How do you determine if a game is comfy?

>>377211493
Do you feel relaxed and release Oxytocin while playing it?
If yes, then it's comfy.


No buzz words or memes, there's the science.

>>377211493
>Is there a sizable and rewarding gameplay loop?
>While playing, is it easy to multitask (things like listen to a podcast, rainymood, whatever)?
Those are my main two necessities for a comfy game. I consider something like Disgaea comfy for example.
But sometimes there's other things that can add to the comfy feel. A calming atmosphere that compliments your own. Like those perfect times where it's raining in game and raining in real life. Or playing through a snowy area on a snowy day.

>>377211493
Setting, music, pace, optionally plot and characters

My standards for "comfy"
>game exists
>i played it before i was 12 and got the internet in my home
>town you can repeatedly visit (and possibly see change)
>NPCs you can speak to that say different things depending on how far you are in the story
or is that nostalgia?

Generally low speed, low intensity games are the ones we define as comfy. It's also a big atmospheric thing.

For example, last night I was playing Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. While that game can have very stressful moments, it's usually a very comfy experience. Most of the time you're sitting in a shadow observing guards before slowly and delicately creeping up behind them to grab them and take them off to some dark corner to put them to sleep. The game's sound design has lots of extremely nice details, as almost everything in the environment gives off some kind of noise. Fluorescent lights buzz, you can sometimes hear traffic in the background, mechanical objects like fans make clunking and whirring sounds as they operate, and so on. The guards are also very clearly not expecting intruders, so they just kinda bum around slowly, occasionally exchanging small talk with their mates. As long as you're playing well, nobody ever needs to know you're there, and you can just creep through levels soaking in the atmosphere and occasionally removing problems.

That's a comfy game. It's a mix of slow pace and low key atmosphere.

>>377211493
That was a stressful as shit game disguised as a comfy game

>>377211493
Atmosphere, music, lighting, tone, and emptiness

Comfy elements:
>Play at your own pace. Turn based or games that allow you to ready actions while paused.
>Good AI. Obviously playing with other people is the exact opposite of cozy, so ideally you want the AI to be really solid.
>Base-building. Anything that lets you design and create shit, really, is very cozy.
>Visually pleasing. It doesn't have to be high definition, it can be pixel graphics or even early 2000s mud-tier textures, but some games just have a really nice atmosphere to them that soaks you into the game.
>Shitloads of depth, lots of explore, a bottomless well of content. Games like Dwarf Fortress are ultimate coziness because you can play it for a few hundred hours and still feel like there's more to experience. Even a simple game with very complex mechanics can be good because you'll spend hours learning how shit works and mastering them.

A game that can be very hard, but gives you all the time in a world can be considered "comfy" too.

Of course, atmosphere, music, and visuals all apply as well.

I think the Pushmo series is a good example of "comfy". The last sets of puzzles can be really hard, but the game doesn't really require you to do too much to solve them.

A piece of software can't be "comfy". Only furniture and clothing can be considered comfortable. Anyone who misuses this word needs to kill themselves.

>>377211493
Sunshine isn't one of them if that's what your implying

Honestly the most frustrating platformsr I've ever played

>>377211493
Its a piece of shit game with decent atmosphere. Call it comfy or shit, they are one in the same.

>>377213112
>>377213271
>>377212896
>>377212949

So basically, Windwaker.

>>377211493
easy but fun so something like the kirby games. games that are hard but becomes easier over time can be comfy too.

>>377211493
Atmosphere, mostly.

good atmosphere
not to stressful
able to enjoy your surroundings and no rush thru the game

>all these in depth, analyzing answers.

Does one or more areas look like I would to go to and live/relax in if it were real? If yes the game is comfy.

>>377211493
if its an rpg/platformer or not

any game that does not fit this profile is not comfy and 10/10 trash dudebro shitfest

>>377215564
>people who misuses
Kill yourself autistic retard.

I've always seen comfy games as games that actually let you relax
>slow maybe turn based games that wait for you
>games you could play probably with nothing but one finger
Hate to say this
>some mobile games
Seriously nothing is more comfy than just being on my phone under my covers while it's raining outside

I would say feeling relaxed, looking at a scenery and thinking "that's beautiful", or being reminded of pleasant memories are major points in feeling comfy.

>>377212896
>Oxytocin
thats the hormone that promotes uterus activity during childbirth and lactation when breast feeding....

>>377211493
wew lad. What a question.