Cozy Grove: Camp Spirit Showcases Compelling NPC Stories

Cozy Grove: Camp Spirit is a sequel game that was made available to Netflix users on June 25, 2024, and showcases compelling NPC stories that make it feel like a conversation between the developer and the player.

The majority of the NPCs that players can interact with in the new game are bear-shaped ghosts who are reckoning with the life that they lived. That reflection is tinged with pride, fear, or even unresolved arguments.

Cozy Grove: Camp Spirit

Additionally, the bears are in need of your assistance and you will have to spend a lot of time running errands around the haunted island. Through all of this, you will aid the spirits in processing their deaths.

Some of them will ask to teach you the skills that they mastered when they were still alive and others will want you to help them resolve their conflicts. But some will simply just want someone to be there and listen to them and their story for the first time, according to Polygon.

The spirit bears' melancholic stories are told through cheeky dialogue and largely showcase the care that the developers have taken in treating their characters.

The developer, Spry Fox, added notable bears in the sequel, such as Kumari and Medvarius, who are former business partners with vastly different philosophies.

Other additions are Kyli, who is a streamer or influencer who just cannot stop thinking about their listenership, and Bunch, the chef who is illustrated as a box of colored pencils. The developer was able to prevent the NPCs' tragic stories with levity that just felt so organic.

On the one hand, Kumari takes potshots at Medvarious before she shares that she feels betrayed by her partner's greed. Then, Kyli touts their confidence and fame until they just admit that nobody is actually listening to their podcast.

Cozy Grove: Camp Spirit feels a little bit like Nintendo's Animal Crossing: New Horizons in that you can customize your island in whatever way you want. Additionally, every day progresses alongside the real-world calendar, and the game features changing seasons, said Netflix.

Compelling NPC Stories

The main difference is that in Cozy Grove: Camp Spirit, there are dynamic hand-drawn landscapes and watercolor aesthetics that give the game its titular cozy feel. Players will be able to fish, dig, power-wash, and also craft thousands of items along the way.

While the latest game is a sequel, players will not need to play the original game in order to get into Cozy Grove: Camp Spirit. The latest title is a stand-alone experience that welcomes both new and old players alike.

At the beginning of the new game, players will take control of a Spirit Scout whose purpose is to go out and assist the denizens of the spiritual world.

What the sequel adds are expanded play areas and is a nod to the original's island being expandable as you met more spirit bears and helped them with their needs.

In Cozy Grove: Camp Spirit, there are now multiple islands that players can explore that will also have bears that you will have to assist. There are also some that have abodes that you can go inside and interact with, according to ShackNews.