Games

Spiritfarer

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.

Unpacking

A little to the left is a cute puzzle game that might fit that category

The first life is strange game. I suppose there is technically a violent part but it's not a game based on violence.

Oh, also the Life is Strange games are great.

I'm currently playing Research Story, that one is pretty cute. There are romances. I don't know about combat since I haven't gotten that far (just a few hours of play); it doesn't really seem like there will be combat, but there could be.

I'd also recommend Apico, Mudborne, Littlewood, or Fields of Mistria. I'm sure I'm missing a ton. I think Steam has "Cute," "Romance," and "Slice of Life" tags if you wanted to browse those on the storefront.

If you’re open to the idea of ditching a Microsoft product, I’d suggest Vintage Story as a Minecraft alternative that I think has a nicer aesthetic. It’s meant to be a sort of slow, “grindy” game, but if you sort of rewire your thinking to it being a slice of life game, akin to Stardew, I think it’s very fun. Fair warning the early game can be very punishing if you’re brand new to it, so explore the world and difficulty setting when you make your first save.

Somewhat cozy game with a femme lead I’m excited for is Cairn. It’s got a demo at the moment, but I’m very much looking forward to the full game. It’s technically a survival game about rock climbing, but if I had to guess the story will center the main character going through a lot of personal growth while attempting to scale a mountain (a la Celeste, also a great game) and overcoming a lot of adversity to regain some self confidence.

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".

Check out Flower by ThatGameCompany

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.

Already mentioned.

• Slime Rancher
• Fields of Mistria
• A Short Hike

Not yet mentioned (at least that I saw)

• Potionomics

• • A game where you play Silvia, a potion crafter who has taken over her uncle's shop on an island full of adventurers. You get to meet many kinds of people, both adventurers and not, and have a chance at romancing pretty much all of them (at once, if you select the polyamory mode). The art style is adorable (please physically release the cards, devs) and the voice acting is so well done.

• Monster Prom

• • Strictly a slice of life / dating sim about trying to get a date for prom. The cast of characters are very cute, as is the art style. It's also multiplayer if you're into that.

• Emily is Away

• • I believe this one is free. It's a nostalgia blast for those of us who grew up with instant messaging like MSN or AIM. It's been a while since I played, but I remember it being cute and very interesting.

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

Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

Very fun and puzzly and you get to play as Zelda this time.

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 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

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.

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.

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.]

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.

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

Magical Diary is a fun little game about being a teenage girl that goes to wizard school. There's 2 but I only played one: https://store.steampowered.com/app/211340/Magical_Diary_Horse_Hall/

My time at Portia and my time at Sand Rock are pretty chill. They're kind of like Stardew but 3d, and I liked them more. It has some fighting but it's very PG cartoon-ish. It has a major mechanic where you just hang out with the NPCs, or go on dates with them. The second game, sand rock, is better but they're both good: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1084600/My_Time_at_Sandrock/

Flock is an underplayed cozy game with no combat. You are a bird and you find other birds, sometimes not birds, to join your flock and fly around. It's completely chill and enjoys a really soft color palette (pink for sure but also purples, pale orange skies, blues, etc.)

Uhhh can give a game with no combat, but it doesn't have the rest. Well, female player character helps too, right? Heaven's Vault is a game about Aliyah and her traveling the rivers of the universe and finding artifacts or writing written in ancient and translating it. I like it, some prime find parts very janky. Can't die, I've tried in the few areas she can take damage.

Hello Kitty Adventure Island is the game my friends and I use when we want something that isn't a shooter

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.

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.

• Fields of Mistria
• Roots of Pacha

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.