Cozy Grove

Cozy Grove definitely lives up to its namesake as a cozy gaming experience, one designed for short bursts of play, where playing a little each day allows you to get more out of it than longer play sessions. The basic gameplay loop is limited, but the charm of the game world and the basic premise provides a relaxing sense of achievement. While it doesn’t replace Animal Crossing as your next time-sink, it does enough to provide a lighter and less demanding alternative.

Like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Cozy Grove's leitmotif is to take your time, while taking advantage of breathtaking artistic direction. Its positive attitude and its very chill side will delight fans but are unlikely to change the minds of those who do not appreciate the genre.

Cozy Grove is a fun and beautifully drawn life-sim game with a "spooky" twist that you can sink over 40 hours into at a relaxed pace. It's a charming game with lovely graphics and memorable characters. However, it does have a few bugs and pacing issues.

Cozy Grove is charming, to be certain. It definitely gives you a sense of purpose with its ghosts you can help find peace, collection to fill, and island to decorate. But there are also times when it can feel quite limiting. Once you complete your tasks for the day, you’re really done and your immediately available storage space can discourage you from prep work for ensuing days. Your supernatural neighbors aren’t good for socializing in the same way Animal Crossing’s villagers are. It can also feel a bit cluttered and difficult to find what to do, due to the color palette and environment. It is for certain a thing people interested in life sims would likely enjoy, but it feels very structured and interested in keeping you on its timeline.

Technically speaking, I'd recommend playing the game on something other than a Switch because I did see significant frame rate drops and the UI would benefit from a big screen, though I did enjoy sitting in the sun and checking off a few tasks for the day. Furthermore, the touch controls were a little finicky, and it's difficult to place objects exactly where you want them, unlike Animal Crossing. But, it's the curious text that accompanies the various odds and ends that intrigues me. Letters that arrive on the island, apparently unanswered, probing the appearance of a wrecked boat on the shores. As my collection of resources grows, I want to know what else is out there on this weird haven where the boundary between worlds is thin. It doesn't offer the very same adorableness of other games in the genre, yet its muted colours and purposeful pace is welcoming. If you're looking for a low impact and narratively engaging life sim, then spend a while on Cozy Grove.

Stardew Valley fans will feel right at home in this charming and beautiful game. Unfortunately, the more I played, the more flaws I noticed (e.g. fetch quests being the main course) and the more I was annoyed by poor optimization. Problems with the latter intensified as my base grew and they’re the main reason I couldn’t rate Cozy Grove higher. [07/2021, p.70]

Cozy Grove‘s time-gated content slowed the pace of play too much for me. I love the art style and bringing color back to the island, but when each session’s content ends up being exhausted after 30 minutes or less, it was too easy to forget the whole thing and divert my attention elsewhere. I do look forward to learning more about the spirits, I just wish it wasn’t so slow!

The title rings true, as this might be the coziest game I'll play all year. The lovable characters make for great friends, and the island's scenery is the perfect backdrop. The story of the Spirit Scouts shines through particularly well, despite how slowly it's told. Unfortunately, these high points are held back by confusing design choices. The gameplay isn't poor but gets a bit dull over time.

Had the characters been a little more charming, had each day’s play lasted slightly longer, and had there been something - anything - else to do outside of each day’s central tasks, Cozy Grove would be a much stronger game. But in such a crowded genre where everyone is struggling to emerge from the shadows of Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley, it’s hard to recommend a game like Cozy Grove.

If you’re looking for a very simple, very low-key game you can dabble in for a few minutes each day, then sure, Cozy Grove might be up your alley. Just don’t expect much depth or nuance in the way of gameplay here.

Cozy Grove is a game with tons of unfulfilled potential. A case of style over substance, it may give completionists plenty of reasons to come back on a daily basis, but every time you do, you have to deal with technical issues and repetitive quests.