With Steam’s Wholesome Games Celebration happening this month, it’s the perfect time to check out some wholesome games. It’s a big month for some well-known wholesome titles: Fields of Mistria and Starsand Island are entering 1.0, while Is This Seat Taken? is celebrating its first anniversary with the announcement of a YouTooz collaboration. However, there are also plenty of hidden gems to check out this summer too! Here are some of our favorite lesser-known wholesome titles to grab on Steam if you’re looking for a new addition to your cozy collection:
Capy Castaway
Wholesome gaming is in its capyb-era right now – these adorable critters have taken center stage in a number of titles in recent years. Capy Castaway, released on August 6, is a cozy exploration-focused title where a young capybara and a crow team up to discover the secrets of a mysterious island. Along the way, you’ll solve puzzles, help animals, make new friends, and play at your own pace alongside utterly adorable critters. The game’s bright, colorful art style makes you feel like you’re enjoying a relaxing island vacation with your new capybara pal. You can even team up with a friend for some co-op wholesome adventuring!
Map Map – A Game About Maps
Subtitled “a game about maps,” Map Map takes a common but often overlooked element of gaming – creating and filling out a world map – and makes it the center of its gameplay. In Map Map, you play as a cartographer working alongside a group of treasure hunters. As you travel, it’s your job to explore the area, take photographs, and create the maps that will ultimately lead you to the treasure you seek. The game utilizes real-life cartography tools and skills to help you really feel like a master mapmaker in this beautiful, hand-drawn wholesome title!
Scriptorium: Master of Manuscripts
Collector’s Cove
A farming sim with a twist, Collector’s Cove sees players manage their very own “floating farm” aboard a boat that travels between many different islands! Different islands feature different resources to collect and puzzles to solve, and of course unlock new crops that you can grow aboard your tranquil floating paradise. This is the kind of game that you can easily lose track of time playing, with “just one more island” easily turning into several hours. Plus, did you know that you can customize the adorable floating creature who steers your ship, including unlocking some very stylish sunglasses and hats for them to wear?
ReStory: Chill Electronics Repairs
A lot of wholesome games feature a vintage aesthetic that invokes nostalgia in players. ReStory: Chill Electronics Repairs is definitely one such title. Players take on the role of the owner of an electronics repair shop in mid-2000s Tokyo, where they will fix everything from game consoles to cell phones for a wide variety of customers. The extremely satisfying gameplay centers around disassembling, cleaning, repairing, and sometimes even improving a variety of familiar electronics. Most players will definitely recognize a gadget or two – or several – that they or their family might have owned in the past! And the “Story” in the game’s title is no accident, as this is not just a chill repair simulator; ReStory features a fun and intriguing storyline about just how repairing these nostalgic items can impact customers’ lives!
Flock Around
While playing a cozy game by yourself can be fun, there’s nothing better than a wholesome gaming session with some friends! Flock Around is a co-op cozy birdwatching title that lets you explore a gorgeous nature sanctuary at a relaxed pace, with no worry about rapid timers or tight deadlines. Team up with your friends to photograph a variety of common and rare birds. Try your best to encounter the birds in new poses and take high-quality pictures. You’ll get more points if your birds are clear and centered! Plus, you can spend the points you earn taking photos on hats and other fun accessories for your avatars. Don’t worry – you can snap a pic or two of your friends as well if the mood strikes you!
Pikuniku
While this list mostly focuses on newer wholesome games, it’s time to highlight a classic title! First released in 2019, Pikuniku is one of those games that defies description. What starts as a simple tale of protagonist Piku exploring a colorful world turns into a surprisingly epic story about working together to protect one’s home and the danger that comes from seeking perfection. Plus, there’s a co-op mode where two players can work together to solve puzzles as the titular Piku and Niku. A sequel, Pikuniku 2, is currently in development and planned for a 2027 release date, so now is the perfect time to pick up Pikuniku and give it a try!
Squeakross: Home Squeak Home
Squeakross: Home Squeak Home combines nonogram puzzles – often referred to as “Picross” puzzles – with decorating to create the ultimate cozy experience. You must complete a variety of puzzles, which you can then transform into furniture and accessories to decorate the home of an absolutely adorable little mouse. As of August 2026, there are over 100 decorations for you to collect, and the game has received multiple free content updates adding even more since its launch in 2025. Plus, during the Wholesome Celebration, you can purchase Squeakross as part of a bundle with developer Alblune’s other cozy title, The Spirit and the Mouse.
Momento
Momento may not be as much of a hidden gem as others on this list – it gained attention for shadow-dropping almost immediately after the June 2026 Wholesome Direct. However, we had to include it on this list for one big reason: many wholesome gamers may NOT know that this relaxing room decorator got a huge update as part of the Wholesome Games Celebration this August! Entitled “Realities,” this update adds alternate versions of the game’s first three rooms as well as major changes to Creative Mode and tons of new puzzles to complete. If you haven’t checked out Momento, a game that tells a beautiful story of a life lived through important objects, now is the perfect time to do so!
Nippets
Hidden object games are a subset of wholesome games that often don’t get nearly enough attention. They’re relaxing, addictive, and exactly the kind of game that you can sink hours into without even realizing you’ve done so. One particularly lovely hidden object title is Nippets, which sets itself apart by its focus on observing the lives of the people in the scenes it presents – you can even learn some of their secrets if you know exactly where to look! Nippets also mixes hidden object and puzzle games by including some objects that need to be returned to their proper owners!
What games will you be picking up during Steam’s Wholesome Celebration this summer? Comment below and let us know!
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