2024 Wholesome Direct Roundup

80+ games Jenny? One of the highlights of the year, the Wholesome Direct always brings some of the year’s most anticipated indies with a hint of “I can’t wait to play that in two to five years.” As always we’ll be covering everything shown and giving details where we can. Let’s begin!

Much like the Day of the Devs showcase, we’re starting with a matching game, Mythmatch is an absolutely stunning little title, the first from Team Artichoke. As much as you’ll spend your time matching creatures, the myth in Mythmatch is about Greek mythology, meaning you’ll meet all your favorites like Hermes and the other crab bloke. Alongside your matching gameplay, you’ll also build up a community, rebuild Ithaca, and defy the gods. No release date for Mythmatch just yet, but you can check out the demo on Steam and Wishlist now.

Announced the other week and had me on my knees begging for it, Caravan SandWitch is a narrative-driven exploration adventure title from the folks over at Studio Plane Toast. Stunning both on foot and in your little caravan, you’ll climb, zipline, and drive your way across the vast landscapes and help the people of Cigalo. Coming to PC, PS5, and Switch later in 2024, Caravan SandWitch “emphasizes exploration, inclusivity, and environmental themes.” The team said of the title: “The scenery takes place in our childhood landscapes of Provence, and all the themes mentioned in the game are really close to our hearts.”

Following a quick moment to thank sponsors, we got another look at Tiny Bookshop. Neoludic Games’ cozy little narrative title is about managing a bookshop out the back of a shed on a trailer, you sell books to the locals and even give them recommendations based on parameters they set out. Maybe they want fantasy or maybe they want romance. Maybe they want drama and crime but not a thriller. We’ll find out when Tiny Bookshop releases in 2025, or you can check out the demo on Steam right now.

Speaking of returns we’ve got another look at Été (Summer in French) from Impossible. That beautiful watercolor-looking game set in Montréal, where you paint artworks with 3D stamps, sell those artworks and use the money to make your home more of a home. I couldn’t be in love anymore if I tried. Releasing July 23rd on Steam, I might be yelling at people to send out emails to PR folks.

Coming to Steam and consoles in 2025, Discounty is a totally wholesome and not at all slightly creepy game about running, growing, and further expanding a supermarket in a small town. In development by Crinkle Cut Games and published by PQube, you’ll organize stock, manage staff, and expand the store, all in hopes of not upsetting your fellow townsfolk. Here is hoping you can make a profit while not upsetting the locals.

Rooster is a story-rich point-and-click puzzle title about the Chinese zodiacs with hand-drawn art and an utterly delightful style. Being developed by Toronto-based studio Sticky Brain Studios, Rooster (the zodiac, not the title) is disruptive at the Lunar New Year party and thus is sent back in time to learn lessons in ancient China. Depending on the zodiac the gameplay is trying to represent, you’ll play a different type of game: Hidden object, cooking sim, dating sim, and more. Coming in Q1 of 2025, I think this will be one to watch over the next few months.

Following Rooster was a showcase of several games available on one of the Wholesome Direct’s sponsor’s platforms, the PlayDate. The 1-bit small handheld showed off snippets of Spellcorked, Reel-istic Fishing, Faraway Fairway, Bloom, Escape the Arcade, and Rowbot Rally. You can check out all of these exclusively on the PlayDate.

Up next was a showcase of a wholesome survival-crafting title, Into the Emberlands. Focused around your ability to explore, build, and maintain fires, you’ll blow away a fog-of-war effect letting you explore a little more each time, helping the people of Into the Emberlands. Fend off the darkness and help these little folk soon, as Into the Emberlands releases into early access on June 19th, but if you can’t wait, there is a demo out now.

Releasing in 2025, Squeakcross: Home Squeak Home you play as a mouse, playing nongram games to create furniture for your little Jerry-based house in the wall. Jokes aside Alblune, the developers of 2022’s The Spirit and the Mouse, have made a delightful, colorful, and downright adorably cozy little puzzle title in the vein of Picross (or Pikurosu). A demo should be out now and as already mentioned, the game is set to release sometime in 2025.

