Recommendations for "girly" games?
By "girly" games I mean : games that have a soft/pink color scheme. About slice of life (preferably with romance elements), and non-violent with no/minimal combat.
I've already played Stardew Valley, Minecraft and Animal Crossing.
Even as a guy, I love the new Hello Kitty game.
My significant other loves it even more. Lmao
Hello Kitty Island Adventure is similar to a very relaxed cross between Animal Crossing and Breath of the Wild. There are elements that depend on time passing in the real world such as socializing, holidays, and getting certain resources, and there are also a lot of very funny and cute storylines featuring all the Sanrio characters. You don't need to be initiated into them to have a nice time (I sure wasn't).
There's no combat, but there are many other systems and areas to unlock that make the game feel deeper than it originally looks.
It also has multiplayer, if that's something you'd use!
Slime Rancher https://store.steampowered.com/app/433340/Slime_Rancher/
Balatro https://store.steampowered.com/app/2379780/Balatro/
Ace Attorney https://store.steampowered.com/app/787480/Phoenix_Wright_Ace_Attorney_Trilogy/
A Short Hike https://store.steampowered.com/app/1055540/A_Short_Hike/
and heres a sale that's going on Steam right now https://store.steampowered.com/curator/33025617/sale/Story-Rich-Megabundle-2025?l=english
Darktide?
My wife is in love with Disney Dreamlight Valley! It’s like animal crossing but with Disney characters and in full 3D. She dresses her character up differently every few weeks. She looked like a reindeer for December/January, and it was so cute! They’re very heavy on the fairy/cozy decor aspect, and while the expansions are paid, they do have free updates every 3-4 months.
She also recommended Calico, which is an indie cat cafe sim at heart, but you also get to dress like a magical girl, design your home, ride around town on animals like giant foxes, dogs, red pandas, more cats, etc. Very cute and relaxing.
On Your Tail is a cute mystery game set in an idyllic Italian seaside town with beautiful storytelling and character development.
She seconds other comments encouraging Haven, pulls the heartstrings and relaxing with minimal combat.
There are also the HerInteractive Nancy Drew games, which are older but fun female-centered mysteries. She recommends Phantom of Venice and Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon.
If you like puzzles, and greenery instead of pink:
Botany Manor, which is fundamentally about the feminine urge to go alone into a giant manor and grow some cool flowers
Terra Nil, which is about going to a desolate planet and using the power of technology to grow some cool flowers
Calico, maybe 🙂
I really like the Style Savvy games on Nintendo. I started late with the one on 3DS but planning to get the Switch one eventually. They're nice and comfy games and since it sounds like you may already have a Nintendo, could be an option.
Monument Valley
Tokimeki Memorial
Reply wrong answers only here! xD
That Dead or Alive beach game
It's all about girls!
Manhunt is a classic girly game
Doom is the only right answer. That soft pink mist as the light catches the spray of blood from your vanquished enemies.
Unpacking
The atelier games
Transformice!
Team Fortress 2 is a fun game about hats. There is a combat element, but it's not really the important bit.
I would suggest searching Steam for games.
I don’t be leave this is a pension but rather a bot collecting date.
For on the Girly Games that are Pink
And on the Mind Craft and Animalsers Cross.
No combat necessary.
I can't recommend Celeste enough, personally.
I will warn you that the platforming can be challenging, but if it's too stressful Celeste offers almost unparalleled accessibility options that will allow you fine control over the difficulty so no matter your skill level you'll be able to progress.
Great story, cozy atmosphere but still emotional impact, and the only "fighting" you do is against yourself.
Amazing game, highly recommend Celeste
Unpacking, it's a relaxing puzzle game with some great environmental storytelling. Gameplay amounts to unpacking after various times moving house throughout a woman's life. It's really interesting to see how the different stages of her life are shown by the different living situations she moves into.
I was going to suggest this one!
Gris
I feel like spiritfarer is in this vein. Really cozy game
But prepare to cry 🥲.
