What do you call games like Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing? MMO dev Damion Schubert recently put out a call for a good term for these – hygge games, cozy life games, community sims, pastoral fantasy, honobono, casual RPG, wholesome sims all got mentions – but the simple term “life sim” appears to have won out. And it definitely seems as if we’re witnessing a rise in attention for these types of games spawned from the Harvest Moon template – and that extends beyond merely multiplayer and into the MMO genre.
For example, Book of Travels and Palia are high on our watch list, and both games are basically the coziest chunks of a virtual world pulled out and turned into more of a gameplay loop.
Are we witnessing the rise of the “life sim” MMO? What are the games that you’re watching that will flesh out this corner of the genre?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
