As a writer, this is why I'll never condemn cozy books with happy endings. This type of media, whether it's games or books or music, helps real people get through crappy times intact, even if elitists sneer that overly happy stuff isn't this or that. Usually people who are going through the worst times irl are the ones who need avenues of escape most. If you're already living through crap, you don't need media to remind you of the crap, you already know good and well that crappy things exist.
this post was submitted on 30 Jan 2025
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I’m trying to write a story, and I struggled with this, especially when confronting certain realities:
- While fantasy, the story is meant to reflect some harsh political realities
- Multiple villains are killed, but the heartfelt good guys live.
- The ending has everything fixed and everyone’s happy.
I’m aware most stories don’t come anywhere close to a full happy ending like this. Every Batman story ends with Gotham still a miserable shithole. Every noir story ends with the case solved but everyone broken for it and the city still a dystopia. It generally has good reasoning, to reflect harshness of reality, but that’s a realm of fantasy I really want to venture into; one where things just work out.
As a reader, that's definitely why I do condemn overly negative books and other media. Even after reading all horror books available in the library as a teenager. Life's complicated enough by itself.
As a reader, I say "not for me" and leave overly negative things there for others to enjoy. The way I feel better is not reexposing myself to a reflection of all the ills in this world that I'm constantly being shown can be awful. But some people find catharsis in it! One man's trash is another man's treasure, after all. I am sure some people would dismiss some things I like as too saccharine and not realistic aka gritty enough.
My brain accepted this new piece of information and immediately tried to recalibrate my sense of wellbeing based on how much time I spend playing cozy games.
So there was a bizarre moment where I felt positively dandy.
Did anyone else get a mental health buff just from reading this headline?
The animal crossing thumbnail alone gave me a little boost. But I'm sure I'll just scroll on to yet another article about *****
That "may" is lifting a lot of weight on this one.
Would explain my excessive base-building and decorating in Subnautica.
My base with a billion aquariums full of cool alien critters definitely improves my mental well-being. ❤️
Thank Goodness You're Here was the last cozy game I played and I can't recommend it enough to literally everyone.
Matt fucking Berry makes it
So does the soundtrack imo. Idk why, but a lot of the songs are incredibly moving to me. Especially the track March, which plays a couple times in the game but most notably during the scene when you float up in the sky with a bubble.
Gods I need to replay it and go around slapping the English, again.
Are there any cosy games (that are not stardew or animal crossing) with an actual good artstyle ?
I like Paleo Pines myself. It's like Stardew and Animal Crossing had a baby about dinosaurs. It's absolutely adorable.
Chao Resort Island. A fan game that's basically a 2D/3D Chao Garden from SA2. It uses some sprites from the old Sonic Advance games, but it's just a fun little virtual caregiver thing.
Sonic Adventure 2 Battle: Chao Garden. The "true" Chao Garden experience according to fans online. I have the steam version so I have the popular Extended Chao World mods to make it better/easier to raise Chao.
A lot of survival crafting games (base building and decorating and such) can be cozy too, if you want them to be.
Rune Factory 4 looked really good on 3DS. The port on pc and switch looks... pretty bad honestly but it's still the same great game.
Obligatory mention of the fact this game inspired stardew ~~and it's better~~
Unpacked is pretty great.
A Short Hike - Super cute and chill.
Already played it and absolutely loved it
Everything was peefect
Arguably Brighter Shores is a cozy game and it's got an appealing art style to my eyes
G.R.I.S is short and not replayable but it's beatiful and deep from start to end. Cried a few times during the playthrough and felt relieved afterwards :)
Tchia has a tiny bit of fighting, but felt like a cozy game the whole time I played it. It was slower paced and easy to just explore.
Outer wilds has a lot of mystery to solve but is very relaxing and pleasant.
Both games I felt perfectly happy to just enjoy the sights occasionally.
That first paragraph put me off from the article because it positioned the research on gaming violence as if there were a positive correlation instead of reporting that it is actually negatively correlated. It also did not mention the positive research that came from the studies on game playing and eye hand coordination and the many other benefits video games have been proven to have. The author made it sound like this was the first positive thing about video games.
To me it seemed to try to say that most research done so far on video games is mostly about how violence in games affects people, not the positive benefits. Which is probably true that the majority (for a while at least) was about that.
Anyone who's looking for a great new(ish) cozy game, check out Natsu-Mon.
It would probably help to watch the Action Button review of Boku no Natsuyasumi for some context (yes, I know it is 6 hours long lol... but it's a really good video).
Can someone explain what is a "cozy" game?
Loosely: Games that make you feel cozy.
Does not necessarily challenge the player, might not even set goals. Has a certain aesthetic that is not drab or dreary.
Stardew Valley is considered to be a cozy game, as an example.
Loosely: Games that make you feel cozy.
I've never noticed a game having that effect personally 😅
I always thought of the word cozy as describing your physical comfort level as opposed to mental 🤔
think animal crossing, harvest moon, stardew valley, those games.
I've not played harvest moon, but I found stardew valley and animal crossing a bit tedious... I guess people mean games that have a lot of small low stress tasks that don't require much risk taking?
Just don’t ever start playing one while sick. My partner still cant stomach ac with sound on.