The “Yakuza” series is renowned for being a Mafia-centered crime drama that tackles betrayal, family and escaping one’s past.
So, why is it possible for a player to sing their heart out at a karaoke bar?
The series is known for depicting serious topics alongside mundane activities such as fishing, gambling, or running a business. What is so compelling about having these everyday activities included in games?
I’m not talking about games like “The Sims” or “Stardew Valley” solely based in these real-life backdrops; I’m referring to games like “Grand Theft Auto,” going from a high-stakes heist to golfing at the Los Santos Golf Club. Or the plethora of turn-based role-playing games allowing relationships with NPCs by giving gifts and going on dates, seen in the “Persona” series.
Some games retain realism and the mundane, like “Kingdom Come: Deliverance II” or “Red Dead Redemption 2,” with their focus on the time period’s accuracy. These games emphasize and embrace the arduous yet more simplistic era, letting you do simple chores or maintain your hygiene in between bouts of killing and robbing people.
Aren’t we playing games to escape reality, though? It seems that escapism has begun to shift.
This era of “cozy” games began in the early 2020s, amid the Covid pandemic. Games like “PowerWash Simulator,” released in July 2022, let players live out their dream of becoming a successful and independent business owner during a rough patch in the economy. Its players embraced the meticulous yet satisfying and therapeutic gameplay of powerwashing. “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” was released in March of 2020, and became a staple game during the pandemic thanks to its relaxing, slow-paced mechanics.
Is it necessary to have all these features included within a game, or is it better to create a whole new spin-off game? The traditional “Pokémon” games cemented themselves in the turn-based role-playing collector style of gameplay. Meanwhile, “Pokémon Pokopia,” released March 5, 2026, is a social simulation game similar to Dragon Quest Builders that emphasizes a casual experience.
This trend of entire games being centered around these seemingly mundane tasks is a growing genre. “Kaiju Cleanup” is a co-op game in development where you’re tasked with cleaning up a skyscraper-towering monster after it’s been killed. “Goblin Cleanup” is a similar game, where you assume the role of a goblin tasked with resetting a fantasy dungeon for the next set of adventurers: refilling treasure chests, mopping blood and resetting traps.
All in all, it seems gamers nowadays are increasingly drawn to games that don’t raise one’s blood pressure as much or have more lighthearted moments. According to SteamDB, it wasn’t until 2022-2023 that the cozy tag on Steam ballooned exponentially as demand for these games arose.
Gamers yearn for coziness.
We all have our own definition of cozy and comfort. It’s now a question of whether your cozy is the melancholic landscape of “Death Stranding” and the mundane task of delivering mail? Or, are you more the “Hello Kitty Island Adventure” type? Or maybe the experience of “Call of Duty” gameplay is cathartic for you. So, what’s your cozy game?
