Wholesome Direct 2023: Our 15 Favorite Games

Today, Wholesome Games held its 2023 Wholesome Direct, which featured a whopping 76 games all focused on delivering cozy atmospheres and compassionate messages. Plenty of new games were announced and even more received release dates, new trailers, or other updates throughout the fast-paced showcase. Here are 15 of our favorite games featured in the Wholesome Direct. 

Frogsong

Frogsong, the adorable action RPG that takes place in a frog and bug-filled world, is officially out now. The game follows Chorus, a small tree frog who hopes to protect the world despite society’s expectations for other frogs of their size. In the words of Frogsong’s Steam page, it’s a “heartfelt adventure where it’s okay to be small.” During the Wholesome Direct preshow, Frogsong developers Frogteam Games revealed the game’s surprise release on Nintendo Switch, Steam and itch.io.  

Venba

Venba, a narrative cooking game focused on South Indian cuisine, finally has a release date, and it’s headed to Steam and Nintendo Switch on July 31. Players assume the role of an Indian mom who immigrates to Canada in the 1980s and explores family, love, and loss through cooking and by restoring lost recipes. During the Wholesome Direct, developers Visai Games showed off more of Venba’s satisfying cooking and painted art style. 

Bubblegum Galaxy

In the strategy puzzle game Bubblegum Galaxy, players are tasked with rebuilding the universe by designing colorful planets tile by tile. Playing as the adorably low poly intern Haco, players will also meet a variety of quirky-looking coworkers (and just might discover the reason for the universe’s deletion in the first place) in between designing planets. It doesn’t have a release window yet, but a demo was made available on Steam during today’s showcase.

Unpacking

Unpacking, the cozy organization game that uses simple household objects to tell a story, is finally receiving a mobile port. Released in 2021 on Steam, Switch, Xbox, and PlayStation, Unpacking lets players unpack items into rooms during 8 different stages of the central character’s life. It doesn’t look like Unpacking is receiving any new content or updates, although it’s a welcome way to make a game that we loved more readily available — in our 8/10 review, we called it “moving” (ha) and praised its ability to tell a story without dialogue or visible characters.

Gourdlets

Cozy city building sandbox game Gourdlets allows players to build towns and customize buildings for small creatures called gourdlets to live in. In the past, developer AuntyGames has shown off the adorable gourdlets playing chess, drinking tea, and roasting marshmallows, but now, they have shared that the gourdlets will also be able to farm in the game’s final release by popular request. Players will be able to choose seeds to plant and watch as the gourdlets tend to farms. While it doesn’t have a release date yet, Gourdlets is headed to Steam and currently has a demo available for free. It also doesn’t feature scores or objectives, making it quite a relaxing pick.

The Guardian of Nature

In puzzle adventure game The Guardian of Nature, players embark on a journey as the size-changing botanist Henry to help save the magical forest he lives in. Throughout this journey, players can solve solarpunk puzzles, explore both the game’s above-ground forests and underground fungi-filled caves, and shrink down to get a new perspective. While The Guardian of Nature wasn’t given a release window, it’s headed to all major consoles, mobile, and Steam with an impressive hand-crafted art style.

Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley

Carrying on the beloved Moomin franchise, Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley follows the titular Snufkin on a journey to restore harmony to Moominvalley after hideous parks begin disrupting the area’s natural balance. With a soundtrack in part by Icelandic band Sigur Rós, Moominvalley is also filled with musical puzzles (and Snufkin has their own tiny harmonica). No major updates were given, but the game’s new trailer showed off more of the game’s storybook art style and introduced its relationship to the original Moomin stories and comics created by Tove Jansson. Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley is headed to major consoles and Steam.

Loftia

Loftia, a solarpunk MMO about building a sustainable city with friends, received its first trailer during today’s Wholesome Direct. In the trailer, developer Qloud Games showed off earth-friendly features like hydroponic gardening and sustainable crafting. The game also caters to different styles of play, allowing for players to play solo or with friends old and new. Loftia is far from seeing a release date, but Qloud Games frequently posts updates on Twitter and is set to launch the game’s Kickstarter page soon. 

Beastieball

Wishes Unlimited, the team behind Chicory and Wandersong, announced the action-packed team management game Beastieball today. Vaguely Pokemon-esque creatures build friendships and work together to grow their team’s reputation in this seemingly fast-paced, turn-based volleyball-like game. Beastieball is also in its earlier stages, but it’s headed to Steam (with Steam Deck support!) in 2024 and its Kickstarter page is available now.

Smushi Come Home

Exploration adventure game Smushi Come Home also received a surprise release during today’s Wholesome Direct, and it’s out now on Steam and Nintendo Switch. With a style similar to A Short Hike, Smushi Come Home follows the titular mushroom Smushi on their way home after they get lost in a forest. Players are free to make this journey at their own pace by gliding, swimming underwater, mining, meeting the forest’s inhabitants, occasionally platforming or solving puzzles, learning about mushrooms in a mycology journal, and even riding on the back of a capybara through a river.

Tiny Bookshop

Ambient narrative management sim Tiny Bookshop lets players run an adorably small and customizable secondhand bookshop out of a trailer. The decisions players make while running their stores seem to impact the bookish town of Bookstonbury, with the trailer showing off a packed concert that happens after the owner of the bookshop allows a band member to hang up a flier. Tiny Bookshop doesn’t have a release window yet, but it’s slated to release on Steam with Steam Deck support.

Sticky Business

In cozy business simulator Sticky Business, players can create stickers and sticker sheets, pack orders (and include free goodies), and hear customers’ stories. It also features a number of purchasable upgrades, including more colors and plenty of pre-made food and animal designs for players to stick together and sell in the sticker workshop. It’s headed to Steam and itch.io at some point in 2023, and its demo was finally announced during today’s Wholesome Direct.

A Little to the Left 

Announced back in April, puzzle organization game A Little to the Left’s Cupboards & Drawers DLC finally has a release date of June 27. It’s headed to Steam and Switch with 25 new puzzles that continue the game’s theme of finding perfect spaces to fit household objects, with a focus on, well, cupboards and drawers. And, of course, the game’s cute white cat who loves to mess up puzzles (and be pet) is back for more fun.

Pekoe

Players will finally be able to dive into the teahouse and cat-filled town of Pekoe at the end of June. With more calming gameplay and a new release window shown off during today’s Wholesome Direct, Pekoe lets players engage in every step of making tea from picking leaves to brewing cups, serve their creations to kitty customers, and forge friendships. Pekoe is headed to Steam.

Solarpunk

Shown off with a brief trailer during today’s Wholesome Direct, Solarpunk is a survival crafting game that combines natural aesthetics with technological advancements in a world of floating islands. The trailer shows off traditional farming and beekeeping alongside the ability to create a sustainable energy system through wind, water, and sunlight. Ultimately, this energy system can help automate farms with the help of some adorable robots. Solarpunk is set to release in 2024 on Steam and consoles with a multiplayer mode.

Find more details about these games, and every other game announced during the Wholesome Direct, on the Wholesome Games website. Wholesome Direct is also part of IGN’s Summer of Gaming, which features quite a few showcases spanning from short indie games like these to massive AAA titles. Keep up with the news and find out how to tune in here.

Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN who loves all things indie and Nintendo. Outside of IGN, they’ve contributed to sites like Polygon and Rock Paper Shotgun. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.