Does “Cozy Gaming” even mean anything anymore?
What happens when a genre becomes so inclusive, it loses its meaning?
I can vividly remember the first time I came across cozy gaming (shout-out Cozy K!). The ambient music, muted naturals and sage green decor, a cup of tea and cozy couch, playing a mindless game… at a time when life felt anything BUT cozy, and we were all at home losing our minds from boredom, this genre came and saved us exactly when we needed it to. Romanticizing the homebody life and all it represented, cozy gaming over the years has taken the gaming community by storm, even earning its own categorization on gaming platforms.
But back then, in its early days, cozy gaming really only referred to a select few games (and mainly, Animal Crossing: New Horizons). Fast-forward a few years, and the cozy gaming community has grown beyond recognition. What was once shorthand for a specific type of game (life sims, farming sims, anything with pastel aesthetics) has morphed into something much broader, richer, and, frankly, more complicated. Is Cult of the Lamb cozy? What about Dredge? Hogwarts Legacy? And while the genre expansion is wonderful in many ways and has welcomed so many, it’s also left us with a genre so sprawling and subjective that the term “cozy gaming” has started to feel meaningless.
Take Stardew Valley, for instance. For some (including myself), it’s the ultimate cozy game. But for every person that loves Stardew, there’s another who finds it anything but relaxing. Which is valid; it’s a deeply strategic game, with seemingly infinite ways to optimize your farm, unreasonably difficult goals and milestones, and details that are actually crucial to gameplay—but you wouldn’t know about them unless you’re constantly consulting the Stardew Valley Wiki. It’s a game so involved I even designed my own planner notepads just so I could have a way to keep track of it all. When laid out like that, who could possibly find Stardew cozy? And maybe it actually isn’t cozy—it just depends on who you ask.
The beauty of cozy gaming has always lied in its inclusivity, it’s a genre that welcomes everyone, regardless of gaming skill or experience. And typically, the games within this genre reflect that. But the broader the genre becomes, the more questions arise: Does a game like Skyrim belong in the same genre as Good Pizza, Great Pizza? Does the term “cozy game” mean anything anymore? For some, this openness is empowering, creating space for people to claim their own definition of comfort. For others, it dilutes what made the genre special in the first place: a distinct aesthetic and a sense of calm that stood apart from the rest of gaming. It served as a place for the casual and beginner gamers to feel included, connect, and find other games that are buried beneath the discover hidden gems often overlooked in a sea of bigger, more intense games.
When everything can be cozy, does anything truly feel cozy anymore?
So here’s where I’ve landed: cozy gaming isn’t really about the mechanics or even game aesthetics anymore. It’s not exclusive to handheld gaming or gaming in a cute little matching set with a warm drink. What cozy gaming boils down to (and the reason there’s such debate about which games belong in this genre) is a deeply personal understanding of how a game makes you feel. It has become so inherently personal, so tied to each individual’s idea of comfort and relaxation, that no singular aspect like aesthetic, game format or style can really be a requirement for inclusion. It’s evolved to so much more.
But there’s something so beautiful in that to me. Because if there’s one thing the gaming community has suffered years of, it’s stereotyping and exclusionary behavior. Gamers can be anyone, young or old. Mobile gamers are gamers, just as much as PC gamers are. Only playing The Sims does not mean you are less of a gamer than the person playing endless Fortnite. And the cozy gaming community has become the most wonderful embodiment of this idea.
Is Dredge cozy? It can be, if it feels that way to you. Candy Crush can be cozy (a recent episode of Jeopardy! put this into hot debate), if you want it to be. What matters isn’t whether a game checks every box of what cozy “should” be. What matters is whether it gives you a sense of comfort, connection, or calm, and whatever that looks like for you.
Agree? Disagree? Let’s chat about it.
YES! I wrote my own reflection about the term recently and landed on the same conclusion—"cozy" is too personal to be properly defined, and that's ok!
Agree! Although I still tend to think of cozy games as having a certain 2D or low-poly look, for me it's also about how the game makes you feel. Cozy gaming also implies the existence (and possibly rejection?) of more intense games that are designed to be high-pressure and competitive. I participated in a seasonal cozy jam on itch.io as solo dev recently, and a lot of the submissions focused on simple gameplay or were visual novels (which imo can definitely be cozy, or not, depending on the story).