In an industry often headlined by high-octane blockbusters and sprawling RPGs, Wholesome Direct offers a refreshing counterpoint: a celebration of games rooted in empathy, relaxation, and slow, intentional play. Hosted by the Wholesome Games collective, the annual showcase returned for its fifth year with a slate of nearly 40 titles ranging from coming-of-age stories to gentle puzzle adventures.
The event spotlighted both new reveals and surprise launches, with several games dropping on Steam, Switch, and mobile storefronts the same day. Alongside these announcements, Wholesome Games also took the opportunity to shine a light on its own publishing efforts. Below is a comprehensive breakdown of every major announcement, release, and update featured during the presentation.
Major Updates
Even fan favorites need a refresh, and a few titles are getting major new content in the months ahead.
Little Kitty, Big City
Little Kitty, Big City will receive a free summer update across all platforms, adding cat customization, a new area, and more story content.
Luma Island: Pirates
Luma Island’s upcoming expansion, Pirates, launches June 20 and introduces new professions, mini-games, and a full pirate cove complete with traps and treasure.
These newly revealed titles were introduced.
Gourdlets Together
Gourdlets Together brings multiplayer to Aunty Games’ beloved cozy universe. Build islands, fish, decorate, and vibe with veggie pals online.
Heidi’s Legacy: Mountains Calling
Heidi’s Legacy: Mountains Calling blends alpine restoration with interactive storytelling in a faded mountain village. As someone who’s never met a hiking trail I didn’t romanticize, this one’s calling my name.
Milano’s Odd Job Collection
Milano’s Odd Job Collection lets you take on summer side gigs ranging from baking to cow-wrangling in a retro-styled pixel world.
On-Together
On-Together is a low-key social sim that lives on your screen’s edge. Study, work, and take cozy breaks with friends in real time.
Surprise Drops You Can Play Right Now
Wholesome Direct 2025 also featured a wave of surprise releases that became available immediately following the showcase. Clear your schedule (and your heart), because these are already out.
Camper Van: Make It Home
Among these was Camper Van: Make it Home, a puzzle-driven interior design game from Malapata Studio and Wings. You can customize a tiny home on wheels while unpacking a story of self-discovery and healing.
Fireside Feelings
Fireside Feelings, developed by Team Empreintes, offers a quiet experience: you create a character, craft your ideal outdoor space, and sit around a campfire sharing and hearing stories from other players.
Instants
Instants, from Endflame, invites you to sort family photographs into albums, building a non-linear narrative inspired by oral storytelling traditions.
Omelet You Cook
Omelet You Cook blends roguelike structure with culinary chaos as you scramble (literally) to create the perfect omelet for a cast of quirky students and teachers, under the scrutiny of a judgmental chicken principal.
Out And About
This one is a plant-identification foraging sim grounded in real-life botany.
Seasonala Cemetery
Seasonala Cemetery is a meditative exploration of a living, time-sensitive cemetery that shifts with real-world seasons.
Squeakross: Home Squeak Home
Squeakross: Home Squeak Home puts a cozy spin on Picross-style puzzles, using them to build furniture and decorate a rodent’s ideal home.
The Guardian of Nature
The Guardian of Nature added a solarpunk flair to the lineup. It blends hand-drawn art with size-changing mechanics to tell an eco-conscious puzzle adventure.
Vending Dokan!: Cozy Kiosk
Vending Dokan!: Cozy Kiosk allows you to build a vending machine empire with laid-back idle gameplay.
New Dates, Mark Your Calendars
Some games are worth the wait, and Wholesome Direct showed plenty of titles to look forward to. Here’s everything with a confirmed release date.
Discounty
Discounty, the tongue-in-cheek supermarket sim from Crinkle Cut Games, will arrive August 21 on all major platforms, with a demo already available.
Everdeep Aurora
Everdeep Aurora, a combat-free digging adventure about a kitten searching for her mother, is set for July 10.
Islanders: New Shores
Islanders: New Shores, a sequel that expands on the original’s minimalist city-building formula, launches the same day as Everdeep Aurora.
Hotel Galactic
Hotel Galactic, a management sim filled with creatures and personal redemption arcs, is coming July 24.
Monument Valley 3
Monument Valley 3, the latest entry in the celebrated series, arrives July 22 and promises another mind-bending narrative journey.
The Berlin Apartment
The Berlin Apartment, a narrative renovation sim that weaves together past and present through the objects found in a single apartment, will launch in November 2025. Exploring someone’s life through the objects in their apartment? This is exactly my kind of storytelling rabbit hole.
Spotlight On Wholesome Games Presents
This year marked a significant push for Wholesome Games’ own publishing arm. They presented three titles.
Fishbowl
Fishbowl follows 21-year-old Alo as she navigates grief, remote work, and self-discovery in a narrative built from unpacking puzzles and video calls.
Is This Seat Taken?
Is This Seat Taken? turns social awkwardness into a logic puzzle, as you match finicky personalities to ideal seating arrangements. This game feels like it was made for anyone who’s ever panicked at a seating chart. So… me. It’s weird, witty, and coming August 2025.
MakeRoom
MakeRoom is a peaceful diorama builder with over 1,000 tiny objects to arrange. From cat cafes to gothic lairs, your dream room awaits.
