Cozy Grove is a 2D social simulator in which, in addition to taking care of our island, we will have to help ghostly bears on a daily basis. An adorable idea with a not so good end result.
Just by looking at a couple of captures it is clear to us what Cozy Grove’s proposal is : being somewhat simplistic, but also ravishingly successful, we could say that Spry Fox’s new game is an Animal Crossing in two dimensions and we stay so hot. It is basically what this American study has created of which the name may not sound familiar to you, but of which you have surely come across their mobile games on more than one occasion: Alphabear , Triple Town or Bushido Bear are usually at the top of the most downloaded of iOS and Android. Now, with this new title, the Spry Fox also reaches other shores, taking it toPS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC and Apple Arcade , platforms in which it is already available including texts in Spanish with a very good localization.
In Cozy Grove we put ourselves in the shoes of a girl scout who travels to the small islet that gives its name to the game to help a series of animal ghosts that roam the forest, a kind of ghost bears that have remained linked to the island and that require our attention to regain their connection with themselves. Every day we will perform different tasks that help these spirits feel at peace , something that will improve our affinity with them. In addition, we will be able to carry out typical tasks such as fishing, crafting , decoration, harvesting … We will do all this in a small discolored setting, although as we improve our friendship with bears,the map will fill up with color to give this adorable game a much more attractive appearance, the graphics of which is one of the main attractions.
Welcome to Cozy Grove, the island of ghost bears
As soon as we start playing, the first thing we have to do is create our own girl scout in a character editor that does not offer many possibilities, but that allows us to give our avatar a unique touch. Perhaps this design, that of the main protagonist, is one of the worst offenders in Cozy Grove , with a somewhat old-fashioned and generic touch if we compare it with the originality of the rest of the characters and even with the environment. Be that as it may, once we have our scout we can begin the adventure on the islet where we arrived with little more than a barge.
ADVERTISING
Flambi awaits us there, an enchanted bonfire that will serve as a guide : this character serves as the central axis of the game, allowing us to have our inventory there, unlocking new ghosts with which to interact and, ultimately, being the place to return to when we do not know what to do. It is Flambi who shows us the first steps to take in Cozy Grove , who welcomes us to the island and who sends us to speak with the first spirit, a ranger bear that also functions as a beacon in the progress of the game : she is the one He orders us the first missions, who introduces us to the rest of the ghosts and who gives us clues (for a fee) when we cannot find certain objects.
The spirits will ask us daily tasks and as we complete them we will improve our affinity with them.
Daily missions to color the islet
Every day that we enter Cozy Grove, a series of pending tasks commissioned by the spirits that we have been unlocking will await us: normally the objectives involve searching for one or more lost objects throughout the islet, although sometimes we are also asked to fish for certain marine species or to manufacture some other item . Each ghost asks us for a mission a day and once it is finished, it presents us with a log with which we can feed Flambi so that she can find new spirits. That is the Cozy Grove cycle , a somewhat repetitive and not very stimulating one , but one that challenges us to continue playing to unlock all the available ghosts and reach the maximum degree ofaffinity with them.
By completing the daily missions, the ghost bears will not only give us logs but will also fill their patch of the island with color , one that is usually practically desaturated. The decision to reset the colors of Cozy Grove every day is a difficult one to understand: the game is so beautiful when it is full of color that it is surprising to see that it is not the usual way to explore the island and that, in fact, when everything is colorful it is precisely when the game no longer lets us continue playing because there are no missions, so the map in its most attractive state is what we least see in our game. In addition, searching for objects, which most missions are based on, during the time when there are no colors is quite tedious because their designs blend in with the environment.
As much as you can zoom in, finding faded objects on a faded map is not a good design idea.
In addition to these missions, there are additional tasks that we can carry out on the island: we can throw the fishing rod, hit rocks to extract minerals, shake trees to get fruits, find mushrooms, branches and coins in holes in the ground … With the resources that we get we will be able to make objects through recipes that we find, decorative items that we will use to customize the environment of the tent, the central area of the island. The problem is that none of these activities is supposed to have the necessary strength to carry the weight of Cozy Grove and it is difficult to find fun in bringing materials to the woodpecker to make you something or decorate withobjects, like chairs and tables, that you can’t even interact with .
The best of the game, without a doubt, is its visual section , a graphic style that Spry Fox has perfected throughout its eleven years of history and that finally allows us to interact in a closer way with those friendly rectangular bears that already we have seen in other games in the studio . This and its two or three strokes of personalization is what imbues Cozy Grove with a sense of belonging, a certain affection that makes it difficult for you to get angry with a work like this., and what ultimately achieves that the project already enjoys an incipient community that does not fail to carry out its daily tasks; It hardly has any noteworthy aspects to recommend it, but it is the kind of game that suddenly surprises with the number of players it has behind its back.
Helping the bears will fill the island with color, but most of the time we will be playing in a desaturated setting.
Conclusions
Cozy Grove clearly fixates on Animal Crossing , sometimes too blatantly, but by mimicking its every move it remains an impoverished representation of something Nintendo has been perfecting for years. In this title the game cycle is completely set, limited by that half hour of daily play , and offers practically nothing beyond that. In Animal Crossing games we feel like we belong to a community, in Cozy Grove we hardly have time to empathize with ghosts outside of the objectives that they set for us or the advice they give us to continue playing. Its adorably drawn graphicsit does not serve as a counterweight to an experience that becomes boring because it is restrictive, that does not invite you to continue visiting the island in a natural way but through impositions. An Animal Crossing will never tell you to ‘come back tomorrow’ to continue playing, you will do it on your own, but here that phrase works as a central axis, as a marker that your playing time has run out and you have nothing else to do . Spry Fox has the opportunity to take advantage of the open formula of Cozy Grove to save its proposal with new content , perhaps thus, with future updates, this a priori interesting idea can find its true potential.
