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I really like this question, because it is not something I’ve previously given much thought to. Here is what I’ve come up with, in no particular order:
- Dense atmosphere. There’s a lot I could talk about here, but suffice it to say that the game needs to have Ｔｈｅ Ｖｉｂｅｓ.
- High interactivity. I’m spending most of my time engaged with the game world, as opposed to transitional elements like menus, lobbies, or cutscenes.
- Low friction. This doesn’t necessarily mean no challenges, but I shouldn’t have to feel challenged if I’m not up for it.
- No pressure to advance. I can just dick around for hours at a time for any reason, without consequence.
My go to ‘cozy game’ is A Short Hike, and it meets each of the criteria you’ve set out. Good list!
A Short Hike is A+ cosy for sure!
If I can leave it running without pausing and return 15 minutes later without any negative consequences.
What are some of your favourites when taking that into account?
Cozy games for me are like Stardew Valley/Harvest Moon, Sims and Cities Skyline, but you definitely have to pause them if your going away or you lose stuff and/or everyone panics.
I began Stardew Valley recently and have had to take a good long break because the clock ticking away was stressing me out to get places before a shop closed or a festival ended - not to mention the new season pressure to get crops planted before fainting in day one lest you lose a harvest cycle.
Definitely not the relaxing experience games like this intend.
The nice thing about Stardew is that there is no urgent “save the world” plot. So what if you get 3 rounds of crops instead of 4 this Autumn? You don’t have enough bars to upgrade a tool today? No worries, there’s always tomorrow. The game is entirely exploration and discovery, there is no “winning”.
I do know the 20 minute day stresses some people out, and there are mods to extend the day.
I can agree so far as crop cycles and tool upgrades go, though my main issue thinking of it was when I missed a villager birthday or a festival. I recall some only had entry window of five real world minutes or so. Miss that and it’s either reset the day or play another 40 real world hours until it comes around again. Playing on console myself, I don’t have mods that would benefit my play style.
Fortunately I feel the console protects me from falling into a Factorio coma haha.
This was my experience too. It seemed like most of my time was spent racing across the map to get home before dark. Not very relaxing.
Something like Animal Crossing immediately comes to mind. I have never gotten into Stardew Valley but afaik nothing bad shouldn’t immediately happen if you step away for a few minutes?
For my favorites within the genre, let’s say Unpacking.
Side note, personally I don’t find city builders like Skylines very cozy. There’s usually too much stuff going on. Maybe if playing with infinite money turned on.
Depends on how long those minutes are. If the end of the day hits you end up with halved energy the next day, Exhausted. Also, if the farmer is out of their house, even on the farm, without the It’s My Farm I’ll Pass Out If I Want To mod gold will be taken, and maybe inventory supplies if I recall correctly.
No fail state, or if there is a fail state that it is either not painful (low cost on death or the like) or is extremely quick back into a game (roguelikes/lites and starting a new game in seconds)
Probably also a softer style of art but it doesn’t have to be.
No way to lose and chill gameplay loop.
I would argue that dark souls would fit this bill. There is no way to lose unless you give up, i.e. no game over screen. And as I’ve been playing it since forever, I find it pretty chill running through once or twice a year. Dunno if I’d actually call it “cozy” but it is my gaming comfort food.
Dieing is losing.
Would you say you lose the entire game if you die in something like final fantasy? Lose implies a sense of permanence.
Would you say you lose when you reach zero hp in Stardew valley mines? It’s essentially the same thing, you just wake up the next day.
Edit a week later: I was trying to juxtapose the given rules. I was not trying to say “Stardew valley is dark souls.”
But good job hive mind!
I see what you’re meaning, when the game is more or less resetting you to just before you started the fight or what have you, if there’s no items lost or permanent repercussions to the death, then keep going around that loop.
However by this description, Call of Duty would be cozy. I think this post is more or less about games / game functions that don’t cause frustration or raised blood pressure.
In both titles you mention, it might not be ‘cozy’ for someone to spend fifteen minutes on either a boss fight or trying to reach level 100 in Skull Cavern, only to lose all that time and effort because your hitpoints or time remaining fall to zero.
This is exactly the point I’m trying to make…
Scenes of character I care about just chilling. OG Nier camp scenes and audible pleasure of eating stuff in Yakuza, each game having their personal little moments were my tiny special highlights of these games.
To me it was Anno 1602. Until too many pirates came 😂
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