March 6, 2023 • 22 mins
Samantha updates us on her cozy gaming adventures, and shares some of the recommendations listeners have sent in. Y'all have created a monster. A very cozy monster.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and I'm going to
Stephane never told your production of iHeartRadio, And y'all, we
are back with another Monday mini and it's my journey
because you know, we're taking little turns and I'm like,
(00:26):
let's see what's on the internets and then I'm going
to talk about it. Whether I'm confused or excited or
just really need more context all of those things. And well,
I hate to tell y'all, you and my partner have
created a monster, a very cozy monster. However, yes, I'm
talking about me because I have become a little obsessive.
(00:50):
Any I may have stayed up to three thirty last
night playing a few games, making sure all of my
creatures were okay, oh why oh wild wild White. I
I have woken up every morning, done my coffee and
then jumped into my games because a couple of them
are in real time, so certain things are available only
at certain times, so I'm trying to hit it all.
(01:10):
That's a problem. I just want that to be said.
It's one reason I don't play him. Perhaps so those
but I still love it. And I shout out to
the listeners who are sending some amazing recommendations and giving
some amazing contexts in info. First of all, Helena, thank
you for the follow up on Delicious Emily, I knew
it was a big thing. This world is huge, or
so it seems from York Information. And then yes, and
(01:33):
I'm going to tackle the storyline outside of my little
phone game soon. I'm very excited to do it. But
I am a little overwhelmed about the amount of stuff
that Helena you told me about. So but I'm going
to do it because I'm involved now. I feel like, Okay,
I'm involved with Emily and Patrick who may or may
not be in together and some of these things, okay.
(01:53):
And then also shout out to Jude that list is amazing,
like impressively amazing. My partner was really, He's like, oh,
these are some good games, y As, you have to
do this, And I will be downloading several today and
we'll be looking at a Steam option soon. I am
suddenly acquiring all of these different avenues because I'm starting
(02:14):
to like it. Yeah, well I told you to. I
purchased a Steam deck yeah, on a whim, and I
love it. It's really cool. I didn't know what it was.
I had no idea in my head it was a box.
This is how little I know things, and then I
realize it's kind of similar to a switch. And then
(02:34):
the availabilities, and because we do have like Xbox subscription,
there's a lot of crossovers. So I'm like, okay, options,
very options, I'm gonna I'm gonna try these. So I'm very,
very excited, and we're gonna talk about some of the
specific games that Jude has recommended, and I'm really pumped
to look at these as well. But it's been a
couple of weeks since I did the dive. Obviously head
(02:56):
first into cozy gaming specifically. Right now, I'm really into
Animal Crossing, only a few years behind as Fine as
Fine is Fine, Cozy Grove, which has become one of
my favorites. I love Ghost Bears, like I don't know
what else else than to tell you that it has
ghost bears and that's amazing. And Coffee Talk, which I've
talked to you about any specifically, I'm like, you need
(03:17):
to try this because it threw me off as to
what it was, and as you suspected, Jude specifically, Stardo
Valley was a bit too much for me. There's a
lot of battling things in caves. Apparently my partner's really
into it, like really into it. So what I'm sitting
there playing Animal Crossing, He's sitting next to me on
the PC with Stardo Valley. This quality time to him,
(03:38):
and I'm okay with that. I like it too. But
this is a whole like another episode where we talk
about love languages, which is kind of a myth, and
we'll break it down, but with the idea of quality
time and what that actually means to individuals. But this
is something that he thinks is quality time. That we're
sitting together and able to look at each other's stuff
and giggle about it, but then playing on our own right,
(04:00):
but in the same room. Yeah, it was. I got
to see the setup and very lovely. It looked like
a very comfortable, cozy setup he was, And we'll talk
about that a bit. But I think it's really kind
of funny that there's so much to this conversation about
like quality time, conversational friendships, build ups, what does us
(04:23):
look like at how this became from an individual play
to millions of people who are viewing you or to
you doing with friends and being friend time or partner time.
So that's a whole different conversation I wouldn't look into
because that's been like stewing in my head. I'm like, huh,
this is a different avenue because I would have never
put that as quality time hang time. I always put
(04:46):
that as individualized. Now interesting, I think that might be
a difference in the type of games you play. But
even with the Last of Us, you wanting people to
play it for you, you having people come over to
play it with you was a fo concept, even to
the point that I'll fall asleep or leave the room
because I don't find for the people that I'm with
(05:07):
who loves that that is like things right, and it
is like, oh please, can we do that? Like we play,
we hang out? That's what I mean. That's what I mean.
Like like you say that I know, but I'm like,
this is new to me as being a thing, like
I've heard of being a thing, but I'm like, huh,
it really kind of has grown into a bigger thing.
