I’m back for the third and final post about the Cozy Grove: Camp Spirit (Spry Fox) demo. I want to talk about what I liked and didn’t like in the demo. I have said that the aesthetics are not my style, but they grew on me in game one. Let me rephrase that. The environments are vivid and the bears are cute; it’s mostly the player character that leaves me feeling a bit empty. I got used to it, though, anad I loved being able to dress them up as I wished. There were so many cute outfits, and I had to buy them all.
Here’s my post from yesterday about the basics of the first game and how the demo has differed so far. In this point, I’ll talk more about that and what I hope the sequel will have. And won’t have. Oh, and I’ve included the trailer from the original game below since I’ve included the trailer for this game in the last two posts.
I left off the last post by talking about how the quests seem much easier to finish in this game than the first, at least in the demo. I have mixed feelings about that because while it was frustrating in the first game to have to wait literal days to finish quests, I’m not sure I like finishing them in a matter of minutes, either. Then again, they may just be the first steps to a bigger and longer quest. I think I would be pleased if that was the case. I think that would be a good middle ground. Have some quests that can be finished in the current session and some that might have to wait until the next day.
Actually, that might have been how it was in the first game. It’s been some time since I’ve played it, so I’m not sure. It’s weird, though, because the ones you do in the moment seem to be too easy to finish. I will say I was frustrated by one thing. There’s a way to fix the bus, and you have to find several different parts. I could not find one part for the life of me, and I realized that it’s because they did not want you to find it in the demo. Or maybe not at all beacuse once the bus is fixed, presumably it can be driven. Though how it was drivin onto an island, I am unsure.
I hope that the cast of bears I have to help will be as memorable and endearing as they were in the first game. I’m a bit wary of the content creator bear, but I mean it is part of the current social landscape. Meaning, it’s a valid job, so there’s no reason it shouldn’t be represented in the game. And yet, I’m a bit wary because they are already doing the ‘like and subscribe’ vibe that is so off-putting to me. They, themselves, though are very sweet.
I like that in the first game and in this game so far, there are a wide variety of characters. It’s one thing I appreciate in cozy games–so many of the devs are deliberate about maknig their games inclusive. Not just racially, but sexual orientation, disabilities, gender identity, neuroatypicality, etc. Even religion has been touched upon in some games, as well as spirituality. Death is definetely dealt with, too–and in a sensitive manner.
I just watched the trailer for the second game again, and you can have an animal companion! That you can throw a stick to. I was going to say it was a dog, but it looks like either a really fluffy dog. Like maybe a Labradoodle with a bblow-out. I did not notice that in my first few watches of the trailer, and I’m even more hyped now.
And you can become friends with snails! That’s exciting as well. There were plenty of insects in the first game, but you couldn’t do anything other than capture them.
One thing about the games that I’m not sure I like or not is that there is an collector who wants one of every new item. There are hundreds of items in the game, and it’s annoying to have to donate one of everything. At least they let you know when you have a new item because there are, as I said, hundreds of them. Several hundreds, even (maybe).
I was going to say that was part of the plat for the first game, but I’m suddenly not sure it’s true? I think it was, but–I checked the achievements. It doesn’t seem like you had to get one of each new thing for the plat, but I’m pretty sure I did it, anyway. You did have to find several different amounts of new things, which was hard because as I said, the resources changed from season to season.
If I had five wishes for the sequel, they would be as follows:
1. They keep the variety of things to do, but maybe streamline some of the actions. Things like if you made something at the bakery, it took real time to be mailed to the mailbox. Usually like twenty minutes or so. Which doesn’t seem ilke a big deal, but it feels like it drags when I really need that thing I ordered! Also, again, I get what the devs are trying to do, but this, to me, is on the side of wasting the player’s time.
2. They keep the focus on the bears and their life stories. That was probably my favorite part of the first game–going deep into the lives of the bears and how they ended up dying. Going with them on their last journeys on earth was precious and special, and I hope they can replicate it with the bears in this game.
3. They find a way to make it easy to clean up the island. I’m not the best of planners, so I tend to put the resources willy-nilly, whereever there are open spots and friendly environs. Each living creature has preferences as to what they like and don’t like to be next to, which can make it a pain down the road. Also, my island ended up looking so messy by the time I was done with it. I didn’t like it, but there was nothing I could do about it at that point. I just winced as I walked around the island and tried to ignore the mess ihad created.
4. They can cut out half the mini-games. I ended up doing them as little as possible about halfway through the game because they weren’t fun. There’s a new one added which is cleaning stuff with a puffer fish water spray. The problem is that it doesn’t hit the objects like you think it would, and I have a hard time finding the sweet spot as to where I should stand to spray. It feels like busy-work, to be frank, which I’m pretty sure the game does not need.
5.I’m actually find if they don’t make any big changes. The first game is one of my favorite non-From games of all time, and it was such a comfort to me once I got out of the hospital. Huh. I just looked at when I got the achievements. I got one for playing in three seasons two days before i ended up in the hospital. And I got the one for playing in four seasons exactly three months later. That makes me smile wistfully because of what happened during that time.
Then nearly two months later, I got the plat after finally getting the worst achievemnt in the game. It’s the worst because it so grindy and takes forever. I wil talk more about it in the next post.