Review: Cozy Grove is a life-sim, but with a twist

For those who’re a fan of life-sims, however you are bored with the standard grind — farming supplies, constructing stuff, and maintaing your area slog and not using a story — have I obtained the sport for you. Cozy Grove, developed by Spry Fox and printed by The Quantum Astrophysicists Guild, takes a barely totally different method to the style and is ready to to imbue some freshness into the all-too-familiar formulation.

With the mantra “make the world a greater place,” Spry Fox makes use of acquainted character designs, hand-drawn graphics, and a few full of life spirits to embody that motto and make an enthralling sport. And with a mixture of puzzles, crafting, and mystery-solving components, there’s one thing right here for every kind of gamers.

Cozy Grove is an easy life-sim that duties you, the Spirit Scout, with serving to the ghosts residing on the island to cross on, thus incomes some candy advantage badges on your troubles. What looks like a brief journey, nonetheless, takes a flip when your boat floats casually away, leaving you stranded on the island.

No worries, although. There are many duties to maintain you occupied, earn badges, and cease you from shedding your thoughts. It is a easy but distinctive premise that is very welcome to the simulation style. Whereas the acquainted sport components are all right here — crafting, gathering, and extra — there’s sufficient to make this sport stand out from others, together with the large titles like Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Proper off the bat, the factor that stands out probably the most is the graphics. The hand-drawn aesthetic makes the island of Cozy Grove come alive, so to talk, so long as you assist out all of the inhabitants on the island. To begin, the pictures are a muted shade, and the little island feels barren and remoted. You actually do really feel alone as you set out in your journey. Nevertheless, as you get to know the spirits on the island and slowly unravel their reminiscences, the colour your budding friendship brings makes it really feel such as you’re doing all of your job as a Spirit Scout, and makes the sport extra vibrant.

As a life-sim, there’s loads to do in Cozy Grove, simply not straight away. You possibly can harvest assets like cash, fruit, nuts, twigs, and mushrooms. As you discover extra spirits, you are able to do much more, like craft objects, make meals, fish, minimize down shrubbery, mine for ore, and even adorn the island. It is once you get deeper that the twists begin to emerge. You possibly can even purchase and handle pets, though they don’t seem to be the standard type. Additionally, each plant, tree, and animal has preferences, so you need to place all of them accordingly to get probably the most out of them! For example, your pet chicken could love rustic decor and lamps however hate frequent objects.

Every part you purchase has a goal, and every little thing you decide up has a use. You possibly can remodel components by cooking or burning them in your Spirit Fireplace, or you’ll be able to promote them to the island shop-keep, Mr. Equipment. Do not do away with every little thing, although, as a result of the spirits on the island could determine they need them. Whereas there are so much of things, you’ve gotten minimal stock area. You would depart some issues in your tent, however you will must improve regularly to maintain up the tempo.

As you are given duties, you’ll be able to navigate the menus to search out your aims for the day, undergo your stock, and take a look at which badges you’ve got picked up. Plus, this sport options touchscreen compatibility, so you’ll be able to navigate the display screen nonetheless you please on the Nintendo Change or cell.

As you assist and uncover spirits, you will additionally discover the improbable dialogue. Whether or not you are chatting with a spirit or studying the directions, you will see a mixture of foolish humor with a heartfelt twist, and it may well take a pointy flip quick. As you uncover extra in regards to the island’s inhabitants, you will end up chuckling or actually feeling for them as you unravel their pasts. It undoubtedly makes issues extra fascinating.

Lastly, issues change on this island day-after-day. In actual fact, it isn’t doable to finish the sport in a day. The assets refresh over time, and you’ll not have entry to every little thing up-front. When you can simply put a ton of time in by fishing, gathering objects, and ending the day’s obtainable quests, it actually solely quantities to round 30-40 minutes of play per day. It is a good, slow-paced sport, and it’s fulfilling when you like that kind of factor.

Cozy Grove: What’s not good

There are a number of nice issues about this little indie sport. Nevertheless, it has a number of little points that have been undoubtedly irritating, and a few even made me need to put down the sport solely.

First, whereas I really like the look of this sport and its distinctive graphics, they often get in the best way, particularly when the colour sample is muted. It was arduous to differentiate the bushes from the rocks at first, and you would simply end up operating right into a rock or one thing that wasn’t seen and getting caught. This turns into much less of a difficulty because the map begins rising and filling in with extra objects.

By design, it is a sluggish sport. I discovered myself annoyed when making an attempt to assist the spirits as a result of I could not discover sure objects and questioning if I used to be trying in all of the unsuitable locations or they simply weren’t obtainable but. In actual fact, I used to be caught on a quest for not less than two days as a result of I lacked the supplies to proceed.

My frustration with this half was a mixture of not understanding if it was a sport downside or a me downside. For instance, sometimes, once you’re completed with every little thing you are in a position to do in a day, your Spirit Fireplace will let you know. Nevertheless, mine would simply repeat that somebody wanted my assist. Fortunately, an replace solved these points.

A part of the difficulty is an absence of instructional or steerage. Whereas it isn’t fully absent, it might assist if some components have been extra obvious. The spirits let you know it might take some time for assets to return in, however there are so many assets and so they come from totally different areas. In a single occasion, the useful resource I used to be ready for got here by way of a service provider I did not know existed. Whereas the sport should not be weighed down with tutorials, I feel a number of strains of dialogue might resolve this downside.

For those who aren’t a fan of stock administration, you may additionally get a bit annoyed. There are such a lot of assets; I continuously discovered myself promoting issues or dropping objects across the island as a result of I simply did not have room for them. I are likely to horde every little thing, in order that is likely to be a me downside. For those who do not thoughts biking out your stuff, this would possibly not bug you as a lot.

When you get loads of stuff to brighten the island, it might be greatest to attend it out because the spirit’s areas begin to fill in as you gather reminiscences for them — it sort of leaves you questioning what you must do with the stuff you’ve gotten. I ended up promoting a bunch for money and protecting something vital for protecting my crops and birds completely satisfied.

Final however not least, there have been a number of technical points. I performed Cozy Grove on my Nintendo Change, and the body charges dropped a bit after I performed the sport in handheld mode, nevertheless it performed fantastic when docked. The sport even fully crashed on me not less than 3 times, which can have soured my expertise since I needed to fully redo every little thing I had executed that day. The sport additionally took a really very long time to load. Nevertheless, it’s value noting that every one these bugs shall be patched with a sport replace upon launch.

Cozy Grove: Do you have to play it?

3.5
out of 5

Cozy Grove is an lovable little indie sim with a twist. It has enjoyable puzzles, charming graphics, and a number of coronary heart. It is a terrific sport to choose up and play for just some minutes a day, and you’ll simply decide up wherever you left off. It does not require you to pour a ton of time in every day, nevertheless it does restrict how a lot story you’ll be able to truly full in a sitting. You are able to do a number of little issues to get probably the most out of your play-time, offered you do not expertise any bug points.

This sport simply matches tempo with different video games within the style whereas bringing one thing recent to the formulation, and for under $15, it is a steal. I did a double-take after I noticed the worth, which was after I performed the sport for a bit stretch.

It is delightfully enjoyable, with fascinating characters, nice dialogue, and a complete lot to do. And for that value, it’s most undoubtedly value selecting up if you’re a fan of those video games.

Cozy Grove shall be obtainable on Nintendo Change, Xbox, Ps, Steam, Apple Arcade, and the Epic Video games Retailer on April 8, 2021.