Showing off over 70 indie games with positivity and compassion at their core, today’s Wholesome Direct had quite a few neat games to keep an eye on, whether today marked their world premiere or just the debut of a brand new trailer. A handful of games even received surprise releases, and there are quite a few more demos out right now!
From a cheese-filled decorating simulator for mice to an exploration game where you play as a house on a date (and an impressive number of games with “lands” somewhere in their titles), here are 15 of our favorite games from this year’s Wholesome Direct.
Squeakross: Home Squeak Home
Receiving a world premiere at today’s Wholesome Direct, Squeakross: Home Squeak Home is an adorably named combination between a puzzle game and a decorating simulator. Players will solve furniture-shaped puzzles made of cheese, watch as the cheese turns into furniture, and then use it to decorate rooms for their mice. With hundreds of furniture items, stickers, and accessories available, I’m already determined to collect everything and be the best mouse parent I can be.
Squeakross doesn’t have a release window yet, but it’s headed to Steam (and will run on Steam Deck).
Fruitbus
In the upcoming adventure game Fruitbus, players will get to customize their own food truck, drive around and gather ingredients from an open world, and help adorable customers through cooking. While the core game loop is focused around cooking and experimenting with recipes, there’s also a narrative about the previous owner’s past to uncover, stirring up what looks to be a tasty balance between open-ended gameplay and story.
Fruitbus is headed to Steam and consoles this October, and it also has a demo out now.
Wax Heads
I’ve always been on the hunt for a game that authentically nails the feeling of just really caring about music, and Wax Heads seems to have it down perfectly. Set in the struggling store Repeated Records, players will help quirky customers find the perfect album to take home. Along the way, they'll play minigames, get distracted by the shop’s secrets, and learn about each musical act (like Scandinavian metal band Jarhead, which may or may not have… murdered their own singer and kept his head in a jar).
It’s headed to Steam and has a demo out right now — no word on a release date yet, though.
Building Relationships
Flaunting what’s possibly the weirdest concept I’ve ever seen in a Wholesome Direct, Building Relationships is a dating and exploration sim where you play as… a house. While exploring a 3D island and its many biomes, you’ll search for eligible bachelor pads, fish for cars, discover secrets, and unlock movement skills that let you lumber up mountains.
Building Relationships is headed to Steam, Itch.io, and consoles later this year.
POOOOL
Sitting somewhere between last year’s viral Suika Game and GamePigeon 8-Ball is POOOOL, a tiny physics puzzler about combining pool balls with faces while saving space for more. It’s clean, colorful, and full of satisfying sound effects. It’s also just unexpectedly challenging to get the hang of, as pool balls get heavier and slower as they grow, which adds a neat dimension of skill to the growing camp of 2048-like games.
Receiving a surprise release during today’s Wholesome Direct, POOOOL is out now on Steam.
Littlelands
Everything looks like a toy in Littlelands, an adventure game with detailed, stylized environments that just make the characters look… so small and cute! It’s a little bit like Animal Crossing — players can catch bugs, fish, grow berries, and befriend their neighbors — but it also has an exploration element, and players can even head to dangerous areas inhabited by goblins.
Littlelands doesn’t yet have a release window, but it’s headed to Steam.
Tiny Lands 2
What’s even smaller than Littlelands? Tiny Lands 2! In this find the difference puzzle game, players will find the differences between photorealistic miniature worlds that tell their own stories. Each scene made up of big objects is inhabited by little people, whether they’re conducting traffic amid a cluttered desk full of art supplies, gathering around a fire beneath a tea kettle, or diving into a cup of coffee.
Today’s Wholesome Direct marked the world premiere of Tiny Lands 2, which is headed to Steam, the Epic Games Store, and Switch.
Sally
There’s a lot to do in Sally, which doubles as the name of the game as well as its subject, a magical ship that’s in search of floating islands. Players can cook, take care of animals, work in the machine room, and disembark to gather resources from floating islands, all while leading the Sally to its destination. Best of all, though, they can make friends and find a sense of community among a roster of characters that changes with every game — “everyone’s in the same boat.”
Sally has a new demo out now and is headed to Steam and Switch.
Lost and Found Co.
Lost and Found Co. is a hidden objects game that takes place in a beautifully hand-drawn world full of personality. Alongside a cast of quirky characters, players can search for items in bustling boardwalks, restaurants, homes, gardens and more, getting to decorate their office (and restore the fame of a forgotten goddess, no big deal) as a neat little reward.
With a new demo out right now, Lost and Found Co. is headed to Steam, consoles, and mobile.
Into The Emberlands
Into The Emberlands is an exploration game about bringing light back to a procedurally generated world engulfed by darkness (and helping bring home the villagers who got lost along the way). Once they’re home, players can help their newfound neighbors thrive by repairing houses, running errands, and expanding the village. Just don’t let the lantern light fade!
Into The Emberlands is slated for release on Steam later this year and got a new demo today.
Tracks of Thought
Tracks of Thought is a cozy mystery that’s set on a train. After the train goes through a mysterious tunnel, every bug on board somehow forgets where they’re headed. Through card battles, players (playing as a really cute ladybug) can help their fellow bugs resolve conflicts, reach a consensus, and solve the mystery, all while making their way to the control room through the train’s many different cars.
Tracks of Thought also received a surprise release today, and it’s out now on Steam and the Epic Games Store.
Curiosmos
A solar system seemingly made out of clay is the player’s canvas in Curiosmos, an adorable space adventure game that received a new trailer during today’s Wholesome Direct. Players can chip away at planet surfaces with meteors, drag debris into black holes, and add gravity (and even life) to adorable planets with faces. While there isn’t much information about Curiosmos available yet, I’m curious to see what kind of sandbox adventure it might shape up to be.
Curiosmos isn’t yet slated to release on a specific platform, but more information can be found on its website.
Rooster
Receiving a new trailer during today’s Wholesome Direct, Rooster is a point and click narrative adventure about the animals of the Chinese zodiac. Each level has completely different gameplay that ranges from cooking and dating sims to tower defense and hidden objects (all depicted in the game’s gorgeous watercolor art style), and it all culminates in a story about helping others and sharing love.
It’s headed to Steam and consoles early next year.
Caravan SandWitch
Caravan SandWitch is a narrative adventure about a young woman searching the desolate world of Cigalo for her lost sister. While the trailer shows off the game’s exploration, including driving the game’s signature yellow caravan through beautifully modeled futuristic environments, riding on a zipline, and traversing through massive storms, the Steam page also promises a meaningful narrative about living in harmony despite over-exploitation.
Caravan SandWitch is headed to Steam and the Epic Games Store along with Switch and PS5, and it received a brand new demo during today’s Wholesome Direct.
Goodlands
Goodlands is a game about being a dinosaur and unearthing fossils of other dinosaurs in an open world inspired by the Badlands. With an art style vaguely reminiscent of A Short Hike, players will customize their own dinosaur, clean fossils in minigames, and restore an empty museum by donating their brand new digs.
Goodlands was briefly shown off during the direct’s montage section and is headed to Steam and Itch.io.
Find more information on all of these games (and the rest we couldn’t fit in this roundup) on the Wholesome Games website or on the Wholesome Direct Steam curator page. Wholesome Direct is also part of IGN’s Summer of Gaming, which contains quite a few showcases and runs through the end of June.
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, and they're currently developing a game called Garage Sale. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.
