Resources

This list is live – feel free to suggest further additions.

DEFINING COZINESS

Andiloro, Andrea. “Comfortably Numb: An Ideological Analysis of Coziness in Videogames.” Replay. The Polish Journal of Game Studies 11, no. 1 (2024): 79–92.

Boudreau, Kelly, Mia Consalvo, and Andrew Phelps. “Whose Vibe Is It Anyway? Negotiating Definitions of Cozy Games,” 2025.

Pan, Gideon de, and Frank Bosman. “If All Is Cozy, What Isn’t? Some Conceptual Problems Regarding Cozy Games.” Into the Magic Circle: Rethinking Homo Ludens 1, no. 1 (2024). https://intothemagiccircle.org/article/view/18928.

Wäppling, Alva, Lovisa Walchshofer, and Rebecka Lewin. “What Makes a Cozy Game?: A Study of Three Games Considered Cozy,” 2022. https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:1709393.

Waszkiewicz, Agata, and Martyna Bakun. “Towards the Aesthetics of Cozy Video Games.” Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds 12, no. 3 (October 1, 2020): 225–40. https://doi.org/10.1386/jgvw_00017_1.

COZY AESTHETICS

Boudreau, Kelly. “Beyond Aesthetics: Players, Player-Characters & Interactivity-as-Demand in Cozy Games.” Replay. The Polish Journal of Game Studies 1, no. 12 (2024):7-22.

Krzywinska, T., Brown, D., Ma, M., Belinskiy, A., & Bhui, K. (2025). Coziness in Games: Second Homes, Audiences, and Esthetics. Games and Culture, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120241310920

Waszkiewicz, Agata. “Soft Horrors: The Visual and Ludic Safety of Dark Cozy Games.” Replay. The Polish Journal of Game Studies 11, no. 1 (2024): 111–24.

COZY POLITICS

Bódi, Bettina. “Soothing Affect or Neoliberal Indoctrination? Cozy Games and Agency.” In Abstract Proceedings of DiGRA 2023 Conference: Limits and Margins of Games, 2023. https://dl.digra.org/index.php/dl/article/download/2072/2071.

Bódi, Bettina. “The Duality of Cozy Games: Cozy Agency, Neoliberalism, and Affect.” Replay. The Polish Journal of Game Studies 11, no. 1 (2024): 51–64.

Scully-Blaker, Rainforest. “The Politics of Wholesome Games: Conservative Comforts and Radical Softness.” Configurations 32, no. 2 (2024): 12

Steensen, S. (2011). Cozy journalism: The rise of social cohesion as an ideal in online, participatory journalism. Journalism Practice, 5(6), 687-703. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2011.604243

Waszkiewicz, Agata, and Marta Tymińska. “Cozy Games and Resistance Through Care.” Replay. The Polish Journal of Game Studies 11, no. 1 (2024): 7–16.

COZY PLAY

Önnberg, Maria. “Cozy Games and Their Impact: An Exploration Study of Coziness in Games,” 2024. https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:1881616.

Trujillo, Leonardo. “Cozy Games for Mood Repair, Stress Reduction, and Well-Being.” Master’s thesis, 2024.

Youngblood, Jordan. “A Labor of (Queer) Love: Maintaining ‘Cozy Wholesomeness’ on Twitch During COVID-19 and Beyond.” Television & New Media 23, no. 5 (July 2022): 531–41. https://doi.org/10.1177/15274764221080966.

COZY GENRES, THEMES, ELEMENTS

Bódi, B.; Wilde, P. (forthcoming). “Veggie Vigilantes: Queering Genre and Representation in Cosy Comedy Games”. In N. Webber and R. Seiwald (eds). Playing with the Family: Mafias, Organised Crime, and Video Games. Intellect.

Buergi, Justin. “Idle Games: A Cozy Genre Turned Exploitative.” Replay. The Polish Journal of Game Studies 12, no. 1 (2024): 73–86.

Chmielewski, Krzysztof, and Jakub Majewski. “Brewing Happiness Design Aspects of Coffee Representation in Cozy Games.” Replay. The Polish Journal of Game Studies 12, no. 1 (2024): 55–71.

Evans, Monica. “Cozy Little Dystopias: Cyberpunk Mechanics, Aesthetics and Themes in Independent Digital Games.” Foundation 53, no. 148 (2024): 39–57.

Farca, Gerald. “Farming a Cosy Utopia: A Regenerative Escape to Simpler Times.” In Conference Proceedings of DiGRA 2023 Conference: Limits and Margins of Games Settings, 2023. https://dl.digra.org/index.php/dl/article/view/1920.

Pinder, Morgan. “Negotiating Anthropocentrism and Ecologies in Cozy Games.” Replay. The Polish Journal of Game Studies 11, no. 1 (2024): 125–36.

Poirier-Poulin, Samuel. “‘Drown Your Troubles in Coffee’: Place, Heterotopia, and Immersion in the Coffee Talk Series.” Replay. The Polish Journal of Game Studies 11, no. 1 (2024): 29–50.

Simond, Stefan H., and Tobias Klös. “Cozy Heterotopias in JRPGs: A Foucauldian Perspective on the Spatiality of Coziness in Japanese Role-Playing Games,” no. 11 (2024): 93-109.

Smith, Caighlan. “Getting Cozy with the Zombie Apocalypse: The Saferoom as Capitalist Breakroom in Left 4 Dead and Back 4 Blood.” Replay: Polish Journal of Game Studies 1, no. 12 (2024): 41-53.

Sullivan, Anne, Mel Stanfill, and Anastasia Salter. “The Constraints of Cozy Games: Boyfriend Dungeon and Consent in Queer Play: Boyfriend Dungeon and Consent in Queer Play.” In Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, 1–9. Lisbon Portugal: ACM, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1145/3582437.3582452.

Walton, J. (2005). “Who Survives the Cosy Catastrophe?” Foundation, no. 93, pp 34-39

Waszkiewicz, A. (2022). Delicious Pixels: Food in Video Games. Vol. 6. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

COZY LITERATURE

Austin, S. (2025) (forthcoming) “No Civilization, Just Vibes: Accepting the Cozy Apocalypse Aesthetic.” Journal of Popular Culture.

Betz, P. M. (ed.) (2021). Reading the Cozy Mystery: Critical Essays on an Underappreciated Subgenre. MacFarland

Kreminski, M.; Acharya, D.; Junius, N.; Oliver, E.; Compton, K.; Dickinson, M.; Focht, C.; Mason, S.; Mazeika, S.; Wardrip-Fruin, N. (2019). “Cozy Mystery Construction Kit: Prototyping toward an AI-Assisted Collaborative Storytelling Mystery Game.” In Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, 1–9. San Luis Obispo California USA: ACM, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1145/3337722.3341853.

Midkiff, E. (2025) (forthcoming) “Cozy Fantasy and Queer Ecology in Kay O’Neill’s Tea Dragon Books.” Extrapolation.

Rowland, S. (2015). Cooking the Books: Metafictional Myth and Ecocritical Magic in “Cozy” Mysteries from Agatha Christie to Contemporary Cooking Sleuths. London: Routledge.

COZY SOUND

COZY FILM & TV

Zamfirescu, RG. (2025). Cookies and a Mother’s Hug: The Cozy Mix of Home, Hygge, and Community. In: Sociology and Popular Television. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-80545-5_8