Your cosy Saturday afternoon showcase has come and gone, and the Wholesome Direct 2023 was full of some lovely little surprises as part of this year's Summer Game Fest showcases.
Over 70 indie titles were shown off during the presentation, and plenty of them aren't just PC exclusive. We've got all of the Switch announcements from the showcase — including a few release dates for some Indie World titles.
Here's a list of every single game from Wholesome Direct 2023 that's coming to Switch.
Wholesome Direct 2023 - The full presentation
If you want to watch the complete hour-long showcase of cuddly cosiness, then you can do just that!
Every Switch Game Announcement & Update
Below is every single game coming to Switch. Some of these may be listed as "console", but we've included them below because we think they're bound to come to Switch.
Mineko's Night Market - 26th September 2023
"Play as Mineko, a curious girl who has just arrived at her new home on a struggling Japanese-inspired island at the base of Mount Fugu. The superstitious locals on the island worship the Sun Cat, Nikko. What was always thought to be a long-told myth has the town puzzled, as sightings of Nikko have begun to surface among the residents of the island in recent days."
Button City Soccer Days - Early 2024
"Excitement is brimming for the upcoming soccer tournament, and adorable fox Fennel is inspired to build a fluffy team with his best friends. Combine physics-based soccer matches with narrative gameplay, where weather, penalties, and injuries play a part in the storyline, and bring the Button City Soccer Club to victory!"
Frogsong - Coming Soon
"FROGSONG is a heartfelt adventure where it's okay to be small. Explore a lush world filled with strange frogs, vicious bugs, and towering plants on your journey to find your place in the world."
Moonstone Island - 2023
"Following your village's tradition, you must move to an island in the sky to complete your Alchemy training. Armed with a team of nature spirits, magical potions, and the support of your new friends, you'll explore ancient temples, dangerous dungeons, and hostile biomes to uncover the dark secret of Moonstone Island."
KarmaZoo - 2023
"Share the love and die trying! KarmaZoo is a joyful, altruistic, cooperative platformer where up to 10 random players help each other with the unique abilities of 50 different characters - all for the sake of good Karma."
Flutter Away - 3rd August 2023
"Leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but photos, kill nothing but time. Find peace amongst the rustling shrubbery and chirping creatures of the Amazon rainforest. Embark on a brief five-day camping trip as a butterfly researcher equipped with a notebook and camera, ready to document all of the adorable animals. Explore the winding paths of the jungle, photograph charming critters, befriend new pals, and journal everything along the way!"
A Little To The Left: Cupboards & Drawers DLC (27th June)
"Sort, stack, and organize household objects into particular arrangements in A Little to the Left “Cupboards & Drawers.” Prepare to clean out the cabinets and secret compartments of the home with even more charming illustrations, surprising scenarios, and 25 delightful new “Cupboards & Drawers”-themed puzzles to discover."
Smushi Come Home - Out now
"Smushi Come Home is a cozy exploration adventure game where you play as a tiny mushroom who's trying to get back home! Play as Smushi, who was taken from its home unexpectedly and dropped into the middle of the forest. Lost and confused, you must journey through different areas of the forest and find your way back with the help of your new tools and fellow forest creatures!"
Venba - 31st July 2023
"Venba is a narrative cooking game where you play as an Indian mom who immigrates to Canada with her family in the 1980s. Players will cook various dishes and restore lost recipes, hold branching conversations and explore in this story about family, love, loss and more."
Little Nemo and the Guardians of Slumberland - TBA
"Explore a dream world as the iconic Little Nemo, armed with toys, candy, and stuffed animals in this cute & colorful Metroidvania adventure. Experience NES-era platformer gameplay in a vast, non-linear world that has been hand-animated frame-by-frame, as you unlock new abilities to progress"
Garden Witch Life - TBA
"After losing your job you end up in a small town far away from home. As luck would have it you get to stay in a vacant witches house and start building your new life. Build your own garden, grow plants for your potions and spells and build friendships with the town's folk."
Grimoire Groves - TBA
"As a roguelite dungeon crawler, Grimoire Groves offers procedurally-generated levels, randomized treasures, and a lot of surprises. You'll need to be resourceful and adapt to your environment as you navigate the forest, grow plants, and gather powerful items and spells to aid you on your journey"
Halfway there! To save your poor browser, we've separated the second batch of trailer embeds onto a second page. Head there to find another 12 wholesome games...
Comments 26
I love wholesome games! Smushi come home looks really good I may get it!
