Camp Spirit: 85 days in. General thoughts
I want to preface this with saying that I absolutely love the original Cozy Grove, it is one of my favorite games of all time, I've been playing it on and off for 4 years and it's been instrumental for my mental health.
So of course I was a bit sceptical going into the sequel. But now, 85 days in I want to say: I'm genuiely impressed how much they've been able to improve the game in almost every possible aspect without ruining the magic of the original.
First of all, the story. Oh my god, did they step up. I will not go into the spoilers, because discovering what is happening is part of the joy, but a more intertwining story led for even better characters development. There are so many twist and turns, so much drama and trauma, you really do bond with those bears and can't help but rooting for them. I know that people sometimes feel that it is harder to bond with new bears in the beginning, but that is because the story this time is more of a slow burn. But later on you bond way stronger than even in the original.
Second of all, quality of life improvements. I will be honest with you: now it is harder to play the original, because you get used to all the tiny tweaks you have in the sequel. Quick acess menu is a gamechanger. Backpack is larger and reads way better. Economics are more balanced. The island is easier to navigate. Bugs are more fair to catch. Hidden objects are not as sneaky as they were. And so on, so many nice things here and there.
Third of all, companions. Maybe my favorite addition to the game. While little ducks in the first game were more of a gimmick, Craw and Snugula are irreplaceable. They are absolutely the best and you bond with them even stronger than with the other characters.
Honestly, there is so much more to appreciate in this game, but I don't want to make this post too long, I just want to say that as a huge fan of the first game, I find the sequel so much better in almost every aspect.
There is maybe one thing that I like less in the sequel, and it is the requierement to confirm your every move between rooms and buildings, that's so many extra button presses, ahaha, I have no idea why would we need that.
And for the transparency, I'm playing the game on PC, and I've heard that Switch players have worse experience in terms of performance/bugs, so I'm not taking that into the consideration.
But yeah, I'm extremely happy that after almost 3 months of playing the sequel still brings so much joy, it is made with so much love and heart and improves upon almost every aspect of the original.