Following that, we got the yearly T-shirt and Wholesome Direct merch drop with the associated charity. This year donations will be going to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, looking to help displaced kids in Gaza and elsewhere in Palestine.

Serious, sweet, and kind things aside, Sumo Digital Newcastle was up next with chibi, fantasy life-sim, Critter Café. Coming to Steam and Switch at some point, we don’t have a date and if I’m honest, this is not really my thing. This is the part of Wholesome that I can’t jell with personally, so giving a rundown is a little difficult. You’ll renovate the café and save fantastical little creatures in this cozy little title when it eventually releases.

I don’t think we saw what we were told we saw, as Neat Corporation “showed off” Garden of the Sea, a non-VR version of the studio’s 2022 title coming to Steam and Switch with a highlight on Steam Deck compatibility. Great… but why were the hands moving around like they would in VR? I refuse to believe the gameplay we saw in this trailer was from the Steam Deck, or even the Switch for that matter. That’s simply not how hands move in non-VR games. Releasing in Q4 of 2024, I’ll be interested to see if we get a look at the Steam Deck-Switch version properly.

Fantastic Haven is a fantasy god-sim about creating habitats for fantastical creatures in the wild. Be it big angry frogs or bucks that look like they’d last a few rounds with prime Mike Tyson (and win), all the fantasy creatures are here. The first thing I thought when this was shown was Black and White, for some reason. Set for a Q3 2024 release, you can check out the demo for Piece of Cake Fabulous’ game, Fantastic Haven, right now on Steam.

Curious crustacean creators craving carefully curated contemplations on climate and copious other concerns could come to be captivated by Chaos Theory Games’ Crab God. There is only so much alliteration you can do in one sentence to spice up and keep your interest in a game you don’t quite understand even after 5 minutes of trailers. Releasing on June 20th, Crab God has a demo out now for the Rogue-like strategy title with a Sebastian-based twist. It looks nice, I just don’t understand it.

I keep getting emails about physical magazines, and I’m happy people are keeping this tradition alive beyond tabloid rags and TV Guides. I didn’t just go on a rant for no reason, the latest edition of Patch Magazine is a Wholesome Games edition. Patch focuses on Indie titles throughout the industry and (from what I’ve seen) has a great art/creative director. A limited print magazine (of course) you’ll get exclusive details and other bits and bobs you might not get anywhere else. That includes from the idiot writing this article right here.

A demo is out now for the voxel-based witchery in Ila a Frosty Glide, a stunning adventure title coming to Kickstarter “Soon.” There are no ambitious release dates yet, nor announcements of the Kickstarter launch, though you can check out Magic Rain Studios’ demo for this beautiful little title right now. The part that sold me was this from a recent press release: “Players assume the role of ILA, an aspiring witch on a quest to reach the summit by enhancing her special skatebroom’s flying capabilities.” Yes, give me more A Short Hike-likes!

I swear we’ve seen Sally before, maybe under a different name or a working title. It is that pretty airship life-sim and gardening-crafting thing with grannies, I’m sure if you’ve been around these Wholesome parts before you’ll recognize it. Still, It is a little ways away, we have a Q4 2025 release window on the cards. If you can’t wait that long, there is a demo available now. Also, the latest news on Steam is that the demo is Steam Deck compatible and stable at a locked 30. Delightful and I’m sure some will love the demo out now ahead of the release.

Another gods title and messengers, it is almost as if people are really excited about postal work and making friends with mythology. LimboLane’s Great God Grove is an attractive little puzzle adventure where you’ll “suck up lines of dialog and launch them at characters to solve every weird dispute.” Well that’s one way of getting around the guns and weapons thing plaguing the world of video games. Releasing later this year “fall 2024,” there isn’t long to wait for this one.

