The "cozy games"

[ThirteeTooBeets]

In recent times I've seen the term "cozy games" thrown around to describe a certain kind of game, often a casual experience meant to be relaxing and most times low stakes. They also tend to share a more "cute" artsyle and music. They aren't a genre itself, since there are many games that could fall into the cozy category (farming sims, builders, puzzles, even some 3D platformers)
What's your opinion on these games? Anyone you like? Games that are not "cozy" but you find relaxing?
Also I recommend the "Wholesome games" YT channel to check out resent releases of these kinds of games and how popular I feel they're becoming

 

[jankusanagi]

I'd say 2048 qualifies.

 

[beefbowl]

Unless it's a puzzle game, I hate it. I hate the cozy gamer influencers. I made this image to convey my feelings.

 

[Raidou Kuzunoha]

Kirby's epic yarn and Yoshi's island. Makes me feel especially cozy during winter times.

*edit: I'd add Professor Layton too, particularly Curious village and Pandora's box. Something about those two specifically makes me feel cozy.

 

[jankusanagi]

GTAs can also be very cozy if you just drive around and do peaceful stuff without taking on missions

 

[ThirteeTooBeets]

GTAs can also be very cozy if you just drive around and do peaceful stuff without taking on missions

I whould literally play GTAV only to pick Trevor and hunt deer for hours, the sunset behind the trees was magical

 

[castformisop]

Egg(Ps1) is super cozy

EGG - (NTSC-J)

 

[Raidou Kuzunoha]

Unless it's a puzzle game, I hate it. I hate the cozy gamer influencers. I made this image to convey my feelings.
View attachment 29188

Sims slander?? How can you hate the game where you can unapologetically commit mass genocide by deleting a ladder from a pool.

 

[Leifang]

To me, many RPGs qualify if they're not too number-crunchy... and to some extent, adventure games. Anything with good atmosphere that can be used to explore and hang around instead of just fighting and strategizing.

I love exploring and doing mini-quests in Baldur's Gate 1 or Fallout... you know, only loosely following main story and just immersing into the world, isn't this how people generally play Bethesda games? I like Bioware-style games more.

I remember doing mining for over an hours in Mass Effect 2 between assignments, fully exploring random planets in ME1, and listening to all random NPC dialogue on Citadel.

 

[Lee__Kanker]

I'll give you my cozy games

 

[Crabulon]

I think certain games fit the mould moreso, like Minecraft say, but I find the original 3 episodes of DOOM and DOOM II, and the first Resident Evil are quite cozy games nowadays, because I'm so familiar with them, and their difficulty has been far surpassed since. I occasionally listen to the original Resi safe room music to mellow out.

 

[psvitaforever]

For me "cozy" brings to memory the "Animal Crossing" title for DS, probably because it was the first time I was seeing a real-time game... I've tried the 3ds and switch AC titles recently, and it felt like Number 6 in "The Prisoner" show (I can't explain why, I had good memory from the ds title, a relaxing and enjoyable experience, but in the newest ones it did not feel the same).
Another "cozy" game I played was "Trio of Towns Story of Seasons" for 3ds, I enjoyed the cute graphics and the different towns and overall the experience, but I would say the "cozy" feeling came mostly from the graphics, the music, the idea you could do what you want, even if the more you play the more you must do A LOT of things to advance with the story.

While I can't say I dislike the genre, I prefer other genres like RPG or racing.

 

[Lee__Kanker]

I think certain games fit the mould moreso, like Minecraft say, but I find the original 3 episodes of DOOM and DOOM II, and the first Resident Evil are quite cozy games nowadays, because I'm so familiar with them, and their difficulty has been far surpassed since. I occasionally listen to the original Resi safe room music to mellow out.

I love how the spencer mansioon looks and feel, so "warm", it's all the old timey furniture and wallks combined with the music..

 

[Leifang]

I think certain games fit the mould moreso, like Minecraft say, but I find the original 3 episodes of DOOM and DOOM II, and the first Resident Evil are quite cozy games nowadays, because I'm so familiar with them, and their difficulty has been far surpassed since. I occasionally listen to the original Resi safe room music to mellow out.

FFVIII Garden music is my safe room music.

 

[Crabulon]

FFVIII Garden music is my safe room music.

I really need to get back to FFVIII some day. I got to disc 2 just after the prison, but I think I'll just start from scratch

 

[iamthemilkman]

I hate the whole "cozy" thing, tbh. Everyone saying "cozy" came out of nowhere like everyone saying "cooked," "y'all," etc.

 

[Cu-Neo]

I always play Mega Man legends 1 and 2 when I want something "cozy"

Rune Factory is another of my options.

 

[Strategist's iconStrategist]

I don't know if cozy is a word I'd like to be used to describe every game. Reminds me of someone eating cookies and sipping on tea while building their train set. Nothing against the farming simulators and minecrafts of the world but I like more drama and conflict in my games.

 

[lordofthekevins]

Im a deranged individual so my main Cozy Tune Out game is darkest dungeon. dungeon crawling go brrr

 

[Leon]

I'm not sure cozy is the right word, but the planet crafter is basically a game where all you need to worry about is food, water and air, none of which are hard to get, as the name suggests it's a game about terriforming a dead rock into a habitable world, no monsters are anything, i've probably played upwards of 1000 hours of that.

 

[opeb]

I'm surprised nobody brought up any Atelier games but that'd be my pick.
I don't go out of my way to choose "cozy" games on purpose but doesn't get any more laid back than cute girls throwing stuff into a cauldron while relaxing music plays.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

That's Stardew Valley for me.

 

[Yousef]

Manhunt 2 is pretty cozy.

 

[RanmyakuIchi's iconRanmyakuIchi]

Okay, hear me out.

I find stuff I'm super familiar with cozy. Games that I've played through a million times feels like coming home when I fire them up again. The actual themes present in the game itself doesn't really matter; it's the cozy blanket of nostalgia for something that still holds up.

 

[Yousef]

I see nothing wrong here!