Life Is Strange
https://www.gog.com/fr/game/life_is_strange_complete_season
It's not an action/combat game but there are violent parts in the story
Oh I think I know a good one! Haven, and it's currently 60% off. You play as a couple who escaped a controlling society to a foreign planet. (Three gender combinations can be chosen for the couple)
There is a combat element, and I don't think you can avoid it, but what you do is essentially clean the corruption off the local wildlife, instead of killing. Don't know if that works for you, but it's worth giving it a look I think.
Spiritfarer
Hello Kitty Adventure Island
The steam reviews are a fun read, too. It's unironically an Overwhelming Positive
Euro-Truck Simulator
Kirby.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land can be played co-op. You can play it for free on your computer using the Torzu emulator.
Also The Sims.
Undertale, mercy run. The goal is to never kill a monster. It has combat, but the combat mechanic is moving your "heart" to dodge attacks and keep chosing mercy.
Today I learned I played the game wrong
That means, you can play the game again and have a very different experience!
My daughter has been playing Disneyland Adventures. She loves it.
This reminds me of Adventures in the Magic Kingdom on NES. Which was a brutal assault on your skills and patience back in the day.
A nice Slice of Life gane I recently enjoyed is Midnight Ramen.
Another I found excellent that might touch closer to Stardew is Potion Permit
Another that can be emotional is Spiritfarer
My daughter loves A Short Hike and Wobbly Life.
And on her phone Toca Boca World. Though it has a tendency to crash every few months, taking her progress with it.
She also likes Spider-Man but I guess that's not very "girly".
Unpacking
I played one a few months back that might fit the bill. 'Garden Life: a Cozy Simulator' It's a game where you grow/decorate a garden of flowers and sell/give them to people. Very pleasant.
I played that as well. Very cozy and relaxing.
Metal Gear Solid
That cake tho.
That reminds me of Portal.
👀
My wife loves Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing, and she's been way into Hello Kitty: Island Adventure lately. It seems to split the difference between those things and add some of its own spice on top.
I had childhood PTSD flashbacks reading "adventure Island" without ever having played any animal crossing games.
Wandersong! You play as a Bard who has to save the world through music and singing. Minimal combat and absolutely wonderful storyline that will make you cry tears of joy.
A bit of a wilder rec would be Cassette Beasts, which is basically Pokémon but better and has really nice optional romances. Very combat focused tho.
Cassette Beasts is great. So great I got the OST on both Vinyl... And cassette tape, of course 😆.
Never tried Wandersong, gonna have to add it to my playlist.
Oh, also the Life is Strange games are great.
I enjoyed the first one very much.
The latest one is one of the worst, most awkward, uninspired, terribly written, bullshit games I’ve ever seen, though. It’s absolutely hilarious.
The first life is strange game. I suppose there is technically a violent part but it's not a game based on violence.
I already knew the struggles that women have to endure that most men don't. But playing this game really put that into perspective, with how immersed I became. By the end of the game, I felt emotionally wreck.
Very much a "girly" game, just in an entirely different sense.
I've heard a lot of good things about VA-11 Hall-A. Haven't played it myself, but it looks like you play as a bartender in a cyberpunk-esque world and talk to the partons in your bar to get to know what's going on in both the world and their personal lives
In the same kind of game you got "Coffee Talk" (and its sequel), which works way better with a controller than VA-11 Hall-A does.
Unfortunately the story author died, which is a shame.
This is my favorite VN. I love this game so much. They just released a figure of the main character and I preordered it
Lovers in a dangerous spacetime? It's pink I guess.
