Game News These video games are exploding on TikTok and showing how cozy games have created a new way of life for chill gamers
The cozy game, a phenomenon that has been elevated to the rank of a real modern way of life, is now complemented by a very thoughtful scenography of the content creators. We tell you about this trend that is not going to change.
Cozy games: a lifestyle in itself
Spotless white desk, custom-designed keyboards with pastel-colored keycaps, associated with often high-end equipment, matcha latte on the side, perfectly symmetrical in relation to the other elements of the office: the careful and surgical arrangement of the decorative elements of a TikTok video about cozy games is thought out down to the cute aspect, as a real scenographer would do. We can sense in the phenomenon a way of life that emerges from the codes of ASMR, LoFi music and Slow Life: The “cozy gaming scene” of social networks has built up sustainably since the Animal Crossing captivity phenomenon in 2020. Millions of views on a few hundred videos represent a trend that doesn’t seem to want to leave the platforms yet. We also sense a strong female presence, mixed with a whole host of other English-speaking concepts that are common on TikTok: the “clean girl”, “aesthetically cute” and satisfying content.
Maisy Leigh has one of the most popular YouTube and TikTok channels for casual gaming.
On Reddit and TikTok, we exchange the best recommendations: “What cozy games should you try when you’re stressed or anxious?”, “What cozy games can you play when you’ve just gone through a breakup?“, are the last questions asked in the thread on the subject at the time of writing these lines. If the terms were completely unknown to us, we could easily believe in requests for remedies to solve psychological problems. The leisurely game is an outlet, a personal therapy, a privileged moment of relaxation like a game of Doom Eternal that you would play to calm your nerves after a tense interview. In the community, we scour Breath of the Wild for its long grassy expanses and delight in a series of independent productions focused on renovation, farming, exploring nature and even animal management: Gunhouse, House Flipper, Palia, Shin chan: Me and The Professor on Summer Vacation The Endless Seven-Day Journey and Hometopia are all games that are spontaneously mentioned in the latest videos published.
Shin chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation The Endless Seven-Day Journey
But what is a cozy game?
In summary, we can define a “cozy” game (in French “cozy”) as any video game experience that can convey a feeling of comfort or calm.Kevin Squire, a professor at the University of California, even notes that the subgenre helps “Waves of calm in the body and brain“. To go a step further, in 2017 a group of game designers launched Project Horseshoe, a study community dedicated to analyzing the design of cozy titles through the prism of Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley, two principle-driven games based on growth, self-reflection, and creativity:
« Many things that might be perceived as cozy (e.g. kindness, romance, wealth, cozy aesthetics) are audiovisual sensory stimuli that are often familiar to the player and evoke images or memories of safety, security, sweetness, and contentment. »
Comforting productions that you can ideally imagine on a rainy day, snuggled up under a blanket, but which also do not ignore hard topics: “Spiritfarer”, for example, tells the journey between life and death through watered-down representations and lovable anthropomorphic animals. Stella, a soul mediator, welcomes her visitors on a floating ark, where she builds rooms and other infrastructures that serve their comfort.
Ghost driver
Another common point of so-called cozy titles is of course the aesthetics: very colorful graphics, well-rounded features and rather honest art, very representative of the software tunnel promoted by Wholesome Direct every yearthe annual flagship of cozy games broadcast on the sidelines of E3. The last edition once again highlighted a series of promising projects such as Hotel Galactic, a management game at the intersection of the worlds between Animal Crossing and Ghibli productions, or even Monterona, a title to build peaceful cities from streets “From the stories of your Italian grandmother“. A sandbox subgenre that is currently trending and whose codes we find in the very popular Tiny Glade, whose theme is castles. “No management, no fighting, no wrong approaches: relax while you transform meadows into pretty dioramas“, we can read in the official description. In cozy games, Developers generally disable the four basic needs of protection, thirst, hunger and securityWhat still needs to be achieved is connection, self-reflection and self-control. Dangers, threats and responsibilities are also concepts that, with few exceptions, are excluded from experience : The mines of Stardew Valley are full of monsters, but the game continues to be a haven of peace for its millions of fans.
Why do we talk so much about cozy games today?
But why are we talking so much about cozy games now? Because in reality, the subgenre has been around for several decades. Nintendogs, released in 2005? absolutely a cozy game. The Sims, Harvest Moon? also cozy games. And Myst, released in 1993? also a cozy game. Many would argue that the first of these was “Little Computer People”, released in 1985; the premise is quite simple: a man sits with his dog at the player’s computer screen, tirelessly carrying out mundane tasks. Yet it is precisely today that the subgenre is experiencing its golden age. How? Some people notice that many casual games are accessible on very mainstream platforms: smartphones and the Nintendo Switch.
“People need a label to understand that the game is different. It is non-violent. But that label could disappear in a few years because it will be normal for everyone to play these types of games.” – Luka Lescuyer, co-founder of the Montreal company Alblune, for the gaming industry.
In recent years, game design has changed to keep pace with the evolution of a society in which people are increasingly looking for relaxation from work pressures. For me, it’s mostly because I’m constantly exhausted. When I come home from a stressful day at work, make dinner, put the kids to bed, the last thing I want to do is do something that gets my adrenaline pumping. I want something relaxing before bed », suggests Ekyou on a Reddit thread. Cosy games are all about improving the spiritual wellbeing of the player, with more attention paid to social issues and nature than other types of gamesDaniel Cook, a member of the Horseshoe Project, points out that players are motivated by the opportunity to practice skills and emotional goals that are often overlooked, and regularly emphasizes a core idea: humanity: ” To the extent that togetherness creates spaces of abundance, it provides focus in chaos and enables us to pursue our highest, most human goals. »
