Summary

• The Wholesome Direct showcased over 70 cozy titles by indie developers, offering something for all types of players.
• Unique games like Caravan SandWitch, Crab God, Tiny Bookshop, and others were featured, highlighting creativity and innovation.
• The titles presented covered a wide range of genres, from adventure to management sims, promising diverse gameplay experiences.

This year, the span of Summer Game Fest goes much further than the main livestream event, with a host of other showcases and reveals planned for the weekend. One of those is the 2024 Wholesome Direct, which premiered today featuring over 70 different titles. The show is put on by Wholesome Games, which was founded as a community platform for fans of cozier gameplay - a definition which has widely expanded over the years to encom a myriad of different types of titles.

While SGF itself is largely home to big, AAA-developer announcements, one of the most exciting parts of the Wholesome Direct is its major indie focus. The presentation featured a blend of first-time developers and returning studios, and included both brand-new announcements and updates about previously revealed or released titles. It's difficult to select highlights from the lineup presented, as it was truly full of gems with something for just about every type of cozy player, but these are 10 titles that particularly stood out.

10 Caravan SandWitch (Plane Toast)

An Adventure In A Hopeful Post-Apocalypse

From developer Plane Toast and publisher Dear Villagers comes Caravan SandWitch, an exploration adventure title about community. The player will traverse Cigalo, a planet land filled with many varied types of environments, both by foot and with their multipurpose van. The title's protagonist is searching the land for their missing sister - however, the game has no imposed time limits or combat.

The footage shown during the Wholesome Direct showcased a bit of what the player's van can do, as well as the sorts of environmental puzzles there will be to encounter throughout the world it can be used to solve. Along their journey, players will get to know assorted communities scattered across the planet and give them the help that they need, offering a brighter, more communal take on a typical post-apocalyptic world. The title has no set release date, but a new demo for Caravan SandWitch is now available on Steam.

9 Crab God (Chaos Theory Games)

Become A Ruler Of Shellfish & Saver Of The Environment

After the success of Another Crab's Treasure in April, it's shaping up to be a strong year for crustaceans - one that will continue with the release of Crab God later this summer. Players will embody the titular deity as they lead a colony of crabs on a journey to hatch the god's successor. The title comes from developer Chaos Theory Games and publisher Firesquid, offering an eccentric underwater twist on strategy games.

It looks to be a title that combines elements of management and combat, with footage showing the assignment of crablings to different roles like farmer, builder, and fighter. An incredibly unique feature of the title is its integration with dots.eco, allowing in-game progress to contribute to real-life environmental conservation efforts. Crab God will release for PC via Steam on June 20, and a demo is available for the game now.

8 Tiny Bookshop (neoludic games)

Live A Seaside Bookselling Dream

Many cozy games purport the idea of giving players the chance to live an idealized, simple life with things like small-town farming. However, the lifestyle presented by Tiny Bookshop looks to be a league all its own when it comes to living a tranquil fantasy. Armed with just a small, car-towed bookshop and a dream, players will organize and run their store while learning more about the small town of Bookstonbury-by-the-Sea and its inhabitants.

The shop can be customized both aesthetically and in of its stock, after which players can then post up each day in different scenic locales to sell their secondhand wares. The footage shown in the Wholesome Direct seemed to point to other side activities as well, like collecting seashells. Developed by neoludic games and published by Skystone Games, Tiny Bookshop currently has no set release date, but a demo is currently available on Steam.

7 Great God Grove (LimboLane)

Chaotic Problem-Solving Between Deities

Great God Grove is a game that looks extremely strange in the best way. It's made by developer LimboLane, which previously created the delightfully absurd Smile For Me, and published by Fellow Traveler, which has helped produce Beacon Pines and Paradise Killer. The release centers around a messenger with the power to literally suck up people's words and shoot them at others in order to solve problems.

As a messenger to the gods, it falls in the player's hands to utilize this ability after conflict begins to arise between the deities that get in the way of their duties. Great God Grove has also incorporated the same amusing-yet-vaguely-upsetting puppetry that was a part of the developer's first game, though it's unclear just how it will be involved this time around. It's slated for release some time in 2024, though no formal date has been announced yet.

6 Fruitbus (Krillbite Studios)

Forage & Serve Custom Cuisine

Fruitbus is a unique food truck adventure game where players will travel across a series of islands to collect guests for a dinner party while also serving food to customers. Unlike most cooking games, players aren't forced to follow recipes - though there are local cuisines to learn - and can just experiment with what they find throughout the world. The land is full of ingredients to forage for potential dishes, many of which shown during the Wholesome Direct look quite amusingly absurd, like trash-filled smoothies.

