Wholesome Direct 2024 was an incredibly bright spot in the Summer Game Fest showcases this year, bringing cosy, warm vibes exactly when they’re needed most. Across a full hour, the Wholesome Games team delivered a smorgasbord of lovely games to keep an eye on, with gameplay ranging from action-adventuring to puzzling, cooking, crafting, befriending, and more.
If you’re in the mood for some colourful, carefree vibes, there was plenty on offer during Wholesome Direct 2024. Make some room on your wishlists for a massive raft of upcoming games designed to put smiles on faces, and love in hearts.
Here’s all the games featured at Wholesome Direct 2024.
Wholesome Direct 2024: Games Roundup
MythMatch
MythMatch is a mix-and-match game inspired by Greek mythology. In gameplay, you will move and combine objects, uniting them in cosy mobile-style puzzles. Each time you combine an item or creature, you’ll gain new resources, clear pathways, and forge a path forward.
Caravan Sand Witch
Caravan SandWitch is a new adventure game where you’ll traverse a post-apocalyptic world, solving puzzles on foot, and traveling by car. Your entire journey is watched by mysterious figures, suggesting elements of mystery to the journey.
Tiny Bookshop
Tiny Bookshop is a game where you run a secondhand bookshop, and make decisions about which books to sell each day. Your van will be visited by a range of folks, each with their own tastes, and it’s up to you to meet their desires, and maximise your offerings. A highlight of Wholesome Direct 2024, it’s arriving in 2025.
Été
Été is a painting game where you can create masterpieces in a world of watercolour pastels. When you’re not painting, you’ll spend your time travelling your local city, finding commissions, collecting new items, and making friends.
Discounty
If you’ve ever dreamed of opening your own supermarket, Discounty is for you. In this game, you’ll buy goods for sale, place them on shelves, and then serve your loyal customers. As you sell more, you’ll be able to expand your supermarket, build new relationships, and also discover… a strange mystery. Discounty is coming to PC and consoles in 2025.
Rooster
Rooster also appeared in Wholesome Direct 2024. This game is a narrative puzzle-adventure set in Ancient China, and inspired by traditional Chinese art. Your journey through Rooster is defined by a range of mini-games, with each level having its own gameplay style.
Playdate: New Game Highlights
In the middle of Wholesome Direct 2024, a bunch of new Playdate games were highlighted, including:
- Spellcorked – In this game, you’ll craft recipes.
- Reel-isitic Fishing – This is a fishing game.
- Faraway Fairway – An adventure/traversal game.
- Bloom – A mini narrative-life sim.
- Escape the Arcade – A puzzle game.
- Rowbot Rally – A rowing game.
Into the Emberlands
Into the Emberlands is a cosy adventure game set in a toy-like world. As you travel, you’ll clear dark clouds, and discover a variety of secrets hidden in mysterious biomes. It’s arrives in Early Access on 19 June.
Squeakross: Home Squeak Home
Squeakross: Home Squeak Home is a picross puzzle game where you fill in cheese picross puzzles to craft furniture for a tiny rodent. You can also dress up them up in cosy little outfits, if you desire. Squeakross: Home Squeak Home launches in 2025.
Critter Cafe
In Critter Cafe, you will rescue creatures in a fantasy world, overcoming a variety of environment-based puzzles to find them a new home. Once you’ve rescued your critters, you’ll take them to your cafe, which can be decorated with collected resources. If you were watching Wholesome Direct 2024 from a cafe, perhaps this is a sign.
Garden of the Sea
In Garden of the Sea, you’ll craft a garden in a colourful world, wander cosy landscapes, explore far and wide, and discover an array of strange creatures along the way. This game is releasing later in 2024.
Fantastic Haven
In a realm where magic is fading, mages are the last beacon of balance in the universe. As a mage in Fantastic Haven, you must save magical creatures, build biomes to support them, and also monitor relations with humans in your world. A free prologue for the game is out now.