So this is a whole conversation for a different episode.
(05:28):
So I really do want to come back to it
because it's not just about necessarily gaming, but the way
it has reached social media socialization in general. And I
think it's good to come back and look at because again,
our entertainment and sources of entertainment have changed vastly over
the years, and I know it always has. It went
from like hanging out on the street biking with your friends,
(05:49):
to going two malls to maybe going onto animal crossing
and hanging out at each other's eyelands virtually. What let's
(06:10):
take a little deeper dive again, and a good question
that I've seen across platforms is is cozy gaming a
gendered thing? And it does seem like marketing maybe more
geared toward women. Now, I will say now, because as
we've talked about previously, people consider cozy gaming may have
(06:30):
come out in the seventies eighties and that it's been around.
We just never called it cozy gaming. It was just
gaming or easy gaming, or open world gaming, a lot
of things that I still did not quite understand and
just learning about today. And like I said, this, the
other big question to this, because we don't like anything gendered.
We really, I think all of us would just wishould
(06:53):
just move on to being as just as is. I
think when we talk about women, like being the first
woman to do this, or being the only Black women
to do this, or the only Asian woman to do this,
and having to celebrate that as a niche instead of
being celebrated as whatever you have done, being good at right,
And that's kind of the same thing with this. But
(07:13):
you know, that's the conversation is is this being gendered
a bad thing or is it just really more of
a starting point the article we mentioned last conversation around
cozy gaming, they talked about the fact that though it
does seem games like Animal Crossing and others may seem
to be aimed toward women, it's not necessarily a bad thing,
and that it actually has shown that hey, oh women
(07:38):
actually want to play people who are not typically geared
like men, people who young boys have always been geared
at these advertisings in all marketing has suddenly switched to
being like, okay, women like it too, and actually being
considered gamers. And again we talked about that last time
and how this is a good change but still like
(08:00):
annoying change, I think, And also just as a reminder,
not too much information on whether all of these numbers
are accurate or any of these statistics are accurate. That
article we were talking about earlier from the Game Industry
dot biz. They said a recent study showed a marked
genre preferences between genders. Cozy games were not featured, but
the two genres in which women made up a majority
(08:22):
was casual and mobile, and I know we talked about
that because you know, I love a mobile game. Among developers,
there's a general agreement that why the cozy audience excused
slightly towards women and girls. The genre's future demographic is
unclear for sure. Plenty of men enjoy cozy games. Animal Crossings,
New Horizons players gender split was about even, but online
(08:44):
fan communities tend to be majority women. So we did
have another recommendation from another listener about Animal crossing pocket gaming.
I don't know this and I need to go back,
and I was trying to read what this was and
whether it connects to Animal Crossing. I am interested. I
think she must have jumped in at the beginning because
since then no Kelsey talked about Nintendo really trying to
(09:04):
make it ugly and profit off of it and gate
keep a lot of things. So I'm not really sure
if it's gotten better or worse. Because there was a
lot of reviews like Hey, they changed it in and
I hate it so but I do want to look
at it because that sounds interesting because I am again
obsessed for them. And yeah, and that conversation that the
cozy gaming isn't going anywhere, as in fact, he and
(09:25):
I talked about the fact just before we started recording,
how yes, cozy gaming kind of came around when we
were more sheltering in plays quarantining. Again, it's been around
before then, but since then the popular has grown so
much so that has grown its own genre or category.
And yeah, I'm like, what qualifies cozy gaming? We already
said the vibes and stuff, but there's other games that's
(09:46):
like storytelling that's not necessarily cozy, right, that's what we
would say. Yeah, yeah, I think you say any lights
if you can't tell by our faith, oh you can't
see your paper? Well no, I just a lot of
the I think I think it has to be kind
of like the graphics are important, the music's important, and
(10:07):
I think sort of the vibe of like for most people,
not for me apparently, but for most people like a
low key vibe. Low key vibe, that's yes, it is,
that's the low key vibe, which is the one that
makes you kind of panic a little bit, right, Yes,
that's interesting to me. So the code, like I said,
it's not going anywhere. And the fact that the estimated
(10:30):
word for gaming industry is more than three hundred and
twenty billion dollars of should this should have happened by
twenty twenty six, so three years from now, with a
chunk of that coming from casual gamers or social gamers,
it seems like it's only going to get bigger. I've
seen more and more advertising, more and more going into
this category. I think for a while. I don't know
if Xbox doesn't have that category right now, but Switch
(10:51):
absolutely has jumped in one hundred and twenty thousand percent.
It looks like Netflix may have bought a company that
is specific to cozy gaming, which is interesting to me.
