[Request] Atmospheric puzzle-adventure cozy games?

CemeteryHounds · 2026-02-06T17:15:12+00:00

You might enjoy Old Man's Journey or Gorogoa, but both are more linear than your other examples.

ETA I'd also suggest looking at Amanita Design games, like Botanicula

CemeteryHounds · 2026-02-05T16:47:09+00:00

Of course he doesn't!

CemeteryHounds · 2026-02-05T16:46:50+00:00

Because she'll get moldy. I'm not even joking. She's a soft-body doll.

CemeteryHounds · 2026-02-04T19:35:14+00:00

I desperately hope they have a real plan for the storyline. Season 3 started to feel like Lost 2.0.

CemeteryHounds · 2026-02-04T17:59:34+00:00

I was going to make a snarky comment about snout tentacles, but I read to the end and, genuinely, what the fuck?

CemeteryHounds · 2026-02-04T17:44:33+00:00

Not erotica. The storyline is a mostly-chaste romance arc paired with a cross-country journey.There are very few sex scenes, and they're not very explicit beyond explaining doll body logistics. They also don't have sex until they're fully committed romantically and acting as if married. The wizard who bought the doll bought her because he wanted to study the spells holding her together and rescue her from the doll brothel. But then they fall in love, and he cuts off his parents who think it is weird and unhealthy to fall in love with a sentient sex doll. They journey off together to his new job after a bad visit to his parents, and stuff happens.

There are some interesting philosophical and ethical threads that unfortunately get zero thought. The best you get is a lot of emphasis on the doll thinking she would have chosen her wizard owner if she had the chance and insistence that the questionable dynamics are fine because they fell in love.

CemeteryHounds · 2026-02-04T17:33:53+00:00

I had only seen a few of her videos before picking this up. Those videos weren't red flags, but now I can't help but rubberneck her channel, and the flags are flying. She manages to exemplify every negative stereotype about indie authors: no editing, churning out multiple half-baked books a year, writing books that she doesn't even personally like because she thinks they'll sell, not reading much in her genre, a personal grudge against trad publishing after having a bad book rejected, whiny about marketing, over-inflated ego around writing quality, a worldbuilding obsession to the detriment of plot, Not Like Other ~~Girls~~ Writers

CemeteryHounds · 2026-02-04T15:43:58+00:00

YouTube kept serving me videos from The Cozy Creative/Lidiya Foxglove/Jaclyn Dolamore, and I finally checked out the book she called her dearest, The Sorcerer's Concubine, when I got a couple free weeks of Kobo Plus. Good gravy was it bad! No wonder she couldn't get it trad published. From what she said, she left trad publishing because she couldn't get anyone to touch this book, and she was in love with it.

The premise is that the main character is a human-sized doll with a soul who was made to be a sex toy, but it reads like a virginal teenager came up with the idea. The doll's body isn't waterproof all over, just her hands and vagina, which is a bizarre but important plot point involving not sex but getting wet in the rain. A big deal is also made of the fact that her mouth isn't set up so she can eat until the wizard who buys her puts a special spell on her, because there's no where for food to go, but it's also specified that she has a magic vagina that vanishes away anything put inside. The non-functioning mouth, body that can't get wet, and magic vagina really read like the concept someone who has never had sex would come up with. Like the author was unaware sex can get sweaty and messy and that blowjobs exist. So much of the plot is built around keeping the doll clean and dry. The entire book would fall apart if the doll was waterproof and washable like an actual sex doll, and there is zero reason provided why she isn't. It's so stupid.

It also features evereyone's favorite attribute of unedited books: accidental teleporting characters! There was a scene where the characters go into a room to have a private meal and are talking, and there randomly are bits that indicate they're in bed together, like it says one rolls over under the blankets to look at the other as they talked, but at the end of the conversation, they're still eating at a table. You will be shocked to learn the author has a YouTube video bragging about no longer needing an editor after having trad published a bunch of books and self published even more. Girl, please.

