Heartwarming and soothing – Wholesome Games Part Two

In my first article on wholesome games, I already mentioned a few of the great classics and explained some lesser-known titles in more detail. Of course, there are many more video games that feel like a warm blanket and a hot cup of tea for the soul. That’s why it’s time for a second round of wholesome games.

I don’t think I need to say too much more about wholesome games themselves. They now have a firm foothold in the gaming industry, and new representatives are constantly coming to light.

I think it’s great that it’s not just the big developments that appear on Steam or in the Sony and Nintendo shops, but also indie and even homebrew developers who are getting involved and developing games for NES or Game Boy.

However, this article focuses on the more prominent games for now. Perhaps a third article will then turn to the homebrew developments mentioned above. We will see what the future brings.

Unpacking (Witch Beam, 2021)

The title promises exactly what the game delivers: you unpack. Sometimes it’s the children’s room, sometimes the bathroom, and sometimes the living room, depending on which phase of the game you are currently in. Because it always involves some kind of move or relocation after a life event.

This means you always find a furnished room with a few moving boxes waiting to be unpacked. However, the game does not rely too heavily on puzzle elements (which object goes where), but leaves plenty of room for players to create their own version of each room. This also increases the replay value.

Despite all its charm, Unpacking also awakens a certain longing, at least in me. Because you often lose yourself in the furnishings of the room you are in, and when you look back at the real world, perhaps even in the room you are currently in, a certain need for change spreads.

Graveyard Keeper (Lazy Bear Games, 2018)

Graveyard Keeper is often described as Stardew Valley (ConcernedApe, 2016) with corpses, and there is certainly some truth in that. You also have a village with many inhabitants whose needs you have to take care of. You can grow vegetables and there is also a dungeon.

The big difference is a slightly darker setting, which is subtly offset by a healthy dose of humour. Another difference, as the title suggests, is that you have to take care of a graveyard and a church.

All this offers plenty of space to relax, because there is no time pressure, even if the game may suggest otherwise. Although you are required to complete various tasks at the same time, you can also do them one after the other. This allows you to fully immerse yourself in the game and, yes, you will certainly find a little peace and quiet in the morbid atmosphere.

But Graveyard Keeper offers much more thanks to its numerous DLCs, and if you want to play them, you should definitely play them all and not just choose one or two DLCs, because otherwise the game might no longer be well balanced.

It may be the most unusual candidate on this list, but it is certainly not one that needs to hide behind the others.

RPGolf Legends (ArticNet, 2022)

Imagine there is a game that is very similar to The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Nintendo, 1992). However, instead of rescuing the princess and freeing the land from evil, it is about golf.

Yes, exactly, golf is the central theme here. You don’t swing a sword, you swing a golf club. You have to liberate lands by playing golf. However, the classic RPG elements have been retained.

It still feels like an RPG! You can reach higher levels, upgrade your equipment, and of course there are lots of NPCs you can interact with to learn more about the world, and of course you can also travel.

Of course, there is also a corresponding story to all of this, which brings the aforementioned elements together in a very beautiful way. I won’t give anything away, but suffice it to say that it’s worth having a look, even if it may sound like a wild mix. The creators have managed to package all of this into a truly successful game that is not only a lot of fun, but also exudes the tranquillity of a wholesome game.

The Ramp (Paul Schnepf, 2021)

There are now quite a few skateboarding games available, and not just those featuring Tony Hawk. But what if you find them all a bit too wild, complicated and big? That’s where The Ramp comes in!

The Ramp is certainly not one of the skate games mentioned above, as it takes the core mechanics of these games and reduces them to a minimum. No big cities, parks or anything like that. Just you, a ramp, bowl or pool, a few smooth hip-hop beats, and you’re ready to go.

From a bird’s eye view or isometric perspective, you can skate freely through the individual levels without any pressure or expectations. The ramps and pools are also very minimalistic, and there are virtually no other scenarios in the environment. There are no points, either; it’s just about you and skating.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re good or bad at these kinds of games, it’s just fun to try your hand at them and lose yourself to the gentle hip-hop beats. Ideal for unwinding!

inbento (After Burn, 2019)

As a cat mum, you naturally have to make sure that your little kittens always get the right food. And of course, we all know that cats love a good, tasty bento box more than anything else.

And that’s the setting for inbento. But of course, our kittens are picky, and a bento box is usually a little work of art. That’s why everything has to be in its exact place, and that’s where the core mechanic of the game comes in: puzzling.

As the level increases, the ingredients become more complex, and so we sometimes create real works of art and, of course, always have to make sure that everything is in the right place. This is sometimes not so easy and can be quite challenging.

However, the appealing setting and atmosphere ensure that this never degenerates into stress and offers enough scope to simply switch off for a while.

Fazit

This list is certainly somewhat unusual and includes wholesome games that one would not immediately classify in this category. However, with some games, this classification only becomes apparent at second glance, and that is absolutely nothing bad, quite the contrary.

This shows that wholesome games may be simple, but they still have many different facets to discover, as I mentioned in the first part. They are more complex than one might think and are not just quiet, calm and more in the background.

And that’s exactly what makes this genre – yes, for me, wholesome games are now a genre in their own right – so interesting. There’s always something to discover, even in places you might not expect to look for it. Graveyard Keeper springs to mind.

So have a look in your games box, whether it’s on the shelf or in your Steam library, and who knows, maybe you have more wholesome games in your collection at home than you think.