Cozy games can be a light in the dark, but the concept is foreign to many gamers and non-gamers alike. To illustrate what cozy games are and the benefits of playing them, Reuters created a tiny cozy game. In the game you are a radish, named Radish.
Radish and all their little friends in the town of Rooterville are adorable, a hallmark of a cozy game. Radish explores, decorates, cleans up, and does some farming. The crux of this very cute explainer is that games, especially cozy games, can be good for your mental health.
[Assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences at McMaster University Michael] Wong surveyed 80 undergraduate students at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse to uncover whether mindfulness meditation or "casual" gaming was better at reducing stress. The study published in 2021 measured the effectiveness of playing a casual game like Flower, developed by Thatgamecompany, against a 20-minute mindfulness meditation session in reducing stress.
"To our surprise, there really wasn't a difference between the two forms of interventions. For blood pressure and heart rate, there was no statistically significant difference between playing a video game and engaging in meditation," Wong said.
My recommendations for cozy games are Cozy Grove, Unpacking, Capybara Spa, and all the hidden object (cats) games by Travellin Cats.
Previously: Webfishing is the fishing with friends game I didn't know I needed