Little Nemo, now there's a surprise. I still never got around to playing the original NES game.
I'm glad I watched Wholesome Direct 2023 last time.
Still there were a lot of cute games to play.
My choices from Wholesome Direct 2023:
Botany Manor
Flutter Away
Garden Witch Life
GardenBuddies
Go-Go Town
Little Friends: Puppy Island
Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life
Venba
While the Iron's Hot
Wylde Flowers
Hands down, the game I am most interested in from the Wholesome Direct is Kibu — from the creator of Omno, an absolute hidden gem of a 3D puzzle-platformer on Switch. Kibu hasn’t been confirmed for consoles yet (it’s early), but the developer has said he’ll do his best to shepherd the game onto as many platforms as possible. Fingers crossed it makes its way to Switch eventually!
This year's Wholesome Direct was the best yet! There was such a rich variety of games, which is wonderful to see in a space with way too many farming sims and life sims.
My only complaint is the fact Spirit Swap won't be releasing on Switch. The world needs more Panel De Pon!
So there’s a second Little Nemo game from a separate developer coming now? Very interesting. Hope Capcom announces they’ll put out the NES title, just to have us get a trio of titles for the series this year.
Curious about Mineko, Venba (Gamepass), and Smushi too, though I’m not certain I’ll actually buy anything from this Direct.
@Limberlost Thanks for recommending Omno. I didn't know it existed!
These kind of games are right up my street, I'll have a good look through these when I have more time :3
With a name like Wylde Flowers, all I can imagine is a romance visual novel a out Zakk Wylde running a flower show. And now I want that game.
Snuffkin! It's gonna be a treat! I still remember the Moomins anime, it was so calming and wholesome. One of the very few games that I'll look forward to this year. 3 days left and the hype is on!
A highland song looks promising, too, a creative idea is always good to look at.
Other than that, nothing to grab our attention, but those 2 are more than enough!
Happy
It really does seem that Switch is finally winding down.
There is a whole lot of "same'y" and way to familiar looking, playing, and feeling games and I feel it is getting near shovelware to get as many games out the door to the install base before Nintendo announces where we are going next. More and more it is seems that is coming sooner by the day.
@nitrolink You’re welcome! Hope you enjoy it if and when you get around to it.
My favorite games from this showcase are KarmaZoo, Smushi Come Home, Little Nemo, A Tiny Sticker Tale and A Wonderful Life, but great variety in general!
@msvt While I don't agree with the insinuation that wholesome games are shovelware, you are on the money when mentioning Switch entering its final stage.
Especially after the past week of directs and publisher presentations, it's clear that AAA and indie studios of all kinds have fully leaned in to Unreal 5 and the current high end consoles.
I'd say the writing is on the wall, but the writing is more like a flashing neon sign that says it's time for an upgrade.
I'm here for a little nemo and that frog song game looks cute AF.
This is a weak batch of games. Very derivative overall, though a few good ones.
we have to protect that caterpillar
a poll like this must be interesting for the devs to see, being put in a competition or stacked up against the rest shown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh08hJYuUsI you didn't include the monster tamer sports game? ah not announced or teased for switch
@msvt
I prefer the cozy games from Wholesome Directs with relaxing gameplay and cute design than the AAA games for adult audiences.
@Anti-Matter
I like relaxing games too.
How many are on your Switch right now? I have more than I count off the top of my head.... certainly more than enough of literally the same look, play, and feel of what is on offer here. And that is ok, I hope you love it. For me it reminds me of the last year of Wii, and that was dreadful and we are not far off from that by the looks of things, in my opinon.
Smushi Comes Home looks great, the rest don't interest me
"A roguelite dungeon crawler" doesn't sound cozy but it looks cozy, lol.
I remember an earlier article of Moonstone Island. Glad to see it pop up again. Interested in that and Flutter Away, A Highland Song. Good crop of wholesomes this year.
Don't sleep on Little Nemo and the Guardians of Slumberland. I backed the kickstarter last year and it's been awesome to follow along in the development.
You can play a demo on Steam for this week only and it feels and sounds great so far.
@ComfyAko Yeah, the '90s anime was the quintessential adaptation of the Moomin books, for me. Really stoked for the Snufkin game as well!
@Andee I absolutely loved it when I was a tiny kid. It was so well painted, so serene and just plain beautiful. I have the books ready with me, waiting to synergize with the game in the ultra comfortable weekend!
Sniff, Little My and Snorkmaiden were absolute units
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