Well there’s lot of shovelware girly games out there. Your best bet would be cozy games https://cozygamereviews.com/cozy-games-on-steam/ maybe try a dating sim or two? The KFC Dating sim https://store.steampowered.com/app/1121910/I_Love_You_Colonel_Sanders_A_Finger_Lickin_Good_Dating_Simulator/ is free and one my absolute favorites. Granted, it’s stupid, it’s cheesy, it’s anime, it’s taking itself a little bit too serious, but I like it. One of my friends recently loved house flipper 2 https://store.steampowered.com/app/1190970/House_Flipper_2/ a game where you clean houses, sell them, later even get to design your own houses. Also one of my new favorite cozy feel good games is little kitty big city https://store.steampowered.com/app/1177980/Little_Kitty_Big_City/ I just love the writing and the atmosphere of this game! Oh, and the Style-Boutique game series on the Nintendo 3 DS! If you know a tech savvy person who can Mod a 2DS or 3DS you can get the console for cheap and put the game on there from the internet. My wife and one of my coworkers loved these games!
[I totally want to start a thread about how Red Dead Redemption (GTA but it’s the wild wild west-era with cowboys) has the best horse riding experience in any game until now and how a horse riding game with the mechanics would be amazing, but I’ll just plant this seed here and hope for some game-dev to see it.]
Can second Little Kitty, Big City, but would recommend getting it on sale. There's not a whole of content or replayability for the regular price, imo.
Totally! I think $15 is fine though
Check out Windstorm! It’s an upcoming game that is basically what you describe, just set in Mongolia.
https://www.themanequest.com/ is all about horse games, by an equestrian game dev. You might enjoy it. I am not a horse person but the articles are a fun read.
House Flipper 2 is great. I wish missions were less linear, but it's probably the best "home designer" game out there.
My niece introduced me to LKBC, and so far it seems like a lot of fun!
A lot of !cozygames@lemmy.world and !lifesimulation@lemmy.world games would fit. !otomegames@ani.social are romance visual novels aimed at women interested in men and a lot would fit too.
!infinitynikki@discuss.tchncs.de is an open world dressup game very marketed at women and has that soft pink color scheme, warning for being a F2P gacha game although you can progress without ever spending money. I usually avoid gacha but gameplay is legitimately good and "good gameplay," "high budget," and "for women" is a combination this game hits that I do not see too often in video games. (Other commenter is right there is a lot of girly shovelware.) There is combat, but it's definitely not the main focus. Very soft and pink. You might also like Beglitched (DEFINITELY pink and soft), and Style Savvy for Nintendo DS. I have been meaning to play both of those so I can't offer perspective on if they fill the romance ask, though Beglitched has combat. You might also enjoy Slime Rancher, also lots of pink and soft. Although it's also not combat-free it's not the main point either. Cattails was fun, kind of like Stardew but with cats instead, although as with Stardew combat does exist (though if I recall correctly it's optional and not the main focus).
Now probably my recommendation least like what you are asking for: I love the Touhou Project series. Don't let the male-dominated fandom and the tons of sexualized art of the characters fool you, the games don't sexualize the characters at all—I would feel very comfortable showing them to a 5 year old or Grandma. It is basically a bunch of superpowered women from Japanese mythology/folklore shooting very pretty lasers at each other. The focus is actually combat here, but I figured I'd give it a mention. Not specifically aimed at women but it's not not aimed at us either. Lovely music too.
Source: am girly girl who also plays video games
My first Touhou game was on PC-9801, "The Highly Responsive to Prayers." I think its the first Touhou game ever made? Not sure. I am not really much of an Outbreak or Arkanoid fan though, so I didn't really care for it.
Then I tried "The Story of Eastern Wonderland," which was extremely different from the previous game. I liked it more, but danmaku Shmup style games aren't really my thing. They're fine for a 30 minute stint, but I usually don't play those kinds of games any longer than that.
I am sure Touhou has branched out since then, is there a Touhou game you might recommend that is different from those?
Most of the main series are shmups, but they have a few fighting games. I had a lot of fun with them! That would be Immaterial and Missing Power, Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, and Touhou Hisoutensoku. There are more recent ones too, which I admit I have not tried: Hopeless Masquerade, Urban Legend in Limbo, and Antinomy of Common Flowers. Cool to have found a PC-98 player!
