Hozy Review (PC)

Hozy gave me a fresh lease on life—a reason to fill my bucket with jolly green paint and emulate serenity on a blank and dust-riddled canvas. It didn’t force me to think outside of the box, nor did it dampen my spirits with anything particularly stress-inducing, for that matter. Instead, it offered me the flexibility to create, with nine distinct locations in a desolate village, a neatly packed catalog of items and decorations, and a smooth physics-based clean-up process that could keep me applying paint and scrubbing windows for hours. It didn’t need to offer me any more than that. There were no timers, and there were no challenges. It was just the idyllic atmosphere, the world, and me.

While Unpacking was able to scratch that itch for deep cleaning and organizational changes, Hozy filled a gap that the likes of Unpacking and other cubby puzzlers wasn’t able to cement. In this world, I didn’t have to figure out which literature corresponded with which shelving unit, nor did I have to find a matching teacup to align with a specific case of crockery. In all honesty, it didn’t matter how I went about the job; it mattered only that I had a good time doing it. There were no unruly demands to dampen my enthusiasm, and there were no steep curveballs that required me to match themed components in order to progress in the campaign. It was just clean, simple, and ridiculously satisfying restoration work. Frankly, I didn’t need anything else to whet my appetite for wholesome content. I just wanted to create without being told what to do or how to do things — and Hozy delivered that, tenfold.

It was the simplicity of its coordinated system that made me fall in love with the creative process—the seamless transitions between set pieces, and the small details that made a desolate world feel alive even when it had little to give. If I lifted a window, I’d see the dust wisps creep through the cracks and juggle the debris like confetti. If I scrubbed a pane of glass, I’d see the wildlife on the other side, beaming with joy and desperate to congregate with the small keepsakes nestled deep within. The act of threading the needle and transforming an abandoned village wasn’t a dead task; it was illuminating, and a process that I couldn’t help but throw myself into over and over again. Even with just a handful of locations to breathe life into, I felt that there was always something worth doing.

Conceptually, it wasn’t all that different from Camper Van: Make it Home or Unpacking. Similar to both cozy organizing puzzlers, the game primarily involved scooting from one location to the next, scrubbing the crags and crevices with a variety of cleaning tools, and gradually restoring forgotten areas into flourishing hubs with fresh decorations and cozy embellishments. Unlike Unpacking, however, it didn’t involve finding the correct spot for each piece of the puzzle. It didn’t demand that I stack books in chronological order, or that I arrange kitchen goods by their size and color. It just asked that I created whatever tickled my fancy at the time, even if it wasn’t perfect. And with a conveyor belt of theme-appropriate items that made it all the more simple to organize, it didn’t ever force me to dig too deeply into my inner Feng Shui mindset to build those havens, either. There were no points to score, and I had absolutely nothing to prove. It was merely creating for the sake of creating.

Of course, I would have enjoyed a few more locations, and I would have happily thrown myself at a handful of challenges to see if I could further enhance my skill set. However, with just nine biomes to work through—a home, a workshop, and a cafe, for example—it felt that the journey ended a lot sooner than I would have liked. But that didn’t dampen the satisfaction. In fact, even with a relatively small scope and a bite-sized library of locations to hand, Hozy always had a little more to give, particularly when it came to interactive features and Easter Eggs. By simply clicking around the area, I could activate a projector, merge light with wildlife, or pluck the strings of an old guitar. And, to be honest, there was a lot to touch and play around with, too. It wasn’t just about painting and decorating; it was about interacting with the world and figuring out what made it tick.

The word wholesome immediately springs to mind here, and for good reason, too. Given that there are no objectives for you to accomplish other than to wax your own curiosity, Hozy just feels like a breath of fresh air. The vibrant visuals; the harmonic effects; the satisfying mechanics; and the relaxing atmosphere that allows you to soak up the energy and bathe in the artistic qualities of a good and wholehearted venture. Suffice it to say, Hozy has all of that, and then some. It might be a little short, but honestly, sometimes the greatest things in life are, and Hozy has done a pretty remarkable job of proving that.

Verdict

Hozy is a real breath of fresh air in the renovation and organization space—an effortlessly creative and oh-so-wholesome interactive experience that just feels great to explore and toy around with. It’s short, but it’s also teeming with brilliant ideas and beautifully crafted set pieces and bite-sized wonders, too. And that’s what I am willing to take away from it: that it’s small in size, yet colossal in terms of heart and soul, energy and creative expression. That, really, makes it worth the asking price alone.

If you’re a fan of soothing organization sims and free-flowing mechanics that allow you to wax your creative wizardry with a neatly tailored casket of decorations and wholesome keepsakes, then this ought to feel like a bit of a no brainer. For argument’s sake, though, if you are looking for a game that leans into all of the same simple tropes as Unpacking, then you needn’t search any further than the roots of Come On Studio’s picture-perfect hidden gem. It’s cozy, calm, and about as relaxing as you could possibly imagine.