The not so good stuff: The lack of immediate depth combined with the short bursts of gameplay means it can be difficult to maintain your motivation to play once you’ve missed a few days. The game looks brilliant and beautiful on the Switch screen, which is saying something considering you’ll spend a portion of play each day viewing the world in black and white. Cozy Grove has all the familiar trappings of the genre (fishing, crafting, collecting, and events) as well as a fantastic story to enjoy as you while away your time on the island.Īlso, the hand-drawn art direction immediately reminded me of Don’t Starve, and that’s a good thing. There’s a general feel of chill in everything Cozy Grove has to offer.Īnd there’s a lot on offer.

The storytelling is top-notch and the writing is cute and funny. Your goal is to aid these bears in their transition while exploring the island and interacting with its inhabitants. There, players meet a sentient fire and several of the aforementioned ghost bears.

The good stuff: I won’t get too deep into the story, but Cozy Grove has you create a character called a “Spirit Scout” who goes camping on a haunted island. It doesn’t want all your time, just a little whenever you’re in the mood. Not just as consumers with hundreds of entities competing for our attention spans, but as humans with mental health concerns most game makers don’t bother themselves with.Ĭozy Grove respects that by conceding it’s not the most important thing in the world. This is a fantastic and brave approach to game development.

You pay your hard-earned money for a game and its developers essentially tell you to play on their terms. But then I realized Spry Fox wasn’t trying to sell me any shortcuts, loot boxes, or other crap.įrom what I’ve been able to discern, Spry Fox intended for players to experience the game in small bites over months at a time rather than exhaust its content in a week of marathon play sessions. On first inclination, this feels a bit like a rip-off. Once you’ve done everything you can do, you’ll have to wait about a day to do more quests. Most players will find the game’s combination of task-based quests and character interaction take up about 30 or so minutes a day.

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