Wholesome Direct returned in June 2023 with a spotlight on new and upcoming games featuring cosy and uplifting themes. From creative puzzlers to warm adventures starring cutesy animals, this year’s show charting a wonderful course for the future.
It also shone a spotlight on some upcoming Australian-made games. Unpacking from Witch Beam made a surprise appearance with a lovely announcement. Studio Drydock’s Wylde Flowers also appeared, as did Prideful Sloth’s latest game, Go-Go Town!, Paper House’s Wood & Weather, and Shape Shop’s Mars First Logistics.
Read: 5 cozy games to play when you feel overwhelmed
Here’s every major game announcement from Wholesome Direct 2023.
Wholesome Direct 2023 Games
Mineko’s Night Market
Wholesome Direct 2023 kicked off with a new gameplay trailer for Mineko’s Night Market, launching for PC and
Pekoe
Next up, a new gameplay trailer for Kitten Cup Studio’s Pekoe was revealed. In this game, you will journey through a colourful village occupied by cats who really, really love tea. As you befriend your new crew, you’ll brew each character a new cuppa, all while creating your own cosy space in town.
Pekoe launches in Steam Early Access for PC on 28 June 2023.
Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To
Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To followed. In this match-three style game, you’ll solve mini-puzzles as you follow a story of witches and magic. While gameplay is simple, you’ll find a deep narrative to keep you popping bubbles and casting spells. Spirit Swap launches in 2023.
Button City Soccer Days
Button City Soccer Days was announced during Wholesome Direct 2023. This Button City spin-off appears to be a cartoonish FIFA, with each player represented by a colourful and adorable animal. If you’re looking for a cosy sports game, keep this on your radar. It’s coming to PC and consoles in future, but does not currently have a release date.
Frogsong
Next up was Frogsong, a cute but dark action-adventure game starring a heroic frog on a noble journey. Hints in the Wholesome Direct trailer implied the world of Frogsong was ending – and that it’s up to the game’s amphibian hero to survive long enough to save it. The game is out now.
I Am A Caterpillar
I Am A Caterpillar is an action-adventure game that stars a young caterpillar wandering through a plant kingdom – a bit like Bugdom, for those who remember that classic PC game. In your adventures, you’ll befriend a range of bugs, and even use your crawling skills to comfort a large frog. I Am A Caterpillar does not currently have a release date.
Bubblegum Galaxy
Bubblegum Galaxy is a pixel adventure where players will restore a strange galaxy by placing magical tiles, completing quests, and winning stars in puzzle gameplay. Each planet you restore has special requirements, and you’ll need to pay attention to their rules to work through the game’s strange and cutesy plot. A demo for the game is now available on Steam.
Sticky Business
Sticky Business is an adorable business management simulator all about running a sticker shop. To complete in-game tasks, you’ll create sticker designs, pack orders, and interact with customers to learn more about their personalities and wishes. The game now has a demo on Steam, and it’s coming in 2023.
Moonstone Island
Moonstone Island is a creature-collecting life simulator that combines Stardew Valley-like gameplay with unique card-based combat against a range of monsters. The game is coming to Steam Next Fest later in June 2023.
Station to Station
Station to Station is a minimalist voxel-style train management simulator where players will create their own train stations, and run their tracks through a variety of gorgeous and idyllic landscapes like forests, mountains, and more. A demo is now available on Steam, and the game is expected to launch in 2023.
The Palace on the Hill
The Palace on the Hill is a hand-drawn adventure game inspired by the travels of developer Niku Games. It follows a schoolboy named Vir who aspires to enter art college in India. Players will aid Vir’s ambitions by taking on a range of mini-games, including food delivery and painting. The game is expected to launch in August 2023.
Usagi Shima
Usagi Shima is a bunny collecting game for anyone looking for a cosy escape. In this game, you’ll be able to collect, dress up and feed a small army of bunnies, decorate their island, take photographs, and generally relax with your fluffy new friends. The game launches for mobile on 1 September 2023.
