Cozy Grove, for instance, recently added the ability to hug a bear. “Wholesome,” like the words “punk,” “hip-hop” or “rom-com,” isn’t a brand so much as a welcome mat to someone looking for something to play.įor the Seattle-based Spry Fox team behind Cozy Grove, such terminology, particularly the word that graces its game, has become something of a mission statement. While the word “wholesome” has generated a debate over genre names and what to include or exclude, the movement feels revolutionary for the game space unlike film, books or television, game genres have often been defined by what they ask the player to do rather than what they may want the player to feel.

“But they let an industry that’s been catering specifically to young white men for almost its entire existence off the hook.” A wider audience has “always existed.

“At the end of the day, I think these narratives are interesting and partially true,” says Taylor when asked why an estimated few hundred thousand tuned into this year’s Wholesome Direct. Don’t worry if you don’t know what the above genres mean as others have noted, they don’t tell you much about the game.

One more crucial shift is a long overdue acknowledgement that games and their action-focused genre classifications - shooters, platformers, roguelike - have catered to a specific, existing community rather than seeking to more broadly build a new one. Another factor is the pandemic, with old and new players alike looking for accessible, connective experiences that de-emphasize violence. Taylor and others partly attribute the popularity of Wholesome Games’ online events to some of the same factors that led to the rise in indie games: the proliferation of university video game development programs, lower costs to develop games and the ubiquitousness of mobile games, which turned many of us into gamers and inspired some to be curious about and more deeply investigate the medium. “As much as I’d love to take the credit, I genuinely think that the desire for these types of games has always existed.” “Folks are curious to know ‘why now?’ with regards to an influx of wholesome games,” says Matthew Taylor, independent game developer and founder of Wholesome Games. They were diverse in genre and style, ranging from Beasts of Maravilla Island, a calming and beautiful celebration of mythical animals, which is available now, to the upcoming Lake, a game about a woman who quits her fancy job to be a mail carrier. They’re games that don’t just extend a hand they feel like a hug.Īcross its various social media platforms, Wholesome Games has tallied more than 200,000 community members, and a recent online showcase, Wholesome Direct, provided looks at more than 75 games. While independent games long ago helped popularize the idea of concocting digital worlds built primarily for exploration, a so-called “wholesome games” movement - led by a social media account and site of the same name - has created a makeshift genre that’s brought more visibility to games in which the joy is uncovering a universe rather than obliterating it, often with ideas on how to be better custodians of our current one.Īt the very least, Cozy Grove and other gentle games such as the coloring-book-like adventure Chicory: A Colorful Tale and the run-away-from-home fairy tale The Wild at Heart are conversational, using gameplay that deviates from running and jumping and pointing and shooting to get players to slow down and engage in an interactive dialogue with what’s on the screen. It’s thoughtful, a game that, like many released in recent weeks, possesses a healthy conscience. As in Animal Crossing, we craft objects, go fishing and mostly hunt for lost items, but the story progresses simply by listening and becoming something akin to a therapist for the spirits. A bleak world of driftwood becomes a mystical campground, and we advance through the game essentially by building more mindful bears. Doing so brings an island paradise to life, populating it with all the colors of a natural, wildlife-inspired spectrum. In Cozy Grove, by helping the bears face reality, or sometimes simply the better parts of nostalgia, we heal lost souls. A treatise on the power of family, the struggle of the 9-to-5, the ability to find surrealism in daily life and a reminder to not give up on true love regardless of the obstacles - that’s the Mario message, right? Yet as anyone who has ever played Super Mario Bros. They find out everyone was scared to tell them their baked goods were inedible. They wish the living would stop treating them like ghosts rather than fully capable beings.

Cozy grove cocoa bean