Spirits of a haunted island need you, the Spirit Scout, to bring light and life back to their haunted forest. 

Cozy Grove is a cozy life simulator game developed by the wonderful minds of Spry Fox LLC. The player must take the role of a Spirit Scout and befriend spirits awaiting fulfillment so they can bring color back to an ever-changing island.

GRAPHICS 9/10

The art style of Cozy Grove allows the player to feel like they are a part of a visual novel. Sketched into the story, you are surrounded by a rich forest environment filled with life from this plane and beyond. The character models bring a welcoming presence as well as a visual hint to who they are as individuals. The core of the game—bringing color back to the island—not only fills the space with color, but also uncovers mysteries and other goodies. Consistent with its art style, it does leave out major indicators of what is interactive or not. When looking for a pair of headphones, for example, they may be in an area without color, making them a little bit more difficult to track down since they do not pop visually. However, that only adds to the fun of scavenger hunting. If anything, the lack of highlighted interactive objects makes the immersion more sustainable. 

SOUND QUALITY 7/10

A lot of games cater to the idea that every different experience such as fishing, combat, storytelling, etc. needs to have a different score every single time you perform those actions. Cozy Grove, on the other hand, is a little different in that it simply repeats the same playlist of peaceful, cozy tracks that fit the entire environment, filling the sound space with beautiful music that makes you feel like you are always by a campfire. Where the music may be fantastic, the sound effects of the game feel a little lacking. You can hear the campfire burning and the spirits coming alive again, making the surrounding area bustle with life once more. However, walking around feels like it could be improved a little more. I can hear my own footsteps, but when walking through the forest, there’s no rustling through the trees and bushes, and it feels a little like walking through walls as opposed to walking through a forest. What some things lack in immersion, others make up for in ease and peacefulness—like when you’re listening to the game’s soundtrack as you walk in the pouring rain, doing a short scavenger hunt for a spirit bear that really needs your help.

GAMEPLAY 7/10

Like any life sim, Cozy Grove definitely holds its own in creating a whole island that you can interact with. Whether fishing for rare fish, mining for ore, or even feeding your spirit birds, the island is yours to discover. As much as this game has to offer, it is specifically and uniquely designed to not be finished in a single sitting. Unlike most games that can be finished in a day, a weekend, or a whole week, Cozy Grove was designed to take months to finish, because the time of day in-game is dependent on the time of day IRL. That means there are new things to do every day, but there’s a limited number of things to do specifically regarding story progression. Where there is a plethora of things to do besides strictly sticking with the story, the game was designed to be played in one to two hour sessions. Where that may be troubling to some, those with busy lives and schedules may find solace in the fact that there is no rush to complete a game that’s meant for shorter play sessions. If you have the extra time, you can craft things you think you may need, upgrade your tent, sell your fish to get enough money to upgrade the shop—whatever you need to prepare yourself for the next day in Cozy Grove.

CHARACTERS 8/10

There are many spirits that inhabit this haunted island, each with their own tale to tell. It is up to you to befriend them and figure out what makes them tick. As you follow each spirit bear’s storyline you learn not only about what they love, but what they fear as well. They may seem all joyful and excited to see you, but there is a reason for that—and that is what you must uncover. It isn’t just you and spirit bears, however. There are quite a few other characters as well. As you go about your Spirit Scout journey, you learn about imps and hang out with spirit birds and spirit deer with many different designs, characteristics, and preferences. Even the plants and trees have their likes and dislikes, which determines the amount you can harvest from them. Where the first couple days of Cozy Grove may seem lacking, there are seventeen spirit bears in total that you can learn about and interact with. Fortunately, other than the first couple bears you meet on day one, you also have your pal, Flamey. Flamey is your campfire that guides you with new objectives and senses when new bears come to the island. Every day in Cozy Gove is a new day filled with adventure and potential to meet someone new.

STORY 8/10

The game holds a satisfying and soft story that doesn’t overwhelm you with lore and information that may or may not be crucial to your experience in the game. It does a wonderful job of slowly introducing things as they come. As a Spirit Scout, you don’t know off the bat what exactly you or your organization does until you help some spirits who have experience with Spirit Scouts and can give you important bits of information. Cozy Grove allows the player to take it day by day and unfold the simple story of not only the game itself, but the untold stories of the spirits that reside on the haunted island. Each spirit’s story is unique and applicable to real life—something that you can take with you in a positive light to the real world.

OVERALL 7.8/10

Cozy Grove is a perfect cozy game for those who have limited time in their busy day-to-day lives, or for those who want to play a comforting game that allows them to help those in need and hear the tales of spirits fulfilled. Where it may be lacking in some immersion elements, getting lost in this game is not difficult to do. With a well paced story, comforting character designs, and no threatening elements, this game is on par with some of the coziest games of the decade. If you enjoy camping, playing life simulators, or taking your gaming at smaller intervals, then Cozy Grove is the game for you. 

Cozy Grove was released on April 7, 2021. v2.3.0 was launched on August 17, 2021 and is available now on Steam, Epic Games, Apple Arcade, Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch. The version of Cozy Grove reviewed was v1.5.1. The reviewer purchased the game at full retail price.

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