Guys I’m plagued by the capitalist society that we live in.

JK. Kinda. I think I’m mostly tired of the monotony that I find myself in when it comes to my work, and the struggle to improve it. My degree is in English Education, which I picked partially because of both its stability and variety. Stability in that it’s consistent and there’s always a need for teachers, and variety in that every day involves a new lesson plan, every semester is a new class, and every year has new students.

Here’s my struggle. I’m not teaching right now. I’m a lowly substitute, which at least gets me into the classroom. A lot of districts in my area have had major budget cuts lately, which means that any open positions are getting dozens of applicants, making it hard to stand out with just a resume and few simple questions. Right now, most of my jobs are either babysitting high schoolers who are working on their own, or wrangling 35 middle schoolers who don’t care who I am. I’m grateful to have a well-paying consistent job that doesn’t require much from me, but it also doesn’t give much in return. My days can be boring, I feel like my skills from student teaching are lessening, and the fear of needing to sub for another whole year is terrifying.

I think most people can relate to this concept. In our jobs and our daily responsibilities, it always seems like there is an unequal exchange. That we’re cogs in the machine. That we need to struggle to find happiness.

Woof, that got dark. All of this is to say that we crave coziness and success. We like escapism and just enjoying the feeling of something meaningful and soft. And what better way to find this than in games and books?

I know this is a book blog, but I would be remiss if I didn’t also talk about cozy games for this topic. I’m a HUGE fan of Stardew Valley, with several hundred hours of gameplay and multiple 100% save files. Lately I’ve also been playing a lot of Fields of Mistria and Little Witch in the Woods, which have similar cozy vibes. There is no shortage of other great cozy games, like Dreamlight Valley, Animal Crossing, Cozy Grove, Coral Island, and many many more.

There are also lots of cozy books that have been popular lately. I’m going to mostly speak on cozy fantasy, but there are plenty of cozy realism and fiction books out there, too. Some of the big cozy fantasy books as of late are The Spellshop series, the Legends and Lattes series, the Emily Wilde series, and many more great standalone books. All of these books and all of these games have some similarities.

In Stardew Valley, the player receives the deed to their grandfather’s farm and decides to restore it. In Fields of Mistria, the player accepts the call to a small town who is in need of an adventurer to help restore it after an earthquake. In Legends and Lattes, Vivian retires from adventuring life and wants to open a coffee shop. And in The Spellshop, Kiela flees the capital city when a rebellion happens, starting a new life where she begins to practice magic. So what do all of these have that sounds familiar?

Starting somewhere new, and finding great success with it.

How many of us are content with our lives, but wonder what it would be like to drop everything and start a farm, or open a new business, or go back to school? How many of us dream of quiet coffee shops and farmers markets and creating something from nothing? I know I do! I often joke with my boyfriend about starting a card store because there aren’t any directly around us. I like the idea of moving outside of the city and growing flowers and raising chickens. I think about how fun it could be to design cross stitch patterns and make a living off of them.

Romance is also a huge factor in this genre. Just as there is a dark romance obsession, so too are there fans of cozy fantasy romance. Some of the books are more subtle with the romance, like Viv and Tandri’s slowburn, subtle connection in Legends and Lattes that is the epitome of cozy. In Emily Wilde, part of the coziness comes from the growing relationship between Emily and Wendell.

In many of the cozy games, romance is also present. In a lot of the farming sims like Stardew Valley and Fields of Mistria, the player is able to form relationships and even romance certain characters. Eventually, the player can marry their favorite and have them live on their farm with them, adding an additional fun element to the gameplay. One of the main reasons I replay Stardew Valley is to romance different characters and get to know them in a whole new light. Not only do we crave cozy, but we also crave love.

One thing that is distinguished between the games and books is obviously the ability to make choices. In books, you’re following a character along their journey, enjoying the ride and seeing where things go. In the games, you often make most of the decisions, deciding how to decorate, what quests to do, who to befriend, whether to prioritize farming or ranching or fishing. Strangely, despite the differences, both of these add to the coziness. There is something so fun about reading and not needing to be the one behind the wheel. We’re watching how the spell shop comes together without needing to do the work for it. But when we get the satisfaction of leveling up a barn, or seeing a character reach eight hearts with you, we get similar levels of enjoyment. Whether you’re in the mood to be the one in charge of the cozy, or you want to just sit ack and relax, there’s an option for you.

During the process of writing this article, I started reading Heretical Fishing by Haylock Jobson, a book I discovered while at Dragonsteel. I learned about his book while attending a panel all about cozy literature. His book is very similar to the light novel genre of books, which tend to be online novels made up of shorter chapters that are updated frequently. Often times in light novels, a character is reincarnated or isekaied (teleported or reborn) into a new world, where they settle on on main goal they want to accomplish. This goal is usually something cozy or relaxing, at ends with the world they live in. Light novels are very popular in Japan, and they often get translated or even traditionally published when they get a big audience. While Heretical Fishing is similar to light novels, it’s more accurately a western lit-RPG book, or a literary version of a role-playing game. Readers may be familiar with the popular lit-RPG series Dungeon Crawler Carl, which follows a video game format, with achievements and bosses, but in literary form. Heretical Fishing is on the cozy end of lit-RPG books, where the main character starts his new life and decides all he wants to do is fish.

While at Dragonsteel, Jobson talked about how writing his book was an escape for him, and now readers get to find their own solace within his works. It’s cyclical, with writer and reader alike getting to benefit from the mere process of engaging in the cozy genre. It’s a win-win.

That was a very long winded explanation, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention light novels and, tangentially, anime, which features the phenomenon of being isekaied. All of this is to say that, despite the medium–book, show, or game–we crave being transported to somewhere new. We want the break from our normal and to see someone accomplish simple goals that mean a lot to them.

So while most of us will never get reincarnated into a fantasy world, or have too many obligations to go inherit a farm and start our lives anew, we have the fortunate ability to escape within a book or game. Sometimes, we don’t want high stakes. We want slow progression, tender moments, and gradual build-ups into something new.

And that’s why I think cozy works so well. We don’t want to forever be mere cogs in the wheel of society. Sometimes we need an hour or to to be somewhere else. And since our society has no intentions of lessening its grip on us, our need for coziness grows more and more. Next time you feel stressed, don’t be afraid to pick up your favorite book or game. you deserve the escape.

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