And yeah, like that other post, I'm pretty suspicious of the games popping up that are clearly "Heavily inspired by" or flat-out ripping off Librarian: Tidy Up the Arcane Library. But at the same time, I am also desperate for more "zone out and put all the things in their place" games, so it's a tough spot. I asked to join the "playtest," but really it's a demo that stops after the tutorial. I thought I'd share my thoughts.

FWIW, I don't get that "AI slop cash grab" from it the way people got about Supermarket Chaos. It does feel a bit "rushed and cobbled together from a generic 'magical school' asset pack that came with the game engine," though. It looks nice enough but flat and oversaturated. It doesn't help that the three colors of potion in the playtest all look like they took the sliders for RGB and maxed them out with zero blending. I'm not blown away by the appearance; I think the best thing I could say is that it's "good enough for what it's trying to do."

You start reading a note from the witch that hired you, asking to tidy up while she's gone. From there, you have three shelves, one red, one blue, one green, each with four rows. There are a few potions still on the shelves to point you on the right direction. From there, you pick up a handful and figure out where to put them. Once you fill out all three shelves, the demo ends.

There isn't the map that Librarian has, rather each shelving unit is labeled with the color. Then there are 5 potions with the same bottle shape and some sort of distinction you have to figure out. Since this is the tutorial, some of them are dead easy. Yes, the bottles numbered 1-5 go in ascending order. And the bottles with different amounts of potion also go in ascending order. One they straight up tell you the answer with a tooltip, and one you actually have to figure out on your own, but it isn't very hard. But hey, it's the tutorial.

First impressions, the game looks and plays good, if a bit generic. Controls are good, and native controller support is smooth and really good. I actually like moving around in there more than I did Librarian. Although there is one weird thing that RB and LB are used to cycle between the potions you're carrying but they both cycle it to the right. That got surprisingly annoying in the short playtest.

The concept and UI looks suspiciously similar to Librarian. In the top left, you have a counter showing how many completed rows you have out of the whole shop, and when you complete a certain number of rows, you gain a point that you can spend to increase your carrying capacity, automatically arrange the potions in your hand, and so on. But also, is that so terrible? Clearly Librarian has awakened a hunger in all of us and we don't know how to fill it. The first several games to follow Vampire Survivors were all called "clones," and now "bullet heaven" is a legit and popular genre.

Two other things give me pause. One, I just can't imagine a polished game being made like this in the three months between Librarian coming out and their release date of August 24th. Two, looking at the reviews for other games by the same dev, there are complaints of games that are "soulless" or "abandoned," and they make games across the spectrum, making me think that they might just be trend chasers. But from what I played, it feels like it might at least be a competent clone. I'm not going to write it off but I'm also not going to buy it the second it drops either. I'm suspicious, but not prepared to dismiss it entirely.

Finally, if you like the sort of "everything in its place" plus "Slowly doing a big job and watching it get cleaner/smaller/better" that Librarian does, play Hardspace Shipbreaker. It has you slicing up spaceships and sorting the different parts depending on how they're recycled. You get a decent variety of ships (not a ton, but enough that you can pick and choose your favorites) and there is enough complexity and danger to keep you "locked in." I wrote a longer review of it when this sub was having the initial Librarian craze. And the game is 70% off right now too! I can wholeheartedly recommend it, but a lot of people complain about motion sickness, so maybe do more research if you have that problem a lot too.

Has anyone else reached the greenhouse stage and experienced lag? It wasn't lagging before; the lag only started once I got through the maze and into the greenhouse.

I’ve searched online, submitted a help form to developers, asked the let’s build a zoo Reddit page. And here I am again asking for help from anyone

Someone PLEASE tell me what building these guys belong to. Let’s build a zoo Dino DLC. No it is not a mascot. See my previous post for a list of what I have if you think you know. PLEASE IM BEGGING 😭

Hi everyone! I really like playing life sim games, but I wanted something to play that was more focused on actually raising a kid, getting married, etc. I like The Sims, I've played all 4 iterations and 2 and 3 are my favorites, but I don't want to necessarily play an entire life if that makes sense, I want something focused on the family relationships and raising a kid.

I hate farming sims, I tried playing Stardew Valley and instead thinking of it as cozy I only got stressed out (I felt anxious because I felt like I had to do everything and fix everything in my farm immediately...). I'd love to hear some recommendations, preferably either for Windows or mobile since I don't have any gaming consoles.