This was followed by a new trailer for Devolver Digital’s co-op adventure game, KarmaZoo.
Flutter Away
Flutter Away is an upcoming Pokemon Snap-like where you’ll be able to explore a sweeping natural world by foot, taking snaps wherever you please, and petting animals along the way. It launches for PC and
Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge
Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge was up next, revealing a major trend for this year’s Wholesome Direct: everybody loving and appreciating frogs. In this farming and crafting game, you’ll breed and collect frogs, and work to establish a conservation park for them. It’s available to wishlist now.
Baladins
Baladins is an adventure RPG inspired by classic role-playing games, and it features a cute Paper Mario-like aesthetic. In the game, you’ll embody a great hero travelling through unique environs, looking to improve their skills. You’ll be able to play the game with up to three other people in co-op. It launches in early 2024 for PC.
A Little to the Left: Cupboards & Drawers followed the Baladins reveal. This DLC adds 25 new puzzles to the wholesome, organisation-themed game – and it launches on 27 June 2023.
Henry Halfhead
A new trailer for Henry Halfhead was up next. In this game, you’ll play as a strange being known as ‘Henry Halfhead’ that can possess objects in the same way as Cappy from Super Mario Odyssey. This game looks delightfully strange with every new trailer, and the Wholesome Direct edition was no exception. Currently, it does not have a release date.
Gourdlets
Gourdlets is a city-building sandbox where you’re able to create your own little world and populate it with cute little creatures known as ‘Gourdlets’. There’s no real objective to the game, other than watching your Gourdlets roam and perform tiny activities. Stay tuned for a release date.
Lakeburg Legacies
Lakeburg Legacies takes place in a world dominated by love, where you play as a matchmaker looking to pair villagers together. You’ll need to handle drama as you try to find the best couples, and even work your way towards matchmaking royalty. The game launches on 20 July 2023.
Loftia
In Loftia, you’ll learn the best ways to garden and farm as you go on adventures with a bunch of wholesome villagers and discover new techniques to help your thriving land. The game is coming to Kickstarter in future.
Beastieball
Beastieball is a combination of Pokemon-like monster-collecting adventures and volleyball simulators, where you’ll collect strange beasts and then train them to perform special moves as you climb a ladder of volleyball greatness. The game is now live on Kickstarter.
Smushi Come Home
Smushi Come Home is an adventure game starring an adorable mushroom wandering through a colourful and bright natural world filled with roaming capybaras, strange caves, underwater puzzles, and plenty of quirky creatures. The game launches for PC and
Next up, a new trailer for cooking narrative game Venba showed off delicious-looking dishes, and the importance of family. It launches on 31 July 2023.
This was followed by a new trailer for Little Nemo and the Guardians of Slumberland, which now has a demo on Steam.
Garden Witch Life
In Garden Witch Life, you’ll embody a garden witch as they explore a wholesome world, collect items, create dishes, and befriend the local wildlife. Per the Wholesome Direct 2023 announcement, you can now sign up to play the game’s closed beta at linktr.ee/gardenwitchlife.
Orange Season
In Orange Season, you’ll foster your own farm by looking after animals, planting crops, fishing, and performing other caretaking activities. The game is now available to wishlist.
Surmount
Surmount is a mountain-climbing puzzle game where you attempt to cross great ravines with your climbing skills, hindered by Heave Ho-like sticky physics gameplay. Surmount is coming to Steam Next Fest, with a demo landing on 19 June 2023.
Grimoire Groves
Grimoire Groves is an action-adventure game that takes place in an eye-popping cartoon world that seems inspired by Adventure Time. You’ll spend your time in this game wandering pastel forests, making new friends, collecting items, completing quests, and fighting strange creatures. The game is now live on Kickstarter.
Read: The most relaxing board games for quiet afternoons
Garden Buddies
Garden Buddies is a story-based life simulator starring cute fruit creatures building their very own gardens by placing unique items like flowers and other plants. You’ll be able to befriend a bunch of fruits and other objects in the adventure, using their expertise to grow your land. It’s coming to PC and
A Tiny Sticker Tale
In A Tiny Sticker Tale, you’ll play as a small donkey wandering through a Paper Mario-like world, and use special stickers to travel through unique landscapes and solve puzzles along the way. The game is now available to support on Kickstarter.
