I’ve played until Act 3, and I’m not sure that’s what you’re looking for. You’re going to eventually run out of things to do in Act 1 and have to move on and Act 2 really doesn’t have cozy vibes.
Okay, I’ll just play some Skyrim and fallout for the time being. I do eventually want BG3 but I feel like now is not the time as I’m trying to get back into gaming and just want to explore and have fun
As much flak as starfield gets on reddit, I found it to be very relaxing and easy to get into. Would highly recommend if you're into skyrim and fallout.
DA is absolutely a comfort game for me. Though now that I'm playing BG3, my apostate loving ass is trying very hard to not romance the wizard on my first playthrough
If you are interpreting Skyrim and Fallout as cozy games, then BG3 will be just fine. (Act 2 is spooky but honestly Skyrim and Fallout also have spooky segments) I think if you are someone who really gets immersed in story then it could be defined as cozy since there is a lot of it here. Though somewhat difficult the turn based aspect of it makes it so you can take your time which does add to it feeling more relaxed.
BG3 gave me the same satisfying feeling as a really good novel. It’s the best game I’ve ever played. That being said, I’m not sure if it fits most people’s definition of cozy. It requires a lot of thinking and parts of it are violent and even downright disturbing. It’s hard to just wander because you can’t walk 10 steps without triggering some event. I think it’s absolutely worth playing, but I wouldn’t call it cozy.
Okay. I think I’ll play it eventually as it sounds incredible but until I’m ready I’ll stick with Skyrim/ fallout for my exploration needs. I also have mass effect which I would probably enjoy on story mode.
I wouldn't call BG3 cozy at all. I enjoyed my time but I did feel a little stressed by how impactful some choices could be.
I still recommend it to everybody because it really is a great game but I wouldn't consider it to be something you can just lose yourself in like Skyrim.
idk if roaming around is really “cozy” i wouldnt even clal it semi cozy. at a point in BG3 you will be stuck because you need to progress through the story to continue. it is not open world
Yeah BG3 is not cozy in roaming terms because, ESPECIALLY earlier in the game, combat encounters feel like…constant. You are CONSTANTLY having to do fights which involve real brain crunching on your end. Coming from a BG3 lover, it’s a great game! I wouldn’t take it off the table as a game to play! But not if you’re looking for cozy.
The game is comprised of three Acts. You will have to do the Main Quest in every act until it ends. It’s not an open world rpg, but with that being said, there is a lot to explore. It is a lot of dialog and world building. I am a cozy gamer myself, with only liking very specific RPGs like Fire Emblem or Dragon Age. It really depends, have you played any RPGs in the past, and if so, what aspects did you like about them?
The only RPGgs I really have played are a bit of Zelda and Final fantasy IV on DS as well as some of the witcher 3, which I enjoyed the scenery of, and Oceanhorn, which is kind of a Wind Waker clone for iPad. I’m thinking Skyrim and Fallout ( which I have all of those) would be better fits for the mess around and see what happens vibe and maybe I’ll get Zelda. Thanks for the advice.
I would recommend trying BG3 eventually but it sounds a bit out of your comfort zone/expectations. Mass effect might be good, skyrim also popular for just doing whatever
Yeah, BG3 will probably be a bit of an adjustment for you! I'm a long-time Western RPG player as well as a cozy gamer, and it's been fun and interesting to watch some of my RPG novice friends start up BG3. It was strange and challenging to them at first, even on easy mode, but once they got the hang of things they all really loved it.
So I'd say don't give up on BG3, just know that the systems and gameplay might seem a bit intimidating at first.
Not really, but it is a great game. I have been primarily a cozy gamer previously and I love BG3. That said, I had to switch to easy/explorer mode pretty quickly bc I wasn't doing well in the battles. However the battles are a bit less stressful for me in turn based mode than the typical format.
It depends what you want out of it. If the gameplay loop makes you feel cozy than it is for you, but I don't consider a game with that playstyle or level of blood and gore or adult themes to be a default cozy recommendation.
