A lot of canonical cozy games are easy to uncozy. There might not technically be anything missable, but are you really going to let the season roll from Spring to Summer without a large horde of extra crops? Can you really resist the siren song of min maxing? I will often start a farm sim with the intention of ~taking my time~ but that lasts about as long as seeing the cute little pixelated chickens I could buy once I can build a coop, which means collecting enough hardwood, which means upgrading my axe, which means mining deeper, which means buying a new sword… and on and on.
Category: Completely Subjective 5-Star Reviews
Completely Subjective 5-Star Review: Mexican Gothic
One of my hot takes on literature is a lot of the old school, Victorian-era, Gothic novels kind of stink. In classic tale Jane Eyre, the love interest’s deep dark secret—and the deep dark secret of his house—is that his first wife is locked up in the attic? And the reveal is that it’s so hard for him?? Silvia Moreno-Garcia literally would never in her contemporary take on this subgenre of classic, Mexican Gothic.
Read More »Completely Subjective 5-Star Review: Harvestella
Harvestella is Square Enix’s major foray into the farming sim genre. As a simp for Square Enix and farming sims, I am basically designed for this game. And it hits the notes. A plotline arc that starts with helping small town folk with their errands and ends with fighting (or becoming) God? An ensemble harem and reverse-harem cast of anime tropes coming to love you? Farming simplified for people who just want to run around with their swords out? Dungeon crawling simplified for people who want to half-play while an episode of Riverdale is half-watched in the background? All checked.
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Nicole Connolly Writes 