Petit Planet is a playlist of cozy gaming’s greatest hits

It’s easy to look at Petit Planet and call it HoYoverse’s legally distinct Animal Crossing, and, after spending a week with the closed beta ahead of its launch on Nov. 7, it’s also kinda true. If you took Nintendo’s life-sim and blended it with elements of Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley, and Disney Dreamlight Valley, you’d have a pretty good idea of what’s going on here. Everything in Petit Planet is something I’ve done many times before, and the only thing it’s doing to stand out is leaning hard into its soft visual aesthetic. It works, for the most part. But I’m coming away from the beta wondering just how well HoYoverse understands what makes cozy games worthwhile.