I can’t say too much about this next one for… reasons, but Times and Galaxy releases next Friday, the 21st. While the embargo lifts on Thursday, the 20th. You play as a robot reporter, the first of your kind, and you have to chase down leads in this visual novel-based adventure. Coming to PC, Switch, Xbox One, Series X|S, and PlayStation 5.

The first game (on Steam) from developer Galla, a studio founded by two Dominican brothers in 2015, Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo has you play as a wholesome little boney snake looking to help the people of this delightfully colorful little town. We’ll see Kulebra noted again in the Latin American Games Showcase coverage, but I’m certain we’ll see more of Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo at some point. Releasing in 2025 on “PC, Switch, and Xbox,” it isn’t noted whether that includes Xbox One or just Series X|S.

From wholesome little snakes to “My, isn’t Mr. Incredible mourning the death of his wife so wholesome guys?!?!?” Anyone that doesn’t see the resemblance in Made Up Games’ Pine: A Story of Loss, I’ll personally drag you to the opticians. It is a different art style, but still similar. There isn’t much to say that isn’t deeply depressing. It is gorgeous looking and is set to release on PC, Switch, and mobile sometime in 2024. There is a demo available now for Pine: A Story of Loss.

From one game that’s depressing to another, we spoke about Afterlove EP during the Day of the Devs showcase and how it nearly made me cry. You’ll play as Rama, a young musician whose partner died and he can now hear her voice following her passing. This small Coffee Talk slice-of-life sim adventure will pluck your heartstrings whenever it releases, though the target is supposedly October 2024. Coming to Switch, PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, with a demo on Steam right now.

Another hyped demo up next, as Dungeons of Hinterberg got a showcase of the puzzle exploration RPG title. This is the first proper gameplay I’ve actually seen of Microbird Games’ upcoming release and I’m finally sold on it. Releasing on Steam and Xbox Series X|S on July 18th, there isn’t long to wait here, though as I say, a demo is available right now.

Get some Norwegians standing on a green screen telling me about their food truck game and I’m suddenly interested in this more than anything else. Fruitbus is a colorful little title about running your own cozy little food truck, feeding the friendly animal-people of wherever you happen to park up. Releasing this October on Steam, Krillbite Studio’s Fruitbus also has a demo available right now.

Conceptually, I’m into Flightyfelon Games’ Freeride, a delightful little story-driven Rogue-like RPG. That said, something about the art or maybe how it was presented didn’t spark a flame of interest as Norwegians on a green screen do. Love the mum holding her baby while presenting the showcase though. Set to release in Q1 of 2025, there is a demo for Freeride on Steam and the Switch right now.

When we’ve seen Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge before I’ve always had a hint of “looks nice, but I’m not sold.” Humble Reeds’ Frog-based sanctuary building title finally sold me with its focus on the ecological side of frog preservation. Out now, this was one of the surprise releases during the showcase.

A hidden object game that isn’t a Big Fish Games bit of nonsense? Fantastic! Lost and Found Co is a hidden object game in that Where’s Wally (Waldo if you’re criminally insane) vein of making things quite busy but not looking like the junk drawer in the kitchen, as is the case with every scene in a Big Fish Games game. There is a demo out now on Steam, but no release date was given for Bit Egg Inc’s upcoming Lost and Found Co.

You know those painted wooden toys you’d have as a kid? That’s what Rafael Martin and Kyle Creamer’s Littlelands reminded me of, with its stunning art style making this beautiful sandbox adventure stand out among the rest throughout the showcase. There were no release details, but we do know there should be a demo out now for it.

Mobile game Usagi Shima is up next, a regular to the Wholesome Directs. I still hate it. There is an update titled “bunny paradise,” adding 5 new bunnies, and a new island to build your bunny paradise upon. There is also new merch too.

