Cozy Holes | First Impression and Review!

By Shelbey Waffle

Do you like digging holes? How about collecting shiny things, uncovering hidden treasures, or even learning about the history of a civilization of shovels? What if I told you that you can do all of that AS a shovel?

Cozy Holes is helping to lead the charge in a new sub-genre of cozy games; digging! Now look, I know it sounds like a chore to dig a hole. Stanley didn’t make it look exciting in the movie Holes, that’s for sure. Let me tell you though, it’s looking to be a fun one.

So let me get to the facts immediately. The game I am reviewing is the demo for Cozy Holes, which was produced by a two person dev team called FlashPoint Games. The early access for this game started August 6th. Please be aware that some of the things I mention may not be finalized, which I will probably reiterate throughout. I checked out their socials and dev updates, and it seems like the team is very proactive with fixing up aspects of the game that are not as polished. I will break down this first look into five categories. Those categories are:

• First Impression

• Gameplay

• World Design

• Graphics and Sound

• Overall Impression

So, let’s get to it!

First Impression

Upon loading into the game, I was met with a little gazebo with various empty spots for (internal screaming) collectibles! I wasn’t quite sure what to do with them yet, nor the colorful altars that said I wasn’t good enough yet. The game is first person in not only field of view, but in story. You do not know what the character does not know, which essentially leaves you to figure everything out. I decided to ignore this empty gazebo of broken dreams and turn my attention to the world around me. 

You are on an island that doesn’t take too terribly long to go all around. You can see a few buildings sticking out of the sand. Like, barely. They are otherwise fully engulfed like that one library in Avatar. There’s some crop circle like patterns in the sand, and some small pools of lava. The lava respawns you at your gazebo, so no lava swimming for our little shovel Digby. The last thing I did before sticking my blade in the sand was admire the majestic narwhals dancing on the waves around the island. They were so beautiful. The only downside is that you cannot get close to them. A pity.

Gameplay

The gameplay of Cozy Holes is relatively simple. One thing I don’t care for, which I am sure will end up being fixed, is that after the initial pop up telling you what buttons do what, you never see it again. I tried going into the settings to check out the key bindings, and I didn’t find it there either. I then pressed every button on the keyboard to see what does what and… There aren’t a lot of controls! Your mouse button digs, space jumps, and left Ctrl to crouch. I giggled a bit at the thought of a shovel crouching lol. 

The movement feels really smooth and the camera is fluid. There is an invisible wall keeping you from going out to the water which is responsible for not being able to pet the narwhals. Your shovel is going out in front of you like a hand in those adventure RPG games, and it has its own physical hit box, in a sense. When various ores or other shinies fall to the ground in a ragdoll state, you can flick them around with the shovel. Very entertaining. I spent a few minutes playing basketball with an ore and the lava. PSA, ores do not dissolve in lava, you just simply cannot reach them anymore. Also, you can push the same types of ore into each other to merge into bigger ones! Anyways, the caveat of this physical hitbox shovel is that sometimes my shovel would kinda feel like it is dragging on the side of the terrain. It would slow me down when trying to climb out of a hole. 

Speaking of hitbox, your player hitbox is awkwardly massive. As though you are an invisible entity empowering this shovel. I haven’t been able to dig down to things without having to make a mega land ramp around me. 

Remember when I mentioned the gazebo that said I wasn’t good enough? More accurately, it told me that I didn’t have enough magic. This game seems to have a hidden magic counter that you spend to unlock upgrades for your shovel. I bought one, and it made the other two I had to choose from blocked out. I couldn’t find any way to see my magic progress, nor did I figure out how I gathered it. I also don’t quite know what the ore I’m collecting is for, but I kind of made the assumption that they are one and the same. I did end up finding a metal detector like gadget, so it is entirely possible there are ways to understand this system more clearly. That’s the downside of a demo!

As I mentioned previously, these devs are actively listening to suggestions and making various quality of life changes, so I predict these problems won’t persist. With this game, you can expect a smooth and relaxing time. The bumps that I ran into did not ruin the game’s quality of life for me. Oh no, I need to dig a bigger hole in a hole digging game? How tragic.