Everdeep Aurora
Everdeep Aurora is a 2D adventure game set in a dark world, and starring a cat looking for her missing mother. It has a unique visual style and Castlevania-like exploration gameplay, which should make for a unique journey. The game is coming to PC and
Kibu
Kibu is an adventure game featuring a fox traversing a gorgeous, sunlit wilderness. In the game, you’ll brew tea, foster a garden, collect special items, and discover the secrets of your mysterious land. You can now wishlist Kibu on PC via Steam.
Magical Delicacy
In Magical Delicacy, you’ll explore a harbour town, collecting ingredients to create special dishes to appease your neighbours. The game is available to wishlist now, and will be available day one on Xbox Game Pass.
Little Friends: Puppy Island
Little Friends: Puppy Island was up next. In this pet simulator, you’ll be able to befriend, feed, dress up, and care for a range of dogs, while making the most of life on a beautiful island. It’s available for PC and Switch on 27 June 2023.
The Guardian of Nature
The Guardian of Nature is a puzzle adventure with hand-drawn illustrations that make its natural landscapes sing. You play as Henry, a botanist and the last guardian of nature working to restore the magical Mother Tree. The game is now available to wishlist.
Townseek
Townseek is another gorgeously hand-drawn adventure game where you are a floating ship traversing a picturesque land alongside an array of companions – including some guest characters from other games. Lil Gator from Lil Gator Game can be befriended, as can The Lamb from Cult of the Lamb, and Claire from A Short Hike. The game is coming to PC in early 2024.
Feed All Monsters
Feed All Monsters is a grid-based puzzle game where you attempt to feed every monster in a particular quadrant by strategically placing your crew of characters in exactly the right places on your map. The game launches on 22 June 2023.
Read: The best cosy, relaxing games for Nintendo Switch
Manitas Kitchen
Manitas Kitchen is a cooking game where you play as a tyrannosaurus rex with dreams of becoming the ultimate pizza chef. In the game, you’ll need to wrangle ‘Trexy’ and their dinosaur friends to cook the best pizzas, using each one’s special skills. The game launches on 23 October 2023.
Unpacking
Unpacking, Witch Beam’s award-winning moving simulator is officially coming to mobile and tablet, as announced during Wholesome Direct 2023. It will be available later in 2023.
This news was followed by a new trailer for adventure puzzle simulator Botany Manor, which is coming to PC and
Solarpunk
Solarpunk is described as a cosy survival crafting game where you must learn to live in a world of floating islands. You’ll also need to learn to live in harmony with your land, using natural elements to automate your gardening processes and keep your lands thriving. It’s coming in 2024.
While the Iron’s Hot
While the Iron’s Hot is a pixel crafting game where you control a forge in a fantasy land. You’ll need to journey to find plentiful materials, and use your findings to craft a range of items for your village – including weapons, furniture, and even new buildings. The game launches for PC and consoles in Q4 2023.
Wylde Flowers
Wylde Flowers from Melbourne’s Studio Drydock was up next, with a new trailer spotlighting its narrative, and all the new updates coming to game – including new animal rearing, romance options, and plot elements.
A Highland Song
A Highland Song is a narrative adventure game from Inkle (80 Days) about a young woman looking to escape her life in the Scottish Highlands by adventuring over far hills and forging a new path for herself, in time to a unique beat. The game launches in 2023.
Sushi Ben
Sushi Ben is a VR adventure game about saving a sushi bar from financial ruin by collecting unique ingredients, and interacting with your local townsfolk. The game adopts a hybrid visual novel style to help bring the drama of the game to life. It’s coming in Q3 2023.
This was followed by a new trailer for Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley, an adventure set in the famed Moomins world.