Another update came, this time for Doot and Blibloop’s Minami Lane, which was released earlier this year on Steam. A lovely street building title full of cuteness and Boba. However, this announcement was for something very special: Minami Lane is coming to the Nintendo Switch later this year.

Finally, all my hours of playing Consumo in Canis Canem Edit (Bully) will pay off! Noah King’s surprise announcement for the showcase, POOOOL is a “pool-inspired physics puzzler where you combine balls of similar sizes to create even bigger ones, all while trying to save room for more.” Out now on Steam, you can pick up the small and cheap title and chase your high scores.

A sequel to Hyper Three Studio’s 2021 title, Tiny Lands, we finally got a showcase of Tiny Lands 2. A spot-the-difference-style game, you can wishlist the 2025 sequel coming to PC. With stunning little dioramas, these photorealistic miniatures are breathtaking. No demo or other details to give on this one though.

Switch port time! Studio Supersoft and Raw Fury’s 2023 potion-crafting, creature-catching, Stardew Valley-like life-sim Moonstone Island is coming to the Switch on the 19th of June. Not long at all. I don’t have much to say about this one as I’m not typically one to care about Stardew Valley-likes, though I think there are plenty who will be champing at the bit to explore the 100 islands and romance islanders.

A Diner Dash-like with a robot server in a world of chibi people? Who didn’t bother telling me about Catch & Release’s Rolling Hills: Make Sushi, Make Friends, a life-sim restauranter that released on the 4th of June? Out now on Steam and Xbox One, you can start making sushi and friends.

Memorable Games and Humble Games need to learn I don’t need a demo, I want a release date and I want it now for On Your Tail. The anthropomorphic-led story-driven detective life-sim is something I’ve had my eye on for a little bit now, set in the Mediterranean, you’ll investigate and uncover the mysteries of Borgo Marina sometime later this year when On Your Tail releases. Set to come to Switch and Steam, you can check out the demo available right now.

Annoyingly no release updates were given for Lente’s Spilled, an eco-centric ocean/water clean-up title we’ve seen for a while now. A demo is available on Steam with the version we’re here, there is a graphical update to Spilled. I believe this is what the kids call a “glow-up.”

The Palace on the Hill is something I’ve had my eyes on for a while now. A story-driven life-sim focused on a young person living in rural India in the 90s, The Palace on the Hill is stunning, charming, and nothing short of breathtaking. As of the Wholesome Direct, though, Niku Games’ title is also out now.

Following another appeal for the PCRF donations and shirts this year, we got a look at Isolated Games’ latest update to Travellers Rest. Released into early access in 2020, the aptly named developer has been working hard on gameplay and story for the farming sim RPG. However, with this latest update, you finally get a bit of story about why exactly you are here at this rest stop for travelers. The “city and story” update is set to come to Travellers Rest at the start of July.

Following that we got a short showcase of SOEDESCO titles, including the newly announced Petit Island, a colorful little adventure coming later this year to PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Steam and Epic, and the Nintendo Switch.

We also got a look at Albatroz, or as the logo makes it look Alb(a)troz. Look, if you’re going to replace the A with something, make sure you know people will think that’s an A. Nonetheless, another 2024 release for this immersive sim, RPG, adventure thing – honestly, I just want to call these immersive adventure games, this, Jusant, and Cairn. Albatroz looks nice (logo doesn’t) and you can expect it on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and Epic, or you can play the demo out now on Steam.

The last of the SOEDESCO showcase is the upcoming farming-sim, chibi magical life-sim thing, Magical Bakery. Yeah, this is the one I’m least impressed with if I’m honest. Only announced back in May, Spanish developer SUPERLUMEN first revealed Magical Bakery. Of course, there is no release date and no demo either. Though you can wishlist on Steam and expect Magical Bakery on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and Epic.

Another showing of While Waiting, there isn’t really anything new, per se. More of a straight-up trailer for Optillusion’s upcoming title we did get one small detail: There are 100 scenarios to complete. Otherwise, there is still no release date, you can wishlist on Steam and download the demo. When it releases, While Waiting will be on Steam and mobile.

