Summer showcase season is once again upon us; it’s one of my favourite times of the year, as we get to discover so many wonderful indie games that otherwise might have escaped our attention. For those of us who like our games a bit more meaningful and maybe even cosy, there’s one showcase in particular that is not to be missed: the Wholesome Direct.
The organisers of Wholesome Games – a four-person team consisting of Matthew Taylor, James Tillman, Victoria Tran and host Jenny Windom – are always on the lookout for games that are artistically driven, inclusive, sensitive and emotionally resonant and have been showcasing these gems since the Direct’s start in 2020, with over 1,000 titles shared with a worldwide audience. Each edition of the Wholesome Direct also supports a different charity by donating proceeds from the official t-shirts. This way, they’ve raised over $300,000 for groups like the American Heart Association, Point of Pride, Save the Children, AbleGamers, Palestine Children’s Relief Fund and the International Rescue Committee.
This year’s proceeds will benefit the Transgender Law Center, the largest national trans-led organisation that fights for the rights of all transgender and gender non-conforming people so they can lead free, safe and authentic lives. So once you’re done reading, go watch the actual showcase and get yourself one – or even both! – of those rad-looking shirts. If you haven’t found the time to have a look at this year’s Wholesome Direct just yet, you’re in for a treat. With over 30 games featured – not even including the big montage of trailers at the end – the Direct will make your Steam wishlist explode in size once again. Every single game featured is worthy of your attention, but if you’re curious about some of the biggest announcements or which features have caught our attention here at So Many Games, I’ll be glad to get you up to speed!
Note: All game titles include a link to the relevant Steam page.
Fresh Announcements
Two very highly anticipated 1.0 releases appear to be way closer than we had previously thought. Go-Go Town, which we previewed a while ago, is a lovely city-builder and life sim in which you are the mayor of a whole new town that you build from the ground up. You can play this one solo or choose to go for multiplayer mayhem with up to three friends, with even more features to come when the game finally gets its full release on July 16, with the game launching on Switch 1 and 2 on the same day.
Following that, on August 5, we get the full release for Fields of Mistria, the magical farming and life sim that has been compared favourably to games like Stardew Valley ever since first launching into early access in August of 2024. The game’s Town Repair storyline will reach its conclusion with this release, but there are plenty more quests and features to come, like marriage, children, new Saturday Market NPCs, and even… a giant chicken mount. What’s not to love?
Screenshot: Fields of Mistria
New Upcoming Releases
And don’t worry: the excellent releases aren’t limited just to this summer, with a handful coming later this year.
For those of us who love our management sims, we’ll be able to spend hundreds of hours perfecting our newest zoo in Planet Zoo 2, the highly anticipated sequel to 2019’s smash hit from Frontier Developments. The trailer featured in the direct gives us a first look at the grey wolf and their adorable pups as the player gets to build a cosy autumnal nook habitat.
Another game that is generating a lot of hype even before its release is the cosy solarpunk MMO Loftia, in which players can farm, craft, explore floating islands, and build a brighter world together with friends. The recent beta playtests have been wildly popular, and developers Qloud Games can now confirm that the game will release in early access this autumn on both Steam and the Epic Games Store.
Speaking of cosy MMOs, developer Spry Fox has been hard at work on the PC release for Spirit Crossing, a game intended to make the world feel a little less lonely. Currently the game is playable on iOS and Android if you have a Netflix subscription, but that limitation is set to disappear sometime in the near future. If you want a taste of the minigames, co-op activities or quiet sunrises the game has to offer, then you can now join the playtest that is live on Steam!
Screenshot: Loftia
Another one of Spry Fox’s games is making the move over to PC real soon, as Cosy Grove: Camp Spirit, the follow-up to the original Cosy Grove, is finally coming to Steam. Camp Spirit continues on in the same vein of the original game, letting you befriend and assist an assortment of troubled ghostly bears. Come back on a daily basis to complete quests and help these bears move on and finally be at peace, and even interact with other players in an asynchronous multiplayer feature. A demo for the game is available right now, but if you can’t wait to play, then you only need to wait until July 15 for the game’s full release.
If waiting for games to release is not an option for you, then I have even better news, as the cosy room decorator Momento has shadow-dropped during the Wholesome Direct! This is another great title for the interior decorators among us, but this one comes with a twist: the choices you make play out over the course of an entire lifetime! Choosing which items are important to you will alter the course of the story, in an ode to the power of everyday things.
Screenshot: Momento
There are plenty of different rooms to decorate and different endings to unlock, and the game is set up for infinite replayability, even hosting a Creative Mode for those who just want to tinker with the different rooms. The game is available right now on Steam, with a release for Nintendo Switch 1 and 2, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles set for June 30.
The adorable-looking Fourleaf Fields sees you explore a wonderful tiny world. It’s a farming sim where you grow giant crops, care for adorable bugs, and do plenty of gossiping! The Direct’s exclusive trailer showed us new veggies, new bugs, new characters and new locations, and you can get yourself acquainted with the game right now by joining the playtest on its Steam page.
Newly Released Demo’s
If it’s demos you’re looking for, boy does this year’s Direct have you covered!
