I was going to write about my perfect cozy game in yesterday’s post, but then I went completely off the rails. That’s because I found out the (dismissive and sexist) definition of coz games–by the way, apparently some people think the term started at the beginning of the pandemic and then go on at lengeth about that thesis, even though it’s not true. It’s so irritating–acting like they discovered this new thing and could talk about it confidently, even though they got the basics of it wrong.
I mean, that’s pretty typical of everything. Each generation believes they invented music, movies, and sex, so why not video games as well? I will say that the pandemic intensified the desire for people to play cozy games (Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo) springs to mind), but it wasn’t the birth of cozy games.
In addition, I hate the sneering tone that many people employ when they talk about cozy games. The genre has evolved leaps and bounds in the last five years, and to talk about them as if they were just ‘girlie’ games (ughhhhhh. Going past that with great difficulty because I cannot do yet another thousand-word screed about sexism and ‘cool girls’ in gaming) is frustrating. And even if they were, so what? Don’t non-men deserve to have games that cater to them as well? (No, I’m not saying all women and other non-men love cozy games, but many do).
Why is playing a game that is based on doing daily chores and building relationships with other people a bad thing? “Keep your politics out of my game!”? Hell, no. Make your game dripping in politics. The more, the better! Plus, it’s a piece of media like a movie, a book, or a TV show. I want to feel something as I play, and not just run around, mindlessly shooting people. I don’t need to have bulging muscles, a big dick, an empty brain, and a cigarette dangling from my lip. Hey, look! I can do the gross stereotypes, too, though I did have to hold back the bile as I typed that.
I don’t play shooters, in a large part because they are first-person, which I can’t do because of motion sickness. But equally, I don’t play them because I don’t like mindlessly shooting enemies for hours on end. That’s boring to me, and I much rather mindlessly farm (literally or figuratively) for hours on end. And talk to the people around me who I may or may not be able to bonk. Er, woo.
Here’s what I want in my cozy games.
1. Strong relationships. I have cried so many times while playing cozy games. When I played Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall), I identified so strongly with the main character and wanted her to be OK. My heart ached for her as she was her own worst enemy, and she could not help fucking up her life. She was me when I was her age (early college), and it was refreshing to see someone who was such a hot mess in a video game. Not someone who was just a bit outside the norm. Or a bit quirky. Mae was a complete hot mess, and it felt so real.
I have included the theme song for Spiritfarer (Thunder Lotus Games) above, and it still makes me tear up when I hear it. I should have known that a game with the tagline, “A cozy management game about dying” would not just be about doing daily chores and hitting on my neighbors, but I did not expect it to be so powerful. It hit me in the gut early on, and by the time I ended the game, I had gone through the emotional wringer.
There was one character, Gwen. She was a hard-bitten, cynical deer who liked black coffee and cigarettes. She consumed a ton of both. She and I had been friends when we were kids, and I knew that she had a rich father, but he had been abusive to her. I related so much to her, and every time she opened up a little, I cried. When it came time for me to take her to the Everdoor so she could tak her final journey, I couldn’t do it. I knew I should, but I just could not. I kept her with me for much longer than I should have, but something in me just clung to her.
There has been some discussion as to why people like cozy games with animals as people. Both the aforementioned games have this conceit in them. For me, it’s not a question of making the game cuter, but I like animals better than humans. In addiition, there’s a universality to them that isn’t there with people. The traits shine through more than the physical appearance, and I can get past the latter in order to see the former.
2. An unflinching look at real life issues. Both of these games tackle a panoply of issues that affect people in real life. In the former, the game is set in a dying rust-belt town. The economy is terrible, and people are leaving in droves. Mae has several mental health issues, and the game is quite frank about them. She has body issues, too, which doesn’t help with the mental health issues. It all feels very real to me, and not something that’s just thrown in there in a performative way.
In Spiritfarer, they deal very frankly with death. That’s the main point of the game, in fact. In addition, there is someone who has dementia; someone who has delusions; and someone who…let’s just say I have very complicated feelings about that guy. In the end, though, I shed a tear because of how tortured he had been in his life. I felt his pain at thinking he was worthless. The game was very good at evoking my empathy for the characters–even the ones I didn’t like.
3. Decisions that actually make a diffrence. In Night in the Woods, there are times when you have to choose who you want to spend time with. You can’t spend time with everyone every day, and it makes a difference for the end game as to who becomes your best friend. In addition, one thing I really appreciate about this game is that if you only do the rudimentary things, you get a bare-bones story. If you do optional content, you get layers added to that story. I missed an NPC completely by not going far enough to the left. Yes, I missed a whole screen/environment because of this.
That game is brilliant. I want to go back to it because I missed a few things in my three(!) prior playthroughs, but I’m afraid that I won’t get the same feeling if I go back again. There are many reasons I haven’t touched that game once again, but I don’t want to get into it now.
I’m done for the day. Will be back tomorrow for another post.