Bao Bao’s Cozy Laundromat is the latest game from solo developer Destroyer Doggo, and it is an idler game, which is something that you leave running on the side while you do other work, such as writing a review for Bao Bao’s Cozy Laundromat.
There is a rapidly growing playerbase around Idler games these days, thanks to the indie hit Rusty’s Retirement, which came out in April 2024. Since then, quite a few developers have tried to bring their own spin to this subgenre of games that sit on your desktop and let you do other things in the background, while still making progress in the game due to automated gameplay.
Idler games are not to be confused with Idle games, which function in a similar fashion, but offer complete automation. You can close idle games and still see progress when you open them up again. Idler games on the other hand, require you to keep the game open in order to see progress, but the core concept of automatic gameplay still applies here. These definitions are not set in stone, and even some developers use these two terms interchangeably, but this is just me trying to differentiate between the two subgenres.
If you’re not going to watch the entire video, here’s a summary: Bao Bao’s Cozy Laundromat is a charming introduction to the idler game subgenre. Featuring a visually pleasing pixel art style and soothing lo-fi music tracks, this is a game that invites you to leave it open on your desktop while you work. The game controls being limited to a menu instead of being tied to the items can feel a bit strange and make the gameplay slower, and the inclusion of limited time events introduces a sense of FOMO in an otherwise relaxing game, but these things are not a dealbreaker, and you can completely ignore the limited time events to avoid FOMO anyway. If you have never played an idler game, then this one is a great place to start.
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