Dredge, Strange Horticulture leading the dark cozy genre

It’s hard to describe cozy games. There’s no one aesthetic line that’s threaded throughout the entire genre. There are qualities we’ve come to associate with cozy games, sure — soft colors like in Little Witch of the WoodsWhether it’s farming simulation or life simulator, Animal CrossingNew HorizonsThere is very little violence in comparison to how it was before. Potion MakerMost of the time, brewing potions is what you do. But those qualities aren’t actually requirements; cozy games are more about how they make you feel. It’s obvious when you look at it.

The dark cozy game is the latest addition to the cozy subgenre. Kennedy Rose (also known as Cozy K) is a cozy game specialist who sees this subgenre growing due to the increased interest for coziness within gaming. “[It] allows for the subgenres within cozy games to blossom even more,” she told Polygon. “Yes, we want to unwind with some cozy task management mechanisms, but maybe we also want to uncover a horrifying mystery while we do so.”

What may appear to be a dark cozy game, complicates the concept of a cozy cozy game. DredgeCan a game that delves deep into psychological terror be called cosy? But DredgeIt’s more than just the horrifying fish and red-rimmed eye of the protagonist, the fishing man. It’s in the slow, methodical pattern of Dredge’s gameplay and the nature of fishing itself. These qualities fit in between the game’s other themes — the mysteries and horrors of the sea — to different degrees throughout the game. There are monsters to be found — or to find you — and consequences for spending too many nights without sleep. The hallucinations you experience can cause actual harm. Sea monsters that are unknown can destroy your ship. It almost happens by itself. DredgeIt has a warm feel to it, which makes it a cozy game. It’s the loop of its simple fishing minigame that leads into a cargo hull-sized game of Tetris. It’s the fishmongers and fellow seafarers who buy your fish and fix your ship. Community and consistency are what keep a community together. DredgeAvoid getting too dark.

“Cozy gamers […] want something that’s entertaining and engaging but not something that brings us to that high-stress, competitive state that some games might,” Rose said. “That may look like an island full of cutesy animals or a dark boat expedition with mutant fish.”

Image: Klei Entertainment

New Zealand-based Dredge developer Black Salt Games didn’t necessarily plan for the game to feel cozy; developer Alex Ritchie told Polygon that uneasiness and curiosity were the two feelings he wanted to carry throughout the game. “If you had asked during development whether I thought DredgeWould appeal to [fans of] cozy games, I probably would have said no,” he said. “Now, though, I think you can get that experience from it.”

In both games and real life, the repetitive nature of fishing always draws people in. DredgeWhen it gets too close, you can step back. It’s also a pastime that developer Joel Mason happens to enjoy. Similarly, Dredge developer Michael Bastiaens added that it’s easy to get pulled out of the game’s quieter moments, but that it’s the “tension and fear,” perhaps, that makes the cozier and more mundane bits feel more impactful.

Dark cozy games have been around for many years. Don’t StarveThe original example depends on whom you speak to. Klei Entertainment’s survival game, released in 2013, is notoriously challenging. Although its aesthetic is cozy and has a cute cartoon-like world with muted colors, the gameplay itself is anything but cozy. Don’t StarveThis is more about a way of thinking. When you get used to failure — or you use one of Don’t Starve’s creative modes — you can fall into the feeling of coziness. It’s a game that’s definitely more dark and fundamentally hard than cozy, but that doesn’t diminish the warmer aspects of playing it.

Rose stressed that the word cozy is subjective. “Some people find farming simulations to be the peak of coziness, while others get stressed out by the fast-moving days and endless to-do lists,” she said. “Really, whatever game makes you feel cozy is a cozy game.”

Developer Infinite Fall’s 2017 game The Night In the WoodsIt is possible that the game of dark cozy was defined in a way more traditional than other games. Don’t Starve, however. Possum Springs’ Maple Street is a place of nostalgia, but it is purely fictional. It offers a level of comfort and familiarity that will make you want to play the game again even after years. It’s not just about the game. Dredge, The Night In the WoodsIts themes include mental illness, death and the demise of capitalism in late stages; contrast between coziness, darkness and warmth makes The Night In the WoodsIt is a way to get more out of something.

Image: Bad Viking/Iceberg Interactive

Since then, The Night In the WoodsThe dark cozy genre was born even earlier. That’s easily seen with the likes of Cozy GroveThe mix of 2020 Don’t StarveThe following are some examples of how to get started: Animal Crossing New Horizons; Ori and The Blind ForestThe creepy, cute 2015 platformer by Moon Studios is perhaps the best example in the genre. Strange Horticulture.

Last year’s Strange HorticultureThe player is placed in a small plant shop, with a purring kitten. As a shopkeeper, you will have to learn how to label plants and sell them in Undermere. This dark, rainy, and dreary town is located at the edge a forest. This game has a unique twist. Strange Horticulture’s plants, as you may have guessed from the title, are quite strange: Some will lure people to their deaths, and others can be used as incense that screams while it burns. It’s a slow game that moves forward with each new customer and the ring of the counter bell. There’s an element of mystery to Strange Horticulture, a curious pull that’s similar to that of Dredge. The way Strange Horticulture’s cozy and dark elements weave themselves into a nest is both comforting and unnerving — it’s a feeling that feels good to sit inside, with no need to unravel it.

“It makes perfect sense to me that this combination works,” Ritchie, the Dredge Polygon reported that developer. “But I’ve never really examined why. “But I’ve never really examined why.” You can’t make something seem loud if it’s never been quiet, and like in art, ‘complementary’ colors are the ones that contrast the most. A cozy game where you know it’s not always cozy makes the comfortable parts even more meaningful.”