Cozy Grove is first and foremost a relaxing, spiritual game with about an hour of playtime each day. There are some mixed opinions on this limited playtime, but the general consensus is that it allows players to focus on a few small tasks before going about their day or, if you’re like me, before going to sleep. For a brief overview of these opinions, check out my previous article here.
The overall purpose of the game is to help your island’s spirit bears (or bird as is the case for Captain Billweather Snout) figure out why they are ghosts and ultimately help them to ascend once they’ve recovered all of their memories. I have yet to have a bear ascend, but I am greatly enjoying each of their unique stories as they very, very slowly progress (I’m on day 47 and have yet to reach even 4 hearts with any bear!). The 1.8 update for Cozy Grove dropped recently and added several quality-of-life fixes such as the ability to sort your inventory. Unfortunately, we are still unable to sort our clothes which was a huge bummer for many players. Hopefully, this will be addressed for future updates.
Ability to hug bears
On June 3rd, Spryfox announced the fantastic news that Cozy Grove will be getting a free DLC summer update. This update is going to add many new features to the game that players have asked for (trust me, I’ve surveyed literally hundreds of their opinions about the game). Perhaps the addition that everyone, including myself, is most excited for is the ability to hug the bears.
I’m coming for you, Patrice! It hurts my heart a little bit every time they get teary or remember something sad about their lives, so I cannot wait to help them hug it out. It’s quite reminiscent of another indie game, Spiritfarer, which incidentally shares a similar fanbase. Hugging in Spiritfarer is one of its best attributes and I’m willing to bet it will be no different in Cozy Grove. There are, however, many other additions coming outside of the simplicity of being able to hug our ghost bears.
Critter Catching
We will soon also get the ability to catch some critters, a feature which is probably being implemented for those of us who also play Animal Crossing: New Horizons and love collecting both fish and bugs. Straight from Spryfox themselves: “Different critters behave differently, and rarer critters are somewhat harder to catch. Happy hunting!” I know I am looking forward to the addition of new items to collect and donate! Not to mention how adorable they look.
New Decorations, Clothing, and Hairstyles
Next, we will also be getting some new decorations, clothing, and hairstyles. One of the decoration sets is even shell-based which is rather reminiscent of Animal Crossing. Then again, if these updates work for Animal Crossing, they should most definitely work for Cozy Grove as they both share a good number of players (including the present author).
New Photo Standees
Photo standees have also shown to be quite fun among Cozy Grove players with them sharing screenshots of themselves throughout all social media platforms. Because of this, Spryfox decided they wanted to encourage us and are adding more standees across the island! Personally, I never even thought to take a picture, but I am looking forward to it now that there will be more of them.
NPC Ms. Carouse
Lastly, we are getting a new NPC event with a new spirit named Ms. Carouse. It is unclear at this time what exactly this new event is going to be with Spryfox commenting themselves: “We’re… not going to tell you that right now.” She’s even going to be released with the update and not tested in the beta versions at all. It seems like they really want us to experience this new magic of Cozy Grove all at the same time to help avoid any spoilers.
What’s Next?
Spryfox ends their post with promises for many updates to Cozy Grove in the future. What will these new additions be? Will they be adding more bears? More items? Different spirit animals? I know that I want some spirit wolves or something along those lines. The deer and birds are cute, but some more variety would be nice. All I know is that whatever updates come in the future, I will continue my journey each day to help these bears discover their lost memories and be able to move on. I just can’t wait to give them all the hugs!
*All pictures of new content are from the Spryfox announcement found here.
My writing style is how I teach--lots of tangents and personal anecdotes. If you like video game articles with a twist of a psychological background, check me out at https://www.drjammygames.com/.
- The Psychology of Idle Games: Why Humans Like Big Numbers - August 25, 2021
- Cozy Grove Summer Update Finally Lets You Hug Bears - June 4, 2021