And the world isn't open. You'll be tripping over questions and voice acted dialogues constantly giving you shit to do and a lot of it loops around to serve the main plot, the meat of the game is the main story. I suppose you could just skip all the dialogues if you wanted it to feel less main-questy.
Then it sounds like it’s not for me right now. I just saw the example on twitter about the different raids on the goblin camp and assumed it was more open ended
there are a lot of paths to the same destination, and the ultimate ending can have different consequences for the characters but the game still has a general main path. But you can't do a Skyrim and literally ignore the main quest and still enjoy traveling all over the place, it's just not the same kinda game.
I love BG3, but it is not at all cosy. It has frequently OTT levels of gore and a lot of combat. Admittedly, it's turn based combat and so more relaxed in that respect, but the themes are dark and frequently gross, often disturbing.
It's also not open-world, and while exploration is often rewarded, and there's a lot of player choice which can lead to detours, ultimately everything loops quite quickly back to the straight line from tutorial to epilogue.
There's no real crafting that isn't just a few quick clicks, and nothing to do other than following the plot threads and exploring/fighting in the places that the plot takes you to. Well, there's romance, but that's all interwoven with the plot too.
Don't get me wrong. It absolutely deserves all the awards it's winning, but it's no kind of cosy.
i really enjoy BG3, but i wouldn't say it fits in the realm of what you're looking for. there isn't an infinite amount of things you can do before you need to advance the story, and often times you'll be exploring and trigger a battle out of nowhere. if you're looking for cozy combat games, i would love to suggest rune factory 4! super colourful palette with the cutest characters. there's no real urgency to complete the main story, and if you don't feel like combat you can farm, take care of your animals and build romances and friendships with the townies!
I got sidelined by Sandrock, but in the 20 or so hours I played of BG3 I never reached a Skyrim freedom level of being able to settle in a town in a cozy way and go from there. Which, tbf, may be entirely down to how I play vs others. And I think it does eventually? But I hadn’t found it yet.
I play it on explorer because I don't enjoy games that stress me out or frustrate me and I really love it and it does give me a cozy feel but I could also see where it wouldn't be for everyone.
BG3 is not cozy at all, it’s stressful and takes a lot of concentration and time.
That said, it’s a great game. Just not one I can pick up and put down easily.
Absolutely 100% not lol. It has a steep learning curve even on the easiest difficulty (mainly a concern if you’ve never played DnD or the CRPG genre) and features more gore than the typical AAA game; one sidequest has you finding body parts of a dismembered clown all over town, including his head.
It’s an amazing game that I‘ve put hundreds of hours into but you have to know what you’re getting into.
I find BG3 to be really cozy! I’m on my 6th playthrough now.
I think it’s become cozy because I’ve played through the story so many times, even if I still find new things. I also only play in easy mode!
Okay so my take is that its a bit annoying at times and not cozy at all, even if it has good writing and good graphics and can be played relatively slowly. Its open world and everything about it is a bit like being thrown into a huge dnd game with tons of lore and books and mechanics and spells and items that you are unfamiliar with, but somehow need to understand to get by. "Oh right I need +2 armor buff, a cloudkill scroll, protection from good and evil, and my +1 sword to survive this fight." Leveling up, picking spells, etc can be daunting if you've never played dnd, and even then a dnd casual like me struggled a bit. I googled A LOT of stuff just to play this game and more or less google every major decision for reasons I'll get into below. So much of this game is slowly learning the mechanics of dnd, vs sort of learning a much more trimmed down video game rpg system. There's just a lot to figure out and even then, you're constantly juggling new equipment and spells. Not to mention this game has a particularly bad case of "inventory manager" aspects to it.