World Design

The world is surrounded in mystery. You are not told much of anything at the start, so you work off of observation. Sand covers buildings and it feels like a sort of wasteland. The first mystery you encounter is naturally, what happened here? The second thing I wondered about is ‘who put this gazebo here?’ 

Naturally, there are a lot of answers to unearth (ha). It’s easy to assume that it will be impossible to find everything you need under this sand, but I can already tell that the developers had a strategic mindset in where to hide these objects. Legit, the first spot I went to dig in, the location that just seemed to call to my every being, had a gadget for detecting treasure. Like, this is grocery store layout level thinking. I am willing to bet a majority of players go here first.

Ahem. Anyways, the layout of this island is amazing. This game has a day and night cycle, and it tracks how many days you make it through the game. On day 2, I had this amazing pop up on my screen…

When I saw this notification, I screamed to my wife and searched the island for this companion with steady haste. Unfortunately, I never found it before my demo time finished :(

While digging, I did come across a couple stone slabs that gave me a little bit of lore about the shovel civilization. I won’t go into that though, just know it is out there waiting to be discovered!

Oh, I don’t think I mentioned the mini tornadoes just traipsing around the island. I determined that they are responsible for that crop circle. It’s quite fun watching it just tear up the earth haha!

There isn’t a lot of lore that I ran into, but I did just play the 3 day demo. I did not have many opportunities to uncover much, so I can’t accurately judge it beyond what I did here. However, I do have a strong desire to find out more, which very much counts for something!

Graphics and Sound

The music for the game is quite pretty. In the short time I played, it cycled between a few different tracks which was great for adding in some variety. It wasn’t too calm that I got tired, nor was it (for the most part) too intense to get my blood pumping. There was a small period in one of the tracks that sped up and I thought something was about to happen, but it turns out there are no natural predators for a shovel. 

The graphics were very nice. The clouds move and the lighting shifts through the day due to the time passing. The water splashes around, birds are in the distance, adorable balloon narwhals hang out by a tree. I mention these things because a game about sand that is the color of sand can get underwhelming quickly. The lack of movement and color is bound to turn into a yawn fest. This game is NOT that yawn fest. You don’t know how often I found myself too distracted by the narwhals to spend my precious three days digging. The treasures that you find underground also have various different colors and sizes and textures.

Look, graphics don’t need to be super complicated for a game about digging holes. In fact, if it went overboard, it would lose its charm. I’ve always been a firm believer that there is a beauty in subtlety. The lack of color in some places, and the little pocket of excitement in others is just the dopamine I need to keep digging.

Overall Impression

My overall impression for this first impression demo is that:

I can’t wait for early access!

Sure, there are a few kinks to be worked out, but a game is a demo for a reason. Hell, a game is in early access for a reason! There will be issues to address and new things to add. In fact, the devs look at the feedback and suggestions of the players. A game that is perfect when it first comes out is as rare as a dev team that listens to their audience. I am very excited to keep playing the game, and I would really recommend giving it a try yourself! If you’re a little hesitant, you should check out the Cozy Holes page of their website, https://flashpointgames.com/.

If I were to put the four other categories in order from what is the best to what is the worst, I think I would do… Hmmm…

First Impression

World Design

Graphics and Sound

Gameplay

The first impression of the game was quite wonderful. I quite literally spent the first day (and most of the first night) running around the island before putting my shovel into the ground. It’s hard saying it is my favorite category because honestly, all the other categories played a part in it. Maybe THAT is why it’s so nice; because it ticked all the boxes right off the bat. The gameplay being in last isn’t that bad. It is still fun to play and it kept me going till the last second of the last day. The only reason I have it in last is because of the few awkward situations I mentioned above. That’s it! It is already fun, and honestly, the demo is when it will be at its worst. There is only going up from here, and despite digging down down down in the game, I know it will be going up up up the charts. 

Thanks for reading!

This is my first attempt at writing an article. I have written in other formats before for sure, but never this format. I am excited to be providing open and honest reviews, and I hope I can sway some of y’all to try out some fun indie games. If you have any suggestions or feedback for future articles, do reach out and let me know! I am always looking to grow.