Players can drive across the world and explore different culinary possibilities that will have a wide range of effects, both good and bad, on animal customers. The latest from developer Krillbite Studios, the game features a much more cartoon tone than its previous releases like hike simulator Sunlight. Fruitbus is slated to release for PC and consoles this October, with a demo available now on Steam.

5 Sopa - Tale Of The Stolen Potato (StudioBando)

An Eccentric Adventure About Heritage

Sopa - Tale of the Stolen Potato is a narrative adventure game steeped in magical realism and bright colors. The debut release from developer StudioBando is inspired by media like Coco and the works of Hayao Miyazaki, following young boy Miho after he's transported to a new world while fetching ingredients for his grandmother's soup. It also draws from real-life places and culture, with South American-inspired environments and a focus on what it means to down family heritage.

The trailer shown during the Wholesome Direct teased the game's blend of humor and heart, with a hardened frog gang leader explaining how he could've been a big player on the black market until he was foiled by Miho, who in a following scene confronts him over his potato theft in the pantry. The game's environments look incredibly vibrant and alive, and seem like the perfect backdrop for the fantastical story being told. Sopa has no firm release date, but is planned to hit PC and Xbox consoles some time in the third quarter of 2024.

4 Travellers Rest (Isolated Games)

A Charming Tavern Simulator Fills A Management Niche

Management sim Travellers Rest has technically been out for a while, but it has still yet to leave early access. The Wholesome Direct announced a very promidate for the game that majorly fleshes out its storyline, exploring the history of the kingdom, its characters, and how the player came to work at the tavern. While the Isolated Games title bears many similarities - both aesthetically and mechanically - to games like Stardew Valley, there are several key areas in which it sets itself apart.

Players can do many of the typical tasks like farming and fishing, but most of the labor is done to the tavern's food and ale supplies, and the game's crafting takes the form of things like brewing new batches of beer for the establishment. It's a great hospitality twist that's largely lacking in the management landscape, and this update makes it clear there's much more to explore. The final version of the game has no release date, but the early access version can be found on Steam, with the new update launching in July.

3 Hermit And Pig (Heavy Lunch LLC)

An Adventure Of A Recluse & His Truffle Hunter

Hermit and Pig is a quirky turn-based adventure game about mushroom foraging, social anxiety, and a deep-running conspiracy. While its combat is very reminiscent of Pokémon's style, the title's aesthetic and humor feels a bit more akin to something like the Turnip Boy series. Players will face hostile creatures and people in combat, and in an amusing twist, conversations also use a similar turn-based format, with the hermit losing health from awkward encounters.

The poor hermit wishes nothing more than to hunt for truffles with his pig in peace, but after a woman comes to them asking for help, they wind up way over their heads in unraveling sinister goings-on around town. Players can forage for useful mushrooms and truffles to use in bartering and battle, fight a wide roster of enemies, and question townsfolk on their quest to get to the bottom of things. Produced and published by Heavy Lunch LLC, Hermit and Pig has yet to receive a release date.

2 Screenbound (Crescent Moon Games & Those Dang Games)

One Adventure Within Another

Screenbound bills itself as a game exploring 5D - a combination of 3D and 2D. Players will simultaneously navigate a fully-dimensional world while holding a handheld game device, where their movements will be mirrored. Completing each level will require adept control over both realms simultaneously, adding a sort of puzzling element, and certain things within each environment can have an effect on the other realm.

The protagonist is brought to this complicated dimension in the first place after encountering a device in his mother's garage. The mysteries behind her invention and the mysterious place it's transported the player will be unraveled over time as they journey through the world with perpetually dual-layered movements. This incredibly unique platformer comes from a collaboration between Crescent Moon Games and Those Dang Games, with no set release date at this time.

1 Tiny Tires (Jon Kristinsson)

Microracing With Big Physics Fun

Tiny Tires in many ways feels like a spiritual successor to the classic miniature racing series Micro Machines, making cars little fish in a big pond. From developer Jon Kristinsson, the game takes players through everyday environments from a new perspective. Footage from the game shows tiny vehicles speeding across delightful racetracks built on breakfast tables and sandboxes from a top-down perspective, making it easy to keep an eye on opponents and changes in the environment.

From what's been shown of the game, both the tracks and cars themselves seem like they can be affected by a myriad of things as the race goes on, with elements like rolling pool balls and slippery cereal milk posing ever-changing hazards. The cartoony racer will feature several modes, including local multiplayer, time trials, and free exploration of each level. Tiny Tires currently has no set release date.

Information about all the games presented during the Wholesome Direct can be found on the Wholesome Games website.