Yeah I was looking around at some of the mobile versions and they don’t really seem to capture what it is I like about the original RO. For one, the ads I saw had the cute, old sprite graphics, but the actual games I found have modern 3D graphics… kind of a bait and switch there.
Plus they look like they have lots of mobile, gacha stuff going on. Not to say that that stuff can’t be fun, it’s just a bit different than the original experience and less soothing for me.
Private servers are pretty easy to get up and running these days, if you’re curious. I play on one called uaRO which specifically mimics the way the game was before “renewal” so the features are a lot more basic and it doesn’t bash you over the head with a lot of stuff.
Yeaaah, I noticed some had 3D graphics which wasn’t what I was looking for. Glad to hear private servers are still going, that was the entirety of my experience with the game!
One big bed time game I recently acquired was Heroes of Might and Magic III, anyone with even the worst of laptops can run it I’d highly recommend it and would love to hear from people what they think! It is ultimate cozy game without the aesthetic that would come to mind
I played the absolute heck out of HoMM3 back in the day. Always played it in multiplayer versus scenarios so not particularly cozy, but I can totally see it being somewhat low stress in solo given the turn based nature.
A visual novel before bed is great. I occasionally will read an otome before bed, but the problem is it can be a little too relaxing sometimes, and I fall asleep too quickly after starting. It makes it very hard to progress in the story and I typically don’t remember the 3 scenes I see before dozing off. Your mileage may vary!
I think a good bedtime game winds you down a little bit, and you can still get a good 20-30 minutes of entertainment and progress before falling asleep.It also helps if you don’t have a feeling that you left anything unfinished if you put your console to sleep for the next 24 hours.
Katamari hits the Picross threshold for me where it’s a little too exciting to fall asleep right away. Suika Game and Tetris give me the tetris effect and stress dreams (especially after a fruity snack). Dynasty Warriors is nearly perfect but can be too much of a sensory overload to be a consistent bedtime game.
Cruisin’ USA or Ridge Racer would probably be top tier bedtime games if you turn the sound down. Namco would have made millions in arcades by having a ‘sleepy bunny’ mode and making the arcade seats recline into a cot and letting people go to bed after a couple races.
Fantasian is a fantastic bedtime game. Nobuo Uematsu’s score is so dreamy, and the game often just stops to read you some prose. The diorama effect gives a very comforting feeling of childlike wonder. I have fallen asleep while playing every night since starting the game and had nice dreams. 10/10
