The longer that the cozy games category has existed and continued to come into its own over the past generation, the more striking the differences have become in what it constitutes as great gameplay. Stardew Valley absolutely helped to set the standards for expectation, mixing together interesting characters, charming or unexpected story beats, and a variety of activities you could choose to either view as repetitive or relaxing. Seeing things like workplace sims in particular, it appears that developers have really latched onto these concepts pretty well, though generally going for a much more narrow focus.

In the case of Undusted: Letters from the Past, the focus is a pretty simple one, and that’s on cleaning things off. Rolling with a literal interpretation of the title, your goal will be to use your simple and limited tools to remove caked-on dust and grime from a variety of trinkets and mementos that carry all sorts of emotional weight for the game’s main character. With each new object cleaned and fully revealed, a new piece of the narrative puzzle will make itself known.

Now, you could assume that since this is a cozy game, that by design there would be some sort of good vibe feeling coming through all of this, giving you the warm fuzzies and reminiscing about your own family in the process. There’s the rub though, as while perhaps you could choose to see there being some degree of revelation and healing through the memories prompted by all of this, the family history on display can be quite abusive in nature. For myself, who grew up with pretty great and supportive parents, I can brush it all off pretty easily… but given the problems my wife and some friends had, I could also see how this could easily dig up all sorts of negative thoughts for them. That doesn’t diminish from the power and depth of the storytelling, it could actually help make the game more unique. That said, I can also see how it isn’t the sort of story some people could be looking for when reflecting on the cozy space as a whole.