Gaming Furever
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The tagline of “cozy farming adventure on the high seas with an adorable animal companion” is enough to get me very intrigued by a game, and developer VoodooDuck had to know they had a great idea when designing Collector’s Cove, because that’s one heck of a premise. Truly, Collector’s Cove was like a pleasant bedtime tea; not overly in-your-face, and nothing too extravagant, but hits the right spot when you want exactly what it provides.
While just seeing the games brought back to a modern audience is great and is a step in the right direction for game preservation, this collection isn't really worth your time unless you grew up playing these titles and want to relive your childhood.
What happens when you combine archeology, puzzle-solving and hamsters? You get Hamstermind, the adorable puzzle game by indie dev Righteous Tree. Solve puzzles and dive deeper into a mysterious pyramid in search of treasure. The premise has just enough going for it to keep you intrigued and the puzzles themselves are actually pretty relaxing and cozy. I wasn’t ever bored in my time with Hamstermind. It’s not revolutionizing the puzzle solver genre but it also doesn’t need to.
Demon Tides packs a bombastic punch of peak platforming power that easily justifies its approachable price tag of $24.99 MSRP. You’ll get exactly what you’re looking for if the trailer piques your interest, and if campy convos and stylish schmovement sounds like your cup of tea, developer Fabraz brews an excellent cuppa with Demon Tides.
Rightfully, Beary Arms really surprised me. I legitimately had a good bit of fun with the title! Yes, it doesn’t bring anything new to the table and I get that this genre is starting to be a bit tired, but I still feel this is a fun game, especially for its low price. The fact you are playing as a bear in pajamas shooting guns should be enough of a selling point right there!
Woods, snow, a warm fire, and soft critters are the definition of cozy. Developer Pine Creek Games and Publisher Noodlecake bring all of these quintessential qualities together in the woodland survival game, Winter Burrow, to make for a nicely paced, albeit short experience that is best experienced in a few comfy gaming sessions.
Even after I was done playing, I still had the urge to go back for just one more fight. To me, that’s the mark of a good fighting game, if not game in general: If you still have the urge to keep playing, even after you’re done, then you know you got a hit on your hands. While the microtransactions may turn some players off, especially that ridiculous $100 USD Arcane Skin pack, I still say give this game a shot, even if you aren’t the biggest fan of League Of Legends.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in an actual fairytale? To approach the castle of your archnemesis, knock down the door and…find it converted into an office space? That’s the premise behind Escape From Ever After, a delightful rpg inspired by the classic Paper Mario games. If you needed a fun game to take you back to those days and scratch an itch you didn’t know you had, Escape From Ever After is for you.
Compared to their last title, I must say I was slightly disappointed in this game. While there were some bits of fun to be had and there was nothing game breaking in it, the admittedly mediocre gameplay, the difficulty spikes, and forced grinding really did sour my enjoyment of this title.
If you’re like me, you probably grew up with a Game Boy Color back in the day and poured hours into 8-bit adventures. I fondly remember my time with games like Dragon Quest IV, Oracle of Ages and a few others. Back in those days, the technology wasn’t very sophisticated, so game design was much simpler and exploration wasn’t guided by nav points. It’s that kind of nostalgia that Doki Monsters Quest chooses to invoke. Memories of bygone days where game mechanics were explained in booklets rather than in the game itself. This philosophy of old meets new works to both Doki Monsters' benefit and its deficit.
Is Legends Z-A the greatest Pokémon game ever? Debatable. But it definitely has its strengths. The changes to gameplay are a welcome breath of fresh air. The characters look great and Lumiose City is really pretty most of the time. There’s a lot to love and I’m definitely enjoying my time here. For now, there’s plenty to be had in the base package and I for one, am happy about that.
The gameplay of Bean Beasts did a great job of ramping up the right amount of difficulty as you unlocked new beasts and traps to help complete each level. Some levels really offered a good bit of challenge, which is a breath of fresh air for Tower Defense games. Some, I feel, are more to put you to sleep while playing on your phone just before bedtime. Not Bean Beasts though.
If you’re looking for a game with an unsettling but charming atmosphere, while hovering over wonderful wood crafted set pieces and constructing a crew from over 30 pieces to match your theme or playstyle, you’ll enjoy this game!
OFF is best played with a certain mindset. This includes a willingness to be frustrated by potentially hard logic puzzles, a desire to be presented with hard questions, and a want to play through a beloved piece of recent gaming history. I had no idea what to expect with OFF, but what I came away with was an appreciation for the ambitiously creative, yet simple world and story design, and a strange pull to see the surreal story through to the end, for better or worse. OFF is truly one of a kind.
Wildgate is tightly designed and has an incredibly satisfying gameplay loop when it “clicks” for you and your team. It’s not as easy to get into at its price point and gatekeeping of progress to PvPvE games only, but they absolutely accomplished what they set out to do, and that’s to create a unique, artistically pleasing spaceship battle extraction game that focuses on strategizing with your fellow teammates against 4 other crews trying to accomplish the same goals as you.
To me, this is a good representation of what a Cozy Game can be and one game I can see myself returning to here and there if I want to just relax for a bit. Yes, the waiting can get tedious and the happiness upkeep is a chore, but, hey, like Meat Loaf once said: Two out of three ain’t bad. Besides, what other game allows you to live on the back of a giant docile creature that wanders a Ghibli-like world?
Atomic Owl is a fun, if flawed, experience. Dashing through Bladewing City to save Judanest is cool and I appreciate that the game gives you plenty of options for doing so. There’s a cool premise behind it all, some interesting lore and lots of spectacle to look at it. As a platformer, it soars high and proud. As a roguelite, it’s still learning to flap its wings.
Utilizing a healthy dose of Balatro-like elements to boost your scoring power as you guide your bird along a roguelike migration path to reach their final destination, Birdigo excels at providing a simple game concept with satisfying scoring devices and a “one more round” addictiveness that makes it hard to put down.
Back to the Dawn is truly surprising. Its scale is much more deep than its surface appearance gives off, and you can tell how much the development team invested into the creative storytelling process. It shows in every decision you make, every animation of every animal character, and every story beat you hit. Living within and trying to make your escape from out of the prison feels important and impactful, and you really find yourself caring about (some) of the people locked inside there with you, and the people trying to help you get out (literally and figuratively) of the conflicts you find yourself wrapped up in. If you start Back to the Dawn, don’t expect to put it down until you finish it…and then finish it again.
I know it's fun to hate on Star Wars and Ubisoft but I implore you to give this game a shot. Outside of some small issues I had, I really had fun playing this game and it was one that brought a huge smile to my face, something that only happens with games that 'click' with me. I can easily see myself logging in more time on the Trailblazer exploring the galaxy...while also still struggling with Sabacc and remembering why I never got into these types of card games in real life.