Embracing wholesome gaming: a journey into cozy worlds and healing narratives
by Regan Rudman
Illustration by Jennymarie Jemison | Medicinal Media. Our nonprofit generates funding in multiple ways, including through affiliate linking. When you purchase something through an affiliate link on this site, the price will be the same for you as always, but we may receive a small percentage of the cost.
It was Christmas Day, 16 years ago. One present remained tucked under the tree among the shredded wrapping paper. My older sister tore into it and flashed my mom a dazzling smile. “A Wii!” she screamed. I shared in her excitement. We later set up the console and plugged it in, booting up our first game: Cooking Mama: Cook Off. I was hooked on the mini games, the simple tasks, the bright colors, and the cute chibi emoticons. I wanted to impress Cooking Mama with the greatest baked tart she had ever seen and earn myself a gold medal.
Years later, I had worked my way through the consoles: a Nintendo DS, an Xbox, and a Nintendo Switch. But regardless of the mode I used to play, I was hooked on cozy games. Loud shooters were stressful; I preferred the simple delights of a life simulation, cute aesthetics, and community creation. I’m not alone in my enjoyment of video games as a break from the chaos of reality. On June 10th, 2023 I waited with excitement for the annual Wholesome Direct to premiere on YouTube — an hour-long showcase of indie-developed cozy games currently in production.
Wholesome Direct is an event hosted live on YouTube. 2023 hosts (from left) Kennedy Rose, Jenny Windom, and Gab Smolders.
Wholesome Games is a community founded in 2020 for the curation of games that evoke “feelings of comfort, compassion, and coziness.” It’s a formidable community of over 500,000 members across social platforms of Twitter, Discord, TikTok, YouTube, and more. Most critically acclaimed video games are dark and gritty — but there’s a whole world of options with “rich storytelling, innovative gameplay, and beautiful art and sound” that benefit a massive player base, says Wholesome Games in the site’s FAQ.
Dan Francis, prolific video game artist at Ubisoft, also chimes in on the rising popularity of cozy gaming and its benefits. He says that it provides a unique break from the constant stressors of modern existence, stating that cozy games “allow you to enjoy a quiet life, generally playing into a slower paced environment with a small group of other interesting characters to learn and grow with.” But that doesn’t mean that the games are vapid. It’s nearly the opposite due to the way Wholesome Games prioritizes the promotion of experiences that stimulate mental well-being and personal grounding through divergent narratives.
The organization resists the mainstream perception that the only use of gaming is shooters and violence — there is a thriving space for game developers, especially those that are more independent and don’t have large studio traction, to share stories for different audiences utilizing a range of aesthetics and experiences. Indie developers also often center the narratives of underrepresented communities such as the LGBTQIA+, neurodiverse, and immigrant communities in their games. To Matthew Taylor, founder of Wholesome Games and indie developer, the organization is inherently political — “sometimes it’s a radical act to make dark or upsetting art, and sometimes it’s radical to make hopeful art in times of adversity,” he says. Host of the Wholesome Games Direct Jenny Windom also comments on representation of player perspective. “Many of these games blend the whimsical and the fantastical. There’s a high attention to detail with the mundane in a way that embraces a different sort of player fantasy,” says Windom. This can be seen in the themes, aesthetics, financial accessibility (most being free or at a lower cost compared to large studio titles), and in the gameplay itself: creating open-world experiences (see: A Short Hike) or more simplistic point-and-click titles that require minimal input from players (see: Unpacking) where anyone of any skill level can enjoy the experience.
Part block-fitting puzzle, part home decoration, Unpacking is “a zen puzzle game about unpacking a life”
Cozy gaming is more than just entertainment — it’s backed by science. Dr. Andy Przybylski, director of research at the Oxford Internet Institute, completed a formal scientific study in 2020 on video games and their impact on players. The players involved in his study believed they benefited from enhanced mental well-being as a result of lengthy games sessions on two specific games, Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville and Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Animal Crossing is also a staple of the Wholesome Games genre with many other games emulating its emphasis on community-building, freedom, life simulation, and immersive atmosphere through its graphics and soothing musical soundtrack. Dr. Przybylski reports on his findings: “We found a small positive relation between game time and well-being for players of both games,” states the abstract in one of his studies on gaming.” He ended his research with confidence that this study would combat the stigma of video games as toxic to mental health.
The Wholesome Games ethos is that anyone can play games and partake in the joy of soothing narratives — the very same hope and creativity that I saw as a child with my first Wii and that I continue to engage with now in my adult life.
Here are some of my favorites:
Frogsong: an action RPG (role-play game) that takes place in a frog world. Take control of Chorus, a small tree frog aiming to protect the world in spite of their size. According to Frogsong’s Steam page, this game is a “heartfelt adventure where it’s okay to be small.”
Venba: a narrative-based cooking game centering South Indian cuisine. The story begins with the player taking control of an immigrant Indian mother in 1980s Canada dealing with themes of love, family, heritage, and loss through cooking and restoring lost recipes.
Unpacking: a zen puzzle organization game that uses simple household objects to tell a story by pulling possessions out of boxes and fitting them into eight new homes. Part block-fitting puzzle, part home decoration, all meditative and intimate.
Gourdlets: a city-building open-world sandbox game that allows players to build towns and customize buildings for small creatures called gourdlets to live in. In the words of their Steam page, “no objectives, no points, just building.”
Venba is a short, cinematic love letter to the immigrant parent experience.
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