Let’s rate the cuteness of the seven new game releases from Wholesome Games Celebration 2025

The Wholesome Games Celebration sale is back on Steam, running from August 7 to 14 and inviting the community to “experience a carefully curated selection of games that inspire hope, joy, and introspection.” And what inspires both hope and joy more than cute things, huh? So, let’s check out all seven of the new releases highlighted in the celebration (also on sale) and rank their cuteness on our completely made up system patented Blizzard Watch scale.

Gemporium (on sale for $7.99) is a cartoon mining sim — you’ve inherited your Grandmole’s shop (with its *cough* impressive debt) and balance your time between mining and refining gems to sell. Use the proceeds from your sales to upgrade your tools, shop, and home with the goal of bringing in increasingly more proceeds. If you’re looking for some calmer gameplay, enable the title’s Cozy Mode to turn off the daily timer entirely and just vibe your way through the game.

Nine polished pet rocks out of ten.

Now, MakeRoom (on sale for $8.99) is the first of two new releases that didn’t have a demo available on Steam to try out. That said, the sandbox building game looks pretty adorable, with soft-edged objects and a muted color palette. Follow the initial walkthrough’s guided design requests to learn the tools available to you, then go wild crafting interior layouts for design requests to discover more tools and furniture. It looks very chill and would probably be very popular among fans of the Sims franchise.

Nine soft pillows out of ten.

Whimside (on sale for $5.26) is a pretty unique cozy creature collector sim. Similar to our beloved Spirit City, Whimside fits in between your tasks, sitting at the bottom of your screen to keep you company during your day. Explore the world, collect the little Whimling critters, and use unique critter combinations to open additional biomes (sounds familiar). The design is very cute, but this is definitely not a title for the impatient.

Ten hatched Whimlings out of ten.

Ritual of Raven (on sale for $13.49) an LGBTQ+-friendly story-based farming sim… sort of. You are a newly-arrived apprentice magic worker, and you need herbs for your spells. However, you need to leverage your garden’s constructs to actually handle the farming parts. “Program” your constructs to plant, water, harvest, and more while you make friends and perform rituals. The artwork on this one is bright and precious.

Ten Arcana Constructs out of ten.

Is This Seat Taken? (on sale for $8.99) is a quirky logic puzzle game. You are organizing groups of “hilariously particular people,” arranging them optimally in the level’s setting based on their preferences and pet peeves. Match popcorn stealers with their popcorn eating buddy, stash cologne-wearing company away from those with sensitive sniffers, and more, in search for the perfect arrangement. The shapes are cute, and the gameplay is fun without feelings overly easy.

Eleven pleased character checkmarks out of ten.

While Paper Animal Adventure (on sale for $12.74) is the second title without a demo, its cuteness cannot be denied. Explore dungeons in this roguelike as one of the ten titular paper animals, trying to find the whereabouts of your village’s king. Search for stickers to build up passive upgrades and tackle bosses in their regular form and the harder “Rewind Run” version. The bright cheerful colors and simple, straightforward fun will not be denied.

Twelve paper pixel sprites out of ten.

Tiny Bookshop (on sale for $17.99) is an absolutely relaxed life sim, where you’re packed up in your wagon with a little trailer hitched that contains the titular tiny bookshop and made your way to the seaside town of Bookstonbury. Meet (and make friends with!) your patrons, provide solid recommendations from your stock to them (of actual book titles, no less), and decorate your little shop to suit both your style and buff your sales. The artwork is gentle and soothing, and the pressure (at least, in the demo) is nil.

Twelve literary genres out of ten.

Really, you can’t go wrong with any of these new titles, they’re delightful and you can try out five of them via demos in Steam. If it doesn’t land with you — no worries, you’ve got plenty of other options! And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some books to sell at the shore.