The upcoming vampiric farming sim Moonlight Peaks has a new demo available, in which you can experience the game’s rich farming feature ahead of the game’s full release on July 7.
PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE is a mystery puzzle game about communicating with people you don’t understand and got revealed with a world premiere trailer during the show. Developer teaisfortoby also released a demo to coincide with the premiere, seeing us play as college grad Louis, who has just moved back to his childhood home. When he gets attacked by a mysterious entity which only communicates through a cassette player, he must work together with his community to uncover the true nature of the assault.
This year’s Direct was so full of great titles that two highly anticipated games – with new demos – only made it into the show’s final montage section. Both photography games TOEM 2 and the vibrant palette platformer Colorbound have demos available right now on Steam.
Screenshot: TOEM 2
If you’ve been waiting patiently for Lou’s Lagoon to get closer to release, you’ll also be happy to find out that not only does the game have a new demo available right now, but it has also received a release date of August 27! In this cosy exploration and crafting adventure you set out to find your missing Uncle Lou. Clean up the islands that were damaged by the storm that made your uncle go missing and unravel the mystery around his disappearance.
And finally, Milki Delivery – the new game by Doot Tiny Games, the creators of Minami Lane – also dropped a demo during the Direct. This short game recently got picked up by Wholesome Games Presents to be published by them and sees you play as a young bike courier named Neha who has to deliver milk bottles, gather food for her pet cow and help the community by completing a variety of small quests.
Wholesome News
There was more news from Wholesome Games Presents, with their previous hit Is This Seat Taken? announced to be arriving soon to PlayStation 5. This neat little puzzle game has done very well since release, having scored high in plenty of reviews, including our own.
And with Usagi Shima, Wholesome Games Presents offers up yet another upcoming release. This one is a cosy bunny-collecting game that sees you transform an abandoned island into a bunny paradise. No timers, no stress, just decorating your island so other bunnies can visit and you can befriend them. It will be released sometime this October.
Screenshot: Usagi Shima
Upcoming DLC
One of the perks of indie games making it bigger is seeing them continue to get supported even after they’ve released. This year’s Wholesome Direct featured a number of them, with major updates and even DLC coming up.
The Wandering Village is a lovely city builder where your city is located on top of a creature called Onbu. This one is getting both a new DLC, The Last Leviathan – featuring a massive amphibian creature complete with new buildings, resources, a different tech tree and hours of fresh content – and a big free update that deepens your interactions with both Onbu and the new creature. Both of these are set to come out soon.
The wonderful Discounty gets a completely new final chapter in the free expansion ‘People or Profit?’. As you are now in charge of your Discounty shop, what will you do with it, and how will you handle the people in the town of Blomkest? Do you choose to maximise your gains, or will you work for the benefit of the entire village? This update is out right now, so get back to your store!
And finally, recent hit life sim Paralives is continuing its collaborations with other indie titles, with an Unpacking-themed update to the game. Decorate characters’ houses with Unpacking-themed items, have your Para play the game on their computer, and collect Unpacking-themed stamps in the game. This update is out now, and a discounted Steam bundle of both games is available too.
Screenshot: Paralives
World Premieres
Now, what would a Wholesome Direct be without a number of world premieres? Once again, the Direct offered plenty, and here are some of our favourites.
What if you ran a barbershop in a world full of anthropomorphic animals, where every haircut plays out like a conversation in Coffee Talk? That’s the premise for Beastfolk Barber, which was exclusively revealed. Navigate the tension between who people are expected to be and who they really are, as they open up to you, their barber. This could be a wonderful new take on a genre that’s full of cosy moments and genuine living.
The game that started the whole searching genre, Hidden Folks, is finally getting a sequel! Sometime next year, Hidden Folks 2 will release on mobile and desktop, with more hand-drawn, interactive, miniature landscapes filled with more silly jokes and mouth sounds. Although there’s no shortage of great games within the genre, seeing the OG coming back is pretty massive.
Screenshot: Hidden Folks 2
Ever dreamed of becoming a telecoms engineer… in space? In In the Drift, the new game by Sable co-creator Daniel Fineberg, you become exactly that. As Luna, you solve problems on the job during the day, then spend the evening hanging out with the crew back at the ship. It’s a story about trying to be a good person in a world that feels like it’s drifting apart.
The Moomin revival also continues apace, with Moomin: Midsummer Madness also being revealed during the Direct. After a great flood sweeps through the valley, Moomintroll, Little My and their colourful friends are stuck in a floating abandoned theatre filled with puzzles and mysteries. How are they going to get back home? Find out when this one comes to Switch 1 and 2 and Steam.
And there you have it. There were plenty more excellent games on show, so I do implore you to go watch the Wholesome Direct for yourself, as you might just find your next favourite game right there. And while you’re at it, go and support Transgender Law Center by picking up one of those beautiful shirts at TheYetee.
Also, make sure to check out the official Wholesome Direct Steam event for easy access to all the games announced and the featured demos.
We would also love to know which were your favourite games featured during the direct. Are you planning on playing any of the demos that dropped? Let us know by tagging us on your favourite socials, or by joining our Discord!
