Here Are The Six New Games I’m Most Excited For After Wholesome Snack 2025

The biggest gaming event this week is The Game Awards, but in the leadup to the show, a handful of other showcases are giving space to lesser-known indie games. December 9 marks the Wholesome Snack show, an indie showcase from Wholesome Games focusing on cute and cozy games across multiple genres. There’s plenty see to at the showcase itself, from RPGs to puzzle games. We’ve rounded up our favorites here, including a handful you can play right now.

Here are the six best games from Wholesome Snack 2025 we’re keeping an eye on, from a typing game sequel to an adventure set in an alternate Germany.

beetle: be right back

Typing games have been around for a very long time, but that doesn’t mean they have to feel outdated. Developer Paul and Viv showed off a new trailer for beetle: be right back!, a typing adventure about an adorable alligator searching for their lost beetle pal and sequel to popular Itch.io game beetle. Rather than spelling out random words like in most typing games, in beetle: be right back, the words you use actually correspond to your adventure as you wander the word meeting quirky animal characters. To get a small taste of what’s in store, you can check out the original beetle for free on Itch.io.

Bits and Bops

Bits and Bops is a rhythm minigame collection in the vein of Elite Beat Agents and Melatonin, where your inputs are timed to cute animated sequences rather than Guitar Hero-style notes. The full game has more than 20 minigames to play, just a few of which are shown off in its new trailer, which also offers a preview of its catchy, upbeat music. If you like the sound of Bits and Bops, you don’t have to wait long (or at all) to play it, as it’s launching alongside its appearance at the show.

CatchMaker

What if creature collecting games like Pokémon and Kabuto Park are just missing a little romance? Set on a serene island full of untouched wilderness, CatchMaker is a bug-catching game full of different critters you’ll have to study in the wild to determine the best way to catch them. And rather than pitting them against each other in duels, your ultimate goal is to set up the perfect date. Pairing up two bugs lets you observe how they get along, learning their preferences on date after date until you find their perfect match.

Mirage: Miracle Quest

Despite its cheerful looks, Mirage: Miracle Quest isn’t messing around. The game’s story quickly veers into uncovering the darker elements of its vibrant hand-drawn world, and its turn-based combat puts your party of animal allies in peril with challenging encounters from the jump. Mirage: Miracle Quest uses card decks to store your abilities, adding some randomness and customization to battles, while letting you drain your own health for more powerful attacks. The game’s first demo just launched on Steam, giving an early look at what’s immediately become an RPG to keep your eye on.

Pandemonium! Merge

A new take on matching puzzles, Pandemonium! Merge mixes Suika-style merging gameplay with cooking mechanics in one chaotic package. Toss ingredients into a pan over a campfire, and when two of the same meet up, they merge into something bigger. Pandemonium! Merge builds on the physics-based puzzle genre by adding the extra challenge of keeping everything in the pan, like an unexpectedly cute version of last year’s fantastic Arctic Eggs. A demo dropped alongside the showcase, so you can try it out now on Steam.

Verdant

One of the most mysterious games at the show, Verdant is set in a world that mixes post-apocalyptic and retro-futurist aesthetics. Set in an alternate history version of Germany, Verdant is a low-key adventure that sets you off on a journey on your motorbike to explore the world and piece together its history. With shades of exploration games like Season and Caravan SandWitch, Verdant is a gorgeous-looking game.