Big companies are trying to jump in on this. I
don't know if they're going to be able to because
part of the appeal is that indie aspect with their
art and such. But that's a different conversation also. And
then there's companies like wholesome Games, which literally they that's
(11:15):
kind of the categories either cozy gaming or wholesome gaming
they kind of just jumped in at first, they've been
around for a minute. They even tackle even bigger things,
including talking about like whether or not mental health issues
should be addressed, conversations about inclusivity. There's a lot that
this is really big opportunity for and I'm hoping that
includes storytelling, cozy games. I'm really digging the storytelling and
(11:41):
one of those that I was talking to you about
all weekend, I think All week Annie is a coffee
talk which actually is but pretty highly rated game and
recommended by so many when I looked up cozy gaming,
and it isn't what I expected. Have you looked at
that at all? Eighty? I played it? Yeah, okay, your thoughts.
I named my barista Disco Luke, so that was fun. Yes,
(12:04):
I'm so literal. I just named it my own name. Oh,
I like to mess with the names. What's so funny
is like, you haven't finished it, right, It's only a
couple of hours. I think two or three hours. I
finished it. Oh you did? So did it kind of
fit in with the ending to it? Right? Oh? Yeah?
Well I was like, Disco Luke is perfect for this. Yeah.
(12:26):
And plus this is a fan fiction popular trope where
you're working at the coffee shop and they come in
and you're like, really, I didn't notice, Yes, And then
my partner was like, this seems like fan fiction coffee shop. Yes,
I did not know this. Look at things I'm learning.
I really liked it. Uh. And it wasn't like I
(12:47):
said would expect it. With the conversations about immigration acceptance
and uh, and then study of human behavior, there was
a lot of things. I was like, what is he?
What does hat? They're talking about condoms and how to
like and love and dating and what. I really enjoyed that.
For some reason, it made me a giggle. Yeah. Well,
(13:10):
I've told you the story about mass Effect too, which
is very much not a goesy game. But you do
have to go and learn how to have sex with
an alien species. If that's what you want, you have
to go to the doctor and ask um. And it's
really fun. I mean, it's cool. It's cool. I will say.
This made me realize I know nothing about coffee. They'd
be like, make me an espresso. I'm like, um, okay,
(13:31):
to be fair, going coffee, coffee, coffee and listeners. If
you haven't played this, essentially you have a primary and
two secondaries, and this makes that coffee and the way
you made an espresso was literally coffee, coffee, coffee. I
was like, that's not that's not okay, that's well I did.
I was even like, I think that must be what
it is, because I know it's kind of like caffeine
in it, so it must be that, but I didn't
(13:52):
know for sure. Yeah, there was a lot of drinks.
I'm like, what is this? And I actually had to
ask and my partner looked it up and it just
literally just comes from coffee talk. That's what it is.
I was like, oh, okay, okay, but I really really
enjoyed it and it was a really entertaining and perfect
bedtime read slash play. I was like, oh, yeah, this
is nice. I felt really relaxed, and I want more.
(14:14):
I want more. And Jude did give a couple of
more recommendations. I saw on the list a short hike,
which is supposed to be a small, a short game,
and then I think story of a season's story of seasons,
maybe storytellinge I'll look into it, but juded to tell
me if I'm wrong, And I find that very very
fascinating because I think of video games once again being bustling,
(14:35):
constantly on the move, constantly looking finding the next mission.
This is why I don't like it. I'm like, if
it's too complicated, I don't want to be on this anymore.
And to have a game literally coffee talk is you
listen to a story and maybe make two or three
drinks in a chapter. That's it. And I really like this.
And then there was another game that I looked up
called Florence, and the graphics are gorgeous. I'm so excited.
(14:58):
Apparently I think that the creators are from Australia, and
apparently it's a puzzle game. So you go through in
this puzzle game about love, and it goes through this
whole story about this couple. So once again, I really Annie,
I'm really digging these games. Yeah, I mean they're very,
very pretty. Yeah, lots of good storytelling happening. I love
(15:20):
and I love a game that kind of messes with gaming,
so that's cool to see. Yeah, there's a couple of
other games, like The Witchy Life as well as Potion
(15:44):
Making I Believe, which apparently has a conversation about mental health,
like you have to crew different potions to help address
specific knees of the villagers and the witches, and it
could include elements like mental health elements and in all
of these things. I haven't played this, so I can't
tell you exactly what it's about, but it does tackle
a little bit about mental health within a gaming system,
(16:08):
as well as talking about relaxation and taking a moment
to look deeper. There's a lot of games I know,
any I think you've talked about a few that takes
you through the process of grieving, and I find that fascinating. Again,
we know it's bigger than what it is. I mean,
maybe I don't know. Last of Us is also about grieving,
Yes you would say this. I don't know if it
(16:29):
works it out, but it takes you through grief. Yeah,
it's a real examination of it and how it can
go wrong. I don't think we're gonna be ever like
as skilled as any of them to kill our enemies though.
