Cozy games have ossified, and it's mostly thanks to Stardew Valley. These days, regardless of a cozy game's setting, you know exactly what to expect: warm vibes, happy people or those not entirely averse to becoming happy, a hearty welcome, and quick resolutions to every problem. The sameification is hardly surprising. When a single game takes a niche genre mainstream and sells millions of copies across every platform, it makes sense for others to try their hand at the formula, carefully preserving its fundamental parts. Understandable, but no less regrettable. There are signs that growth is finally happening, though.

When Polygon spoke with Perfect Garbage co-founder Son M in May, one of the makers of the upcoming horror-farming game Grave Seasons, they said a growing trend among creatives is pushing against the boundaries of what cozy can be. Perfect Garbage wants to make Grave Seasons part of that trend, with its protagonist and their sketchy background and a heap of murders designed to make you question how society otherizes certain groups. We won't get to see how that turns out until Aug. 15. But with Little Chicken's Moonlight Peaks, the hottest cozy game of the summer, we've got the first sense of what a less comforting take on the genre might look like.

In Stardew and the games that inspired it, you start out by inheriting dear late grandad's farm, a safe base from which to launch your new life, whatever shape it might be. Moonlight Peaks starts with a fight. You're a Dracula. (That's a family name, by the way; you're not legally distinct Alucard.) After yet another fight with your father, you decide to leave. It's pretty clear the situation here is toxic. Your mother knows why you need to leave, but she's unwilling to fully recognize the problem at home. If you just talked about it (for the nth time), it might get better! No,........

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