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Reuters Created a Cozy Video Game to Explain Why People Love Relaxing Play

Become a tiny radish and explore Rootersville in an interactive experience that educates you about cozy games.

ByCaLea Johnson|
Video games don’t have to make your blood pressure spike.
Video games don’t have to make your blood pressure spike. | wera Rodsawang/GettyImages

You might be familiar with the most popular video game franchises, like Super Mario Bros. and Pokémon, but cozy games are in a league of their own. As the word cozy implies, the genre usually evokes a relaxed feeling in players. For those unfamiliar with the category—or with gaming in general—the news source Reuters made an interactive experience to educate people about cozy games and their positive impact on gamers.

The gamified article lets you become a tiny, anthropomorphic radish who explores a town called Rootersville. You interact with the world by talking to the townsfolk, collecting items, completing tasks, and decorating your house. As you scroll through the story, you’ll also learn interesting information about the cozy genre, such as defining characteristics and anecdotes showing how these games impact people.

For example, the article shares a 2024 study co-authored by Hiroyuki Egami, an assistant professor at Nihon University, about the causal effect of gaming on participants‘ mental health. The researcher examined subjects between 2020 to 2022 and found that video game console ownership and increased gameplay reduced psychological distress and improved life satisfaction. A separate 2021 study of 80 undergraduates surveyed by Michael Wong, an assistant professor at McMaster University, showed that playing a casual game for 20 minutes had nearly the same stress-reducing effect as meditating for the same amount of time. 

Reuters’ graphic reporter Tiana McGee came up with the idea, which the news source’s graphic team brought to life. Although no one on the team had ever developed a game, Julia Wolfe (an editor and developer of the Reuters game) told NiemanLab they were looking for a “maximalist approach” to covering the story, and making a fully-fledged game fit that ambitious goal. The graphic team started working on it in late November 2024 and finished in late January of this year. You can test it out for yourself here.

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