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Escape Academy or similar type of escape room/puzzle games might work.
Slay the Spire 2 has a good co-op option. And technically any digital boardgame (ticket to ride for example) would meet your vibes.
Maybe a little more intense, but Rayman Legends/Origins are pretty cozy.
Any of the Lego games would probably work.
Peak has an "easy" setting that just makes it a goofy teamwork based game.
This might be a weird suggestion but deep rock galactic sort of fits this theme in my mind. I found it to be pretty chill on the lower hazard levels, you can hang out and play mini games in your base ship between missions. Lots of fun multiplayer, upgradeable classes, short missions, funny VA and themes..
Haha I’ve watched my husband play this and I wouldn’t have thought it as cozy. I see what you mean about it being lower stakes though. Now he wants to see us play so we may give it a go thank you for the suggestion!
Rock and stone!
It's really good about not pressuring players too. You get slightly bigger rewards for pmaying on higher difficulties / completing missions faster / doing extra objectives and so on but the rewards are only small power boosts and lots of fun cosmetics. You can do what you want at your own pace and not feel like you're missing out
Dome Keeper is a really fun up-to 4-player co-op game about digging for minerals beneath a dome and defending it from creatures on the surface who try to break in every so often.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1637320/Dome_Keeper/
It's mostly a chill game, but the defense of the dome can be exciting, though only one player needs to actually man the defenses, the rest can continue to mine below ground.
Great recommendation!
And there is an accessible game play mode available that turns off the dome defense portion of the game, as well.
Palia is free to play and keeps expanding their game. No problem if you just walk away, no player health meter, just focus to get extra XP from the things you are already doing. Fun for solo, duos or more. Has hunting creatures that are more challenging to track down, basic supply gathering via wood chopping and mining, crafting of all kinds of stuff, farming and ranching too! Crazy they still have it for free.
I also recommend Palworld as others have suggested. Or Valheim, for it's darker grim cousin.
Maybe unconventional recommendation, but FFXIV has an extremely generous, unlimited time free trial. Like hundreds of hours of free trial. Most of it's dungeons and content is designed for roughly 4 players concurrently (tank, healer, 2dps), though every class does lots of damage so nobody is just standing there bored. There's combat of course as an MMO but it's pretty relaxed pace most of the time. But this is a big commitment of course.
Core Keeper is basically Stardew Valley + Minecraft. You kill bosses and stuff but also mostly gather resources and farm and upgrade gear.
Factorio and Satisfactory has multiplayer, if you enjoyed the automation and progression part of Stardew Valley.
Raft you are on a raft at sea — you all work together to upgrade your raft.
I've heard good things about Dinkum and Grounded and Coral Island but haven't tried them yet.
Thank you so much for your detailed reply! These are all amazing suggestions and I cannot wait to give them a go
You missed a big plus for FFXIV - it's controller support is next level. People successfully do end raids with a controller just fine.
If MMOs are on the table Lord of the Rings online should also be looked at. Peak cozy
+1 for Dinkum (Think multiplayer animal Crossing but with minimal combat, progression, and Stardew Valley-esk day timer instead of real time) Also +1 for Grounded, it's more survival crafting and combat but still a great vibe.
+1 to Palworld. The difficulty/accessibility settings are very good for achieving co-op chill vibes.
Tiny Bookshop! Stardew valley vibe but the core gameplay is more relax as you decide the kind of books you store on your shelves and give book recommendations to your client. Very chill
Looks so cute thank you!
Witchspire - similar to Palworld, but "witchy" themed
Terraria will literally run on your phone and you can set up a world to suit your needs ie. No combat etc.
Valheim is good for a bit of building and exploration.
Terraria looks super accessible and fun thank you for the suggestion! Valheim looks so pretty as well. Thank you
Edit - I somehow missed the multiplayer part. For that, try Torchlight 2, it willl run fine on a laptop from 2005.
Single player:
Tactical Breach Wizards
Brilliant writing, awesome characters, and overall extremely well done turn based game. Has a rewind feature that is integrated into gameplay in a way that both makes it more fun and even less stress.
Well done graphics with slightly more than potatoe requirements.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1043810/Tactical_Breach_Wizards/
Powerwash Simulator.
Chill game about basically just going around a bird sanctuary and taking pictures of birds.
It's an early access game about sledding... Kinda self explanatory as to what you do in game.
Edit:
Cannot confirm right now whether they got controller support, but most games do anymore so it shouldn't be a huge problem.
Lovers in Dangerous space time and Pico Park come to mind. Sorry of couch co-op vibes but can be online.
These look like fun, thank you so much for the suggestions
Sky: Children of Light (dont do the season pass shit, just play the main story with your friends and then let it be done and it will be fun)
Webfishing (no controller compat)
Flock Around
Of course, imo, Project Ozone 3 for Minecraft Java 1.12.2 is the best chill game for me, everyone on their own island, just tinkering with their shit. I do go into creative mode if we play this way and immediately setup connected portals to everyone's islands so we can all come and chill and watch other's progress if we want (but its such an early progression that we dont do that anymore, you gotta earn the right to connect to the portal network)
All of these look like fantastic options thanks so much for the suggestions. The webfishing game looks so chill I’m excited to give it a go.
Depending on what you enjoy Minecraft on peaceful mode may be an option :)
An awesome thought thank you!
Glad its helpful! Have a good one, I hope you find some options you enjoy! ☺️
Raft, but you will die if you walk away too long but there might be settings where this isn’t the case. I have no idea about the controller since I never tried to play that way.
Ooo that looks like a fun challenge thank you
I recommend Heave-Ho even though it doesn't meet your second point. Dying is so funny, I often found myself doing it on purpose for a laugh.
In case you want something closer to Stardew Valley, a couple of good choices in that genre would be Coral Island and Fields of Mistria. Both farming sims with their own unique spins on things, can check both of them out and see if either one fits your vibe better.
Coral Island has been full release for a while now, but Fields of Mistria has its 1.0 official release on Aug 5.