That's not realistic, so I'm just saying that. But clearly
I can't make coffee either, so I'm screwed. It's true.
(16:52):
I do have to set up the coffee machines just perfect,
just for you. Specific instructions I love, But yeah, like
and then we talked about some of these games, which
I really really do love the fact that they are
being very inclusive, realizing that the people who are gaming
once again are not just as white men, and that
(17:13):
it opens up a whole different world of who they
want to see in these games and who they want
represented in these games and how. And I know we've
talked about that previously with your characters that you've talked
about any as well as the games that you do
love or find problematic, and some of these issues are
absolutely to this level, but here we have an approach
(17:34):
where it is comforting instead of challenge and necessarily fighting.
I'd say it depends. So there's apparently a game called
It Gets a Better Project which helps affirm LGBTQ plus teens,
and I'm interested in what that looks like. It as
(17:55):
one of the articles from Hope lab dot org says,
it's a mission to add diverse perspectives and voices because
teens wanted a tool that was more accessible to more people.
And I'm like, yeah, this is cool, this is absolutely
I think such a perfect way and perfect medium to
find these types of conversations being had, and I want
(18:16):
that to be bigger I am so excited about what
that could be. And then in this middle of this
conversation Annie, as I've been giving Annie, like do this
for me, do this with me, tell me what you think.
You've sent me a small recommendation this. There's a few
that I will look at. There's a few probably won't
look at. I am really interested in one of them.
(18:37):
Gone Home. Yes, gone Home sounds like the one you
were just talking about, because that is like it's a
coming out story, but you think it's a ghost story.
So you're visiting home and you you not your family
isn't there, and you go through and try to figure
out where they are, and through like reading journals or exploring,
(18:57):
you discover the kind of this your sister going through
this coming out story and what happened. And it's really
it's just like an interesting it's not long, it's not hard,
but it was an interesting take on that. I will say,
like a lot of these I sent you, and I
think you should just look them up. But I wouldn't
play them because I just know they're not for you.
(19:19):
But they are really cool, and I the reason I
sent them to you. I call them like not cozy
cozy games, because I think they're similar in terms of, like,
here's your puzzle aspect. Maybe there isn't an overarching story.
Maybe there is, but they're just darker. Although like the
first one I listened listed, Braid is very beautifully animated,
but it's also kind of a complicated puzzle game. Don't
(19:42):
have to shoot things. You don't have to shoot things,
but it's like imagine like a scroller like Mario or
the screen's always moving, but you have the power to
reverse the screen. So your puzzle aspect is you can
you have this ability to reverse, and then it adds
a really cool slash dark message at the end. But
(20:03):
I like it. Yeah. I also oxen Free. I love
I've mentioned it before. Oxen Free. It's essentially like a
game where you go to this island. It's like five
of you high school teenagers, and the island has like
this time travel frequency thing, and there are speech bubbles
you can choose, so it will be like, how do
(20:23):
you feel about this person? There's five speech bubbles. I
bet you can slow it down, but the reason I'm like,
I'm not sure you'd like it is because it's kind
of the speech bubbles go quickly, so you have to
be like, but I love it and every time you
play it it takes into account what you did in
the last time because it's time travel. Okay, okay, but
yeah it's pretty cool. Yeah yeah, all right, I'll be
(20:44):
in for that. I'll be in for that. I'll try that. Wait,
so where's that? Where would I find that? I played
it on Steam, but I think you can play in
a couple of places. If anybody wants my whole list
that I sent, you can get it because it's quite
a bit. I would also say Journey Journey is very pretty.
It came out in twenty twelve. It was made by women. Um,
I play it on PlayStation, but I think it's in
other places too. But that this essentially a game where
(21:04):
you just explore a really pretty landscape and seeing to communicate.
It's interesting. Okay, I'm down for that too. I want
to try that. Yes, oh yes. We love these recommendations
so so so much. Thanks for taking the time to
do them, to make them and send them to us.
If you want any from us, let us know. Um
you can email us at Stuff Media, mom Stuff at
(21:26):
iHeartMedia dot com. You can find us on Twitter at
moms a podcast or on Instagram and TikTok at Stuff
One Never told. You can also listen to us on
YouTube if that is something that you would like to do. Yes,
Thanks as always to our superproducer Chris Data. Thank you, Yes,
and thanks to you for listening. Stuff and I told
you the protection of Ihart Radio. For more podcast in
(21:46):
my Heart Radio, you can check out the Ihear Radio
app Apple Podcast wherever you listen to your favorite ships.
