Where to play: PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox Series XWanderstop is a game about an adventurer named Alta who falters in battle and finds herself working at a humble tea shop instead. Alta gathers the herbs to create tea, boils pots of water, and chats with customers. There are no registers, no tips, no cash exchanges — tea shop owner Boro isn’t running a commercial business, but making a tea shop for his community out of sheer love of the game. There’s plenty of cozy to be found in Alta’s routine of gathering leaves and setting them out to dry. It’s also fun to sit for tea with Boro and decorate the shop. But at its heart Wanderstop is a story about burnout, recovery, and healing.

Where to play: Windows PCIn Crime Scene Cleaner, I play a hardworking man picking up some extra work from the mob. I don’t carry out wet work myself, but I show up afterward to clean things up. It’s easy to fall into a soothing rhythm of mopping floors, pressure-washing walls, and shoving broken glass or bullet casings into the trash. It’s certainly a little macabre to haul dead bodies out to the truck and clean up the blood splatter, but it’s easy to fall into a rhythm. The tone of the game is more silly than morbid, and if you enjoy PowerWash Simulator or House Flipper, you’ll likely enjoy this one too.

Where to play: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series XWhat could be more relaxing than sailing a little boat across the harbor, catching fish, and selling them to the friendly locals? Just make sure you don’t sail at night, or investigate any of the mysterious incidents that keep cropping up around the remote archipelago known as The Marrows. Dredge is wonderfully creepy and calming in turns, and the more the player scratches at the surface, the more Lovecraftian mystery there is to discover.

Where to play: Mac, PlayStation 4, Windows PC, Xbox OneOK, hear me out on this one. RimWorld is notorious for being a difficult survival simulator where the player is forced into making morally compromised choices, but there are also periods of peace and stability. The player controls a sci-fi colony, slowly building a few survivors into an actual settlement. The game is a story simulator, so the colony is affected by random events — a psychic drone may cause mental stress on all male colonists, a raider band might strike in the night, or a bad wound could develop an infection and kill a crucial player. Luckily, RimWorld offers robust settings, allowing the player to either embrace the chaos and random chance or turn things way down and simply enjoy watching their civilization grow and prosper.

Where to play: Mac, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series XIn Cult of the Lamb, you play as the titular lamb as they battle against oppressive gods and build their own cult from the ground up. I cannot stress enough that the art style for this game is adorable, capable of inspiring someone to go “Aww!” even as they sacrifice a little frog guy to their dark cause. While the roguelike dungeon crawls are fun, the real meat of the game lies in the cult management mechanics. Players will have to keep their followers safe, free from illness, and engaged in the collective faith. It’s up to you how you achieve that goal — or choose to delve into wanton sacrifice and slaughter.

Where to play: Android, iOS, Mac, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows PC, Xbox OneTo the untrained eye, one might think the scary part of Graveyard Keeper is the plethora of skeletons. Actually, it’s the fact that the game is a riff on capitalism. The player takes control of a medieval graveyard, expanding their grounds and improving their services over time. This job is further complicated by dungeon dives, alchemical breakthroughs, and resource management. It’s a genuinely funny little game that also presents challenging choices that will test your sense of ethics.

Where to play: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series XTeamwork makes the dream work, and there’s no partner you can trust like your spouse. In Ravenous Devils, the player controls both husband and wife as they settle into a new life together with a new tailor shop/bakery combination business. Percival works upstairs, while Hildred bakes and serves customers. I mean that quite literally, as the duo have found a cheap way to figure out supplies. Percival murders customers, Hildred slaughters them, and both businesses benefit from the influx of cheap clothes and meat. It’s a dark twist on an otherwise delightful cooking game, especially since the police can check Percival’s shop for any evidence of his many murders.

Where to play: iOS, Mac, Nintendo Switch, Windows PCWith its colorful palette, mobile game-style graphics, and cheerful premise, it’s easy to see Wylde Flowers as a simple and shallow game. However, once protagonist Tara settles into her cottagecore home and begins training as a witch, she discovers a disturbing thread that leads to unsettling revelations. While the game remains relatively lighthearted, there are some fun mysteries and creepy cultlike incidents to investigate.

Where to Play: Windows PCGrave Seasons is an upcoming life simulator game where the protagonist is a recent escapee from jail, settling down for a new life in the humble little town of Ashenridge. From there, the player can mine, fish, chat with townsfolk, and settle into their new life. There’s just one big problem: One of those friendly villagers is a murderer, and there’s something strange and supernatural about Ashenridge. Developer Perfect Garbage has partnered with Blumhouse Games, and while there’s no release date, the premise of the game is extremely intriguing.

Where to play: PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox Series XSome people find the act of disassembling and organizing a big project to be meditative, and Hardspace: Shipbreaker is a fantastic example of this. Yes, the wrong move could lead to an explosive result, and it’s possible to die in some truly terrible ways. But with the right settings, I find it relaxing to simply cut through hulls, tear ships apart, and watch numbers go up as I perfect my technique. There’s still a massive debt hanging over my head, and lots of commentary on capitalism, but I can’t help but find pleasure in a job well done and a ship stripped down for parts.