We hit the ground running hard in November to put out reviews for cozy games and with just two people managing the site, I think we did well. But, because we put out so many, you may have missed a few!
So, here are the reviews from November and an additional segment about games that we got a review code for, but didn’t love. At Comfy Cozy Gaming, we don’t generally like to put out reviews for games we know aren’t going to get a kind score for whatever reason we may find it lacking. (These reasons don’t necessarily mean it’s a bad game, we just didn’t find it to be a good fit for our site.)
Instead, we’re going to touch lightly on them in these round-ups since the developers were kind enough to offer us review codes and there may be more information you’re looking for on these titles.
November’s Cozy Game Reviews
My Time at Sandrock: We really loved the open world aspect of this game. The customization of your character, the design of the town, and the questing systems create a really fun game to play and offers hours and hours of content.
Image: My Time at Sandrock / Pathea / PM Studios / Focus Entertainment
My Little Universe: If you’re looking for a way to explore and upgrade your gear, then this is the game you want to dive into. We had a lot of fun with this game and it’s a really chill, fun experience. Also, it’s multiplayer, so you can play with your friends!
Image: My Little Universe / Estoty / SayGames
Universe for Sale: If visual novels are more your speed, you’ll want to pick up this one. It’s a stunning sci-fi story that holds a lot of mystery and fun. One of the mini-games can be frustrating, but we’ve created a guide for it, linked in the review. So, give it a try!
Image: Universe for Sale / Tmesis Studio / Akupara Games
The Bunny Graveyard: This game oozes with nostalgic retro game inspiration, a deep story with plenty of room for theorizing, and an art style that’ll make you long for the games of 20 years ago.
Image: The Bunny Graveyard / Pichon Games
Backpack Hero: This one is a really unique, super cool gameplay mechanic with a lot of unnecessary bulk. If the entire game was just the dungeons and backpack mechanics, this score would have been even better. Luckily, there’s a Quick Game mode. Definitely not the coziest game, but still a good one.
Image: Backpack Hero / Jaspel / Different Tales / IndieArk
March of Shrooms: To be honest, we weren’t sure about this one initially, but once you get through the tutorial and understand the controls, this game grows on you. The levels are quick to get through, the style is adorable, and it’s a great way to pass the time.
Image: March of Shrooms / KWT Games / Freedom Game
Sticky Business: We loved this game. If you’ve ever wanted to run a sticker business, you’ll love this, too. The best part is getting to create your own stickers from dozens of unlockable options. It’s charming and fun.
Image: Sticky Business / Spellgarden Games / Assemble Entertainment
A Short Hike: We gave this older game a 10 in both game and cozy score. It’s an adorable little game that lets you explore, collect, race, etc. We really enjoyed discovering things on this island and highly, highly recommend giving it a go.
Image: A Short Hike / Adam Robinson-Yu / Whippoorwill Limited / Adamgryu
Games we didn’t love
Yard Sale Simulator: This game only just released, but we got an early review copy and it just wasn’t for us. We had trouble with the controls and tutorial right from the start. But, beyond that, finding and fixing up the items just wasn’t as fun as we had hoped. Unfortunately, things didn’t move fluidly when switching between tools and, overall, it felt more like a chore. Definitely give the free demo a try before deciding to buy.
Book of Hours: This game may be surprising to you that it’s on here since it’s got extremely positive reviews. We were taken in by the graphics and the promise of the marketing calling it cozy. However, it’s the opposite of cozy. There is ZERO tutorial. You are thrown into the deep end and good luck finding your way out. This is a game where you have to brute force the answers in hopes of finding the right combination. If you’ve ever played Doodle God, that’s basically what you’re doing: throwing elements together and praying it works.
It seems as if you need to have played Cultist Simulator before giving Book of Hours a try. This isn’t something that is stated outside of Steam reviews, but you learn this system through CultSim. Why they didn’t deign to put in a tutorial that could be skipped for the familiar players, I’ll never know.
Additionally, both of our staff writers played it and through the mind-numbing action of just fitting things together and hitting the combine button, one of us accidently destroyed the book that’s needed to play and complete the game.
Sure, it says before hand that you can’t come back from it, but you’ve already built up the muscle memory of just clicking automatically. Everything that you do starts a timer to complete, so you combine, hit the button, and it begins to count down. It was a particularly cruel joke to combine the book in a way that destroys it, hit combine, and retroactively read that it was was actively destroying the book with no way to reverse that action. Thus, watching the several second countdown to the end of the run.
Also, if you get this game, be sure to be mindful of the time limits. You will lose your helpers at the end of the day.
Nora: The Wannabe Alchemist: Ultimately, there wasn’t anything wrong with this game. The visuals are darling, but the point and click aspect didn’t work out well for the Switch version which is what our code was for. Not only that, the gameplay was VERY cyclical and felt more like a chore than a fun experience.
Also, for some reason the Switch game is $19.99, But, on Steam, you can get it for $4.99. It’s definitely not worth the full Switch price, but if you’re looking at the game, definitely go for the Steam version. It works better with a mouse and that’s a fairer price for the game.
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