GYGO: Cosy Gaming News for the Soul

GYGO: Cosy Gaming News for the Soul

Howdy, I’m Zainabb and I’m here to bring you this month’s cosiest gaming news in the first of Sidequest’s reimagined GYGO! Honestly, at the moment, I am pretty much only playing cosy games because I’m exhausted all the time and I appreciate the way that cosy games frequently allow me to turn off my brain and feel comforted. (more…)

Sidequest’s Favorite Cozy Horror Games for Weenies

Sidequest’s Favorite Cozy Horror Games for Weenies

Once again, October is upon us, heralding all things eerie and ominous: the wind whistling through barren trees on a rainy night; gourds, both ornamental and eaten; bony, oversized lawn ornamentation from a beloved multinational home improvement/lawn and garden center; a preponderance of frightful films, books, and games; and more. (more…)

Review: Mail Time Delivers Cute, Cosy, and Queer Gaming

Review: Mail Time Delivers Cute, Cosy, and Queer Gaming

Here at Sidequest, we love “cosy games” (and figuring out what their cousin, “wholesome” games, even are). For me, a disabled gamer, cosy games provide low-stakes escapism when I’m poorly—in particular, chill games with little missions to complete allow me to feel like I’m making progress on something when I can’t get out of bed. That was my experience with Mail Time, a self-described “cottagecore” game that I played during a recent mega-flare where my hands were trembling too badly to do anything beyond gripping my Steam Deck propped up by cushions. (more…)

Roundtable: What Even Is a Wholesome Game?

Roundtable: What Even Is a Wholesome Game?

PAX West was, as always, a wild convention. Given the state of the pandemic and my busy schedule, I wasn’t sure I’d be going, and didn’t bother to look at the panel list with more than a cursory glance. I saw “A Case for Cozy: Why we (really) need wholesome games!” on the list but didn’t investigate further because, frankly, the conversation around wholesome games—what they’re worth, who they’re for—gets rapidly exhausting, and I felt that it was likely going to be a list of the same old recommendations without a whole lot of insight.

Naturally, that meant my friend dragged me along to get my hot takes. (more…)

Review: Freshly Frosted Is a Friendly, Funky Flare Game

Review: Freshly Frosted Is a Friendly, Funky Flare Game

I’ve written before about the importance of a good flare up game—that is, a game that’s enjoyable to play during a chronic illness or chronic pain flare. Even better than discovering a new flare game is discovering one that makes you screech with excitement when you first boot it up, and that’s exactly what happened when I played Freshly Frosted. (more…)