Here’s a game that aims less for the spooky side of things, and more towards just being a cute little witch game! In fact, if you remember the Diner Dash franchise, which I played obsessively as a teen, Tiny Witch feels remarkably similar. Except, instead of food, you’re serving up magical minions!
In Tiny Witch, you play as an adorably tiny witch. You’ve been left in charge of a magic wizard shop in a town full of dungeon masters. Your job is to serve customers what they ask for in a timely manner. Mix resources in the pounder and boil them in the cauldron. Then, create minions by mixing the magical resources on your alchemy table. Deliver the requested minions to each customer or face their temper!
As you play Tiny Witch, you’ll gain the chance to purchase new ingredients, as well as upgrades for your shop. Upgrade your pounder and cauldron for better efficiency. There’s even a wrapping stage where you can buy decorations, pets, and new work tables to spice up your shop!
You can find Tiny Witch on Steam now!
Rolling Hills is another fun time management game!
There are no enemies. There are no quests. Wilderless is just about relaxing exploration in a beautiful, procedurally generated open-world environment. Sit in fields of flowers and enjoy the rolling hills. Hike to the mountains to revel in fantastic sunsets and glorious views. Journey to the tundra to find beautiful frozen lakes. Or go somewhere completely different. It’s all up to you, and you’ll have control over different aspects in generating your world, including choosing the world seed.
Wilderless also offers a customizable character. Choose your hairstyle, clothing, hats, and more. Then, go out and explore the forests or go swimming. You could even shapeshift into a hawk, horse, bear, fox, and more to explore the wilds around you. Place shelters around the world, like the natural rock tent or the small house to set up a home for yourself. Or, ride a pirate ship and shoot off fireworks to light up the night sky. And while you’re exploring, spend time taking photos of your adventures. Wilderless features a dedicated Photomode with different effects, filters, and customizable options.
You can Wishlist Wilderless on Steam, ahead of its January 10th, 2023 release! You can also check out the other games from solo developer Protopop on their website.
For another wildlife adventure, check out Alba.
Button City is an adorable game created by a tiny indie game studio. The game focuses around a fox and his friends who work together to save their local arcade. The cute as a button look, adorable animal friends and a promising gameplay make Button City an indie title you will want to keep your eyes on.
The plot of the game is unusual and had me wanting to know more about the game in an instant. Button City fulfills all the criteria of a promising indie title, beautiful and colorful graphics, even cuter characters to meet and interact with, as well as lots of stuff to do and most importantly, two developers passionate about their project.
The Switch has long been the best platform to enjoy adorable games and Button City is sure coming to the Nintendo eShop. The developers revealed that the game will hit the eShop on August 10th!
To celebrate the occasion check out an all new gameplay trailer below.
Run your own sushi restaurant set inside a village much like in Animal Crossing, serve adorable villagers and enjoy the town life – take a look at Rolling Hills here!
Garden Story is an upcoming social sim adventure RPG. With an emphasis on helping the residents of a broken island, this game is undoubtedly wholesome. The game is being developed by Picogram and published by Rose City Games and VIZ Media.
The planned release window for the game is currently Spring 2020, although no official date has been given. The game will be released for Microsoft Windows, MacOS and Macintosh operating systems. An official price is yet to be announced.
Players assume the role of Concord, who is a recently appointed village guardian. However, you will definitely be kept on your toes. Whether it be neighbours requiring assistance, or the sudden appearance of a strange rot that has seeped into the foundations of the once thriving island, Concord has his work cut out. Fortunately, he is not alone.
If you help friends with their problems, they’ll help you with yours. Care for the environment, explore new regions, solve puzzles, make new friends, and ultimately, help restore the grove to its former glory.