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and I'm going to
Stephane never told your production of iHeartRadio, And y'all, we
are back with another Monday mini and it's my journey
because you know, we're taking little turns and I'm like,
(00:26):
let's see what's on the internets and then I'm going
to talk about it. Whether I'm confused or excited or
just really need more context all of those things. And well,
I hate to tell y'all, you and my partner have
created a monster, a very cozy monster. However, yes, I'm
talking about me because I have become a little obsessive.
(00:50):
Any I may have stayed up to three thirty last
night playing a few games, making sure all of my
creatures were okay, oh why oh wild wild White. I
I have woken up every morning, done my coffee and
then jumped into my games because a couple of them
are in real time, so certain things are available only
at certain times, so I'm trying to hit it all.
(01:10):
That's a problem. I just want that to be said.
It's one reason I don't play him. Perhaps so those
but I still love it. And I shout out to
the listeners who are sending some amazing recommendations and giving
some amazing contexts in info. First of all, Helena, thank
you for the follow up on Delicious Emily, I knew
it was a big thing. This world is huge, or
so it seems from York Information. And then yes, and
(01:33):
I'm going to tackle the storyline outside of my little
phone game soon. I'm very excited to do it. But
I am a little overwhelmed about the amount of stuff
that Helena you told me about. So but I'm going
to do it because I'm involved now. I feel like, Okay,
I'm involved with Emily and Patrick who may or may
not be in together and some of these things, okay.
(01:53):
And then also shout out to Jude that list is amazing,
like impressively amazing. My partner was really, He's like, oh,
these are some good games, y As, you have to
do this, And I will be downloading several today and
we'll be looking at a Steam option soon. I am
suddenly acquiring all of these different avenues because I'm starting
(02:14):
to like it. Yeah, well I told you to. I
purchased a Steam deck yeah, on a whim, and I
love it. It's really cool. I didn't know what it was.
I had no idea in my head it was a box.
This is how little I know things, and then I
realize it's kind of similar to a switch. And then
(02:34):
the availabilities, and because we do have like Xbox subscription,
there's a lot of crossovers. So I'm like, okay, options,
very options, I'm gonna I'm gonna try these. So I'm very,
very excited, and we're gonna talk about some of the
specific games that Jude has recommended, and I'm really pumped
to look at these as well. But it's been a
couple of weeks since I did the dive. Obviously head
(02:56):
first into cozy gaming specifically. Right now, I'm really into
Animal Crossing, only a few years behind as Fine as
Fine is Fine, Cozy Grove, which has become one of
my favorites. I love Ghost Bears, like I don't know
what else else than to tell you that it has
ghost bears and that's amazing. And Coffee Talk, which I've
talked to you about any specifically, I'm like, you need
(03:17):
to try this because it threw me off as to
what it was, and as you suspected, Jude specifically, Stardo
Valley was a bit too much for me. There's a
lot of battling things in caves. Apparently my partner's really
into it, like really into it. So what I'm sitting
there playing Animal Crossing, He's sitting next to me on
the PC with Stardo Valley. This quality time to him,
(03:38):
and I'm okay with that. I like it too. But
this is a whole like another episode where we talk
about love languages, which is kind of a myth, and
we'll break it down, but with the idea of quality
time and what that actually means to individuals. But this
is something that he thinks is quality time. That we're
sitting together and able to look at each other's stuff
and giggle about it, but then playing on our own right,
(04:00):
but in the same room. Yeah, it was. I got
to see the setup and very lovely. It looked like
a very comfortable, cozy setup he was, And we'll talk
about that a bit. But I think it's really kind
of funny that there's so much to this conversation about
like quality time, conversational friendships, build ups, what does us
(04:23):
look like at how this became from an individual play
to millions of people who are viewing you or to
you doing with friends and being friend time or partner time.
So that's a whole different conversation I wouldn't look into
because that's been like stewing in my head. I'm like, huh,
this is a different avenue because I would have never
put that as quality time hang time. I always put
(04:46):
that as individualized. Now interesting, I think that might be
a difference in the type of games you play. But
even with the Last of Us, you wanting people to
play it for you, you having people come over to
play it with you was a fo concept, even to
the point that I'll fall asleep or leave the room
because I don't find for the people that I'm with
(05:07):
who loves that that is like things right, and it
is like, oh please, can we do that? Like we play,
we hang out? That's what I mean. That's what I mean.
Like like you say that I know, but I'm like,
this is new to me as being a thing, like
I've heard of being a thing, but I'm like, huh,
it really kind of has grown into a bigger thing.
So this is a whole conversation for a different episode.