Crab God
Australia’s own Chaos Theory Games popped in during Wholesome Direct 2024 to reveal more about Crab God, the underwater sim game where you raise crablings, build up their coral reef homes, and develop an eco-friendly underwater city. Notably, Crab God will benefit the environment, as Chaos Theory Games has partnered with dots.eco to ensure gameplay translates to real-world benefits.
ILA: A Frosty Glide
ILA: A Frosty Glide is an adventure game starring a young witch flying on her trusty broomstick. The game has a very neat voxel art style, with a lovely colour palette and world. There’s shades of A Short Hike here.
Sally
In Sally, you wander a cosy world as a young, curious child. Your path is open in this adventure, as you can choose to spend time cooking, working machines, crafting potions, and more. It’s coming to early access in Q4 2025.
Fellow Traveller: Game Showcase
Publisher Fellow Traveller popped into the middle of Wholesome Direct 2024 for a brief showcase of its upcoming games: Great God Grove, Afterlove EP, Times & Galaxy, Pine, and Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo. All games in the showcase looked grand, with their own sense of flair and personality, but Kulebra‘s take on the afterlife looks very, very cool, and was a personal standout for me.
Dungeons of Hinterberg
A new “marsh puzzle” showcase trailer for Dungeons of Hinterberg showed off traversal in a gorgeous, cel-shaded world, as the player character solved a variety of puzzles using a gelatinous cube to cover laser blasts, and climb up ladders. This game launches on 19 July 2024.
Fruitbus
In Fruitbus, you will travel through a world of anthropomorphic creatures, trailing your “fruitbus” behind you. This bus attracts hungry customers, and you’ll need to feed them by collecting ingredients, and cooking them food. Fruitbus arrives in October 2024.
FREERIDE
In FREERIDE, you will wander a world of strange beings to find your personal destiny. You’ll traverse vast landscapes, make choices, and discover pathways through the universe, with each run-through being different. FREERIDE is set to launch in Q1 2025.
Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge
In Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge, you are developing a frog refuge, and restoring wetlands to ensure your frogs have a cosy home. You’ll craft goods to give your frogs their best life, and then take photos of those frogs having a fantastic time. It’s the epitome of what Wholesome Direct 2024 is all about. Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge is available now.
Lost and Found Co.
Lost and Found Co. is all about helping people find their lost items. It’s an absolutely gorgeous Where’s Wally-type find-the-time game with elements of exploration, as you’ll explore dynamic scenes filled with tiny little details to find, while also befriending folks.
Littlelands
Littlelands is an adventure game in the style of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, where you explore a vast world, cross rivers and ravines, take on quests, make friends, solve puzzles, and collect items.
Usagi Shima
Bunny collecting game Usagi Shima also appeared in Wholesome Direct 2024. It’s getting a fresh update with new items and collectibles, and new mini-games.
Minami Lane
Minami Lane, the cosy management sim set in a quiet village, is coming to Nintendo Switch in 2024.
POOOOL
A new trailer for POOOOL also popped up during Wholesome Direct 2024. This game is a pool-themed physics puzzler where you combine small billiard balls to make bigger ones, until your entire pool table is filled with happy, giant faces. POOOL is available now.
Tiny Lands 2
In Tiny Lands 2, you’ll spot the differences in 3D rendered scenes with tiny, toy-like details. Each scene in the game can be explored and studied slowly as you discover their intricate little quirks. Tiny Lands 2 launches in 2025.
Moonstone Island
Moonstone Island is a creature-collecting game in the vein of Pokémon where you collect spirits, test your strength in card-based combat, and make friends. It’s coming to Nintendo Switch on 19 June 2024.
Rolling Hills
In Rolling Hills, you are a sushi robot trying to create the best sushi, and serve customers in your restaurant, in Diner Dash style. It’s available now.
On Your Tail
In On Your Tail, you are a young, deer-like woman who travels to a wholesome paradise to relax. As you explore your getaway, you’ll uncover a mystery – and tackle a range of mini-games including cooking games, and board game-like combat-puzzles. On Your Tail is set to launch in 2024.
