As part of the Summer Games Fest and IGN’s Summer of Gaming, a “Wholesome Direct” was conducted, including 100 game trailers centered around “wholesome games.”
Wholesome Direct 2022 titles
Many titles were confirmed to be coming to Switch, as well as current systems in general, during this direct. This contains games from well-known Indie creators like Playtonic’s Lil’ Gator Game, as well as some fascinating newbies like Cuddling Raccoons Studio’s Paper Mario-inspired Paper Animal RPG.
There were also fresh teasers and updates for previously announced Switch titles like Ooblets and Cassette Beasts.
About Wholesome Games
Wholesome Games is a Twitter group that emerged when independent game creator Matthew Taylor began selecting games based on his sense of warmth, compassion, and coziness. The group has now expanded to over 500k members across Twitter, Discord, TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram.
Why?
One of Wholesome Games’ aims is to influence the way we think about which games are regarded seriously. For many years, the most highly praised games were those with the darkest themes and grimmest representations of reality, but there is also a whole universe of optimistic video games with deep stories, inventive gameplay, and gorgeous graphics and music. We want to be a part of demonstrating the variety of experiences that games can provide to gamers.
What defines a “wholesome” game?
That is all up to you! It’s subjective, and we’re not going to pretend otherwise. Something we’ve always tried to keep in mind is that what seems healthful to one individual may not appear wholesome to another.
Is it healthy if a game is nice and comfortable but includes damaging stereotypes? No, we say! Is it unwholesome if a game is violent, yet the violence is aimed towards toppling an oppressor? No, we say! Our curation’s thoughts are simply that: opinions from one group.
The topic of what makes a game wholesome comes up often in our community, and although common themes occasionally emerge from such discussions, we believe it devalues the dialogue to claim that there will ever be a thorough definitive solution.
