The case for a boring game before bed

Not every game needs to grip you. Some of the best evenings I've had lately came from Greenhouse Keepers, a plant sim with no timers, no scores to chase and nothing trying to hook me back.

There's real value in a game you can stop at any second. You tweak a vent, water a seedling, watch a leaf uncurl, and put the phone down feeling calmer than when you picked it up.

Designers call this 'idle-adjacent' or cozy, but the label matters less than the effect. These games work because they trust you to leave.

My routine now is fifteen quiet minutes with a cozy sim instead of doomscrolling. It's a small change, and it works.