A whole lotta wholesomeness
Recommended Videos
It’s summertime, and that means a whole lot of video game news. But amid the big showcases and publisher spotlights, there are also streams like the Wholesome Direct 2023, which try to shed some light on other types of games.
As the name would imply, this Direct focuses on “wholesome” games. You won’t find any carnage, or really much combat here. Puzzles, adventure games, life sims, and lots of gardening lay in store ahead. For those who like their virtual botany and digital romantic entanglements, though, there are at least a few things to keep an eye on.
Whether you caught the show live and need a refresher, or you’re just looking for the highlights, here’s everything we saw at today’s Wholesome Direct 2023.
Everything shown at the Wholesome Direct 2023
- Chill life sim Mineko’s Night Market is set for its Sept. 26 release date for PC and Switch, followed by Xbox One, PS4, and PS5 on October 26.
- Pekoe is a cat-populated tea shop game, arriving at the end of June.
- Spirit Swap: Lo-Fi Beats to Match-3 To has both lo-fi beats, and puzzles where one can match-3 alongside a vibrant cast of characters sometime in 2023.
- The characters of Button City return in Button City Soccer Days, a soccer game for all the animal pals.
- Frogsong is a froggy adventure game from Frogteam Games, and it’s out today for Switch and PC.
- Explore a world of talking insects and contend with butterfly-based destiny in I Am A Caterpillar, headed to PC via Steam.
- Bubblegum Galaxy is a hexagonal tile-based building game, with a bit of corporate life drama mixed in. A demo for that is out on Steam now.
- Sticky Business also has a demo out on Steam, and sees you opening your own small sticker business, making and shipping out stickers.
- Collect creatures, brew potions, and make friends in this life-sim adventure Moonstone Island, set for sometime in 2023 and also coming to Steam Next Fest.
- Station to Station sees you connecting the world through the power of locomotives. It’s got a demo out now on Steam.
- With a story of struggle, art, and romance, The Palace on the Hill looks like a compelling narrative. It’s currently aiming for Q3 2023.
- Collect bunnies and arrange them for photos in Usagi Shima on September 1.
- KarmaZoo sees players work together with a myriad of animal abilities to reach the goal, eventually achieving victory through jolly animal cooperation.
- Flutter Away brings photography and chill nature vibes on August 3, for Switch and PC.
- Use even more of those photo skills, plus management and more, in Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge, a frog raising sim headed to PC.
- If you ever wanted a cross between Mario Party and Dungeons & Dragons, then Baladins is up your alley. Gather your party, pass stat checks, and complete quests in early 2024.
- A Little to the Left is getting some DLC in Cupboards and Drawers on June 27, with even more things to organize and arrange.
- Henry Halfhead is a clever puzzle game featuring a half-head that can possess real objects. It’s currently aiming for a Steam launch.
- Build a little town of friendly villagers in Gourdlets from Aunty Games, which has some great pixel art.
- Lakeburg Legacies is a matchmaking management game with a demo that I enjoyed earlier this year. If you want to manage a world and legacy without the cutthroat nature of a CK3, Lakeburg Legacies should be one to watch for on July 20.
- Loftia is a community-building sim about working together and sustainable living. It’s a cool direction for a community life sim.
- Wishes Unlimited, developers of Chicory and Wandersong, are showing their new game Beastieball, a creature-collecting sports RPG. It’s a really rad idea that I’m very interested in.
- Smushi Come Home is a cute adventure game starring a little mushroom man. It has some Mail Time vibes, and it’s out now on PC and Switch.
- Cooking story Venba has been one we’ve been waiting for, and it looks like it’s almost ready to serve. Visai Games’ food-driven narrative arrives on July 31
- Little Nemo and the Guardians of Slumberland sees the pajama-laden protagonist go on a new adventure, and looks like a cozy platforming adventure.
- Garden Witch Life is hosting a closed beta for its magical farming life.
- Or if you prefer farming without the magic, and a little more pixel art, Orange Season has some Stardew-like vibes currently in development.
- Surmount looks like a goofy, fun climbing co-op adventure set to hit Steam and consoles in 2023.
- Grimoire Groves brings a little more magic, and colorful creatures, to the farming life arena.
- Arriving soon on Switch and Steam is Garden Buddies, where you can build a garden with your little buddies.
- A Tiny Sticker Tale lets you use things in the world around you as stickers, which you can then place in the world to solve puzzles. A neat concept that looks like it could have some fun applications!