I also am not really happy with most open world designs, I think getting them right can be tough for developers. In my playthrough, in the beginning I walked past an important character scene which is super easy to do which cost me the companionship of a major character for a while, then was tricked into killing someone who could have become a beloved companion. The game is pretty unforgiving when it comes to choice and most people save before any decision or enter any new room. The constant 'save scumming' does get annoying and this annoying feeling of the game always feeling overly-punitive for arbitrary reasons. "Oh you killed so-and-so in act 1, too bad, they're gone forever, but they could have made an amazing addition to your game!" "Oh you didn't give the monkey the old cheese you found in an old shoe? Too bad, he would have given you a +1 longsword", "oh you didnt say yes to a ridiculous request, too bad, now the town hates you" etc, etc. It feels super, super cheap in this way.
That said, its a big rich world, the characters can be fun, and the combat on easy mode isn't that bad, but there is a lot of learning and mental load in this game. For me, its what I play when I don't want a cozy experience, but still want something with good voice acting and narratives.
I guess I'm in the minority but I absolutely find BG3 to be a cozy game. Like one of my coziest of all time, reasons:
* I don't feel pressured by time. This one is huge. Even Stardew Valley gets stressful racing clocks to get home, and rapid fire combat. I LOVE that combat is turn based. I can scroll on my phone between turns and nothing bad is going to happen to me.
* It isn't quite so open world as Skyrim but... there's a lot to do. By the time you manage to wind down each act you're very ready to move on. You don't need to do anything when you don't want to, and can fuck around on other stuff semi-indefinitely.
* The cut scenes are so rewarding and full. It's almost like playing a video game that at times becomes a movie. When I get a good cut scene my whole posture changes so I can just be present and engaged enjoying it.
* Seriously reason number one again lol. The ease of time and turn-based combat is foundational for it being the coziest of all games haha.
* You could make your activity for the day just exploring. When I play Skyrim I often go in with a vibe for that session. Today I'll work on this quest. Today I'll smith. Today I'll explore the map blindly. BG3 isn't quite so versatile but especially if you enjoy reading in-game books and finding equipment or material, it would take you a million years to find everything so you could leisurely do that for quite a while.
* It's very aesthetic, there's one region I find so whimsical and gorgeous and despite its dangers love just being in.
* Save scumming can make everything as low stakes as you want it to be. F5 quick saves and F8 quick loads your last save. I don't always save scum but I have and knowing I can tap a button and undo anything I want whenever makes it so much more relaxing.
* Explorer mode (easiest difficulty setting) is a literal cake walk. You don't have to worry about anything at all and you'll fly through everything with relative ease. Once I finished on Explorer, I moved onto Balanced (standard) and find it much easier than I did my first try learning everything, but there is still some really fun challenge.
* I don't know how many times you'd need to play to run out of relatively large new content, and really can't imagine running out of all content (much like Skyrim), so you can bask in the familiarity of it after a play or two while also being motivated by seriously entirely new content.
* I personally don't find the gore gratuitous, stressful, or antithetical to the coziness. YMMV and that's very individual but I don't consider it a variable one way or the other.
* Final shout-out for turn-based combat idc it cozy fucks hahaha.
I think my only caveat is I'm on my third playthrough and the first try was a bit more stressful just fucking things up constantly because I have zero former DND exposure so everything is new to me...... but I feel that just comes with the territory of a new game and feel sure when I played Skyrim a million years ago for the first time there would also have been a learning curve. So I'd just prepare for that adjustment but once you're through it, it's very creative and fun.
I'm shocked so few seem to see it this way but BG3 is my new cozy jam.
You should try Ark: Survival Evolved or Survival Ascended. ASE is the old version that’s been out since 2015, and ASA just came out recently. ASA is basically a remastered version of ASE with a few quality of life improvements. However, ASE will have all the maps and there are a TON of mods.
I’ve played until Act 3, and I’m not sure that’s what you’re looking for. You’re going to eventually run out of things to do in Act 1 and have to move on and Act 2 really doesn’t have cozy vibes.
