After a long day at work, you might not fancy sweating through a stressful Counter-Strike match or juggling a dozen objectives in your favorite MMO. Sometimes, all you want to do is relax before bed. So here are 15 cozy games that run on Linux, natively or via Proton.
1 Stardew Valley
You just can’t create a list of relaxing games without including Stardew Valley. This is the king of cozy, chill games for a reason. You can grow your farm and embark on quests at your own pace without any sense of urgency, and ultimately create your own little virtual haven where you can escape from everyday worries and just chill out a bit. We’ve got a handy collection of Stardew Valley tips to get you started, too.
2 Tabletop Club
Tabletop Club is similar to Tabletop Simulator, a sandbox game where you can play some of your favorite board games at your own pace solo or with friends, or just build a tower of cards or the world’s longest domino run. It’s totally up to you. The game’s free, so nothing prevents you from checking it out.
3 American Truck Simulator & Euro Truck Simulator 2
Thinking about life’s great mysteries while hauling cargo across idyllic landscapes is the essence of the Truck Simulator games. Both American Truck Simulator and Euro Truck Simulator 2 have native Linux versions, so the only thing you have to decide is whether you want to drive across the US or Europe.
4 Quadrapassel
Quadrapassel is a tiny, free Tetris game for Linux that doesn’t try to reinvent a classic. Instead, it gives you tetrominoes, an empty board, a score, the number of lines you’ve cleared, and that’s about it. It’s pure Tetris, it’s free, and it works on most Linux distros.
5 Roots of Pacha
Stardey Valley is great, but it’s also super popular, so chances are you’ve already played it. Stardew veterans searching for their next farming sim obsession to play after a stressful day at work should check out Roots of Pacha instead, a relaxing stone-age farming sim where you can grow your village solo or with friends.
6 Unpacking
I love Unpacking; it’s one of the best cozy games I’ve played and a perfect way to relax after a long day. The game allows you to arrange your earthly possessions any way you want, and while it’s technically a puzzle game, the puzzles in it are anything but challenging.
The most challenging thing here is setting stuff up just the way you want while adhering to the game’s slightly limiting tile-based isometric level structure. The game has a native Linux version that works great.
7 Lil Gator Game
Lil Gator Game is a wholesome game about finding new friends and creating the biggest fort ever. Just like A Short Hike. the game oozes charm and personality (and I think I like it better than its inspiration). The only thing that might be an issue is that once you start making friends, it’s hard to put the game down because it all gets super addictive.
I finished the game in one day and didn’t stop until I found every character hiding on the island. You’ve been warned.
8 Warble
Warble is Wordle, but for Linux. You can install the game on your machine and take a break whenever you feel like it without having to worry that you’ll break your streak. It’s free, has three difficulty options and includes almost 5,000 levels. Warble is far from the only Wordle-like, but it’s free and pretty fun.
9 Dorfromantik
Dorfromantik has been my go-to relaxing game for years. I’ve amassed more than 50 hours on Steam just placing tiles without worrying about high scores, unlocking quests, or how the final map will end up looking. A perfect cozy strategy in which you don’t have to worry about anything; relax, play some good music, and create the countryside of your dreams.
10 PowerWash Simulator
This is the king of “zone out” games. PowerWash Simulator is all about menial power washing tasks across a variety of levels, but there’s something immensely satisfying in washing away the muck until each level is sparkling clean while listening to your favorite podcast. A must-play relaxing game that works great on Linux via Proton.
11 Kolf
Kolf stands for KDE Golf. It’s a free miniature golf game with simplistic visuals, a ton of courses, and a course editor. You can play it solo or against up to 10 friends. A perfect game for work breaks; just don’t start a tournament with coworkers or you may end up wasting an entire workday.
12 Tiny Glade
Tiny Glade is the latest cozy builder hit in which you aren’t really building cities. Instead, you create castles, cottages, and ruins to your heart’s content, free from the limitations of grid-based maps. It offers a native Linux version and is one of the prettiest and best stress-free games out there.
13 Gourdlets
Create pixel-art towns for veggies! That’s it, that’s all Gourdlets is all about. No missions, no high score, no stress, but tons of items to unlock to help you create the perfect city for your cute vegetable denizens. If you end up liking Gourdlets, check out Townscaper and Islanders, two cozy city builders with a similar premise. And if you want something with actual levels and goals that’s super relaxing at the same time, check out Terra Nil.
14 Space Cadet Pinball
Back when I was a kid, playing Space Cadet Pinball on my friend’s Windows XP machine was very stressful because, after you’d run out of balls, you’d have to wait your turn at the virtual table. But nowadays, this classic pinball game is one of the most relaxing time-wasters around. The Linux version is a free, reverse-engineered version of the original that works great on Linux.
15 Tux Racer
It may be almost a quarter-century old, but Tux Racer is still a pretty solid zen-like time waster with a brilliant soundtrack. Its slow pace and lenient difficulty make it a great way to spend a couple of minutes zoning out and thinking about everything aside from everyday problems. If you’d like to try something more dynamic and faster-paced, check out Extreme Tux Racer; it’s not as relaxing as the original but still a blast.
Need even more games? Play retro titles (chill or otherwise) with an emulator like RetroArch on your Linux computer.