You can visit the game’s website here. Alternatively, you can check out their Twitter account here.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is an upcoming social simulation game where you play as a human character living on a deserted island amongst anthropomorphic animals. Players can shop, socialise with the animals, and participate in activites such as fishing, catching bugs, gardening and decorating. Nintendo are both the developers and publishers of the game. Therefore it’s understandable that the game will only be released on Nintendo Switch. The game is set to release on March 20th 2020, and will retail for $59.99
Tom Nook is ‘switching’ things up with a new business venture. This business venture is his exclusive Nook Inc. Deserted Island Getaway Package. Naturally, the Tanuki isn’t offering this for free. When you have landed on the island, you also find yourself landed with debt (yet again) by the tiresome tanuki.
Like in previous games of the franchise, players can participate in activities such as gardening, fishing, decorating, and interacting with a variety of NPCs (both old and new), etc. However, the game will also offer some new features. Examples include, collecting resources, crafting furniture and tools, new ways to interact with trees and flowers, more diversity in skin tones, outdoor stair, more multiplayer options, the handy ability to pole vault rivers etc.
Then of course there’s the tiny details that Animal Crossing fans quickly picked up on. These include, shirts with sleeves for villagers, overally realistic kneecaps for players’ characters, toe beans, and even shoelaces..
Mineko’s Night Market is an upcoming cat-themed crafting adventure game that celebrates Japanese culture. The game is essentially about friendship, choices, and of course, cats. The indie game is being developed by Meowza Games, and being published by Humble Bundle. The game will be released on a multitude of different platforms including Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Macintosh operating systems.The exact release date for the game is yet to be determined. However, the game’s official Steam page says that the game will be release in 2020. Fingers (and paws) crossed! ?
Playing as Mineko, a girl who has moved to a superstitious fishing town inundated with cats, you will uncover secrets whilst assisting Mineko in becoming a successful young entrepreneur. This can be done by completing tasks, undertaking quests and gathering resources in preparation for the weekly night market.
Players can craft a variety of odd items, toys, and trinkets, which can then be sold to townsfolk (who are now your customers) at Mineko’s night market stall. After you’ve finished selling your items, you can explore the Night Market yourself, where you can play mini-games, eat unusual foods, and purchase collectibles.
The game allows you to explore distant lands by unlocking different types of transport (which include buses, bullet trains and cat carts). Each land offers new people to meet and unique things to do, dependent on the time of day and season.
There are 16 uniquely themed markets every year which all feature a stage event that you can partake in. Examples of events include Taiko drumming, karaoke competitions, sumo suit wrestling, and more!
The better you perform at the market, the bigger and better the market will become, which may well attract new townsfolk and even celebrity guests!
For more information regarding the game, check out this interview with one of the lead creators of the game here. You can also visit the game’s website here.
To bag some awesome game merchandise, click here.
Ooblets is now out on Xbox One and PC – more info right here.
Ooblets is an upcoming indie game that combines features of popular game franchises such as Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon and Pokemon. Initially, the game was going to be published by Double Fine. Ooblets will now however be developed and self-published by the game’s two main devs, who created a tiny game studio called Glumberland in order to do this.
According to the game’s latest Devlog, Ooblets will release this year, although no definitive date has been specified. It has also been confirmed that the game will release on PC and Xbox One. The price of the game has not yet been revealed.
Ooblets is essentially a game where players have to balance farm life, town life, and the unexpected pressure of having to deal with numerous different Ooblets. On the plus side, you get the experience of helping to grow and train your ooblets, explore strange lands, and have dance-offs!
Lots of awesome Ooblets merchandise can be grabbed here.
For more information about Ooblets, you can visit the Ooblets website here where developers regularly post updates in their devlogs. You can also follow Ooblets on Twitter and Facebook.
Rolling Hills is a life sim game where players run their own sushi restaurant in a town filled with anthropomorphic animals. The game is being both developed and published by Catch & Release, LLC. No definitive release date has been given, but developers are pushing for a 2020 release. It willl initially only be released on PC via Steam, but there is the possibility of the game being released on other consoles also.
Rolling Hills is a life sim game where you get given your very own sushi restauraunt in a small village. This restaurant has been offered for free by inhabitants of the village. The only catch is that you help to rebuild their town. Players will have their work cut out. When not occupied with the sushi shop, you also need to rebuild the town as promised and improve the lives of your neighbours. On the plus side, you’ll make friends along the way. If you’re lucky, you’ll also attract some new villagers.