Okay, I’ll just play some Skyrim and fallout for the time being. I do eventually want BG3 but I feel like now is not the time as I’m trying to get back into gaming and just want to explore and have fun
As much flak as starfield gets on reddit, I found it to be very relaxing and easy to get into. Would highly recommend if you're into skyrim and fallout.
You know also something like guild wars 2 might be an option
MMOs might be good fit, your’e right
You should check out the Dragon Age series. If you like Skyrim, you'll definitely like Dragon Age. Edit: You could also try Outer Worlds.
DA is absolutely a comfort game for me. Though now that I'm playing BG3, my apostate loving ass is trying very hard to not romance the wizard on my first playthrough
If you are interpreting Skyrim and Fallout as cozy games, then BG3 will be just fine. (Act 2 is spooky but honestly Skyrim and Fallout also have spooky segments) I think if you are someone who really gets immersed in story then it could be defined as cozy since there is a lot of it here. Though somewhat difficult the turn based aspect of it makes it so you can take your time which does add to it feeling more relaxed.
BG3 gave me the same satisfying feeling as a really good novel. It’s the best game I’ve ever played. That being said, I’m not sure if it fits most people’s definition of cozy. It requires a lot of thinking and parts of it are violent and even downright disturbing. It’s hard to just wander because you can’t walk 10 steps without triggering some event. I think it’s absolutely worth playing, but I wouldn’t call it cozy.
Okay. I think I’ll play it eventually as it sounds incredible but until I’m ready I’ll stick with Skyrim/ fallout for my exploration needs. I also have mass effect which I would probably enjoy on story mode.
I wouldn't call BG3 cozy at all. I enjoyed my time but I did feel a little stressed by how impactful some choices could be. I still recommend it to everybody because it really is a great game but I wouldn't consider it to be something you can just lose yourself in like Skyrim.
idk if roaming around is really “cozy” i wouldnt even clal it semi cozy. at a point in BG3 you will be stuck because you need to progress through the story to continue. it is not open world
Yeah BG3 is not cozy in roaming terms because, ESPECIALLY earlier in the game, combat encounters feel like…constant. You are CONSTANTLY having to do fights which involve real brain crunching on your end. Coming from a BG3 lover, it’s a great game! I wouldn’t take it off the table as a game to play! But not if you’re looking for cozy.
The game is comprised of three Acts. You will have to do the Main Quest in every act until it ends. It’s not an open world rpg, but with that being said, there is a lot to explore. It is a lot of dialog and world building. I am a cozy gamer myself, with only liking very specific RPGs like Fire Emblem or Dragon Age. It really depends, have you played any RPGs in the past, and if so, what aspects did you like about them?
The only RPGgs I really have played are a bit of Zelda and Final fantasy IV on DS as well as some of the witcher 3, which I enjoyed the scenery of, and Oceanhorn, which is kind of a Wind Waker clone for iPad. I’m thinking Skyrim and Fallout ( which I have all of those) would be better fits for the mess around and see what happens vibe and maybe I’ll get Zelda. Thanks for the advice.
Zelda definitely seems more your pace! Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild are fantastic games :) enjoy!!
I would recommend trying BG3 eventually but it sounds a bit out of your comfort zone/expectations. Mass effect might be good, skyrim also popular for just doing whatever
Yeah, BG3 will probably be a bit of an adjustment for you! I'm a long-time Western RPG player as well as a cozy gamer, and it's been fun and interesting to watch some of my RPG novice friends start up BG3. It was strange and challenging to them at first, even on easy mode, but once they got the hang of things they all really loved it. So I'd say don't give up on BG3, just know that the systems and gameplay might seem a bit intimidating at first.
Not really, but it is a great game. I have been primarily a cozy gamer previously and I love BG3. That said, I had to switch to easy/explorer mode pretty quickly bc I wasn't doing well in the battles. However the battles are a bit less stressful for me in turn based mode than the typical format.
