SweetieGames

I got my first Nintendo Switch, a yellow Switch Lite, during the pandemic. I bought it for the same reason I buy any other console; there’s a game I’m desperate to play. This time, it was the brand-new Animal Crossing: New Horizons. As I had finished my first year at uni, I had nothing better to do; I sunk over 200 hours into the game, trying to secure my favourite villagers and make my island 5-star worthy as quickly as possible.

I feel like I was able to do what I wanted in Animal Crossing fairly easily. It was my first foray into cosy games as an adult (I had played Wild World as a child, but the “cosy game” term was nowhere near as big back then). I could see what all the hype was about at last; these games are relaxing, enjoyable and low stakes!

A while later, my friend gifted me a copy of Stardew Valley, another well-known cosy game, so we could make a farm together. I enjoyed being shown the ropes, and of course played in my spare time, setting up my own farm. My experience playing Stardew was nowhere near as relaxing as my time in Animal Crossing. It seemed to be for serious cosy gamers. There was just so much to do! Chopping wood, planting crops, feeding animals, upgrading my house, speaking with the townsfolk, exploring the mines, rebuilding the community centre… I couldn’t do it all in the short amount of time the game allotted me in a day. The amount of times my character was fainting from exhaustion was unbelievable.

It felt so strange, being bad at this cosy game. This game was meant to be relaxing and low-stakes, right? So why was it so hard? Why was I constantly dying in the mines? Why was completing the community centre some kind of behemoth task I couldn’t overcome? Similar to my experience with open world games, I ended up getting task paralysis. There was too much to do. Infinite time, but also no time at all. I ended up focussing on getting married because I didn’t want to embarrass myself at the Spring dance again, and then dropped the game. I’ve barely played since.

I have respect for those who play cosy games well. I honestly think it’s a skill. Cosy games, like many female dominated genres, are overlooked and thought of as “easy” because they have no or minimal combat elements and are marketed as relaxing. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Sure, anyone can play a cosy game, but it takes some serious time management, task prioritising and design skills to be able to play one to its full potential. I’m always in awe of well designed Stardew farms or Animal Crossing islands. Trying to manage all the aspects of Stardew made me feel like I was working rather than relaxing!

Don’t take this as me disliking the cosy genre, because I do love it. I think I’m just not the best at farming sims! I need to be doing a different relaxing activity to fully embrace the comfiness of these games.