Wholsome Direct surprise game releases

pocket-lint.com:

During today's Wholesome Direct stream, four brand-new indie titles were shadow-dropped live during the stream. These four games include Tracks of Thought, POOOOL, The Place on the Hill, and Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge.

The Wholesome Direct featured over 70 indie games during the showcase that all evoke that warm and cozy feeling typically associated with farming/life sims, puzzle games, and any game that has a more relaxed tone with calming music and an appealing art style. Some popular examples include Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, and A Short Hike. The event began in 2020 and has been featuring 50 or more titles each year to spread awareness and excitement for these smaller projects that can't afford the massive marketing budgets of bigger teams and publishers. While many of the games shown off this year launched Steam demos as part of their showings, only four are available in full right now.

First, Tracks of Thought is described as a «card-based talk-em-up» and looks to be exactly that. You play as a cute little ladybug in a world populated by bugs during her commute on a train. After going through a tunnel, however, everyone onboard forgets something important to them. You will interact and talk with all the passengers using different cards to determine how you approach them. Options like direct, creative, and sensitive are available to not only resolve conflicts by understanding and empathizing with others, but also shape your character's personality.

POOOOL is a creative take on the classic billiards game. This puzzler will ask you to use the physics of pool to try and combine balls of the same size and color to combine into bigger balls for a bigger score. If the table fills up, the game ends so you need to pick your shots carefully to get the high score.

The Place on the Hill already had a prologue released so management sim fans already have been singing its praises. This watercolor-esque game is set in a fictional region of rural India during the 90s