Spilled!
A new trailer for Spilled! showed off snazzy new graphics, and very neat, pixellated water physics. A new demo for the game will arrive shortly.
The Palace on the Hill
In The Palace on the Hill, you are a teenager waking up in Summer to family circumstances that mean they must take on odd jobs to survive, like cooking meals, and tending a shop. The game is very painterly, and has a gorgeous aesthetic. It’s available today.
Travellers Rest
Travellers Rest is getting a new update introducing new ways to boost your tavern.
SOEDESCO: Game Highlights
Publisher SOEDESCO also turned up during Wholesome Direct 2024, with a brief highlight reel for upcoming games including:
- Petit Island – A travelling game featuring a cosy world.
- Albatroz – A game where you’ll explore a mountainous region.
- Magical Bakery – A game all about a magical bakery and its many meals.
While Waiting
While Waiting explores the art and act of waiting. You’ll be able to clear the game by doing nothing, simply exploring scenes, and exercising patience – much like the patience you’ll need while excitedly waiting for these Wholesome Direct 2024 games to release.
Sopa: Tale of the Stolen Potato
In Sopa: Tale of the Stolen Potato, you play as a young kid named Miho as they explore a strange jungle world filled with suspicious creatures. Sopa: Tale of the Stolen Potato launches in August 2024.
Track of Thoughts
In Track of Thoughts, you are a ladybug trying to figure out why everyone on your train has lost something. The game features card-based relationship “combat” and allows you to really get to know your fellow passengers, while solving a unique mystery. Track of Thoughts is available now.
Wholesome Direct 2024: Highlight Reel
To conclude the show, the Wholesome Games team unravelled a massive highlight reel of new and upcoming cosy adventures that should be on everybody’s radar. Here’s an overview of everything showcased:
- Tukoni: Forest Keepers – This is a point-and-click animal adventure.
- Nom Nom: Cozy Forest Café – You’ll craft ingredients and run a cafe.
- Curiosmos – A cosmos-growing sim.
- Hermit and Pig – A mushroom-hunting game.
- Letter Bunny – A game where you are a bunny delivering letters.
- Music Power Up – A retro-themed puzzle game with racing and music.
- Dragon Shelter – An adventure and crafting game set in a forest.
- Goodlands – An explore game starring tiny lizards and fossils.
- Boreas – A shipping and resource-collecting game.
- Monterona – A town-building sim.
- The August Before – A narrative organisation game.
- OPUS: Prism Peak – An adventure game with photography elements.
- Space Sprouts – A side-scrolling puzzle adventure.
- Broken Lens – A spot-the-difference puzzle game.
- Ringo’s Roundup – A grid-based puzzle game.
- The Star Named EOS – A cartoon-style photography and organisation game.
- Tiny Tires – A mini-racing game set on a toy race track.
- Dawnfolk – A grid-based resource-collecting and adventure game.
- Umami Grove – An exploration VR game starring tiny creatures.
- Kitsune Tails – A retro-style platforming adventure.
- Building Relationships – An odd exploration game where you are a sentient house.
- Tidy Cauldron – A Tetris-like puzzle game.
- Pup Champs – A grid-based soccer puzzle game starring young animals.
- Map Map – A Game About Maps – A treasure hunt game featuring plenty of maps.
- Omochapon – An exploration game featuring tiny toys.
- Catto’s Post Office – An adventure game starring a post cat.
- Wax Heads – A record-store sim game.
- Screenbound – A game where you explore a 2D world on a GBA-like screen, and your movements reflect in the real world.
- EbiTapes – A very cool-looking illustrated adventure game
- Katsl – A town builder where you create a city for cats.
- Pretty coo’ – A Pied Piper game where you lead a flock of pigeons.
- Hirocato – The Delivery Hero – A game where you have to deliver food as a tiny cat.
- Hello Again – A bright-looking adventure game with cats.
- Undusted: Letters from the Past – A game where you clean and investigate relics.
You can watch all of Wholesome Direct 2024 on YouTube.