The Star Named EOS
The Star Named EOS is a first-person puzzle adventure game that focusses on the importance of memory and photography to the human experience. It launches in 2024 and you can now wishlist it on Steam.
Fall of Porcupine
Fall of Porcupine is a Night in the Woods-like narrative adventure game starring a young doctor performing a range of tasks (cooking, surgery, basketball, spy stuff) and living their life on the edge. The game launches on 15 June 2023.
Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life
This was followed by a new trailer for Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life, the upcoming remaster of the Harvest Moon classic. This game features a bundle of upgraded gameplay options, like the ability to choose your pronouns, and to rear new plants. It launches for PC and consoles on 27 June 2023.
Tiny Bookshop
In Tiny Bookshop, you are the owner and proprietor of a miniature bookshop serving the citizens of Bookstonbury, interviewing them to discover their needs and providing them with the correct entertainment. You’ll be able to customise your book shop, meet a range of new folks, and eventually forge friendships with your favourite customers. The game is now available to wishlist on Steam.
Wood & Weather
Melbourne-based studio Paper House appeared during Wholesome Direct 2023 with a new trailer for god game Wood & Weather. In this sandbox simulator, you’ll be able to control a Playmobil-like world by controlling the weather, as well as pushing, prodding, pulling, and poking people and other elements of your environment. A free demo is now available on Steam.
Campfire Cat Cafe
Campfire Cat Cafe is a new mobile game where you build and design your very own cat cafe and snack bar in a cosy forest – and it’s available now. In the game, you’ll be tending to an array of customer needs, providing special dishes and keeping everyone happy as you conquer goals and meet new friends.
Sopa
Sopa is a quirky adventure game where you play as a young boy name Miho travelling a surreal world filled with danger – but made softer by the love of his Nana. The game is coming in 2024.
Tracks of Thought
In Tracks of Thought, you play a tiny ladybug working through the trials and tribulations of life, all while stuck on a mysterious train where no passenger seems to remember their purpose or destination. As you travel through the train, you’ll meet new people, uncover their mysteries, and eventually work through your own journey. You can now wishlist Tracks of Thought, and play the game’s demo – it launches in Q1 2024.
Go-Go Town!
This was followed by a new trailer for Go-Go Town! the latest title from Brisbane-based studio, Prideful Sloth. In this Animal Crossing-like adventure, you’ll travel through a cartoon town building new features, and transforming the world by gardening and creating. A ‘super early sneak peak’ version of the game is now playable via Steam, and a formal playtest is coming on 3 July 2023.
Wholesome Direct 2023: Wrap-Up Highlight Reel
To conclude Wholesome Direct 2023, the Wholesome Games team revealed a number of upcoming wholesome, cosy, and uplifting games in a flashy reel. Here’s everything mentioned:
- Cato – 2024
- Let’s! Revolution! – 28 June 2023
- Diluvian Winds – Out Now
- Ducky’s Delivery Service – 20 July 2023
- Tall Trails – TBD
- Petit Island – 2024
- Quilts & Cats of Calico – 2023
- Pizza Possum – 2023
- The Last Alchemist – 2023
- Mars First Logistics – 22 June 2023
- Fishbowl – 2025
- Mirth Island – 2024
- Garden Life – 2024
- Sanya – 2023
- March of Shrooms – Q3 2023
- Toasterball – Out Now
- Townframe – 2024
- Window Garden – Out Now
- Word Factori – Q3 2023
- Life After Magic – Out Now
- Athenian Rhapsody – Q3 2023
Fields of Mistria
The final game for Wholesome Direct 2023 showcase was Fields of Mistria, a farming adventure game with music by Toby Fox (Undertale). In your journey, you’ll become part of the Mistria community, befriend villagers, learn to farm, and restore your broken town to its former glory, all while learning magic, romancing townsfolk and completing unique quests.
The art style here is strongly reminiscent of 1990s anime, particularly Sailor Moon – which should inspire a welcome sense of nostalgia. The game is launching in 2024, and is now available to wishlist on Steam.
You can catch up with all the news and announcements from Wholesome Direct 2023 on YouTube.
