Cozy Video Games Have Nowhere to Go But Up (Inverse)
Brain-soothing games have been on the rise ever since Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but the genre still has plenty of room to grow and evolve.
“The good cozy game experience will create waves of [calm] across the brain and body,” says Kurt Squire, a games and education professor at the University of California, Irvine. A comforting game can help regulate your emotions, he tells Inverse, and promote “increased feelings of contentment,” similar to meditation or taking a long walk with a friend. …
“One of the key research findings is that part of what makes cozy games good for us is having a new experience,” Squire says. Novel experiences are “good for us and good for the brain.”
Read the full article in Inverse.