(05:28):
So I really do want to come back to it
because it's not just about necessarily gaming, but the way
it has reached social media socialization in general. And I
think it's good to come back and look at because again,
our entertainment and sources of entertainment have changed vastly over
the years, and I know it always has. It went
from like hanging out on the street biking with your friends,
(05:49):
to going two malls to maybe going onto animal crossing
and hanging out at each other's eyelands virtually. What let's
(06:10):
take a little deeper dive again, and a good question
that I've seen across platforms is is cozy gaming a
gendered thing? And it does seem like marketing maybe more
geared toward women. Now, I will say now, because as
we've talked about previously, people consider cozy gaming may have
(06:30):
come out in the seventies eighties and that it's been around.
We just never called it cozy gaming. It was just
gaming or easy gaming, or open world gaming, a lot
of things that I still did not quite understand and
just learning about today. And like I said, this, the
other big question to this, because we don't like anything gendered.
We really, I think all of us would just wishould
(06:53):
just move on to being as just as is. I
think when we talk about women, like being the first
woman to do this, or being the only Black women
to do this, or the only Asian woman to do this,
and having to celebrate that as a niche instead of
being celebrated as whatever you have done, being good at right,
And that's kind of the same thing with this. But
(07:13):
you know, that's the conversation is is this being gendered
a bad thing or is it just really more of
a starting point the article we mentioned last conversation around
cozy gaming, they talked about the fact that though it
does seem games like Animal Crossing and others may seem
to be aimed toward women, it's not necessarily a bad thing,
and that it actually has shown that hey, oh women
(07:38):
actually want to play people who are not typically geared
like men, people who young boys have always been geared
at these advertisings in all marketing has suddenly switched to
being like, okay, women like it too, and actually being
considered gamers. And again we talked about that last time
and how this is a good change but still like
(08:00):
annoying change, I think, And also just as a reminder,
not too much information on whether all of these numbers
are accurate or any of these statistics are accurate. That
article we were talking about earlier from the Game Industry
dot biz. They said a recent study showed a marked
genre preferences between genders. Cozy games were not featured, but
the two genres in which women made up a majority
(08:22):
was casual and mobile, and I know we talked about
that because you know, I love a mobile game. Among developers,
there's a general agreement that why the cozy audience excused
slightly towards women and girls. The genre's future demographic is
unclear for sure. Plenty of men enjoy cozy games. Animal Crossings,
New Horizons players gender split was about even, but online
(08:44):
fan communities tend to be majority women. So we did
have another recommendation from another listener about Animal crossing pocket gaming.
I don't know this and I need to go back,
and I was trying to read what this was and
whether it connects to Animal Crossing. I am interested. I
think she must have jumped in at the beginning because
since then no Kelsey talked about Nintendo really trying to
(09:04):
make it ugly and profit off of it and gate
keep a lot of things. So I'm not really sure
if it's gotten better or worse. Because there was a
lot of reviews like Hey, they changed it in and
I hate it so but I do want to look
at it because that sounds interesting because I am again
obsessed for them. And yeah, and that conversation that the
cozy gaming isn't going anywhere, as in fact, he and
(09:25):
I talked about the fact just before we started recording,
how yes, cozy gaming kind of came around when we
were more sheltering in plays quarantining. Again, it's been around
before then, but since then the popular has grown so
much so that has grown its own genre or category.
And yeah, I'm like, what qualifies cozy gaming? We already
said the vibes and stuff, but there's other games that's
(09:46):
like storytelling that's not necessarily cozy, right, that's what we
would say. Yeah, yeah, I think you say any lights
if you can't tell by our faith, oh you can't
see your paper? Well no, I just a lot of
the I think I think it has to be kind
of like the graphics are important, the music's important, and
(10:07):
I think sort of the vibe of like for most people,
not for me apparently, but for most people like a
low key vibe. Low key vibe, that's yes, it is,
that's the low key vibe, which is the one that
makes you kind of panic a little bit, right, Yes,
that's interesting to me. So the code, like I said,
it's not going anywhere. And the fact that the estimated
(10:30):
word for gaming industry is more than three hundred and
twenty billion dollars of should this should have happened by
twenty twenty six, so three years from now, with a
chunk of that coming from casual gamers or social gamers,
it seems like it's only going to get bigger. I've
seen more and more advertising, more and more going into
this category. I think for a while. I don't know
if Xbox doesn't have that category right now, but Switch
(10:51):
absolutely has jumped in one hundred and twenty thousand percent.
It looks like Netflix may have bought a company that
is specific to cozy gaming, which is interesting to me.