There are also many fan games out there of different genres! A metroidvania, a puzzle game, long list… https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Fangames
A little to the left is a cute puzzle game that might fit that category
Peggle! It's a very fun and unique brickbreaker with lots of silly and cute characters, art, and music.
Not super girly/pink overall, but can be enjoyed by pretty much anyone.
Check out Flower by ThatGameCompany
Well, all of their game would fit to be honest 😆. Journey, Flow, even Sky if you are into cute social MMOish game.
Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
Very fun and puzzly and you get to play as Zelda this time.
Already mentioned.
Not yet mentioned (at least that I saw)
Potionomics!
Fantastic story, voice acting and mechanics. It's such an odd mix of deck building, crafting and VN romance. Yet it delivered on all fronts with a solid character writing that kept surprising me.
And what fantastic charming animations
Don’t know if this fits the bill for you or not but my partner occasionally falls into the clutches of the Sims on their laptop. They’ve customized their installation with lots of outfit + hairstyle mods and expansions, so you kinda get to make it your own
I'll add Spiritfarer. It's not "pink" per se, but it's a much more "happy feelings" game. It's about taking lost sould and ferrying them on your ship, talking to them about their lives and feelings, and you can give them hugs of course.
Happy feelings, maybe.
Cry your heart out, absolutely.
Gourdlets.
Throwing in a recommendation for Tiny Glade. Not so much a game as a sandbox where you make small cottages, towns, or castles. Lots of options in photo mode for showing off your creations.
A recent one is Wanderstop, loved the vibes on that one. If you want to read more I wrote up some demo impressions here: https://lemmy.world/post/26452334
god how'd you snipe what I was about to recc within 48 seconds...
Great minds think alike? Feel free to add your thoughts, more perspectives are always nice!
Hello Kitty Adventure Island is the game my friends and I use when we want something that isn't a shooter
Highly recommend Haven. Has some combat but it's very minimal and it's mostly slice of life focused on the romance of a pair of runaways.
100%. Played this with my wife and we bought the vinyl afterwards. Such a chill exploration game, especially with a partner.
Not really "pink", and lacks romance, but very pleasant: Dave the Diver. Cozy-ish game with nifty characters. Only thing would be I don't know if you meant "no/minimal combat" because you don't want the mechanics or the vibes. Dave has not particularly challenging combat mechanics, and paw patrol levels of violence levels (although you are catching and eating fish).
If you like park builders, Zoo Tycoon is cozy as hell. Beware the DLC trap though. You can get the base game with a lot of meat pretty cheap, but the DLCs are like $10+ each and not really a good value IMO. But the game has a great vibe with some really neat mechanics that try and imitate real conservation efforts.
What would check the boxes through a "Hot Topic" lens is Promise Mascot Agency. Surprisingly wholesome, completely off the wall, combat is all card/deck builder based... I... it's a hard one to describe.
Doughnut county checks all the boxes but is rather short. Katamari if you haven't done it.
I hear good things about, but have not played: Naiad, Tempopo.
Easy recommends if you liked Stardew Valley.
Weird recommends would be My time at Portia/Sandrock. They absolutely have combat, but have romance systems and a cuter aesthetic. Even the enemies are derpy/cute.
My partner’s been playing Fields of Mistria and the art direction looks like it’s Game Boy Advanced era which is kinda neat.
She’s always complaining about forgetting to put the chickens away xD
I second Fields of Mistria. It's just better than Stardew Valley in my opinion, in almost every way.
You could try Animal Well. Dark yet pastel-oriented colorschemes. Minimal "combat" but more of a puzzle and exploration style of gameplay. More mysterious than scary. Mild peril. Not romantic in the slightest, but very original.
Doki Doki Literature Club
Do not. Great game tho
Great game, but definitely pay attention to the warnings the game gives the player, not only in the game itself but also on its Steam/download page.
Again, amazing game. But not a game for recommendation without a warning of its extremely heavy and violent content.