Make your restaurant successful by collecting different recipes and buying ingredients. You can then use your profits to profit the town. Watch your town improve and better the lives of townsfolk, customers and yourself through the actions you make.
You can follow the progress of Rolling hills on Twitter here.
Hokko Life is an upcoming cute and cozy village life simulation game. The game is being both developed and published by indie game developer Robert Tatnell. Hokko life will be released for PC via Steam at some point this year. The cost of the game is not yet known.
Hokko Life begins with your player stepping off of a train. Having taken over your very own (albeit a little dusty and old) workshop, you are free to craft and create to your heart’s content.
The quiet village which you now call home needs your expertise. Help tocreate an endearing town for those who live there. Armed with paint and tools, design, build and decorate new homes for your new friends.
Players are able to craft materials and combine them however they wish. This allows you to create new and amazing furniture and items for the town. By collecting flowers and mixing paints, you can then use them to design wallpapers, flooring and even clothing.
With plenty of choice, you could design a bright flowery wallpaper set, or instead opt to create an urban-industrial furniture collection. Whatever your taste, with a workshop at hand, you have complete freedom when designing a town for the villagers.
Click here to check out an exclusive interview with the game’s solo developer.
You can visit the game’s website here.
Developed by Peachy Keen Games and published by Whitethorn Digital. Calico is a magical, relaxed and family-friendly simulation game where players are given an opportunity to run their very own cat cafe. The game is expected to be released on Steam at some point during Summer 2020. The game will most likely release on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and MacOS shortly afterwards.
Calico came about due to the game developer’s obsession with cats, magical girls and fluffy animals. However, wanting to create a game that would appeal to everyone, she also included creatures such as lizards, birds, deer, raccoons, dogs, turtles, red pandas, foxes, etc.
She then shares about how she wanted to publish a game that would make players feel ‘soft, happy, cuddly and cozy’. If that wasn’t wholesome enough, she has said in an interview that she just wanted to create a game where the only goal is to have the best time possble.
However, simply running the cat cafe is not the only things that players can do. The game also incorporates enjoyable aspects from other popular gaming franchises such as Animal Crossing. Similarities between Calico and Animal Crossing include the simulation aspects of both games, and the ability to place furnitire and decorations in your buildings. A perk about Calico however, is that the animals will not leave, the shop never closes, and crops never die.
Little Witch in The Woods is an upcoming life simulation RPG. The game is currently in development by Sunny Side Up Games. No official release date has been given, but the developers are aiming for fall of 2020. They plan to release the game on Steam, and are hoping to release the game on Nintendo Switch and PS4.
Little Witch in the Woods is an adorable fantasy RPG. You play as a super cute witch named Ellie. Close to graduating from witch school and becoming true witch, Ellie must experience the life of a witch as an apprentice. This involves moving to a new town and living in a witch’s house in a forest. Upon arriving to the town however, she is inevitably disappointed to find the in a state of disrepair, and a town which is virtually empty.
As the school is grading how well Ellie completes various tasks, she must explore the mysterious and magical region to gather the ingredients necessary for her potions. These potions can be used in other ways in the game too. Many of the ingredients can be acquired from obliging plants and creatures. The more rare ingredients can be obtained in the nearby village, where a curious bunch of NPC’s reside. By helping them out, they will reward you with ingredients, and some useful items as well.
Additionally, lending these characters a hand improves your relationship with them, and allows you to upgrade the small village. The game’s NPC’s, each with their own stories can sometimes move in or out of the village. It is possible to date these NPC’s, but they may not be human..
Check out an interview with the game’s developers here. You can follow the developers on Twitter here.
For more witch-y games, check out these ones.
You can also check out these upcoming magic school games and add them to your calendar.
Alchemic Cutie is a wholesome pixel-art-stylised RPG set on a colourful Island named Wimba, where you players can tame wild jellies. The game is in development by Vakio and Viridian Software, and will be published by CIRCLE Entertainment this summer. Alchemic Cutie will be released on itch.io. and Steam. A price has not yet been announced.
