Ever felt like just going online, calling up one of the old retro Flash game websites, and playing through a couple of cute girly mini games? Yeah… I get it. I too miss the old internet, even though I’m sometimes sad I didn’t discover it in its full glory back then.
Still, I had some great times with chatrooms and random sites like TopModel.biz or Club Penguin. I find it a given to sometimes yearn for the good old days. Especially the simple, free web games we’d search up during “PC class” at school.
To my surprise, however, I don’t even think this genre of game is dead yet! In fact, it has had quite the revival as of late. The only problem: it’s not all that easy to look for these games in a search engine.
Lucky for you, I have spent a number of hours on the great and mighty platform itch.io, browsing and rating jam games. During this time, I’ve stumbled over one or the other gem.
To preserve the fruit of my hard labor and curate a playlist of super fun, roughly 5-minute cozy, comfy, cute girly games, I now present to you: my itch.io girly game collection.
A hand-selected few of the games I’ve played, loved, or simply adored looking at. If you’re looking for entertainment on the internet that gives off those good ol’ vibes, look no further. I have all you need right here.
Side Note: games, hobbies, and interests don’t actually have a gender. When I call these games “girly”, I’m talking about a particular vibe, aesthetic, or feeling, not who I think should or shouldn’t play them. These are games I associate with a certain kind of cute, cozy, whimsical, nostalgic internet culture, but that doesn’t mean they’re exclusively for girls, or even exclusively for a particular age group. I think anyone can enjoy these games, and if the vibe speaks to you, that’s all the reason you need to give them a try!
Trust Know One
My first recommendation, which I discovered during my own jam rating period. While browsing the thousands of submissions with the random button, I found an adorably drawn thumbnail for a game about watering and caring for a plant.
The visuals, BGM, and concept were so endearing to me that it became one of my favorite submissions. The absolute bonus here: it’s perfect for a 1 to 5 minute game session. Especially if you can’t be bothered to click through multiple games and want to experience a lot of variety, I’d recommend popping this one into your playlist.
An Average Day at the Cat Cafe
Short, simple, spooky, and slightly addictive. A popular cozy browser game on itch.io that has a fun gameplay loop involving preparing drinks for orders ranging from perfectly normal to very mysterious, which you sometimes have to decipher.
It’s a great contender for the cozy game afternoon playlist and perfect for Spooktober due to its ominous night creatures. It’s also exceedingly simple and self-explanatory.
Play An Average Day at the Cat Cafe
I Seriously Cannot Stop Thinking About the Death of Gilles Deleuze
What an insane game for anyone to make.
This recommendation is an interactive piece of fiction that feels like an inner monologue most of the time and is absolutely different from anything else on this list. I had such a great, weird experience stumbling over this and giving it a play.
It’s a little longer, but certainly enjoyable if you like words, philosophy, and weird girl things.
Play I Seriously Cannot Stop Thinking About the Death of Gilles Deleuze
Literally Anything by lyamgtt!
For this spotlight, I raise you absolute Flash game heaven bangers such as Summer Dream Closet, My Tiny Garden, or Tamagomushi!
They look amazing, with that perfect feel and aesthetic that screams Y2K internet. The ambiance is immaculate, and they even offer some variety. Especially with the dress-up and customizing drag-and-drop games, I could just spend afternoons making outfits and taking screenshots of them.
The games are all so clean and pretty, and I can’t believe they’re always free too! Show them some love.
Snug
If you are in need of a super simple pastime, in the mood for funky art, or even just dreaming of a vacation, give this game a shot.
You basically just Tetris a suitcase with objects that are sometimes a little nuts. You can play for however long or short you want, and it’s still a fun time.
Goose World
GUYS, I LOVE GOOSE WORLD!!!
This adorable little Where’s Waldo-like game looks so friggen cute, and while it’s exceedingly simple, it’s just so well designed. The honks are hilarious. Did I mention there are little knife geese in there too? Like the meme?
Need I tell you moreeeee?
Put it in your girl game afternoon playlist right now.
I wish there were more Goose Worlds. I wish there were 100, perhaps 1,000 even. I would play them all.
Go take a look at the game and give it some love!
Stamp Collector
A surprisingly fun and logical minigame where you organize stamps by specific categories. A very quick playthrough with a fun, lovely idea behind it.
Supurrvisor
Lastly, of course I wouldn’t want to withhold this gem that won the last game jam from anyone.
In my opinion, it’s not only adorable but also super fun, well-executed, and witty. In this game, you are a cat taking care of a store while trying to bust shoplifting grandmas, Illuminati, toucan people, and the likes.
It can get a little tricky, even, but that’s the fun in it. Have a go at it and admire the adorably animated art style coming together with great game mechanics, a super fun gameplay loop, and hilarious wordplay.
Go forth and play some girly games!
I wish you all so much fun playing my little curation, which literally took me the longest time.
Itch can be a mess and an absolute nightmare to navigate. Even though there are soooo many hidden gems on there, it feels impossible at times to find any fun, free-to-play browser games, even though I suspect there are millions of them.
Some ways in which I research are by keeping track of and rating game jams. For the general direction of cozy girly games, I’ve much enjoyed submissions from Girly Game Jam and Winter Jam. If you want to have a go at the treasure hunt yourself, I recommend following them.
Other than that, it’s mostly just looking up the best tags for your interests and genres and doing a whole lot of scrolling.
I’m hoping to spotlight as many games as possible and maybe give them a little life outside of their respective jams. Playing and commenting can help the devs a ton with their own game-making journeys, and I’d just be so happy if this reaches some people who appreciate what they’ve made.
In turn, I am so excited to find sooo many more wonderful and fun cozy girly games, enjoy and appreciate them, and maybe even support the people who make them.
Thus, heed my words! This won’t be the last post like this. It’s merely the first.
GG!