Review | Cozy Game Restoration: 'For Crazy Cleaners And Nostalgia Seekers' (PC)

Cozy Game Restoration is a cosy game about cleaning old game cartridges. Remove the dirt, scratches and sticky residue using a variety of tools, then either display your freshly restored games in your Collection Room or sell them for a little profit.

Fair warning: Cozy Game Restoration isn’t about restoring the games themselves or getting them working again. It’s all about cleaning them. There’s also a healthy dose of nostalgia in bringing these old cartridges back to life, all wrapped up in a relaxing, satisfying experience. While I knew what I was getting into, I couldn’t help but feel there was room to flesh things out further, particularly when it came to progression and unlocking better tools to make the cleaning process easier.

Whistle While You Work

Melbourne-based solo developer Parasol Corp has done a great job of creating a cosy atmosphere in your little workshop. There’s ambient lighting, comforting lofi music that you can switch on and off, and even rainy weather in the background to keep you company while you restore these old cartridges. There’s no overarching story to follow, just you, your tools and a growing pile of games to clean at your own pace.

A quick tutorial introduces you to the various cleaning tools, although the scratch polish mysteriously appeared without any explanation. I’d have appreciated a little more guidance around the UI and how each day works, but it didn’t take long to get the hang of things.

Each day, you receive packages of games and have to decide which ones to purchase with your available funds. You’re given a daily allowance, but you can also sell restored games to earn some extra cash. There’s a Collection Room where you can proudly display your handiwork, with unlockable furniture providing additional bonuses. It’s a simple setup, but with 108 games available to restore, there’s certainly plenty to keep you busy.

A Clean Break Between Games

With 108 games available in total, Cozy Game Restoration has plenty of content, but it’s not necessarily something I’d binge. Instead, I see it as more of an interlude between games, or something to return to when you want to switch your brain off and tackle some menial tasks. Think PowerWash Simulator, but with considerably smaller surfaces.

Unlike PowerWash Simulator, however, there’s very little sense of progression. I’d have loved to unlock additional tools or upgrade existing ones to make cleaning more efficient. Perhaps it’s intentional that the process remains simple throughout, but I found myself wishing there was a little more incentive to keep going. Peeling stickers and scrubbing dirt off cartridges is satisfying at first, but doing it over and over without much changing can get a little tedious.

Thankfully, there are some accessibility options to make the process easier. You can enable autocomplete once you reach 99% cleanliness (you’ll know when you’ve hit this point because the game starts glowing gold), which saves you from hunting down that last stubborn speck of dirt. There’s also a tapping-to-clean option, which I particularly appreciated when my fingers started feeling like they were developing RSI.

A Blast From the Past, Minus the Blowing

If you’re a fan of simple task-based games, or someone who loves old video games and a healthy dose of nostalgia, Cozy Game Restoration is worth checking out. However, if you prefer games with a stronger sense of progression and rewards, you might find yourself wanting a little more.

That said, it certainly scratched my cleaning itch. There’s something genuinely satisfying about getting a cartridge to 100% cleanliness, and I found it surprisingly easy to lose a couple of hours in my little workshop. Sometimes, that’s exactly what you want from a cosy game.

I just wish Parasol Corp had included an option to blow into the cartridge before cleaning it. You know, just like the good old days. Cozy Game Restoration is out now on PC via Steam for $19.99.