Cozy Games, Romantic Poets, and (Anti-)Capitalist Sentiments
Samantha Trzinski, Contributing Editor
The 2016 farming RPG Stardew Valley begins with the player opening a letter from their late grandfather, which reads, “If you're reading this, you must be in dire need of a change. The same thing happened to me, long ago. I'd lost sight of what mattered most in life... real connections with other people and nature. So I dropped everything and moved to the place I truly belong.” The idea of playing a video game to make “real connections with other people and nature” is perhaps ironic. However, the circumstances of this game reveal a recent trend in video games, one that challenges the ideals of modern capitalist society. Perhaps the player who picks up Stardew Valley can relate to their character in the game. Modern capitalist society leads to disconnection and isolation, encouraging an “every man for himself” mentality. The idea of escaping the “rat race” and returning to nature to connect better with the world and with fellow human beings is not new in the 21st century. It dates back over two centuries to the Romantic era, a time defined by rapid changes in human society due to the Industrial Revolution.
As the Western world changed extensively and quickly due to industrialism, Romantic-era poets of the late 18th and early 19th centuries praised the restorative and ethereal powers of nature. Central to poetry of this period was nature’s serenity and peacefulness, aspects which stood in contrast to those of the bustling industrial world. Nearly all Romantic-era poets celebrated the natural world and its ability to evoke strong emotion. Poets like William Wordsworth, John Keats, and Charlotte Smith saw nature as something that stood in opposition to the sorrows and anxieties of the human world. Wordsworth saw nature as a pure and spiritual force, and he believed that industrial life corrupted the human soul. In his poem “Lines Written in Early Spring,” he emphasizes this idea, writing,
To her fair works did nature link
The human soul which through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man.
According to Wordsworth, humanity is connected to nature through the soul, yet industrialism has destroyed this link, causing hatred, selfishness, and cruelty. Keats similarly saw the connection between nature and humanity. In his poetry, he used nature to describe the human experience, likening himself to a nightingale and mediating on the immutability of the natural world in contrast to humanity’s constant sense of change. He appreciated nature and associated it with a childlike sense of wonder. Smith similarly aligned the natural world with the idyllic and innocent, oftentimes using it in her poetry to explore her sense of nostalgia for the happiness of her childhood.
These poets witnessed the rise of industrial and capitalist society, and their poetry reveals human anxieties about the displacement of nature. As humanity diverged from the natural world and industrialism spread throughout the Romantic period, a desire to return to nature grew. Nature came to represent the innocence and happiness of childhood—it was a place undisturbed by the cruelty and selfishness of humanity.
As we move into the modern day, this inherent desire to return to nature—to a pastoral paradise free from the demands of a capitalist society—persists. However, it does not appear so much in poetry but rather in so-called “cozy” video games. Many of these cozy games, such as Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Stardew Valley, center around the player’s return to the natural world and the restorative powers it holds. In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the player arrives on a deserted island where they set up a tent and begin fishing, catching bugs, and gathering fruit. Nintendo describes this locale as an “island utopia.” The use of “utopia” here demonstrates the purpose of this deserted island. It is meant to be a perfect world, something that stands in opposition to the real world that is far from utopian.
Screenshot by the author.
Similarly, Stardew Valley begins with a return to nature. The player, tired of being a cog in the Joja Co. machine, moves to Pelican Town, where they inherit their late grandfather’s farm. In both games, the player returns to the natural world, whether it be in the form of a deserted island or a small agricultural town, to escape from the demands of capitalist society. Reviews on Steam demonstrate the pervasiveness of nature in the game. MysteriousSwede describes it as the “Perfect game to take your mind of the ‘every-day’-stress. Cozy and peaceful.” Alpha succinctly describes it as “The closest I've ever come to touching grass.” Reviews on Steam largely emphasize the game’s calming effect and celebrate how it allows the player to enjoy the natural world.
