Best MMOs That Don’t Require Combat

Summary

• Star stable: Collect horses, customize avatars, and explore an open world without combat.
• A Tale in the Desert: Build a utopian society through resource management and crafting in Ancient Egypt.
• Palia: Enjoy a cozy open-world adventure with no combat, a great story, and an active community.

MMOs can be intimidating spaces to enter for new players. When combat enters the equation, this can raise the pressure even higher: who hasn’t seen clips of insane overreactions to missed shots or insufficient heals? Some players are looking for social experiences that center on something other than killing bad guys — after all, video games provide escape. Sometimes, people are looking for a peaceful place to escape to.

Plenty of single-player games cater to this audience. The rise of the farming simulator following the popularity of indie RPG Stardew Valley is a significant chunk of the gaming market these days. What is rarer is a non-combat game with online social capabilities: combat-based games have ruled the MMO scene for years. Still, there are a few titles pioneering the cozy, no-fighting genre.

5 Star Stable

Horse Girls Rejoice

• Release Date: September 25, 2011
• Platforms: PC, Mobile
• Developer: Star Stable Entertainment AB
• Collect horses
• Customize a rider
• Open world

Collect horses and race, go on quests, and dress them up with adorable horse accessories in this 2011 horse game. There is no combat in Star Stable: only friendly competition on the magical island of Jorvik. There are tons of customization options for both the player’s avatars and their steeds with regular updates every month.

This game does use a subscription service, but they allow players to test the waters in a small trial area. There are also plenty of items that can be purchased with real life currency. Either way, this is the primo horse girl game available (other than Red Dead Redemption 2, of course) and will require no weapons or fisticuffs.

4 A Tale In The Desert

Live A Regular Life In Ancient Egypt

• Release Date: February 15, 2003
• Platforms: PC
• Developer: Desert Nomad Studios
• Resource management
• Crafting
• 2003 graphics

While the graphics are quite clunky, this MMO based around raising animals, crafting, and advancing technology has a lot of heart. Players can choose a faction and work with their community to build a utopian society. This game focuses on long-term progress and teamwork and runs on an 18-month cycle. The closest thing players will experience to combat is a card game called “Rite of Command,” which determines discipline.

This game has fishing, beetle-breeding, firework making, and a setting that gives players a lot of insight into the history and people of ancient Egypt. There is a reason it has maintained an active player base since its launch way back in 2003.

3 Fae Farm

Fairy Friends

• Avoidable combat
• Farming
• Build and customize a homestead

Like if Stardew Valley was an MMO, Fae Farm has lots more to offer than combat. The art style and world design are both beautiful, and the community is alive and well. Though players may choose to enter dungeons, these can be avoided via invisibility potions.

Farm, catch bugs, and go fishing instead of fighting monsters — there is plenty to do in this game that doesn’t require a weapon. Plus, this game is available via a one-time purchase, so there is no chance of getting surprise charges or forgetting about a subscription.

2 Palia

A Cozy Open-World Adventure

• Active community
• Great story and NPCs
• Low barrier to entry

Palia has revolutionized the MMO formula by including robust RPG and simulation game elements. Players can find romance, customize their plot of land, craft, fish, hunt, and catch bugs in a beautiful (and only a little buggy) open-world setting. There is no combat; instead, players progress the story via solving puzzles and resource gathering.

This game does a great job of ensuring players interact with each other, as well — certain resources require more than one player to acquire. This online community is extremely active, so help is never hard to find.

1 Sky: Children Of The Light

Beautiful Puzzles As Far As The Eye Can See

From the makers of Journey, this beautiful and award-winning multiplayer puzzle game is the ultimate no-combat relaxing experience. Explore an open world with smooth animation and peaceful sound design to solve puzzles with friends. Players can customize their avatar, participate in seasonal activities, play music, and gracefully glide across seven kingdoms worth of content.

Sky: Children of the Light has a unique approach to character interactions as well — players communicate solely through gestures (and so there is no verbal combat to fear from this game, either). This makes for player interactions that require creative interpretation and problem-solving, which just adds to the fun of the puzzle gameplay.