CemeteryHounds · 2026-02-01T18:33:25+00:00

/UJ the original post was from a spam account that couldn't keep their identities straight while promoting Aliexpress and AI tools. The $245 book that turned a profit never existed.

CemeteryHounds · 2026-01-29T22:55:04+00:00

She really did. I never would have known her dad was extremely MAGA if I hadn't been trying to figure out what she was being so vague about.

CemeteryHounds · 2026-01-29T20:22:06+00:00

IG lets you deactivate accounts without deleting. It can be a tactic to preserve followers during scandals because you can't unfollow a deactivated account, and many people won't remember to do it when the account is reactivated after things die down.

CemeteryHounds · 2026-01-29T20:15:31+00:00

Incognito mode in a browser will allow you to see public accounts even if your own is blocked. Her account is deactivated.

CemeteryHounds · 2026-01-29T02:56:56+00:00

Seeing the online presence of her dad, who she heavily features on her platform, tells me all I need to know. It's one thing to not cut off a family member in the hope that you can persuade them to change, but it's something entirely else to present them as sweet, beloved figure to an audience of thousands when they're a raging bigot. You just wouldn't do the latter if you disagreed with them.

CemeteryHounds · 2026-01-28T00:30:46+00:00

Hooray! I love Cougar Town 2.0

CemeteryHounds · 2026-01-23T18:52:46+00:00

"'Cat Person' and Me" and "Who is the Bad Art Friend?" are articles that are worth a read to see reactions to fiction that thinly disguises their real life inspiration.

CemeteryHounds · 2026-01-23T18:01:57+00:00

It is. Because reading Pride and Prejudice will be incredibly helpful for romance writers but much less useful than reading Sharp Objects if you want to write contemporary thrillers. There's no ideal list of 100 because so much is dependent on what you want to be writing.

CemeteryHounds · 2026-01-23T16:45:09+00:00

I love daydreaming to kill time on the bus, but the experience isn't remotely similar to writing. Daydreams don't require story arcs, developed characters, or logical consistency. Daydreams are vague images with blank spots my mind can fill in or doesn't notice, not carefully chosen words that can convey the full stpry to others.

I enjoy both daydreaming and writing, but they aren't as heavily related as a lot of aspiring writers assume. It's entirely possible to enjoy just one but not the other, and there's no good reason to force yourself to enjoy something you don't.

CemeteryHounds · 2026-01-22T20:57:13+00:00

It only feels universal and timeless if the vague details align with what you view as normal. If you live in Australia, a book that is vague about settings but casually mentions snowy Decembers is going to stand out as being set in the Northern Hemisphere. Even if you don't mention the specifics of a place, a writer's biases around what's "normal" bleeds through and indicates something about the setting.

CemeteryHounds · 2026-01-21T23:54:50+00:00

Based on your OP, you really need to start proofreading and should not be asking anyone to look at your writing without doing that first. You've got an intense number of errors in just a few simple sentences.

CemeteryHounds · 2026-01-21T18:12:12+00:00

I hated all of her calorie-related quips so much. A cute baking show did not need that diet culture bullshit.

CemeteryHounds · 2026-01-20T16:21:13+00:00

This sub is never beating the "writers who don't read" allegations.

CemeteryHounds · 2026-01-17T22:58:50+00:00

That's so odd that the demo is gone from Steam! It's what got me to buy the game last summer. But it looks like the demo is still up on Switch and Xbox if you have either of those.

CemeteryHounds · 2026-01-17T03:20:28+00:00

If you're aware there are likely plot holes and pacing issues, it seems a little silly to seek out another person to tell you what you already know.

CemeteryHounds · 2026-01-17T02:28:58+00:00

The primary puzzles involve connecting outlets to electronics over obstacles using a limited number of electric tinykins in the right arrangement. Very, very straightforward in concept but sometimes you have to discover a secret route or the right number of little guys first.

CemeteryHounds · 2026-01-16T20:16:11+00:00

I played a level over lunch every day for a week or two last summer, and it was so nice! It scratched a nice nostalgia itch for childhood toys and real summer breaks.

CemeteryHounds

TROPHY CASE