The cosy game genre is more crowded than ever, making it increasingly difficult for new farming sims to stand out. While many lean heavily on familiar mechanics borrowed from classics like Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing, Everdream Village takes a few welcome risks of its own.
Minecraft is having a real community renaissance, and smaller, more intentional servers are leading the way. As players return for creativity, comfort, and connection, spaces like Starless SMP show how powerful cosy, people first worlds can be. In this feature, we talk to the team behind Starless about building a safe, welcoming server for girls and nonbinary players, from plushies and post offices to magazines and daily events. We also introduce G.URL SMP, now live at play.gurlworld.live.
Ten years into her work in Black character design, Danielle ‘Ebonix’ Udogaranya reflects on influence, visibility, and the future of games.
When two icons of early internet life collide, magic happens. Habbo Hotel and Neopets have teamed up for a crossover bursting with pixel nostalgia, pet companions, and collectible chaos. It’s more than a campaign: it’s a time capsule from 2005, reborn for the players who never really logged out.
After 14 years of silence, Katamari Damacy is back to roll through time and grab your attention.
Habbo Hotel turns 25 this year, marking a chaotic legacy of furniture scams, controversy, internet infamy and unexpected survival. Once a hotspot, it faced near collapse – but it's still online, and still finding ways to reinvent itself for a new generation.
Hello Kitty’s first ever DLC is dropping — and it’s a dreamy, flour-dusted world of magic ruins, soft girl lore, and new bestie Cogimyun. Wheatflour Wonderland launches this September, bringing the biggest update yet to Island Adventure. Think bakery-core meets mythic quest, with carbs, cuteness, and emotional depth.
No A-listers. No viral stunt casting. Nintendo just revealed the faces of Link and Zelda for its live-action film — and it’s refreshingly understated. Rising talents Bo Bragason and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth step into the green tunic and royal gown, signalling a quieter, more serious take on Hyrule’s cinematic debut.
With every new life sim release, something gets shinier — but also flatter. Meanwhile, The Sims 3 continues to spiral in on itself, breaking in new ways and revealing stranger layers the longer you play. 600 hours deep, it’s still the only game I know that feels alive in its decay.
ZA/UM Atelier just crash-landed at Paris Fashion Week with The Alters collection - a cyber-survivalist line fusing gaming weirdness, Gorpcore outerwear and glitch-pattern kimonos. It’s clothing built for alternate timelines, dystopian cities and looting your future self’s wardrobe. A sharp, worldbuilding collision of high fashion and speculative identity play.
Infinity Nikki is Inspiring Gamers to Bond Over High Heels and Earrings
Seeing a feminine dress-up game acknowledged as a “real” game is groundbreaking. Twelve years ago, Papergames was told that the Nikki franchise was too niche to succeed in the competitive gaming market. The monumental success of Infinity Nikki proves otherwise, showing there’s a community of gamers eager to save the world in an iridescent ballgown and heels.
Short Trip: The Hand-Drawn Cat Carrying Experience
As the chaos of finals, demanding work weeks, and holiday preparations looms, the need for a moment of respite becomes undeniable. Thankfully, we’ve found the perfect game to help you pause, breathe, and recharge amid the holiday frenzy.
5 Hidden Gems for Cosy Winter Gaming
If you're craving cosy winter vibes, this list of five lesser-known games is your perfect escape. From heartwarming puzzle adventures to whimsical snow-filled escapades, these titles embrace the season’s magic without leaning on tired survival tropes.
Beauty in Blocks: How Roblox’s Dress to Impress Inspires Real-Life Makeup Trends
From the virtual runways of Dress to Impress to the Instagram feeds of beauty influencers, Roblox-inspired makeup is rewriting the rules of beauty. Bold, playful, and unapologetically experimental, these trends are proof that digital creativity is shaping the face of fashion in more ways than one.
Our Forgotten Digital Dolls: A Note on Personalisation and Feminine Identity Crises
Once upon a time, the Internet was a playground for little girls. On BarbieGirls.com and Be-Bratz.com, we weren’t just dressing up avatars—we were learning how to present ourselves to the world. These virtual spaces taught us that to be seen was to be valued, planting seeds of self-scrutiny that bloomed into a full-blown obsession with image. Years later, the MP3 players and pink VIP badges are gone, but the mirror they handed us hasn’t cracked. We scroll, we compare, and we perform, still chasing that fleeting feeling of being enough in a world built to tell us otherwise.
Aika Village: The Haunting Legacy of Animal Crossing’s Darkest Creation
Animal Crossing fans have crafted a paradise of horrors in Aika Village, transforming a beloved game into an unforgettable experiment in eerie storytelling. The Animal Crossing series is known for its charming worlds and slice-of-life gameplay, where daily routines and cheerful villages offer an escape from reality. Yet amid this serene experience, an unexpected current…
We Got Feminism Before GTA VI
From its beginnings, Grand Theft Auto captivated players with the freedom to explore Rockstar’s gritty, satirical universe. The thrill of wreaking havoc in Vice City or untangling crime in San Andreas, paired with a mix of dark humour and pointed social commentary, has made GTA iconic. Yet, the series has often fallen short when it comes to representing women.
How Gaming is Reviving Classical Music
When you think of gaming soundtracks, you might recall nostalgic 8-bit melodies, thumping EDM, or symphonic scores backing epic fantasy scenes. But today, there’s a quieter, unexpected phenomenon happening in the gaming world—players are rediscovering classical music, and it's not just in the background anymore. From rhythm games to grand story arcs, the symphonies of Beethoven, Mozart, and even Wagner are gaining new audiences, turning gaming into an unlikely conduit for introducing players to the world of classical music.
Chants of Sennaar Speaks in a Language of Its Own
There’s a rush in turning mystery into meaning — when strange symbols suddenly speak. Chants of Sennaar bottles that thrill, letting players untangle languages one clue at a time.
How Gaming is Rewriting the Rules of Makeup
The collision of gaming culture and beauty is redefining the makeup landscape, moving away from traditional glam into something far more digital, sleek, and surreal. As social media continues to serve as a breeding ground for trends, beauty influencers are transforming makeup into a futuristic art form that borrows heavily from gaming’s hyperreal worlds and aesthetics like Frutiger Aero. This resurgence, sparked by a fascination with the gloss and glow of early 2000s tech, speaks to a broader cultural desire for escapism, immersion, and self-expression.