Came across this video critiquing the gameplay of some out of the sheer number of “cozy” games coming out recently.
Wondering what everyone’s opinions are on cozy games. Do you feel the same or do you have differing opinions on them?
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I think you should play whatever the fuck you enjoy and anyone who criticizes you for it can eat shit
They’re not really for me, as I find it difficult to relax while playing them, but I’m glad they exist.
Gaming had a real identity crisis around the 2000s, when every other game was a brown military shooter.
Now we’ve got cute games and cozy games and artsy games, and I feel like that opens up the genre to more people and enriches the whole medium.Cozy games are more difficult to make, though, because the gameplay is not anymore just “point cursor at screen and click in the right moment”. So, yeah, you will get some worse examples, especially as the genre is still figuring itself out.
There’s this concept in game design called game flow, which in simple terms is essentially what happens when a game is both engaging and challenging at just the right amounts to the point where you get immersed in the experience. You can’t have good flow without both some challenge and reward.
That’s why games that are too simple and/or easy are boring. I feel like that’s a very fine line you have to walk if you want to make a “cozy” game. How relaxing is relaxing enough without being boring? You need a minimum of challenge and stakes, because that’s makes good games good.
Cosy games are meant to be relaxing, almost stress-free experiences that revolve around repetition and reward playing them in small doses each day. I can understand why hardcore gamers don’t like them, but at the same time they’re not made for them.
I’m not a hardcore gamer, but usually mostly into RPGs. But I’ve also got hundreds of hours in stardew and thousands in the Sims. When I play one of those, I’m always low key scared to grow bored because I LOVE those games and I know that there won’t be another good one right around the corner.
When I got bored of Skyrim, I played the Witcher, and when I got bored of that, I played Fallout. Repeat ad nauseam, because there’s more playable, entertaining RPGs out there than any one human could play in a lifetime.
With cosy games, not so much. When you grow bored of one, chances are, there won’t be another one that’ll be enjoyable to you at all, and you’ll have to hope and wait that something good will come out at some point.
Are there cozy games that aren’t Stardew Valley?