Big companies are trying to jump in on this. I
don't know if they're going to be able to because
part of the appeal is that indie aspect with their
art and such. But that's a different conversation also. And
then there's companies like wholesome Games, which literally they that's
(11:15):
kind of the categories either cozy gaming or wholesome gaming
they kind of just jumped in at first, they've been
around for a minute. They even tackle even bigger things,
including talking about like whether or not mental health issues
should be addressed, conversations about inclusivity. There's a lot that
this is really big opportunity for and I'm hoping that
includes storytelling, cozy games. I'm really digging the storytelling and
(11:41):
one of those that I was talking to you about
all weekend, I think All week Annie is a coffee
talk which actually is but pretty highly rated game and
recommended by so many when I looked up cozy gaming,
and it isn't what I expected. Have you looked at
that at all? Eighty? I played it? Yeah, okay, your thoughts.
I named my barista Disco Luke, so that was fun. Yes,
(12:04):
I'm so literal. I just named it my own name. Oh,
I like to mess with the names. What's so funny
is like, you haven't finished it, right, It's only a
couple of hours. I think two or three hours. I
finished it. Oh you did? So did it kind of
fit in with the ending to it? Right? Oh? Yeah?
Well I was like, Disco Luke is perfect for this. Yeah.
(12:26):
And plus this is a fan fiction popular trope where
you're working at the coffee shop and they come in
and you're like, really, I didn't notice, Yes, And then
my partner was like, this seems like fan fiction coffee shop. Yes,
I did not know this. Look at things I'm learning.
I really liked it. Uh. And it wasn't like I
(12:47):
said would expect it. With the conversations about immigration acceptance
and uh, and then study of human behavior, there was
a lot of things. I was like, what is he?
What does hat? They're talking about condoms and how to
like and love and dating and what. I really enjoyed that.
For some reason, it made me a giggle. Yeah. Well,
(13:10):
I've told you the story about mass Effect too, which
is very much not a goesy game. But you do
have to go and learn how to have sex with
an alien species. If that's what you want, you have
to go to the doctor and ask um. And it's
really fun. I mean, it's cool. It's cool. I will say.
This made me realize I know nothing about coffee. They'd
be like, make me an espresso. I'm like, um, okay,
(13:31):
to be fair, going coffee, coffee, coffee and listeners. If
you haven't played this, essentially you have a primary and
two secondaries, and this makes that coffee and the way
you made an espresso was literally coffee, coffee, coffee. I
was like, that's not that's not okay, that's well I did.
I was even like, I think that must be what
it is, because I know it's kind of like caffeine
in it, so it must be that, but I didn't
(13:52):
know for sure. Yeah, there was a lot of drinks.
I'm like, what is this? And I actually had to
ask and my partner looked it up and it just
literally just comes from coffee talk. That's what it is.
I was like, oh, okay, okay, but I really really
enjoyed it and it was a really entertaining and perfect
bedtime read slash play. I was like, oh, yeah, this
is nice. I felt really relaxed, and I want more.
(14:14):
I want more. And Jude did give a couple of
more recommendations. I saw on the list a short hike,
which is supposed to be a small, a short game,
and then I think story of a season's story of seasons,
maybe storytellinge I'll look into it, but juded to tell
me if I'm wrong, And I find that very very
fascinating because I think of video games once again being bustling,
(14:35):
constantly on the move, constantly looking finding the next mission.
This is why I don't like it. I'm like, if
it's too complicated, I don't want to be on this anymore.
And to have a game literally coffee talk is you
listen to a story and maybe make two or three
drinks in a chapter. That's it. And I really like this.
And then there was another game that I looked up
called Florence, and the graphics are gorgeous. I'm so excited.
(14:58):
Apparently I think that the creators are from Australia, and
apparently it's a puzzle game. So you go through in
this puzzle game about love, and it goes through this
whole story about this couple. So once again, I really Annie,
I'm really digging these games. Yeah, I mean they're very,
very pretty. Yeah, lots of good storytelling happening. I love
(15:20):
and I love a game that kind of messes with gaming,
so that's cool to see. Yeah, there's a couple of
other games, like The Witchy Life as well as Potion
(15:44):
Making I Believe, which apparently has a conversation about mental health,
like you have to crew different potions to help address
specific knees of the villagers and the witches, and it
could include elements like mental health elements and in all
of these things. I haven't played this, so I can't
tell you exactly what it's about, but it does tackle
a little bit about mental health within a gaming system,
(16:08):
as well as talking about relaxation and taking a moment
to look deeper. There's a lot of games I know,
any I think you've talked about a few that takes
you through the process of grieving, and I find that fascinating. Again,
we know it's bigger than what it is. I mean,
maybe I don't know. Last of Us is also about grieving,
Yes you would say this. I don't know if it
(16:29):
works it out, but it takes you through grief. Yeah,
it's a real examination of it and how it can
go wrong. I don't think we're gonna be ever like
as skilled as any of them to kill our enemies though.