We saw Sopa – The Tale of the Stolen Potato a couple of times, including during the Latin American Games Showcase, which I plan to cover soon. More than what we’ve previously seen from StudioBando’s upcoming release, we’ve also yet to get a solid look that isn’t cut up with fast-paced editing. Coming to “Xbox” and Windows via Game Pass, as well as Steam, Sopa – The Tale of the Stolen Potato was simply given an August 2024 release window.

Yet another surprise announcement, Tracks of Thought, which we’ve seen a few times now, is finally out. Tidbits Play and Indie.io’s story-driven tale of self-discovery is that lovely little ladybug/ladybird (they are actually beetles) game we’ve seen set on a train. Available on Steam and Epic, you can pick up Tracks of Thought now and resolve conflict with card battles or solve the forgotten thing everyone on the train has seemingly forgotten.

The next 30+ games were part of a massive collection, so my notes are rather slim and I might be short on these paragraphs as well. We started out with Tukoni: Forest Keepers, coming to Steam in 2025, there is no release date nor connected demo on the Steam page. There is, however, a free prologue you can download now for the point-and-click puzzle adventure.

Café sim Nom Nom: Cozy Forest Café was next, where you bake, build, and pour things for your animal-based customers. There’s no release date nor window, no demo, just a whole lot of teasing.

Curiosmos was up next with its “whimsical cosmic sandbox.” A casual, relaxing galaxy-building sim. Again, no release date, no demo, just wishlists to add to.

Up next was Hermit and Pig, an adventure RPG with Pokémon-like turn-based battling by the looks of it. I’ve yet to see something here that excites me, though you can wishlist on Steam right now. You can also download the demo to give Hermit and Pig a shot right now.

If there is one thing that’s in this year it is postal delivery games, and I’m all here for it. Starring a very lovely long-eared rabbit called Anne, Letter Bunny is a cozy adventure full of lovely colors, cozy vibes, and countless packages to deliver. No release date, no demo, just wishlists for you Dramatic Iceberg.

“As a musician in the 1980s, create music for early video games. Make your own sounds and melodies from scratch, or use pre-composed patterns,” you had me at the arcade and midi machine in your trailer. Music Power up. MicroStudio’s upcoming release is a fantastic idea that I’m honestly surprised hasn’t been done before, but here we are. Given I’ve spoken more about Music Power Up more than any other thus far, you know I am excited for this one. Releasing in Q4 of 2024, I can’t wait. You can wishlist now.

Another cozy, life/farming-sim, though this time with a dragon. No Night Furies here, just lovely friendly dragons with bright colors in Dragon Shelter. You might be catching on to the theme here: No release date, no demo, just wishlists for you.

🐉 Dragon Shelter is a cute farming sim about restoring long-lost friendship between humans and dragons and rebuilding the old farm and a nearby town.

💗 Wishlist on Steam: https://t.co/nDcYKa1uPy #indiegame | #cozygaming | #wholesomegames pic.twitter.com/fwD314BXXE

— DragonShelter (@DragonShelterWF) June 10, 2024

Goodlands is an archeology ‘em up, as it is “A game about dinos digging up dinos. Become the paleontologist you always wanted to be: walk, hop, and drive around a badlands-inspired environment.” The pixel-based graphics, by that I mean it is very bit-y, is rather “take it or leave it” from the trailer, though far more interesting once you get a full look at it. No demo and no release date. You know what to do.

A Far: Lone Sails-inspired game is up next in Boreas, as you get a side-on view of a boat in the water, and you have to single-handedly make it work. Maybe not one-for-one with Far: Lone Sails, but certainly seems to have that similar idea of a lone person keeping your boat afloat. No release date and no demo. I wonder if you’ll be wishlisting this one?

