I recommend
Cozy Grove! I’ve been playing semi-regularly since earlier this year, and it's such a relaxing and heartwarming game. I struggle with fatigue and brain fog a lot of the time, and CG is the perfect game for me to play even when I’m especially foggy-brained and/or fatigued because it doesn't require strategy or much thought at all. It's fairly straightforward, easy and comforting.
CG runs in real time and is intended to be played day-by-day (you
can time travel, but it’s not recommended you do so as it can irreparably damage your save file). I’ve been playing since February and still haven't seen/completed everything or reached 5 hearts with all of the bears yet. Gameplay and progress is slow-paced, especially at the start, so I wouldn't expect to play longer than <1-2 hours a day for the first few weeks or so. Your daily play time will increase as you meet more bears and unlock more things, but even once you have everything unlocked, I wouldn't anticipate playing longer than 2-4 hours daily. It’s not the kind of game you can grind through; there's only so much you can do each day.
I won't talk about the gameplay much to avoid spoiling anything for you, but the characters are lovely and are definitely the highlight of the game (at least for me). Some of them will tug on your heartstrings and frustrate you more than others, but they're all unique and loveable, and slowly learning about their lives and helping them find peace and “cross over” is so fulfilling and equal parts beautiful and heartbreaking. Some of the bears’ backstories
are sad, but nothing insanely graphic, distressing or triggering. Bringing light and colour back to the island over time is also very fulfilling and satisfying!
You can fish, catch critters
(the fish and critter names are very funny btw), take care of cats, birds, deers and more, collect fruits, nuts, seashells and other materials, participate in seasonal festivals, decorate your campsite and the island, earn badges, customize your character, and more! CG is fairly inexpensive regardless of whether you buy the base game and DLC together or separately, and it's definitely worth the price imo. The pros outweigh the cons by a landslide, but there
are a couple of cons. Nothing insane or game-breaking!, just a little annoying:
- A lot of the bears' quests will involve you looking for items for them that are scattered around the island. At the start of the game, when the island is still mostly uncoloured, these tasks can be tricky since the items will also be uncoloured and will blend in with the rest of the island, making them hard to see. You get a clue for where each item is (and as you continue to play and familiarize yourself with the island and each bear's area, these clues will eventually tell you exactly where an item is), and you can ask one of the bears for help locating an item if needed, but this was definitely still a little frustrating at times. Maybe my eyesight just sucks LOL, but the amount of times I've asked for help locating an item, only to find out I walked past it...
- As you meet more bears and the island expands, the game will take longer to load and will become more laggy. It's nothing insane or that personally prevents/discourages me from playing, and my game has never crashed, but it's a little frustrating at times. I play on the switch, so I'm not sure if it's better/worse on other platforms.
If you have any questions about
Cozy Grove, don't hesitate to ask! It's a great game, I really can't recommend it enough. :>