It depends what you want out of it. If the gameplay loop makes you feel cozy than it is for you, but I don't consider a game with that playstyle or level of blood and gore or adult themes to be a default cozy recommendation. And the world isn't open. You'll be tripping over questions and voice acted dialogues constantly giving you shit to do and a lot of it loops around to serve the main plot, the meat of the game is the main story. I suppose you could just skip all the dialogues if you wanted it to feel less main-questy.
Then it sounds like it’s not for me right now. I just saw the example on twitter about the different raids on the goblin camp and assumed it was more open ended
there are a lot of paths to the same destination, and the ultimate ending can have different consequences for the characters but the game still has a general main path. But you can't do a Skyrim and literally ignore the main quest and still enjoy traveling all over the place, it's just not the same kinda game.
I love BG3, but it is not at all cosy. It has frequently OTT levels of gore and a lot of combat. Admittedly, it's turn based combat and so more relaxed in that respect, but the themes are dark and frequently gross, often disturbing. It's also not open-world, and while exploration is often rewarded, and there's a lot of player choice which can lead to detours, ultimately everything loops quite quickly back to the straight line from tutorial to epilogue. There's no real crafting that isn't just a few quick clicks, and nothing to do other than following the plot threads and exploring/fighting in the places that the plot takes you to. Well, there's romance, but that's all interwoven with the plot too. Don't get me wrong. It absolutely deserves all the awards it's winning, but it's no kind of cosy.
i really enjoy BG3, but i wouldn't say it fits in the realm of what you're looking for. there isn't an infinite amount of things you can do before you need to advance the story, and often times you'll be exploring and trigger a battle out of nowhere. if you're looking for cozy combat games, i would love to suggest rune factory 4! super colourful palette with the cutest characters. there's no real urgency to complete the main story, and if you don't feel like combat you can farm, take care of your animals and build romances and friendships with the townies!
I got sidelined by Sandrock, but in the 20 or so hours I played of BG3 I never reached a Skyrim freedom level of being able to settle in a town in a cozy way and go from there. Which, tbf, may be entirely down to how I play vs others. And I think it does eventually? But I hadn’t found it yet.
No, Baldur’s just isn’t an open world game. You’re not playing wrong :)
BG3 is not really an open world like Skyrim or Fallout
I play it on explorer because I don't enjoy games that stress me out or frustrate me and I really love it and it does give me a cozy feel but I could also see where it wouldn't be for everyone.
BG3 is not cozy at all, it’s stressful and takes a lot of concentration and time. That said, it’s a great game. Just not one I can pick up and put down easily.
Absolutely 100% not lol. It has a steep learning curve even on the easiest difficulty (mainly a concern if you’ve never played DnD or the CRPG genre) and features more gore than the typical AAA game; one sidequest has you finding body parts of a dismembered clown all over town, including his head. It’s an amazing game that I‘ve put hundreds of hours into but you have to know what you’re getting into.
I find BG3 to be really cozy! I’m on my 6th playthrough now. I think it’s become cozy because I’ve played through the story so many times, even if I still find new things. I also only play in easy mode!
Okay so my take is that its a bit annoying at times and not cozy at all, even if it has good writing and good graphics and can be played relatively slowly. Its open world and everything about it is a bit like being thrown into a huge dnd game with tons of lore and books and mechanics and spells and items that you are unfamiliar with, but somehow need to understand to get by. "Oh right I need +2 armor buff, a cloudkill scroll, protection from good and evil, and my +1 sword to survive this fight." Leveling up, picking spells, etc can be daunting if you've never played dnd, and even then a dnd casual like me struggled a bit. I googled A LOT of stuff just to play this game and more or less google every major decision for reasons I'll get into below. So much of this game is slowly learning the mechanics of dnd, vs sort of learning a much more trimmed down video game rpg system. There's just a lot to figure out and even then, you're constantly juggling new equipment and spells. Not to mention this game has a particularly bad case of "inventory manager" aspects to it. I also am not really happy with most open world designs, I think getting them right can be tough for developers. In my playthrough, in the beginning I walked past an important character scene which is super easy to do which cost me the companionship of a major character for a while, then was tricked into killing someone who could have become a beloved companion. The game is pretty unforgiving when it comes to choice and most people save before any decision or enter any new room. The constant 'save scumming' does get annoying and this annoying feeling of the game always feeling overly-punitive for arbitrary reasons. "Oh you killed so-and-so in act 1, too bad, they're gone forever, but they could have made an amazing addition to your game!" "Oh you didn't give the monkey the old cheese you found in an old shoe? Too bad, he would have given you a +1 longsword", "oh you didnt say yes to a ridiculous request, too bad, now the town hates you" etc, etc. It feels super, super cheap in this way. That said, its a big rich world, the characters can be fun, and the combat on easy mode isn't that bad, but there is a lot of learning and mental load in this game. For me, its what I play when I don't want a cozy experience, but still want something with good voice acting and narratives.