Set on Wimba island, players get to tame slime-like creatures called Jellies. There are over 4,000 visual styles for jellies, each with unique traits and statistics. Players will have to meet the needs of their Jellies, which inlcude hunger, energy and happiness. Raise the perfect jelly companions and you may be in with a chance of claiming the top prize in one of the game’s eight competitions. In order to improve your jelly’s abilities, you can use alchemy in order to create special items with various powerful affects or to change items into something more rare and powerful. When you’re all jellied out, you can explore the island and uncover its secrets. In the village you can chat with its inhabitants and choose whether to form friends, or if you’re so inclined, rivals.
If you would like to receive updates regarding the gaem, or share your modding creations after the game’s release, you can do so by signing up to the game’s ‘Cutie Club’ here.
Peaceful Days is a farming RPG simulation game reminiscent of Harvest Moon games. The indie game is being developed by Nhat Nguyen and published by Nhat Nguyen and Huiyin Studio. According to the game’s Steam page, Peaceful days is set to release for Microsoft Windows on August 31st 2020. It is currently priced at £7.19.
Heavily inspired by the Harvest Moon series, Peaceful Days is a farming simulation set in the attractive Aurora Town, which is located by the sea. Living up to its title, the game appears to be peaceful and wholesome. Players have the freedom of character customisation and farm customisation too! Players can build friendships with the town’s inhabitants, become an important addition to the small seaside town, and participate in a variety of interesting festivals. Additionally you are able to build your very own farm from scratch. In your spare time, you are free to discover fish that you have not yet caught, spend time in the mine to discover ores necessary to upgrade your tools, play minigames, solve puzzles plus more.
As of February 3rd, an early access version of Peaceful Days became available on Steam.
Before we reach the beginning of 2020, I’ve been taking a look back on all the games I have played and reviewed thus far. I’ve shared with you some of my favorite farming sims here and multiplayer games here., and have considered what other genres that I gravitate toward and that are the most wholesome. Today, I’ll be closing off the end of the year with a list of management/tycoon games that I’ve played the most in 2019. Whether it’s designing and managing a theme park, restaurant or clothing store, I just can’t get enough of creating and building, and making customers happy!
Megaquarium is ranked in my top 3 most hours played on my Nintendo Switch this year because it is one of those games I just want to perfect. Gaining more and more Prestige with your aquarium parks allows you to buy better tools, equipment, items and fish! I’ve even laid out some advanced tips for the game because you must strategize and manage the species in your tanks, as compatibility and visibility are key to success.
Planet Zoo released on Steam last month and the graphics and details are everything I’d hoped they’d be. It does have a steep learning curve and you need to have quite the level of creativity and imagination, but it may just be the tycoon game for you if you love in-depth management and design choices. Frontier Developments also hosts online challenges on a regular basis to keep things interesting.
I may be cheating a little by putting this one on my list because it released on PC in 2018, however there have been new DLCs this year (Close Encounters) and console versions will be coming in 2020. Once you have completed your main campaign goals in each level, you can still continue to reach 3 stars and watch the fruits of your labor. This cheeky hospital management game has unique illnesses, patients and treatments that make the gameplay just all the more fun.
If you’re looking for an adorable clothing management game that can be played in small doses but is also addictive, this is for you. You can place various stands/shelves and choose the style of clothing to stock, hire staff, decorate with fixtures, and more! This game was released a little while ago on mobile for under $5 which means there aren’t any micro-transactions. I’ve added this to my 2019 list because it is now available on the Nintendo eShop (since September) for only $12! Pocket Clothier is worth the price and a great game to play on-the-go.
There are so many other management games coming in the new year that have already been added to my wishlist and include the following: Mondo Museum (creators of Boyfriend Dungeon), Onsen Master, Rolling Hills, Creature Resort and more! Here’s to wishing you a Happy Gaming New Year!