Monterona was up next and it does have a demo, though no release date. You are building cute little dioramas of the streets from your Italian Granny’s stories. Cute, colorful, and you get to place bushes… I am sold! You can wishlist on Steam right now.

A tidy-up sim next, but with a heavy focus on the story as The August Before has you cleaning up your room and collecting all your belongings before moving on to a new life. No release date for Silly Little Games’ game, but you can wishlist and play the demo on Steam right now.

Somehow I don’t believe Steam is right when it tells me that Opus: Prism Peak is similar to some other games I’ve played, such as Lies of P and Killer Frequency. Despite a very lovely-looking trailer and delightful-looking screenshots, I’m afraid there is no inclination for what the gameplay is supposed to be exactly. Stunning, yes, release date, no, demo, no, wishlist, yes.

Space Sprouts was up next with a showcase of its “cozy cosmic chaos” as you explore with your solar punk spaceship and go deep into this mystery. There is a demo on Steam right now, though once again, there isn’t a release date in sight.

“Broken Lens is a cozy game where you will discover the story of a little robot with a sight problem. Explore manifold cute environments at your own pace and investigate to understand what happened to them,” as noted by the blurb on Steam. I think Broken Lens is a spot-the-difference game, but really, I’m not entirely sure. We won’t have to wait long to find out, as there is a demo out now for the little robot fella and the release for Team RUN’s title is only July 22nd. Hazah!! A release date.

Ringo’s Roundup isn’t about a drummer steering a yellow submarine in circles, instead, it is a grid-based puzzle about a post bunny, Ringo. I swear, there rabbits, if they aren’t copulating they are delivering the post better than Royal Mail. No release date but there is a demo for Ringo’s Roundup over on Steam, you can also wishlist now.

I’ve already put the next story-rich puzzle adventure on my wishlist as it is based on photography and recreating old photos. The Star Named EOS is releasing on July 23rd, and there is even a demo. I know… the whole trifecta of release date, wishlists, and a demo, they said it couldn’t be done and Silver Lining Studio did it well.

Tiny Tires is a Micro Machines game, and you are right I’d be all over a Micro Machines game. I’m sure we’ve seen John Kristinsson’s Toy Box Turbos-like before, but for the life of me I can’t remember where we’ve seen it. Sadly, there is no release date and no demo, but you can wishlist on Steam right now.

Now, when I first saw Dawnfolk during this showcase, I wasn’t too impressed with its style in the trailer. Possibly because I was frantically typing, but since David covered the Access-Ability showcase early this week, I’ve had a closer look at Darenn Keller’s minimalist city-builder, and I have to say I’m quite excited to eventually get my hands on it when it releases. No release date as of yet, though sadly, however, you can check out the demo on Steam right now. You can also wishlist on Steam if you’d so like to.

The only VR exclusive title in this whole showcase, Umami Grove is a “relaxed, physics-based VR adventure game with a variety of creatures to meet and places to explore. Jump, climb, duck, and swing your way through a unique cooking adventure using a powerful movement and interaction system.” Say no more Pomshine Games, I’ll take it! Coming to Steam later this year, there is no release date or demo, but you can wishlist on Steam right now.

Another trifecta of release date, demo, and wishlists for you, as Kitsune Games and MidBoss showed off a sequel(?) to 2020’s Super Bernie World, Kitsune Tails. A platformer about Kitsune, or if you missed my Ghost of Tsushima review and Japanese class, that’s a fox. Releasing August 1st, there is a demo out now if you’d like to check out Kitsune Tails.

I’m still in love with Tanat Boozayaangool, even if he wasn’t here to show off Building Relationships this time. No developments since Day of the Devs though, as it has only been a couple of days. Though you can pick up a demo on Steam and try out Building Relationships yourself.

