Is Gas Station Simulator a cozy game? Because I spent several hours this weekend cleaning up trash, throwing the junk out, sweeping floors, painting the walls, unloading deliveries, clearing out sand piles, scaring away vandals, scanning groceries… oh and pumping gas.
It also has the ghost of Elvis and a creepy mob boss, so is kind of in that Graveyard Keeper space too.
When did everyone start using the word liminal? Liminal is the new bespoke. :)
I love that game. I should go back
I dunno about everyone else, but I used it because it fit both literally (as the games occupy a point of transition between different aesthetics) and associatively (since the “liminal spaces” aesthetic that has popped up over the last few years often has a similar sort of vibe as those games – eerie or unsettling without crossing into truly horrifying or disturbing.)
Yeah, it’s a beautiful and descriptive word, perfect for that use, but it seems like it cropped up everywhere all of a sudden.
Not to mention the term “liminal spaces” being completely misused by all of social media as blanket term for “creepy space”
Very nice to have a thread like this. My last cozy was Wylde Flowers, a fantastic game that is one of the most inclusive you will ever find. Great voice acting, too!
I think Palia qualifies for this thread. Tho’ it’s live service online multiplayer, so not cozy if you find hell is other people.
Basically an open beta, but seem a decent foundation.
I’ve found other players pleasant and cooperative so far.
Dinkum caught my eye. An Aussie riff on the concept, still in early access. Looks to have more base building than others.
You forgot to add:
Which is really good and has been out for a few years already. None of this EA shit.
My GF and I enjoyed this game quite a bit.
I think Power Washing Simulator is my go-to cozy game.
Is it weird that my cozy game is Warhammer 40,000 Inquisitor?
Nope, not weird.
I also feel that a lot of ARPGs are cozy games for me. It might seem crazy, but when I’m playing Path of Exile with a build I’m familiar with (say a minion Necromancer) I don’t have to do much in the way of thinking, since I’ve played that build so many times before.
And now that I’ve been playing Last Epoch so much, I can sort of cruise through the campaign without thinking too much. It helps that the leveling part of the process is pretty easy.
I’ll second Wylde Flowers. It’s a bit of Stardew Valley with a lot of Hallmark television movie–in a good way! It’s on Apple Arcade as well as Steam.
Speaking of Apple Arcade, I’m finding Japanese Rural Life Adventure to be a real treat. Again, a good amount of Stardew Valley/Harvest Moon energy, but this one gets super detailed in a lovely way. You’re placing stones for your koi pond one at a time, and revarnishing torii at the shrine, turning branches into bonsai, and repairing the local waterwheel piece-by-piece. I’m running into a problem now keeping some of the specific Japanese terms straight in my head, but although there’s a seasonal calendar, I don’t feel any pressure to get my 21 lanterns ready for the summer festival on time, since there’s always next year…
I had mentioned I had a lot of trouble starting out in Stardew Valley, which I figured is probably the friendliest for a newb in this genre, so this time I’m going to read a guide like this first before giving it another try.
Mh, funny enough my “cozy games” tend to be the “wide open sandbox” type of games.
I tried Stardew Valley and a few games in the same vein, but the main problems I run across with those that I either attempt to overoptimize it (why sniff the flowers when I could corner the flower market and make a gazillion megabucks!) or run across my crippling fear of commitment. (So, marriage…oh, and raising kids…uh…look, over there! An obvious distraction! teleports out). So, that kind of game tends to stress me out, doubly so if there’s any blink-or-you’ll-miss-it opportunity windows or a ticking clock (you have X years before bad thing Y happens).
Rule #1 of game development: Unless you do something against it, Gamers™ will optimize every bit of fun out of your game.
Rule #2: If you do something to prevent it, they will bitch and moan.
ARPGs can have a certain zen-like pattern of clearing out monsters and looting them, but I consider them more of a skinner box than a cozy experience. Without the presence of the carrot (higher numbers go BRRRRR) I find the gameplay loop rarely to be enjoyable. Particularly not when “properly” optimized with a 1-3 skill build that’s basically "press 1 to murder screen, 2 to hover up loot and hit 3 repeatedly in case of bosses. That’s kinda dull. No matter how pretty the lights and how high the numbers.
I also hate repetition. Randomized layouts and events help to a certain degree, so does a large enough pool of events, but what for example killed Grim Dawn for me in the long run is the absolute rote world progression.
However, puttering around in for example the Mudrunner games? Happy as a pig in said mud, really. No Man’s Sky scratched my itch for a long, long time. Yes, the elements repeat. Yes, some worlds look REALLY similar. No, that never bothered me as badly as running the wild west section of Grim Dawn for the 10th time on the third character.
Give me toys. Remove undue pressure. I’ll make my own fun, thank you.
I feel the genre of ‘cozy’ is different than what is relaxing to play. I mean, I find aRPGs relaxing once I get into the OP build that I love, but they are not ‘cozy’.
Animal Crossing is still the pinnacle of cozy gaming, easily over 1000 hours and more, for me. I still think about it from time-to-time.
Definition spread is going to mess with the cozy vibe! Okay, everyone, hugs, love you all. Haha!
My Time at Sandrock jumps $15 in price tomorrow. Has anyone spent any time with it to say whether it’s worth grabbing before it does so? Does it do anything notably better/different than the first one other than the move to the desert?
Thanks for the heads up. I really liked the first one, so I am assuming Ill like the 2nd one. I bought it, but Ill sit on it until it is done.
Yeah, I looked at some impressions and decided to just go ahead and get it now. Going to wait until release before I actually play it though