That's not realistic, so I'm just saying that. But clearly
I can't make coffee either, so I'm screwed. It's true.
(16:52):
I do have to set up the coffee machines just perfect,
just for you. Specific instructions I love, But yeah, like
and then we talked about some of these games, which
I really really do love the fact that they are
being very inclusive, realizing that the people who are gaming
once again are not just as white men, and that
(17:13):
it opens up a whole different world of who they
want to see in these games and who they want
represented in these games and how. And I know we've
talked about that previously with your characters that you've talked
about any as well as the games that you do
love or find problematic, and some of these issues are
absolutely to this level, but here we have an approach
(17:34):
where it is comforting instead of challenge and necessarily fighting.
I'd say it depends. So there's apparently a game called
It Gets a Better Project which helps affirm LGBTQ plus teens,
and I'm interested in what that looks like. It as
(17:55):
one of the articles from Hope lab dot org says,
it's a mission to add diverse perspectives and voices because
teens wanted a tool that was more accessible to more people.
And I'm like, yeah, this is cool, this is absolutely
I think such a perfect way and perfect medium to
find these types of conversations being had, and I want
(18:16):
that to be bigger I am so excited about what
that could be. And then in this middle of this
conversation Annie, as I've been giving Annie, like do this
for me, do this with me, tell me what you think.
You've sent me a small recommendation this. There's a few
that I will look at. There's a few probably won't
look at. I am really interested in one of them.
(18:37):
Gone Home. Yes, gone Home sounds like the one you
were just talking about, because that is like it's a
coming out story, but you think it's a ghost story.
So you're visiting home and you you not your family
isn't there, and you go through and try to figure
out where they are, and through like reading journals or exploring,
(18:57):
you discover the kind of this your sister going through
this coming out story and what happened. And it's really
it's just like an interesting it's not long, it's not hard,
but it was an interesting take on that. I will say,
like a lot of these I sent you, and I
think you should just look them up. But I wouldn't
play them because I just know they're not for you.
(19:19):
But they are really cool, and I the reason I
sent them to you. I call them like not cozy
cozy games, because I think they're similar in terms of, like,
here's your puzzle aspect. Maybe there isn't an overarching story.
Maybe there is, but they're just darker. Although like the
first one I listened listed, Braid is very beautifully animated,
but it's also kind of a complicated puzzle game. Don't
(19:42):
have to shoot things. You don't have to shoot things,
but it's like imagine like a scroller like Mario or
the screen's always moving, but you have the power to
reverse the screen. So your puzzle aspect is you can
you have this ability to reverse, and then it adds
a really cool slash dark message at the end. But
(20:03):
I like it. Yeah. I also oxen Free. I love
I've mentioned it before. Oxen Free. It's essentially like a
game where you go to this island. It's like five
of you high school teenagers, and the island has like
this time travel frequency thing, and there are speech bubbles
you can choose, so it will be like, how do
(20:23):
you feel about this person? There's five speech bubbles. I
bet you can slow it down, but the reason I'm like,
I'm not sure you'd like it is because it's kind
of the speech bubbles go quickly, so you have to
be like, but I love it and every time you
play it it takes into account what you did in
the last time because it's time travel. Okay, okay, but
yeah it's pretty cool. Yeah yeah, all right, I'll be
(20:44):
in for that. I'll be in for that. I'll try that. Wait,
so where's that? Where would I find that? I played
it on Steam, but I think you can play in
a couple of places. If anybody wants my whole list
that I sent, you can get it because it's quite
a bit. I would also say Journey Journey is very pretty.
It came out in twenty twelve. It was made by women. Um,
I play it on PlayStation, but I think it's in
other places too. But that this essentially a game where
(21:04):
you just explore a really pretty landscape and seeing to communicate.
It's interesting. Okay, I'm down for that too. I want
to try that. Yes, oh yes. We love these recommendations
so so so much. Thanks for taking the time to
do them, to make them and send them to us.
If you want any from us, let us know. Um
you can email us at Stuff Media, mom Stuff at
(21:26):
iHeartMedia dot com. You can find us on Twitter at
moms a podcast or on Instagram and TikTok at Stuff
One Never told. You can also listen to us on
YouTube if that is something that you would like to do. Yes,
Thanks as always to our superproducer Chris Data. Thank you, Yes,
and thanks to you for listening. Stuff and I told
you the protection of Ihart Radio. For more podcast in
(21:46):
my Heart Radio, you can check out the Ihear Radio
app Apple Podcast wherever you listen to your favorite ships.
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