I’m so excited every time I get to share updates with you on Critter Cove, a town-building and exploration game by Gentleman Rat. The main focus of this update, Devblog 8, is the increasing variety of player character customization and a look at the changing island to which you’ll be meeting plenty of interesting characters. Critter Cove is still in early development so things are still subject to change as they progress.
We got to see a video of the early character creation featuring a human character and a fox character. As the developers have mentioned previously, you’ll be able to swap limbs and heads with any other animal options and change their colors. The mechanics are now in place and we have a good sample size of all of the animal variations with a video below. Looks like you can be a mouse, an owl, an otter, a lemur, a dinosaur, a raccoon, a beaver, and everything all at once! The list is still growing so I can’t wait to see what’s next.
Previously, the town was barren and you had to build it up to make it great again. This is done by fulfilling requests from the villagers and befriending them. Villagers that will be going about their daily routines and reacting to things that you do and accomplish. The developers have decided to go another route with the town as it ” it looked and felt barren at the start.” Now all the buildings are already in place, however, they need major repairs. It’ll be a great way to know what you’ve fixed and how much work there’s left to do!
Next up, we get our first view of the interior of a shop run by an adorable raccoon critter. You’ll be able to physically view all of the shop items as they are and purchase them by walking up to and selecting them. Once purchased an item is sold out until it is restocked the next day. Shops can be upgraded to display more wares.
To follow along another town-building game, I recommend checking this one out here: Rolling Hills: What We Know About This Sushi Restaurant Management Game.
Described by the developers as “cooking manga meets monster-farming sim”, Sushi Wildlands is a game we want to keep track of! More seriously called a first-person, open world RPG, Sushi Wildlands is based on an original manga by the developers themselves. The game will be on Kickstarter soon! For now, you can keep track of the game developers via Twitter, Discord or Steam.
Could Sushi Wildlands be Shokugeki no Soma meets Slime Rancher?! It’s a cooking game and a farming simulation all in one! We could really get behind a crazy mash-up like that. You’ve inherited your beloved grandpa’s sushi shop and must defend it against the thug-like owner of a rival sushi shop. Your rival believes that expensive ingredients and dishes and setting make the sushi, but you believe it’s all about TASTE.
To prove yourself right, you will have to make your sushi shop a success. But you aren’t wealthy like your rival! So you’re going to have to roll up your sleeves and dive into the magical wildlands connected to your shop. There you can gather materials and capture ‘sushimon’ and construct a farm to keep them in. Sushimon appear to be bouncy little creatures that look like sentient rice balls. (We want some!) Your sushimon will then provide you with everything you need in Sushi Wildlands. Harvest them for all the awesome ingredients they can poop out! (Yes…literally. But at least that means we get to keep our rice ball buddies. No slaughtering the stock in Sushi Wildands!)
No specific date has yet been revealed for when Sushi Wildlands will head to Kickstarter, but we’ve got our eye on it now and will be sure to update you when it does!
If this post has given you a yen for sushi, satisfy your craving with games like Rolling Hills or The Sushi Spinnery.
Garden Paws is a multiplayer RPG simulation game developed by indie team Bitten Toast Games. Grow plants, run your shop, tame animals, rebuild the town, go spelunking in the caves and more in this relaxing and unbearably cute game. The game was released early in 2018 on Steam here but is currently still in development. You can also play a shorter free demo here. The demo has a limited amount of quests that result in 2-4 hours of questing gameplay, but you can continue exploring the world and running your shop past that. Garden Paws will be set to officially launch in December 2019 on the Nintendo Switch and PC.
In Garden Paws you have inherited your grandparents farm as they set off to travel the world. Work with Frank at the local construction shop to finish off the final touches on your new home. Aid Frank and Mayor Wilson in building up the town so it can reach its full potential.
To build up the town you need coins, what better way to earn those then by running a shop! Explore the islands and its caves to collect everything from flowers to poop to sell in your shop. Over time and with each building built, new townsfolk sail to the island with new items for purchase and quests to complete.
For more information on this game you can check out the official website here. If you love town-building and adorable animal villagers, check out our article on Rolling Hills.