Unpacking, Stardew Valley… why do we like cozy games?

2023-09-01 07:54:38

On Twitch, streamers accumulate hundreds of thousands of subscribers who watch them play The Sims or unbox virtual boxes and give you the passion of everyday life…

This article is an adaptation of our summer column broadcast on the program Un Monde Nouveau on France Inter on August 21. You can listen to it once more here.

You’ll be happy to know that I spent part of my summer – don’t judge me – playing matchmaker in a pastel-toned medieval village. I’m talking to you regarding Lakeburg Legaciesa simulation game from the French studio Ishtar Games released last July. The sole objective of this one: to create strong couples by dealing with their tastes and their aspirations, in order to make your small town prosper. For example, it is probably not a good idea to marry Cateline, passionate regarding jigging, to Arthura, who prefers to fight a duel.

Lakeburg Legacies belongs to the category of “cozy games”, in other words the comforting games. There is no competition, no feeling of failure, no obstacles that are difficult to overcome. This type of game is nothing new, they have been around for decades. But it is only quite recently that they have been given the name “cozy” or of “wholesome”, a term regularly used on the web to designate positive, friendly content that feels good.

Grilling mushrooms in Zelda

Streamers (because they are mostly women) claim to be in this category on Twitch, the platform where you can (among other things) watch other people play. These channels remain less consulted than those broadcasting shooting games, but some still accumulate several hundred thousand subscribers. Like LilSimsie, and his 765,000 followers. Every day, the young woman films herself during her games of Sims, the saga started in the 2000s, where we organize the life very plan-plan of small virtual beings.

Publishers are keenly aware of the interest in cozy games. At the end of 2022, Netflix, which is diversifying into video games, buys Spry Fox, an independent studio specializing in quiet and soothing games. On the other hand, developers of more traditional games incorporate comforting elements into their game. Pokemon Scarlet and Purplefor example, you can have a picnic with your creatures and in Zelda Tears of Kingdom cook mushrooms. These features do not bring much to the game mechanics, but on the other hand they provide an emotion to the players.

Reorganize a fridge

The other star game in the category of cozy games is called Animal Crossing New Horizons. It came out at the right time during the first confinement of 2020, a period when there was a great need to build a private island to welcome charming anthropomorphic animals. Sometimes the missions offered are even more mundane. In A little to the leftyou can reorganize a shelf full of books, a toolbox, or even a refrigerator.

The feat of these games is to make normally tedious tasks – like moving house or finding work – fun and even relaxing. In Unpackingwhere you unpack things from your boxes, heavy objects click away, clothes fold the same way, and empty boxes disappear on their own, with a satisfying little sound set to slightly soporific music.

The “set-up” must also be comforting

That’s what it’s all regarding with the cozy games : escape the stress of everyday life by recreating another daily life just as banal, but a little cuter.

To pursue the relaxing effects beyond the screens, players create a reassuring environment. Because there is no question of playing Animal Crossing slumped limply in your unmade bed. Instead, prefer a tidy desk, preferably in light wood. The computer, or the console, is of course the centerpiece, around which we find all kinds of small accessories: an iced matcha tea for example, stuffed animals, a cloud-shaped mouse pad and some green plants. Everything is bathed in subdued light, diffused by neon lights in pink-purple colors. You can see examples of this by watching the videos stamped cozygamingsetup (41.9 million views) on TikTok.

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