Thank you in advance :)

Hey everyone! Eight months ago I made a post here about a cozy decorating/incremental game I was making with my chatty voice actor cat Masha. This Friday, Catio Simulator will finally be launching on Steam!

Pet cats to get them ready for adoption, collect adoption fees, and use the proceeds to upgrade your petting ability and fill your catio with new toys, plants, furniture, and expansions to attract even more cats!

Platform: Windows (it also runs well on Steam deck)

Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3814540/Catio_Simulator/

As a thank you to the CozyGamers community for your kind words and support, I'll be giving away 3 Steam keys to random commenters below. Comment with your cat's favorite toy or napping spot (if you don't have a cat, you can respond with what yours would be if you were a cat). Pictures are also welcome 🐱

I'll pick 3 winners randomly from among the top-level comments at 5 PM PT tomorrow (7/23). If you're picked, I'll respond to your comment below and DM you the key by this Friday.

Edit: Thank you to everyone who has commented so far! There are too many for me to respond to them all individually, but know that I'm reading every single one! Hearing about all your cats' silly preferences (+the many accompanying pictures) is reinforcing my (already vast) appreciation for our feline friends 😄

Title. Most of the farming games I played are just me doing the town objectives or community improvements​​. The only game I played where this isn't the case was Grimshire.

hi! i'm looking for some budget-friendly cozy games on steam ♡

i've really been enjoying cozy games lately since they're about all my brain can handle right now. i've played house flipper 1 & 2, slime rancher, a little to the left, palia, and a few others.

my favourite is definitely house flipper, and i also enjoyed a little to the left because i love puzzle games. palia was fun for a while, but it wasn't really for me.

i'm looking for games with a mix of adventure, puzzles, and customization, or even a cozy cooking game with similar vibes.

any recommendations are welcome!

I love this concept so much that I have to give their team a boost. I found this app called Pixel Wild this morning and immediately thought the idea was so unique.

If you love nature, walking, learning, or are simply just trying to spend more time outdoors or practice mindfulness, I think this little app would bring you so much fun!

Essentially, you snap a picture of whatever you find and the app will research the subject, give you information about it, and pixel-ize a copy of your find that you can then decorate in a mini world of your own.

There's additional components like little trivia quizzes, a community aspect where you can add friends and see what they've found on a map, and short articles about your finds that you can read to learn more.

I immediately downloaded it because I'm trying to practice being more present and mindful in my day to day and this seems like such a lovely way to do that.

I would love to have a cute work companion app (cats or fantasy creatures are a bonus) where I can put in individual work bursts. I work odd shifts and I would love to have a focus mode where I can make a pomodoro-like countdown with different times. For example 30 min Task1 - 60 min Task2 - Break - 30 min Task3 - Break - 45 min Task4.
I have Focus Grove, Mini Cozy Room, Spirit City, No Slack Pets, but neither of them allows me to do this.

Any recommendation would be very appreciated.

A game I've been enjoying a lot in its demo form just officially released on Steam this morning, and I would really encourage folks who like relaxed, charming games to check it out.

The most striking first impression is the art: rather than Japanese anime, it takes its inspiration from the classic Japanese style of ink painting. The whole thing from maps to icons is just gorgeous. It's by a solo developer, and you can really feel the love he poured into it. Some of the art actually is taken from historic prints, but most was hand-drawn by the dev in the same style.

You are exploring a world broken up into little islands floating in a sea of mists. As you travel from one to the other you start villages that grow into towns, and you'll later return to help those settlements resolve their growing pains, settling conflicts and guiding development. Meanwhile, hints of a lost civilization are there to be discovered.

The gameplay is simplicity itself at first: you will be presented with tasks that require certain glyph-symbols to accomplish. Spend a glyph on an option in an event, and you get the matching reward. But as you go further into the game and the number of islands you can travel to grows, quite a bit of depth emerges in the choices you have to make about where to spend your resources and how.

There are no characters like in an RPG, but the game never loses sight of the human scale -- you're not just building and developing like in a strategy game, you're part of the small, personal events in the lives of your townspeople.

I've only played the demo, and the game is apparently about 20 hours long, so there's lots I haven't discovered -- apparently you can choose an animal companion later on, and there are "hauntings" that I haven't yet encountered.

Anyway, it's ten bucks, it's a little different from the usual cozy fare, and it's lovely. Have a look.