Move Over RPGs, 2024 Is The Year Of The Cozy Game

2023 was the year of the RPG, and so far 2024 has been keeping full steam ahead on that path. I’ve written about my RPG fatigue already, and since then, I’ve enjoyed a good amount of time going back to my roots (get it?), stepping into the mucky boots of Waluigia, my Stardew Valley farmer who looks like Waluigi’s fraternal twin sister, mustache and all. But as much as I love Stardew Valley, I’ve also written about how I’m a little burned out on it after this much time. While last month's update breathed new life into the game, at the end of the day, I was still playing the same title I bought eight years ago.

But I had to wait a little bit to really dive into the meat of the Stardew Valley update, since it launched the afternoon before I left for Boston to attend PAX East. Instead of running around and burning my energy on the farm in pursuit of mastering the skills I already feel confident I've mastered, I spent the whole weekend standing on the show floor instead.

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It was fantastic, of course, but anyone who’s ever been to a convention of that scale can tell you how truly taxing the long hours on your feet can be. On top of that, I’m usually an introvert who functions best on her own, so I found myself “turning it on” for the weekend, letting the hype of the convention push me through when chatting felt like the last thing I had the energy to do.

I took some exciting interviews (and whipped Final Fantasy Tactics fans into a stir), I played exclusive previews (and loved them), and there was everything else in between to see on the show floor, but the bulk of my appointments were for cozy games. Outside of the time I spend entrenching myself in RPGs that take dozens of hours to complete or mystery visual novels that task me with solving gruesome crimes, cozy games are my bread and butter.

The two that stood out to me the most were from the same publisher, Armor Games. Though all four of the titles they had on offer looked enticing, both Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge and Snacko were highlights of the weekend. I’ve written full previews for the games as part of our PAX coverage, but since I had the appointments back-to-back, it meant I had an hour in the middle of a busy convention hall to zen out and do something wholesome.

Aurelien Condomines and Melanie Christin are the French duo behind Humble Reeds and have been developing Kamaeru together for a few years now. Their summary on Google says they’re “making wholesome and meaningful video games,” and I believed them immediately. In Kamaeru, not only are you farming, crafting, making friends, and logging about 500 unique frogs in a photo journal, but you’re also helping to save three ecosystems from the brink of real danger.

After Kamaeru, I was sure there could be nothing as comforting, but then I sat down to play the demo of Snacko on the other side of Armor Games’ booth. As I played, I giggled with the rep from developer Bluecurse Studios about how utterly adorable and purr-fectly sassy my cat, Momo, and her childhood best friend, Mikan, were. We washed up on an island together and were immediately taken in by the most grandfatherly, quintessentially Southern Georgia gentleman of a cat. He taught me how to garden and craft, as well as built me a house, before we even broached the subject of my cats restoring the island.

During another day of the convention, I also made a stop at Whitethorn Games’ booth, where I was meant to play four adorable-looking titles but wound up falling so in love with Slime Heroes that that was all I did for the hour I was there. I snagged a code to try out Botany Manor, a quaint gardening-based puzzle game set in 1800s Victorian England that asks you to help botanist Arabella Greene finish splicing new plants and writing her scientific research book, “Forgotten Flora.”

I didn’t get a chance to see Whitethorn's other two games, Magical Delicacy (a mystical cooking title) or Mythwrecked: Ambrosia Island (where you solve mysteries for forgotten Greek Gods), but I will be playing them on launch, just like the two I did see.

Cozy games are at their best when they offer tangible goals, ways to see your progress unfurl in front of you, without forcing you to hurry along. You’re encouraged to stop and smell splice the flowers, or photograph the frogs, or talk to the cats, but there’s never any rush. In the middle of a weekend all about hurrying and trying to see as many things as I could, it felt wonderful to sit down and have a second where all I had to do was garden. I can’t imagine how soothing these comfy titles are going to feel in my own home when I play them as a breather from everyday life instead of from convention hustle and bustle, but I can’t wait for 2024 to be the year I find out.

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