Cozyrama Review

Considering it’s winter, I do yearn for the cosy games. So, when I saw Cozyrama, I thought: ‘Well, this could be right up my alley then.’ It’s essentially a sandbox where you can put together your own little diorama. There were dioramas already in the sandbox, so you can build up from them, or tear them down into something new, but I wanted to build from scratch.

Now, before I dive in to talk about the features, I will suggest playing this on PC. I first tried Cozyrama on my Steam Deck, and while it is playable, it’s not exactly the type of game that works with a controller of any type. So, I quickly abandoned this on my Deck and installed it on my laptop. And, I have to admit, it did run a lot smoother. Albeit, I did find that it’s not a good idea to click anything while Cozyrama is loading, or it just crashes and stops loading altogether.

Let’s dive in. This’ll be a bit different from my other reviews, because usually I like to talk about story, but there’s none of that here. I’m solely here to create, so in this case, I will be talking a bit more about the creation of my little diorama, but first, I’ll discuss the Workshop mode. In all honesty, I’m still a little confused by this mode.

I’ll admit, the Workshop mode made me want to scream. You see, nothing in-game explains what the Workshop mode is or how it works. All we know is that it’s an In-game item creator. Except… when using it, you’re given the same amount of room as if you’re making a diorama. Now, I will praise Cozyrama for having hundreds of items, and the fact you can build items is impressive. However, the creation of furniture isn’t the most intuitive. For example, you need to understand how to layer items, and honestly, I think I figured it out once by right-clicking a specific icon, but there’s no description of what these icons do. I spent a good amount of time just trying to make a diorama in this section, which… you know what, we’ll just ignore that.

I’m sure that there are numerous people who would enjoy the Workshop mode, but I’m not a fan. Mostly because you need to manually navigate through each item, and it’s difficult enough to see each icon. It’s just a challenge that I really struggled with. And trust me, I like creating things… It’s just that I didn’t appreciate how there was no real explanation of what this mode did. I’m certain I’m not the only one who ran around questioning how to place land or water, or why this wasn’t working as a diorama.

I could have chosen one of my pre-prepped dioramas, but I did want to scratch that little creative itch. And so, I went to a nice little grassy field, and I flooded half of it with seawater and changed the grass to sand. To do this, you just need to go to the menu on the right-hand side and figure out which button meant what. In this case, you could select the water button, and you just click through. Already, this was feeling a bit more relaxing, and so I thought, ‘okay, let’s make this a little bit more of a paradise’: I made a little pier, put down a nice cottage, and also a raft. Thankfully, you can select all of these options from the left-hand side menu, and you can narrow them down. But, of course, I couldn’t just make it normal, could I?

Lo and behold, one of the first things I implemented was a gigantic rubber duck to be opposite the raft. Initially, I wanted it to look like it was chasing it, but instead, I settled for a stand-off with a real duck on said raft. I admit, the giant rubber duck wasn’t always giant. You can scale the items by right-clicking them and navigating to the re-sizing option. And then I added more animals. Sure, I already had a hammock, which I placed between some palm trees, but why not let a frog live on that? Meanwhile, in my little bathtub outside, I plopped a snake inside to chill, before adding a sea turtle on the roof.

Again, there’s no limit to the number of items that are in this game. But if I’m honest, I was getting a little overwhelmed. While there are many options, there are so many small images to click on. This is especially the case when I was looking for piers. There are some that have ropes on a specific side, and you can’t see those well in the menus. In the end, I was really squinting, and my dreams of a pirate paradise were quickly shifting away.

By the end of it, it looked like a lovely, chaotic animal paradise, with seashells, a duck stand-off, and a chicken with a sandcastle. For some reason, I also opted for a giant pumpkin growing in a greenhouse, but nonetheless, I was happy with it.

I have to admit, the Sandbox mode is objectively more fun than the Workshop mode. But then again, those are for some of the more hardcore decorators. The controls are simple enough, point-and-click where you want to put your items. Then, if you want to look for more, you can utilise the search function in the little left-hand menu. It’s easy enough, and you can swap around between day and night on the right-hand side menu.

Ultimately, it could be a little finicky. While you can access the controls menu in the right-hand corner, it’s better-suited for Sandbox mode. Workshop mode will have you trying to figure out how layers work. Plus, you’ll have to put separate items together to get to your image in your head, which is difficult. I’m not even going to pretend that it’s not. You’ll have to figure out which item is closer in shape. Furthermore, I didn’t find the controls too easy, especially when navigating around the diorama.

Allow me to explain, there are two distinct options to rotate. There are the Q and E keys to rotate the diorama, and then there are the Left and Right arrow keys to rotate an item. While in theory this works great, it’s not the easiest to mess around with. Considering you’re trying to place your item with your mouse, you have to shift your hand around completely to rotate with the right keys. I found that it was really easy to get confused between the two of them, and it ended up with me scrapping things and then moving them again, just to ensure that they weren’t placed on top of another item. If placed on top at a certain angle, your items could definitely end up in the wrong place.

In terms of gameplay, there’s not… really a lot to say. It did its job of providing a relaxing escape, but you kind of have to have an idea in mind already when you start playing. I liked seeing the animals in different scenarios, and honestly, you can make some fun, goofy dioramas for the heck of it. But… that’s it. If you’re not a fan of decorating, then you might not enjoy it. Plus, depending on your computer, you might find that the icons are a little small, which does make it more of a game of trial-and-error.

Overall, Cozyrama isn’t a bad game. However, I wish there was some kind of tutorial to get a grasp on all of the controls and mechanisms. Most of this game is trial-and-error, and I hesitate to describe it as a game. I think the issue I had most of all was that this felt more like a diorama-creation software, as opposed to a decorating sim. While I understand that you can pet your animals and watch them interact with things, I found that most of my animals were just… stationary. That was all they were.

You can take photos of your fully made dioramas, but it just didn’t grab me. Instead, I think I would have enjoyed it more if there were little challenges. I’m not asking for a timer, but I think that challenges could help to learn the controls and how to make simple items in a way that would allow you to get more perspective later on. Plus, you are limited more to making outdoor spaces. If you want to make an indoor diorama, you’ll need to create the furniture yourself or hope that another has already made theirs and shared it. So, all in all, I can’t say that Cozyrama is a game that I’ll spend hours on at a time, as it felt more like an artist’s software more so than a decorating/building sim.