The Biggest Lie in Cozy Gaming

20 July 2025

7

the-biggest-lie-in-cozy-gaming — The Biggest Lie in Cozy Gaming

One of the most heart-wrenchingly sad moments I’ve ever experienced in gaming happened while I was playing Spiritfarer. I had been sailing around the world with my crew of odd passengers when one of them—a kind old hedgehog named Alice—started to forget me. It happened gradually, but eventually, every time I greeted her, it was as if she were meeting me for the first time all over again.

I watched with growing dread as getting around the ship became more and more difficult for her and as her memory faded, until one day we both knew it was time. I assumed my responsibility as Charon and helped Alice cross over to the afterlife, tears stinging my eyes. This was the moment that I realized that cozy games have been feeding us a lie all this time. It turns out that cozy games are not, in fact, low stakes.

Cozy Games Aren’t Low-Stakes At All

They’re Either About Boring Everyday Tasks… Or Death

The cozy gaming community has taken off in recent years, resulting in a surge of wholesome, lighthearted games. All these games label themselves as relaxing, low-stakes, and wholesome, but this is just window dressing.

Cozy games are more of a vibe, and so many of them aren’t actually low-stakes or even very relaxing. In fact, the best and most memorable of the cozy games are the ones that pack an emotional punch in the gut.

Love, Ghostie, Critter Crops and Cozy Grove

Plenty of cozy games have the perfect gameplay and vibes to accompany the end-of-year seasons; here’s just 10 games perfect to get comfy with.

A surprising number of cozy games are, after all, about death. Consider some of the most popular cozy games in recent years:

Spiritfarer is about ferrying the souls of the dead into the afterlife.
Graveyard Keeper has players make questionable decisions while managing a medieval graveyard.
Cozy Grove is about helping the local ghosts of a haunted campground.

When games aren’t discussing dark and difficult topics like death, they often lean into everyday, repetitive tasks, like farming or renovation. Even in these cases, though, it’s the stories of the characters and locations that keep us coming back.

So if the so-called low stakes of cozy games are either mundane tasks or literal death, it begs the question: What exactly is a cozy game, anyway?

The True Nature Of Good Cozy Games

How Do You Define A “Vibe”?

At their most basic, cozy games are games that let you relax, slow down, and sink into a routine. The best example of this is the way the cozy community has turned The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild into a relaxing game by avoiding all the fights and story, and instead just wandering around Hyrule, enjoying the scenery, and gathering collectibles.

Research has even shown that playing cozy games can improve players’ mental wellbeing with their “warm & cozy” feel-good vibes, while others, like Spirit City: Lofi Sessions, help players get things done in real life. And for some, that’s enough.

“The true nature of cozy games hides just beneath the cute and wholesome exterior—and it’s surprisingly dark.”

But the true nature of cozy games hides just beneath the cute and wholesome exterior—and it’s surprisingly dark. Games can be violent and challenging, and still be cozy, like the recent hit Cult of the Lamb, where players grow a cult following and sacrifice their followers at their whims.

Some titles are obviously cozy, like the repetitive nature of Power Wash Simulator and the soothing routine of Stardew Valley. But even those two games have lore (yes, even Power Wash Simulator has a hidden dark story, even if it’s hilarious and involves lost cats and disgruntled mayors).

Even the coziest, most wholesome games that truly have nothing but goodness are subjected to the dark whims of players—like Animal Crossing, which has more than its share of disturbing fan theories for a deliciously dark twist to an otherwise completely wholesome game.

A collage of characters from Sugardew Island, Tales of the Shire, and Hello Kitty Island adventure, three major cozy games coming out in 2025.

The cozy game genre is still going strong into 2025. Here are some of the most anticipated cozy games scheduled for release in the next year.

We’re reaching a point in the life cycle of cozy game development where we’re beginning to see games that poke fun at the conventions and tropes of cozy games, like the Scary Movie films did for the oversaturated campy horror movies of their era. Games like Wanderstop and There Are No Ghosts at the Grand turn the idea of cozy gaming on its head, subverting a lot of the common tropes and forcing players to confront the idea of cozy gaming head-on.

Cozy Games Are A Safe Space To Confront Difficult Topics

The Fluff Is Just The Cute Exterior

I remember reading once that fairy tales don’t show kids that there are monsters. Kids know that monsters exist—fairy tales teach them that monsters can be defeated. I think that’s pretty close to what cozy games actually do for players. For many, they’re an escape from reality, a way to relax and sometimes, even a way to heal.

So if you believe that cozy games like Spiritfarer and Stardew Valley are cozy because they’re low-stakes and wholesome, you’ve been buying into the lie. Low stakes isn’t what makes a good cozy game. It’s the ability to envelop players in a warm hug and allow them to sink into the relaxing gameplay, to bring the magic back into the mundane, and to give players a safe space to deal with potentially difficult topics like death.