I know it can be hard to find games compatible with Mac. But they have great laptops for art and design so I feel for artists trying to pick between games or their creative projects.
Luckily, more and more games are becoming compatible with macOS. Cozy games are particularly perfect for the system because they usually don’t take too much processing power.
Here are my current top picks for cozy games on Mac:
1. Stardew Valley
Stardew Valley is a much beloved farming sim and social sim. You can decorate your farm and house, plant seasonal crops, spend your time foraging or fishing, and even date one of the townsfolk. It’s lauded for its realistic character arcs and touching cutscenes. You can side with the community and local spirits of the land, or the mega-corporation down the road. Which will you pick?
2. The Sims
You know The Sims. Everyone knows The Sims. Build a house, design a character, and let them live their life however they choose. EA made a macOS-compatible version of The Sims 4 back in 2015. Not only is The Sims 5 going to be on Mac, but it’s free-to-play, too.
3. Cities Skylines
Cities Skylines is Sim City on steroids. Design and build a city from the ground-up while dealing with the unique challenges that come with it. Education, healthcare, water, electricity, policing—everything is on your shoulders. They also have more advanced mechanics for districts and policies, day/night cycles, and traffic simulation.
4. Minecraft
There is some debate about whether Minecraft is a “cozy” game because it can be quite tense and difficult at times. But keep in mind you can always throw it in Create Mode and focus on building cool things.
5. Firewatch
Firewatch is a narrative-centric “walking sim” with casual point-and-click puzzles needed to progress the story. You play as a fire lookout in the Wyoming wilderness, talking to your supervisor Delilah over a handheld radio. It’s a compelling tale of isolation and connection.
6. Farming Simulator 22
The Farming Simulator games are classics and often compatible with MacOS, in case you want to check out your favorite edition in the series rather than the newest. Farming Simulator 22 is more realistic than its farming sim counterparts and are also more, well, farming focused. You won’t have to worry about dungeons or festivals or dating. Just farming!
7. Gorogoa
Gorogoa is a puzzle indie I’ve written about many, many times. I highly recommend it to fans of Annapurna Interactive, the publisher who also backed games like Stray, Journey, and Florence. Gorogoa is a beautiful, hand-drawn interactive storybook adventure that has players interact with panels to draw them into a cohesive narrative thread.
8. Florence
Florence is available on Steam as well as the Apple app store, as it was originally developed as a mobile game. In it, you will point and click through simple puzzles and prompts to follow along with Florence, and how she fell in love, and how it ended slowly. It’s a beautiful game that tells a story without speaking a word.
9. Machinarium
Machinarium is a hand-drawn, point-and-click adventure game about a little robot trying to find his girlfriend. One of the most unique aspects of the game is there is no traditional dialogue. Characters talk only using speech bubbles populated by animations, doodles, and symbols.
10. Gone Home
Gone Home is a unique interactive story that starts as a pseudo-horror game as the player uncovers the mysteries of a seemingly abandoned home. But if you keep looking, the belongings left behind tell a sweet tale about growing up, belonging, acceptance, and love. It’s a slow burn but definitely worth the wait.
11. Lego: The Incredibles
The Lego franchise is a bit chaotic for my liking as a relaxed, cozy gamer. But The Incredibles are an exception for me because Pixar movies “get” cozy. It’s all about fun and family and bravery against all odds. So if you are looking for a cozy-ish Lego game for Mac, this would be my first pick.
12. World of Goo
World of Goo is a cute, bizarre physics-based puzzle and construction game that lets you wrangle talking globs of glue to build structures like bridges and cannonballs. Different Goo Balls have different abilities, unlocking the potential for new and crazier creations as you collect them.
13. Faerie Solitaire Harvest
Faerie Solitaire Harvest is a pleasantly surprising take on a classic. You’ll play various versions of Solitaire, sure, but you’ll also match cards, rescue faeries, and raise magical pets. There are 32 pets to collect and evolve, adding an extra element of excitement to a well-worn card game.
