As a release window for the next Animal Crossing game remains under wraps, with it being likely that an Animal Crossing: New Horizons successor is years away, fans of the franchise will surely keep seeking out alternatives. Existing games like Hello Kitty: Island Adventure and Disney Dreamlight Valley may scratch the itch for some, while upcoming games like Petit Planet and Animula Nook hold promise. And now, there’s another game for fans of Nintendo’s beloved cozy IP to keep an eye on: Steam’s Cozy Campfire Club.
Cozy Campfire Club currently lacks a release date on its Steam page, so there’s no telling when exactly this particular cozy game will release. Still, what’s been shown for it thus far looks extremely promising and makes it worthy of a wishlist for any cozy game fan. All the key elements that have made Animal Crossing so popular are present: fishing, bug catching, foraging, item collection, and customization. Adorable critters are very much involved, too, with the unique twist being that players control the animals in this particular game as opposed to just living alongside them. Essentially, players are the Animal Crossing villagers.
Cozy Campfire Club Features at a Glance
- PLAY SOLO or CO-OP with friends and random players online.
- FISH and CATCH bugs, collecting non-humanoid creatures throughout the forest.
- FORAGE for ingredients to cook the best possible meal you can.
- CUSTOMIZE the designs of your camp and your camper, with numerous options available for each.
Grab your friends and set up a cozy campfire. Chat and make friends as you relax by the campfire, customize your campsite, forage in the forest, fish in the river, catch bugs, and cook up different foods in this cute hangout game.
Cozy Campfire Club Has All the Genre Staples
When it comes to cozy game mechanics, practically everyone is well acquainted with the ins and outs of the genre. And barring farming, all of those features are available within Cozy Campfire Club. Players will be able to fish to their hearts’ content within the rivers that surround their campsite, forage trees for their campfire, catch bugs using a net, and pick mushrooms that double as ingredients for their stew. In addition to these mechanics, Cozy Campfire Club will be boasting what seems to be a very immersive cooking system.
A wide range of animations—toasting marshmallows (and shoes, oddly enough) on a fire, flipping meat as it cooks in a pan, and stirring a stew full of ingredients-are just the tip of the iceberg. Apparently, there will be over 50 recipes to discover, with a recipe book to fill that serves as a long-term goal for completionists. Once players have combined their ingredients or cooked the item of their choosing to their desired level, they can take a bite. However, they should make sure they haven’t eaten anything dangerous, as a hilariously dark trailer moment shows a playable raccoon dropping dead due to a poorly prepared meal.
In addition to cooking and all the day-to-day activities, Cozy Campfire Club will allow players to decorate both their campsites and their campers. While details are scarce, players have seen a bit of how they’ll be able to dress their bears, cats, raccoons, and other critters. Hats, eyeglasses, and different shirts will all be available, allowing players to stand out from the other critters around them. Having a unique aesthetic for one’s character should prove useful since Cozy Campfire Club has been described as a “hangout” game; sitting around and chatting with other players is just as crucial to the game’s DNA as mechanics like bug catching and gathering. It’s interesting because it’s a similar approach to what the recent PS Plus game Big Walk did for the open-world genre. And, fortunately, finding new players to relax with won’t be a chore.
Cozy Campfire Club’s Multiplayer Gives it an Edge Over Animal Crossing
It’s no secret that the way Animal Crossing: New Horizons handles multiplayer has been causing players headaches for years. Not only is there no way to instantly visit random players on their islands, with the tedious share code system adding time to the matchmaking process, but the actual travel comes with annoyingly long cinematics and text barriers. While it can be worth the headache to join up with friends, it’s still more tedious than it should be, and meeting new players to trade or play with requires external social media groups and platforms like Nookazon. Fortunately for those planning to pick up Cozy Campfire Club, there won’t be any of these issues to deal with.
Per Cozy Campfire Club’s Steam page, developer Kitbash Games has promised both public and private campsites. This means that, while gamers can certainly limit their campsites to friends only if that’s what they desire, they can also set them to public (or join public lobbies themselves) to meet new players. This is a huge boon for Cozy Campfire Club, as the sheer convenience of being able to drop in and out of different campsites will allow players to see a wide range of campsites and get fresh design inspiration for their own builds. With such a key fixture of the game being to relax and chat with fellow animals, being able to find new players to talk to easily is going to be a game-changer.