- Everdeep Aurora is a showcase stand-out for me. A cat is on the search for her missing mom, and you’ll go on a 2D exploration adventure to find her. Everything, from the UI to the art itself and the gameplay, looks great here. It’s set to arrive on Steam and Switch in 2024.
- Kibu sees you play as a little red panda and carve out your own living in a mysterious, magical land.
- Gather ingredients and cook dishes to fulfill customers’ requests in Magical Delicacy, a charming pixelated cooking and delivery game.
- Do you often hope for the return of Nintendogs? Well, Little Friends: Puppy Island might be what you’re looking for, as this island full of puppies look to have plenty of secrets and canine pals to find on June 27. (A demo is also out now.)
- The Guardian of Nature has Henry, a botanist and last guardian of nature, venturing to put nature back into order. He can also shrink and interact with some cool nature-electronics, which suit the unique art style.
- Fans of mercantilism might like Townseek, where you seem to fly around and do business with your airship. That’s heading to PC in 2024.
- Feed All Monsters looks like the kind of game I’d put too many hours into on mobile. The line-drawing puzzle game is actually coming to PC, and pretty soon too, with a release date of June 22.
- Can dinosaurs cook? Well, they can try in Manitas Kitchen, which sees a T-Rex attempt to own and operate a Jurassic pizza shop. That’s out on October 23, 2023.
- Emotional moving sim Unpacking is heading to mobile! Not much more to say, other than that it’s very worth your time.
- Botany Manor looks like a mysterious adventure centered around a mansion and its various flora. Discover what these mysterious plants could hold later this year.
- Solarpunk is a gardening sim set on technologically advanced floating islands, set apart by automation and machines. It’s arriving sometime next year.
- Learn to forge and make legendary equipment While the Iron’s Hot, is a cleverly named smithing adventure arriving sometime in Q4 of 2023.
- Wylde Flowers is already out, but the team is showing off some updates to its romance, farming, and character customization options today.
- Inkle always manages to surprise with its games, and A Highland Song looks like another great entry in the studio’s resume. A Scottish highland adventure with gorgeous art sounds great. That arrives sometime this year.
- Sushi Ben appeals to the anime nerd in me. It’s a VR game with manga panel cut-ins and big expressions, and it’s planned to hit headsets sometime in Q3 2023.
- Snufkin: Melody of Moomin Valley brings the popular character and world to life in virtual form.
- Photography fans might be intrigued by The Star Named EOS, set to arrive in 2024 from Silver Lining Studio.
- Meanwhile, Night in the Woods fans may definitely have a lot to like in Fall of Porcupine, a fellow 2D adventure game starring animals that is coming out very, very soon on June 15.
- We get a glimpse of the remastered Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life, which has some cool modern updates like pronoun options and quality-of-life updates. That’s out June 27.
- Tiny Book Shop is a store management sim about a great idea: a mobile bookstore. I really dig this concept!
- Wood & Weather is a god-game set in a wooden toy city. Control the weather and make little friends along the way. There’s a demo out now.
- For even more cat content, there’s Campfire Cat Cafe, a mobile idle game that’s out now about a little restaurant for cats in the forest.
- Sopa sees Miho pulled into a different world while making some soup with his grandmother. It’s a dreamlike adventure with a really interesting premise. Developer Studio Bando is targeting Q2 2024.
- A little bit of card battles, and a little bit of social interaction, Tracks of Thought is a train-bound mystery with a unique style. It is targeting Q1 2024.
- Go-Go Town! sees you building and managing a town as the mayor of a rundown town. A sign-up for playtesting is live now here.
- It’s montage time! Here are a few quick hits: CATO, Let’s! Reovlution!, Diluvian Winds, Ducky’s Delivery Service, Tall Trails, Petit Island, Quilts & Cats of Calico, Pizza Possum, The Last Alchemist, Mars First Logistics, Fishbowl, Mirth Island, Garden Life, Sanya, March of Shrooms, Toasterball, Townframe, Window Garden, Word Factori, Life After Magic, Athenian Rhapsody
- And one last game, Fields of Mistria, from NPC Studio and with guest music from Toby Fox. This is a farming, dating, and life sim, but the X-factor for me is the art. It reminds me a ton of the 80s and 90s era of anime, and with an added dash of magic, this does seem like a really promising framing for farming. It’s set for sometime in 2024.
That’s all for this year’s Wholesome Direct 2023. Let us know what you thought of it and any standouts in the comments below!