Tidy Cauldron is releasing later this year and it is another one of those inventory management style games, but this time you “help 3 messy witches tidy up their chaos.” With 100 puzzles to complete, you’ll try and fix the lifestyle of these witches with some helpful tidying up. There is a demo for Tidy Cauldron out now and you can also wishlist if you so please.

Adorable, tactics, puzzle-based, and calling it by its proper name, Pup Champs is a Football-based game where you are guiding your team of pups to championship glory. Ok, 5-a-side champion glory in the park on a Saturday morning, but still. Lovely and adorable, you can check out the demo for Afterburn’s Pup Champs right now and the wishlist too. There is no release date as of yet.

Map men! Map men! Map men! Map, map, map, men… men… map. Ok, Jay Foreman reference out of the way, Map Map – A Game About Maps is a game about making a map as a cartographer. On any other day, I’d be making a joke but that’s the whole thing of Pipapo Games’ upcoming adventure game. “Embark on a cozy treasure hunt as a cartographer of an adventure crew. Use your sense of direction to make maps, help your companions[,] and explore idyllic islands,” as the Steam Blurb notes. No release, no demo, just wishlists again.

The next one isn’t even on Steam, because Australia is apparently still behind the rest of the world in that respect. Jokes aside, Omochapon is about tiny things in a big store, my favorite type of game. Though without being on Steam and only a website to check out, there are very few details to give on this one.

I wonder if we’ll get any more postal work-style games… Catto’s Post Office is another one of those mail delivery games with fluffy cats and pastel colors. No release date, no demo, and just wishlists again for this one. Delightful and charming all the same.

Selling Vinyl to hipsters? You’re A-right I’m already sold on Patattie Games’ Wax Heads. Coming to Steam at some point, there isn’t a release date in sight for this “cozy-punk slice-of-life narrative sim about managing a struggling record store.” However, you can play the demo right now on Steam.

To quote myself from Monday, “Still no release date, this is the classic 2D platformer/3D platformer where you are running around like an FPS but holding a GBA blocking your vision[…]”. Yes, Screenbound got another showing. No demo, just wishlists for you.

There is, however, a demo for crayon-scribbled EbiTapes. Coming Q1 2025, this musical journey follows Ebi, a frog(?) with a penchant for music as they try to save the city’s music festival. There is a demo available now for EbiTapes which you can download on Steam and you can wishlist too.

A casual city-builder up next with Katsl. Muted tones aside, this adorable little thing looks great, and I can’t wait to play it. Sadly no release date, no demo, and only wishlists for Kofka.Games this year.

We’re on the home stretch now, with only a handful of titles left, and we’ll continue with Dollopop’s Pretty Coo’. An adventure game with the human art of Katamari, kind of. You spread some seed about and gain a pigeon army to do your bidding. Lovely, charming, and a demo is available now on Itch.io.

Set for Q3 of 2024, Hirocato – The Delivery Hero is a darker “adventure-platformer game where you control a cat and have to parkour over platforms to deliver food.” A demo is available now on Steam and you can wishlist Astero Games’ first precision platformer right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E20azrlONug

The penultimate game of the showcase and it is a non-VO, cut-up version of the trailer we’ve seen before for Hello Again. We first saw this Monday during the Day of the Devs showcase, where I said I’d need a better look at it. Still no release date, just the release window of sometime in 2025, there is no demo for Hello Again, but you can wishlist on Steam right now.

Of course, in the year of letter delivery, the final game of the showcase had to be Undusted: Letters from the Past, a “casual game in which you clean and restore dirty items.” A mix of Trash Goblin and a hint of exploring the past of these items too. Lovely, wholesome, I can’t wait to play it. Sadly no release date is given, though you can download a demo on Steam right now. You can, of course, also wishlist this fantastic-looking little title from 5minlab Corp. on Steam.

This year was a lot to get through but also another fantastic year for Wholesome Games and the Wholesome Direct. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to go have a lie down before I have to cover another show with 70+ games. If you’d like to watch the full showcase on its own, you can do so below.