One of the more unusual qualifying descriptions that has emerged in the last generation, that’s used to denote games that are generally less demanding by design, is to call them “cozy”. While it’s true that there are other expectations that usually come along for the ride, whether that be charming characters, a more whimsical visual style, or an abundance of cats being everywhere, without the base gameplay also being more on the approachable side the designation likely wouldn’t add up. While you could argue that ultimately makes most cozy games feel like they’ve been watered down a bit, even if that may ring true for a more critical crowd, that doesn’t make them any less of a joy to experience.

Lou’s Lagoon is what I’d consider to be the first cozy crafting adventure I’ve encountered, and while it still often revolves around resource gathering and exploration, streamlining that process with a “gun” of sorts that does most of the work allows you to instead focus primarily on getting around. Whether that’s on foot, by boat, or even getting to fly around periodically by plane, you’ll have a steady stream of things to be on the lookout for to gather up, process, and use to repair or build new things from scratch. Pretty well everyone you encounter is friendly, the stakes aren’t terribly high, and if you just want to explore and see what trouble you can find a little earlier than you’re supposed to, there’s typically nothing stopping you.

Of course, even when playing games that are a bit more gentle in nature, it would be nice to have a greater range of things to do, as you’ll spend the majority of your time on fetch quests. Some added variety could have really helped take the game to another level, but it still works out just fine for the most part. There are some small technical annoyances like the tendency for people you meet initially being completely out of focus, but they’re hardly debilitating and I have no doubt these presentation problems will be patched pretty quickly. I at least appreciate its more adventurous spirit, breaking away from the more sim-oriented style many cozy games have gone for, and have hopes to see a deeper and more refined follow-up in the future.