14. Donut County
Donut County is the physics-bases “be a hole, grow bigger” game, though you will see plenty of bad mobile ripoffs nowadays. This game is cute, quirky, and hilarious at times. You will play as a hole that gets bigger every time it consumes something. Start with a traffic cone and soon you can fit a skyscraper. Use this mechanic to progress and solve puzzles along the way.
15. Eastward
Eastward is a story-driven, pixel graphics action game about a toxic miasma pushing people into underground societies. Not super cozy, per se…but their upcoming DLC is an “alternative world” farming sim that looks so good. Check out Eastward: Octopia to wishlist it and follow along for a release date.
16. If Found…
If Found… is a poignant tale about an Irish transwoman struggling with a family that doesn’t accept her. It’s also about space travel, a black hole, awkward crushes, and a cute dog. An interactive visual novel with minimalistic graphics, it paints a meandering picture of a story of confusion, pain, and, ultimately, happiness.
17. Coffee Talk
Visual novels tend to have a better track record with MacOS because they don’t tend to have steep hardware requirements. So, might I recommend Coffee Talk! Coffee Talk is a visual novel about working at a coffee shop, crafting drinks, and getting to know your customers. Oh, your customers are also mythical creatures.
18. Strange Horticulture
Puzzle games are another great genre for Mac because they don’t require machines the size of a small continent to run. Strange Horticulture is an “occult puzzle game” where you run a small plant shop in town, tend to your garden, make potions and poisons for the townsfolk, and commune with your coven. And yes, you can pet the cat.
19. Hindsight
Hindsight started out as a mobile game but is now available on home computers via Steam. You can download it on the Apple App store but bugs seem more frequent over there so I’d stick to Steam. The game lets you point and click through a series of character memories, all by interacting with meaningful objects in the world.
20. Garden Paws
A cute farming sim with creative character designs that land somewhere between animals you recognize with fantasy elements like vibrant fur, horns, or wings. Nourish your grandfather’s old farm and bring it back to life while helping to restore the village to its full potential.
21. Growing Up
Growing Up is the definition of “life sim.” You pick your path from childhood all the way through to adulthood. Development is all up to you. Will you spend your time studying or making friends? So you prefer to cook or read? Who will you date? Where will you work? It’s all up to you.
22. Gris
Gris is a beautiful, captivating story told through watercolor-like landscapes, a powerful soundtrack, and a dress with magical powers. This story-rich puzzle platformer shows up on the majority of my lists because I really think everyone should play it.
23. Spiritfarer
Spiritfarer is a narrative-heavy game about a ferry master who carries spirits to their final resting place and hears their stories. You will collect stories, care for spirits, build your ship, and even dabble in some light platforming!
24. Moonstone Island
Moonstone Island is a creature-collecting game with some of the silliest, most wonderful creature designs I have ever seen. This cute indie treat boasts up to 100 islands to explore as well as card battles, farming elements, and dating!
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are a few Q&As I used for picking out cozy games that run on Mac. I thought they might be useful for those who have already played through my selection or who are looking for something else.
Does X Steam game run on Mac?
You can easily see what Steam games run on Mac. Go to the game’s Steam page and scroll down to the section called “System Requirements.”
If this section has a tab called macOS, then the game runs on Mac! It will also outline the minimum requirements needed to work properly.
Should I download games on Steam or the Apple App store?
The first thing to do is check ratings and reviews. If the App Store version seems to work better, then download that; if Steam seems to work better, there you go. I noticed this in real time when researching Hindsight. The App Store reviews notes loading issues as late as 2022. So in that case, I would go for Steam.
Steam and Apple both take a 30% cut from developers, except that Steam drops its cut the more they sell. For example, Steam starts to take 25% after $10 million in sales. So both are about equal for a new game but Steam might be the better choice if you want to support a popular game that has been out for a while.
What cozy games can I play on iPhone?
Mac, iPad, and iPhone have a few games that can be played across all platforms by using the App Store. But here is a more definitive list of cozy games I would recommend for iPhone: Best Cozy Mobile Games for iPhone and Android.
Conclusions
Those are my top picks for the best cozy games on Mac. I hope to add to the list as new games come across my radar, so keep checking back!
Stay cozy, gamers!
You might also like: Cozy Games like Animal Crossing