What is your definition of a "cozy game"? What makes it cozy?

[ZedClampet]

To me, and I may think of more later, but it's:

1) Violence and the threat of death are very minor parts of the game, and if you do die, it isn't punishing.
2) You aren't under the gun. Whatever it is you are doing, you can mostly do it at your own pace.
3) The story isn't morbid, grim or sad.
4) The art direction isn't "grimdark".

If what you find relaxing is a hectic PvP battle, then you aren't into cozy games. Some things are just not cozy.

 

[Brian Boru]

No stress, no adrenalin, no discomfort.

 

[BeardyHat]

To me, and I may think of more later, but it's:

1) Violence and the threat of death are very minor parts of the game, and if you do die, it isn't punishing.
2) You aren't under the gun. Whatever it is you are doing, you can mostly do it at your own pace.
3) The story isn't morbid, grim or sad.
4) The art direction isn't "grimdark".

If what you find relaxing is a hectic PvP battle, then you aren't into cozy games. Some things are just not cozy.

Definitely agree with most of these, though I almost consider a lack of story to be important. Story requires my attention and I can easily get bored with it if it's not engaging or if I take a break and forget what's supposed to be happening.

Though this isn't always the case, but I feel that it definitely has merit for myself. Been playing Last Window: The Secret of Cape West and while it's a great, relaxing game to read/puzzle through at bedtime, I'm not sure I'd call it cozy.

But, to add to your list:

5. A series of tasks, relatively minor and only requiring a modest amount of strategy.

Snowrunner is cozy for me right now. Thinking about what route I will take to get a load of planks from one end of the map to the other and then executing on that. Minor strategy on my way to my destination as I need to think about how I'm going to tackle some obstacles without getting stuck or tipping over.

But maybe this is all just the gaming mood I'm in right now.

 

[neogunhero]

I can classify a game be as cozy if I play it in a ‘cozy’ manner. For example in a lot of open world games, I find it very relaxing and cozy to explore the world at my own pace. Although there may be lots of violence happening around me, I can manage to avoid it and continue exploring. Exploring the rivers of Far Cry 6, the streets of Cyberpunk, or even the wasteland in Fallout 4 can be very cozy and relaxing. When I’m in that sort of mood, I can avoid violence, I can explore and do my thing at my own pace, I can enjoy the scenery, I can feel a part of the world, and usually there are some minor side tasks like picking up collectibles, ammo or crafting resources along the way. These moments of calmness in otherwise violent action games can be classified as cozy to me, but I also recognize the stark contrasts between a game like Far Cry 6 and Stardew Valley. In my examples, it’s mainly playing the game how I want to play, not necessarily how the game was meant to be played. “Cozy” games are designed around that whole principle, so it’s a totally different thing. Unconventional I know, but those kinds of games can bring the most relaxing gaming moments to me.

 

[ZedClampet]

5. A series of tasks, relatively minor and only requiring a modest amount of strategy.

That's a good addition. It means, though, that some games that feel cozy to me aren't actually cozy games, like Satisfactory or Factorio (with enemies turned off). But, like @neogunhero , they are cozy to me even if they aren't technically cozy. Maybe they are cozy-likes.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

To me, there are different levels of "cozy." I think something like Minecraft Creative Mode is going to be hard to beat. Not only is there no conflict or time limitations, but even the music is very soothing. No Man's Sky is up there, but there are times when you get attacked, so it's possible to have some stress. But overall, it's pretty chill.

For me, I'm ok with a little conflict, but there are two things I'm not ok with: 1) Time limits. I could be really good at a game's gameplay, but as soon as you add a time limit to something, it's going to stress me out a lot. 2) A game being too hard just for the sake of being hard. Cuphead was a good example of that. Some people get into playing games on the highest difficulty mode. I rarely change a game from Normal. I play games to have fun, not to prove something.

 

[Brian Boru]

no conflict or time limitations, but even the music is very soothing

Lots of games outside you folks' experience—being limited and blinkered in your outlook, poor sods—have time as their way to the stars. But a couple of recent Match 3 games I played both had number of moves as the metric for performance measurement. Now those were chill!

Storm Tale 2

Jewel Match Bavarian Palace

If you play in Limited Moves mode, then you can Alt-Tab when you like, or walk away and come back, or… whatever, no stress. Ideal for when LPGs—Limited Players' Games—feel like a tanker of liquid petroleum gas about to blow up in your face!