At the heart of these pastoral cozy games, there is also a sense of nostalgia—something that also appears in the poetry of the Romantic era. However, the nostalgia is not rooted in nature, as it is in Romantic poetry; instead, it is rooted in the games themselves. As the fifth main-game installment in the Animal Crossing franchise, New Horizons invites returning players to reminisce on their past experiences with the game. Cameos from past cult-following characters like Rover and Resetti remind the player of earlier games in which these characters played larger roles. Rover first welcomed the player in Animal Crossing for the Gamecube. Any past Animal Crossing player certainly remembers their stressful experiences with Resetti, who bullied and ridiculed them for turning off their game without saving. Yet, we welcome him as an old friend in Animal Crossing: New Horizons when he appears in Brewster’s coffee shop—he is a reminder of our childhood.
Stardew Valley’s sentimentality works in a different way: it instills a sense of nostalgia through its art style and gameplay features. Its pixelated 2D art style is reminiscent of games on earlier consoles, such as the NES or Gameboy. Further, its gameplay invites the player to think of the once-popular Harvest Moon or Story of Seasons games, early farming RPGs that declined in popularity due to their limitations in comparison to Stardew Valley. Steam user LilyHammer0709 describes this connection between the games and its resulting nostalgia, writing, “I grew up playing Harvest Moon with my mom and it is one of my fondest memories. She would always buy me the new one for Christmas, and we would play it all day, filling notebooks full of recipes and discussing which person we hoped to marry. Although Stardew Valley has unmistakable similarities to Harvest Moon, it is a masterpiece in it's own right, one that is very dear to my heart after all those years playing with my mum.” Other reviews on Steam make similar comparisons between Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley, with players noting that they played the former as children and now enjoy the latter as adults. Eric Barone, the creator of Stardew Valley, has noted before that he originally based the game off of the Harvest Moon series, though it has grown extensively since its initial creation. Regardless, the game invites the player to think of this predecessor, evoking a sense of nostalgia for the farming RPGs of earlier days.
On the surface, it may seem as though cozy games call for the player to return to the natural world and appreciate its serenity as a reminder of days past. Such a view, though, would drastically minimize the capitalist sentiments in these games. Both Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Stardew Valley begin with the player returning to a pastoral paradise, but it is not meant to remain in this underdeveloped way. Immediately, the player is asked to exploit this natural world: they amass natural resources by cutting down trees, mining, and foraging until the pastoral paradise is eradicated of what made it beautiful. The player constructs buildings and transforms the deserted island of Animal Crossing: New Horizons into a bustling town and the dilapidated farm of Stardew Valley into an agricultural empire. In order to “win”—or at least progress—the game, the player must devolve into the very thing that they sought to escape.
Screenshot by the author.
This tension between pastoral bliss and industrial capitalism defines many cozy games. What game would there be if the player was not encouraged to develop, industrialize, and amass wealth? Are these industrializing and capitalist impulses necessarily bad things in the context of these games? Let’s think about what would happen if the player were to leave the natural world to which they escaped untouched. The island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons would remain deserted aside from the player’s small tent. Animals would never move to the island, where they would have found a sense of community and happiness. They only move to the island because the player actively develops the land – something they can only do if they participate in the Nook family’s capitalist empire. The island grows as the player buys and sells more goods, and they are only able to achieve a 5-star rating if they develop the land and increase population. If the player were to avoid industrializing and participating in a capitalist society, Stardew Valley’s Pelican Town would be taken over by the ubiquitous Joja Co., a company the player makes leave town by fixing the Community Center. Though the player would be able to fix most of the Community Center without participating in capitalist society, they are only able to earn enough money to complete the Vault Room by growing their farm and selling a great deal of items. Perhaps these games demonstrate the need to balance the natural and industrial world in order to serve the community as a whole. They demonstrate the potential good that can be done when we consider our neighbors and nature and put aside our selfishness in a capitalist society. Romantic-era poets help us better understand the human impulse to return to nature and reveal the innate anxieties surrounding the booming industrial world. While poets like Wordsworth, Keats, and Smith may not have known how to reconcile the natural and industrial world, recent trends in video games show that these two worlds are not as distinct as we once thought. It is no longer possible to keep these worlds separate, and games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Stardew Valley show the boundless potential afforded when we consider the needs and desires of others as we progress.
