It’s finally starting to feel like fall in Sacramento, and that means the urge to lay in bed and play video games is growing stronger and stronger every day. Typically those games might be a more traditional cozy game like “Stardew Valley” or “Animal Crossing.” But sometimes I’m looking for something a bit stronger, like adding a dash of cinnamon to my hot cocoa.

While these games might not technically be cozy games, I would argue that the definition of a cozy game is vague; if a game brings you comfort or relaxes you, that makes it cozy.

Diablo 4

Hot start, right? To be clear: you could likely swap this for any similar action role-playing games (“Last Epoch,” “Path of Exile,” “Diablo 3”), but “Diablo 4” being the most mainstream of the bunch actually adds to how relaxed you can be while playing.

“Diablo 4” was made to be more technically forgiving for newer players to the ARPG genre. This makes the mechanics easier to master so that you can be laying fully lateral with half-closed eyes, as you cleave your way through the forces of Hell.

Not only is it easy to play while laying completely horizontal, but it has a decent amount of goals for you to strive for as you play.

With new content drops (aka “seasons”) coming every few months, there are new quests to complete even after you’ve finished every bit of launch and expansion content – which is a lot. Plus, there’s a steady serotonin hit from the loot.

Whoever came up with the idea that the various rarities of items in games should have different colors depending on the item’s rarity is a genius, and I hope they were paid handsomely. Each time I hear that little chime and see a bright orange or – better yet – purple beacon shooting up from an item, one day is added to my lifespan. So far, I’m up by 120 years, and I’m getting worried.

Elden Ring

Yes, this is extremely biased, and yes, this is probably only a cozy game for me and a handful of other people, but this is MY column, dagnabbit! I love “Elden Ring”; I’ve beaten this game about seven times, and I’m sure by the end of the year, I’ll have beat it at least once more.

Of all the games on this little list of mine, this game is the one I have spent the most time playing while drifting in and out of consciousness. Yes, it is a difficult game; the combat is punishingly fast, and enemies have complicated attack patterns that respond to your actions.

Unlike the previous entry, it can be a bit of a beast to get the hang of. It took me a few hours of playing to beat the first major boss on my first playthrough. But like “Diablo 4”, it is well-suited for newcomers to the “Soulsborne” series.

Once you do get the hang of it, the Lands Between offer themselves up for you to explore. I had put nearly 740 hours into this game (don’t look at me like that), and I still stumble into things I’ve never seen before.

“Elden Ring” can simultaneously be the most difficult and the most forgiving of the “Soulsborne” series.

There is a reason this game is on here and not one of the other “Soulsborne” games I love. The openness of the world allows you to simply raid catacombs or fight other bosses, then come back to the difficult bit at your leisure.

RELATED: Console the rainy day blues with these 10 cozy games

Skyrim

I probably don’t need to do as much convincing for this one; “Skyrim” is a perfect sandbox adventure. You can spend hours just wandering around the expansive map, doing a sidequest here and there, ignoring the big world-devouring dragon that you are apparently supposed to defeat.

The sheer amount of content scattered around the province of Skyrim is staggering at times. About 270 sidequests and plenty of dungeons or caves are available to delve into for treasure.

This doesn’t even consider the mods. “Skyrim” has one of the largest lists of available mods out of any game.

Functionally, this means you will almost always have new content to play. In practice, this means you can dress up like Mario while fighting Thomas the Tank Engine with a Lightsaber.

Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen

Well, would you look at that? Yet another one of Jeremy’s favorite games is on the list. Interesting.

Look, by most estimates, this game shouldn’t be a cozy game. Its mechanics are strange and convoluted, the combat is frustrating and traversing the map can be a real pain.

But hear me out: once you adapt to all of that and head off on your quest to kill the dragon, Grigori, you’re left with a game that has plenty of adventure in store for the brave and foolhardy.

The game has nine different classes with fun abilities to rain chaos down on your enemies. There are a plethora of armor pieces around the world, so you can dress yourself up all nice and fancy. Plus, you can climb on the bigger monsters and stab them directly in the eye. You can’t tell me that doesn’t sound fun.

And when you’re done? Hop on over to Bitterblack Isle, a much more difficult area with powerful items to find. Or just throw yourself into the Everfall and fall forever – oh, that’s why it’s called that!