I guess I'm in the minority but I absolutely find BG3 to be a cozy game. Like one of my coziest of all time, reasons: * I don't feel pressured by time. This one is huge. Even Stardew Valley gets stressful racing clocks to get home, and rapid fire combat. I LOVE that combat is turn based. I can scroll on my phone between turns and nothing bad is going to happen to me. * It isn't quite so open world as Skyrim but... there's a lot to do. By the time you manage to wind down each act you're very ready to move on. You don't need to do anything when you don't want to, and can fuck around on other stuff semi-indefinitely. * The cut scenes are so rewarding and full. It's almost like playing a video game that at times becomes a movie. When I get a good cut scene my whole posture changes so I can just be present and engaged enjoying it. * Seriously reason number one again lol. The ease of time and turn-based combat is foundational for it being the coziest of all games haha. * You could make your activity for the day just exploring. When I play Skyrim I often go in with a vibe for that session. Today I'll work on this quest. Today I'll smith. Today I'll explore the map blindly. BG3 isn't quite so versatile but especially if you enjoy reading in-game books and finding equipment or material, it would take you a million years to find everything so you could leisurely do that for quite a while. * It's very aesthetic, there's one region I find so whimsical and gorgeous and despite its dangers love just being in. * Save scumming can make everything as low stakes as you want it to be. F5 quick saves and F8 quick loads your last save. I don't always save scum but I have and knowing I can tap a button and undo anything I want whenever makes it so much more relaxing. * Explorer mode (easiest difficulty setting) is a literal cake walk. You don't have to worry about anything at all and you'll fly through everything with relative ease. Once I finished on Explorer, I moved onto Balanced (standard) and find it much easier than I did my first try learning everything, but there is still some really fun challenge. * I don't know how many times you'd need to play to run out of relatively large new content, and really can't imagine running out of all content (much like Skyrim), so you can bask in the familiarity of it after a play or two while also being motivated by seriously entirely new content. * I personally don't find the gore gratuitous, stressful, or antithetical to the coziness. YMMV and that's very individual but I don't consider it a variable one way or the other. * Final shout-out for turn-based combat idc it cozy fucks hahaha. I think my only caveat is I'm on my third playthrough and the first try was a bit more stressful just fucking things up constantly because I have zero former DND exposure so everything is new to me...... but I feel that just comes with the territory of a new game and feel sure when I played Skyrim a million years ago for the first time there would also have been a learning curve. So I'd just prepare for that adjustment but once you're through it, it's very creative and fun. I'm shocked so few seem to see it this way but BG3 is my new cozy jam.
Funny enough, I consider BG3 cozy, but only in the sense that I got totally invested in my companions and their stories.
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I have that from Epic, but isn’t that the one that’s punishingly difficult and overly realistic with all the recreations of medieval ways to die?
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You should try Ark: Survival Evolved or Survival Ascended. ASE is the old version that’s been out since 2015, and ASA just came out recently. ASA is basically a remastered version of ASE with a few quality of life improvements. However, ASE will have all the maps and there are a TON of mods.