The lovely Animal Crossing-esque life sim Cozy Grove has received its first major update, featuring brand new content reflecting the bright and balmy summer season. New bears are coming to the island, and along with them, a plethora of exciting events, activities, decorations, and even music. So grab your bug net and a handful of skipping stones — it’s time for some fun under the sun in the Cozy Grove Summer Update.
Critter-Catching
The warm summer weather has brought a variety of cute and cuddly critters to populate the island. To catch them, you’ll need to purchase a bug net from Mr. Kit’s shop. Similar to the fishing rod, the net has infinite durability. Critters will spawn at a steady rate, allowing you to capture as many as you please. Like Cozy Grove’s fish, each kind of critter has a distinct behavior to keep in mind when trying to hunt one. They come in different rarities as well, which means you’ll be able to add them to Captain Snout’s collection. The little buggers will also be used in fetch quests and can be sold to Mr. Kit for Old Coins.
Name Your Spirit Animal
While your essence-generating pets may have been just “Blue Bambi #2” or “Yellow Birb #3” in the past, the Cozy Grove Summer Update now lets you name your helpful spirit creatures. However, you’ll only be able to choose from a selection of randomly generated names rather than being given the option to name them yourself.
New Decorations and Clothing
Give your home or appearance a fresh new tropical look with the slew of new summertime decoration sets, hairstyles, and clothing that has been added to the game. While some items will show up randomly during your daily routines, others are tired exclusively to specific events or NPC quests.
New Photo Standees
The photo standee in Maker Bear’s biome is a popular screenshot spot among players. Spry Fox took note of this and added several more photo standees to the area that will randomly generate a different one every day.
Two New Bear NPCs
A new mysterious spirit, Ms. Carouse, will be appearing in early July for all players to meet and interact with. However, what new things or activities she will bring to the island will be revealed when she arrives.
Similar to the tinker Pandam, Darla will stop by Cozy Grove every Saturday to sell you second-hand items from her extensive clothing collection. She will also offer challenges where you must dress up in a specific outfit for her. Completing Darla’s challenge will reward you with a unique clothing item that is not available anywhere else in the game.
Hug a Bear
Likely inspired by the beloved mechanic in Spiritfarer, you can hug the cuddlesome bears of Cozy Grove island. This new feature doesn’t provide any tangible benefits, but it’s undoubtedly a loveable welcome addition to the game.
More “Decoy” Item Sets
The Cozy Grove Summer Update will be adding several new sets of decoy items to various quests. While searching for objects in a quest, you may stumble across decoy items. Picking up a decoy can cause a “bag bug” to hop into your backpack. You can get rid of these pests by giving them to Flamey or chucking them into the water.
New Treasure Maps and Lost Lore
As you go about scavenging the island, bits of treasure maps and lost lore can occasionally be discovered. If you manage to find all the pieces and assemble them, you’ll be handsomely rewarded for your efforts.
Time to Skip Some Stones
Every day, an open clamshell will appear close by the shores of Cozy Grove. If you’re able to toss a skipping stone into its mouth successfully, you’ll receive a fair award. The more skips across the water you’re able to pull off, the more generously you’ll be rewarded. Different-colored clams give different rewards, such as quartz, driftwood, or sometimes both. Additionally, the Surfer Bear will no longer ask you to find skipping stones for her. Instead, she will now have you skip stones as a quest objective.
Shell Model Collecting
Up until now, shells could only be collected once, used in quests, or sold for coins. Players who wanted to decorate their home with beautiful conches or clams couldn’t do so because that would prevent new shells from spawning. Thanks to the Summer Update, the Surfer Bear will now accept your shells and convert them into “shell models,” which look identical to the originals — just slightly larger. These can freely be used to decorate the island as you see fit.
New Background Tunes
While Cozy Grove‘s background soundtrack is pleasant to an extent, it can wear its welcome on your ears after several hours of playtime. Fortunately, two new songs have now been added to the Cozy Grove soundtrack bringing new life to the summertime experience.
Visit the official announcement here for extra details on the Cozy Grove Summer Update.
