Cozy simulators to switch your brain off

Not every game needs tension. Some nights I just want to arrange a little town and watch it tick along. Cozy simulators are perfect for that, and the good ones don't need a server to keep running.

Little Harbor Town is my current favorite. There are no timers pushing you around, so you can poke at it for two minutes or an hour. Everything saves on the device, which means no surprises if you play on a train.

The trick with these games is to resist optimizing too hard. Let the town sprawl a bit, make a slightly inefficient road, enjoy the mess. They're more relaxing when you stop treating them like spreadsheets.

If you've had a stressful week, this genre is better than any number of flashy action games. It asks nothing and gives back a quiet sense of order.