 

[ZedClampet]

Lots of games outside you folks' experience—being limited and blinkered in your outlook, poor sods—have time as their way to the stars. But a couple of recent Match 3 games I played both had number of moves as the metric for performance measurement. Now those were chill!

Storm Tale 2

Jewel Match Bavarian Palace

If you play in Limited Moves mode, then you can Alt-Tab when you like, or walk away and come back, or… whatever, no stress. Ideal for when LPGs—Limited Players' Games—feel like a tanker of liquid petroleum gas about to blow up in your face!

Limited moves aren't just confined to your dumb mobile/Facebook games, although I've played a few of those too. The recent Xcom games also had missions that limited the number of moves you could make. And that green power game I played a couple of months ago also had move limits.

 

[Brian Boru]

your dumb mobile/Facebook games, although I've played a few of those too

Not one of those is mobile or FB, and you should be SO ashamed for having simulated picking Mickey Rooney's pocket—ie stooping so low!

Of course Cyberpunk is on mobile now, so no surprise if my desktop PC games also got ported over for the squint-loving crowd.

 

[Inspireless Llama]

To me, and I may think of more later, but it's:

1) Violence and the threat of death are very minor parts of the game, and if you do die, it isn't punishing.
2) You aren't under the gun. Whatever it is you are doing, you can mostly do it at your own pace.
3) The story isn't morbid, grim or sad.
4) The art direction isn't "grimdark".

If what you find relaxing is a hectic PvP battle, then you aren't into cozy games. Some things are just not cozy.

No stress, no adrenalin, no discomfort.

If it's not part of something else, I'd add "no frustration" to that list too. As soon as a game gets frustrating, it's not cozy anymore. Hence why I don't think Stardew Valley would be a cozy game to me. Just walking arround in Far Cry 6 is though. Actually one of the few games where I didn't walk arround much beccause as soon as you got away from the mongoose, it actually was relaxing to walk arround in the woods.

Bejeweled 3 is what I would call a perfect cozy game too.

Other than that, I haven't played it much (yet), but I find Founder's Fortune pretty cozy so far. Also House Flipper. I don't know why, but for some reason the tasks that I would hate to do IRL do make games cozy.

 

[Pifanjr]

I think A Short Hike is the most cozy game I've played and I think it fits every criteria mentioned.

 

[Zloth]

I think the player is a big part of the equation. If my mom were to try a "cozy" game, I'm pretty sure she would still find it stressful. Having never played games before, the simple act of moving around is going to be new and challenging! Conversely, if you play a game a lot of times, it's going to become more and more cozy.

Definitely agree with most of these, though I almost consider a lack of story to be important. Story requires my attention and I can easily get bored with it if it's not engaging or if I take a break and forget what's supposed to be happening.

Unless it's a story you've heard before - or at least heard the major points, with some of the minor points changing on a new play-through. Like maybe playing through Baldur's Gate 3, then playing through again from another character's perspective. There are some "New Game+" modes that let you re-play a game at max level, removing almost all the challenge - those would probably feel pretty cozy.

I really don't do "cozy" much myself, though, at least with games.

 

[BeardyHat]

I think the player is a big part of the equation. If my mom were to try a "cozy" game, I'm pretty sure she would still find it stressful. Having never played games before, the simple act of moving around is going to be new and challenging! Conversely, if you play a game a lot of times, it's going to become more and more cozy.

Unless it's a story you've heard before - or at least heard the major points, with some of the minor points changing on a new play-through. Like maybe playing through Baldur's Gate 3, then playing through again from another character's perspective. There are some "New Game+" modes that let you re-play a game at max level, removing almost all the challenge - those would probably feel pretty cozy.

I really don't do "cozy" much myself, though, at least with games.

It's definitely a mindset that varies by person; my wife in particular likes "puzzle" games like Mini Metro and Ticket to Ride; she can play these for hundreds of hours casually just to kind of shut her brain off.

As for story games: Even if it's something I've played before, I still want to hear the dialogue. For whatever reason, my memory is awful and I can't ever remember anything, so it's almost always "new" in a way to me. I have several story games I'd like to replay at the moment (such as the Gothic series), but just can't be bothered, because it's always so noisy and distracting at my house.