamers who play them. Video games allow us to do things, go places, see stuff that we couldn’t do in real life. They can be an escape from reality, a release after a long day, a fun activity with friends, or just an enjoyable way to pass time. They give us a lot of entertainment. So why shouldn’t they be celebrated?”

How you can celebrate Winter-een-mas?

Buckley goes on to give examples of how you can celebrate this holiday. Here are a few of his ideas:

Wear game-related stuff, like shirts, accessories, or even tattoos.
Have a celebration with friends by playing games together, either in person or online.
Send the developer of your favorite game a note of appreciation for creating the game.
Play video games!

If you’re interested in a collection of blog posts and comics celebrating this holiday, or if you want to support Tim in any way, visit his comic site for even more cool stuff.

Three cozy (and maybe chaotic) games to play this Winter

I’ve started three new games that I wanted to share with you in case you’d like to try them, too. Why three? Well that’s because I play at different times on different devices depending on where I am in the house. And I thought these recommendations could be for anyone, no matter your gaming preferences.

Now I love a cozy game just as much as anyone else. But I know me; and I know that many of my gameplay sessions may start out cozy but will soon turn to chaos once I have to hunt, fish, or fight. Or jump. So I consider myself more of a cozy-chaos gamer.

So if I’m in my office, I play PC games. When I’m downstairs in the living room, I play games on my PS5 (Playstation 5); and when I’m winding down and getting ready for bed, I play the Switch. Not everyone plays on the same device, so I think having recommendations on different platforms will allow everyone to try a new game.

Note for X-Box players:

I don’t have an X-Box (yet, lol), but I looked it up and found that you can play some PC games on Xbox, including games that are available through the Xbox Store, the Windows Store, or Xbox Play Anywhere. Also, if you have Nvidia’s GeForce Now game streaming service, you can play PC games using that service. I wouldn’t advise subscribing to another (another) streaming service, however, if you don’t play a lot of X-Box games. Also, games like Fortnite and other multiplayer games support cross-network play, which allows gamers on Windows and Xbox to play together. Be sure to check the Microsoft Store to see if a game supports cross-network play, if that’s something you’re interested in.

Now, on to the three cozy games I think you should play this winter!

Palia is a cozy game for PC Players

I just started playing Palia again this weekend after starting the game a few months ago. This is because I started Final Fantasy 14 and am literally addicted to it right now; so I abandoned my Palia game for FFXIV for a while.

I have to say that as I’m progressing through the game, I am loving how beautiful and cozy the world of Palia is. When I choose games, I look for a beautiful setting and a good story. I can say that so far I’m really impressed with how breathtakingly beautiful Palia is. The developers really put a lot of love into the details of landscapes that look painted directly onto your monitor, and characters who are creatively endearing with diverse appearances and memorable personalities. The fashion and decor are also unique, and I find myself wanting to play for hours. Seriously, I could easily lose track of time in this world.

Palia is described as a ‘massively-multiplayer community simulation game’ and takes place in a beautiful fantasy world. You get to explore an open world with a cozy and welcoming vibe. Your main objective (or the gameplay loop) is to develop a list of skills to help you build your home, get closer to the villagers, and live out your fantasy sim dreams! The skills you get to level up include gardening, foraging, crafting furniture, cooking, mining, and fishing. That list may or may not be in order of the skills I prefer lol.

So far I am loving this game so much. It’s definitely replaced Dreamlight Valley for me (don’t even get me started on that one!) and I can see myself being part of the world of Palia for a long time!

Jusant is a cozy game for Playstation Players

Admittedly, I haven’t started playing this yet. I read about this game on another gaming blog that I just love called Her Cozy Gaming, and was very intrigued by this one and a couple others she mentioned. I don’t write exclusively about games on my blog, but if that’s something you want more of, I would encourage you to check out Wendy’s blog: HerCozyGaming(.com). She puts a lot of work and care into sharing cozy games!

This one is a bit different for me in that it’s a climbing game. You get to step into character as a wanderer who is trying to get to the top of a tall tower. Steam calls it an action puzzle climbing game with a meditative journey to the top of a tower full of secrets and artifacts.

I’ll start my journey this week in celebration of Winter-een-mas, and will update you on my thoughts. I can definitely tell this game is going to lean more on the chaotic side for me! Climbing? Jumping? I’ve died already five times in my head!

Have you played this one or heard of it? Let me know what you thought in the comments!

Zelda Echoes of Wisdom is a cozy game for Switch Players

Hubs bought this game for me on the Switch and even though I just started it, I’m already excited to see where this journey takes little Zelda. I watched him play Breath of the Wild and just loved the world and the many characters. Link was on a quest to save Hyrule from Ganon, while solving puzzles and defeating enemies along the way. (And let me say that I now have a small crush on cute little Link! heehee)

In this cozy Switch game, Hyrule needs to be saved, yet again. This time Zelda has to be the heroine after Link saves her from Ganon, only to be sucked into a rift. These rifts are now appearing all over the land, and Zelda has to travel the land to solve puzzles and defeat enemies along the way.

I can’t wait to get further into the game and will definitely give an update or review of this game as I get closer to the end. Let me know if that’s something you’d want to read.

So these are the three cozy games you should play this winter. I think these recommendations are a perfect way for you to celebrate Winter-een-mas and a new year for gaming! I plan to honor the Winter-een-mas holiday with more fun gaming goodies, so stay tuned for more posts on how we celebrate.