Cozy Games May Help Improve Players' Mental Health, Researchers Say

[agent_karyo@lemmy.world]

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[kyrgizion@lemmy.world]

Would explain my excessive base-building and decorating in Subnautica.

[webghost0101@sopuli.xyz]

Just don’t ever start playing one while sick. My partner still cant stomach ac with sound on.

[viri4thus@feddit.org]

That "may" is lifting a lot of weight on this one.

[gutek8134@lemmy.world]

Meanwhile me playing cozy games: https://youtu.be/viM6_Z2Nwx0

[yardy_sardley@lemmy.ca]

My brain accepted this new piece of information and immediately tried to recalibrate my sense of wellbeing based on how much time I spend playing cozy games.

So there was a bizarre moment where I felt positively dandy.

Did anyone else get a mental health buff just from reading this headline?

[lost_my_mind@lemmy.world]

Yeah, because we were all doing mentally fantastic when Animal Crossing New Horizons launched. Remind me again, when was that again? Oh right. Just in the heart of 2020 pandemic quarantine when everybody was losing their shit, and storming state capitol buildings trying to force the government to reopen businesses, and doing pushups outside gyms as cops killed black men and triggered riots across the country.

Great days for mental health.

[sharkeatingbreakfast@sopuli.xyz]

My base with a billion aquariums full of cool alien critters definitely improves my mental well-being. ️

[sharkeatingbreakfast@sopuli.xyz]

Yeah. And it allowed people to communicate and socialize without risk. It allowed people to have fun despite the dire circumstances and show off their creativity and goof off with friends amd stangers instead of focusing on the doom and giving into it.

It helped people's mental wellness during a time where everything was not okay. To some, it made it bearable. That's all. Ain't nothing wrong with that.

[filthyhands@sh.itjust.works]

I, too, blame animal crossing.

[ionaddis@lemmy.world]

As a writer, this is why I'll never condemn cozy books with happy endings. This type of media, whether it's games or books or music, helps real people get through crappy times intact, even if elitists sneer that overly happy stuff isn't this or that. Usually people who are going through the worst times irl are the ones who need avenues of escape most. If you're already living through crap, you don't need media to remind you of the crap, you already know good and well that crappy things exist.

[bossdj@lemm.ee]

The animal crossing thumbnail alone gave me a little boost. But I'm sure I'll just scroll on to yet another article about *****

[prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone]

Anyone who's looking for a great new(ish) cozy game, check out Natsu-Mon.

It would probably help to watch the Action Button review of Boku no Natsuyasumi for some context (yes, I know it is 6 hours long lol... but it's a really good video).

[daddy32@lemmy.world]

As a reader, that's definitely why I do condemn overly negative books and other media. Even after reading all horror books available in the library as a teenager. Life's complicated enough by itself.

[buboscandiacus@mander.xyz]

Are there any cosy games (that are not stardew or animal crossing) with an actual good artstyle ?

[tokeneffort@sh.itjust.works]

Rune Factory 4 looked really good on 3DS. The port on pc and switch looks... pretty bad honestly but it's still the same great game.

[dark_arc@social.packetloss.gg]

Arguably Brighter Shores is a cozy game and it's got an appealing art style to my eyes

[zahille7@lemmy.world]

I like Paleo Pines myself. It's like Stardew and Animal Crossing had a baby about dinosaurs. It's absolutely adorable.

Chao Resort Island. A fan game that's basically a 2D/3D Chao Garden from SA2. It uses some sprites from the old Sonic Advance games, but it's just a fun little virtual caregiver thing.

Sonic Adventure 2 Battle: Chao Garden. The "true" Chao Garden experience according to fans online. I have the steam version so I have the popular Extended Chao World mods to make it better/easier to raise Chao.

A lot of survival crafting games (base building and decorating and such) can be cozy too, if you want them to be.

[zahille7@lemmy.world]

Thank Goodness You're Here was the last cozy game I played and I can't recommend it enough to literally everyone.

[codilingus@sh.itjust.works]

Gods I need to replay it and go around slapping the English, again.