After Rusty's Retirement blew up in popularity, Steam seemingly got flooded with an influx of idle games that chug along at the bottom of your screen. We got an idle game about a lonely frog. We got one that kind of reheats The Sims' nachos. Heck, we even got a Steam Fest dedicated to the growing subgenre, and now, we have an idle creature collectathon.
Developer Toadzillart is pretty open about where the influence for the upcoming Whimside came from, too, writing that it's a "Pokemon-inspired creature collector game" in a recent social media post, while also trying to court playtesters. "No experience needed - just request access on the Steam page and let us know if you find any bugs!"
You can request access to playtest Whimside on Steam where it's also got a free demo.
The gist of the game is that it sits at the bottom of your desktop (like other idle sims) while you occasionally poke your head in to pick up new creatures (like Pokemon). As you discover more new species, you'll also unlock new biomes and decorations so you can customize a playground or garden or bedroom, let's say, for your off-brand Mon.
The other super cool feature is essentially Pokemon eugenics. Instead of simply breeding new creatures, you can "fuse two Whimlings into a whole new creature" and the game apparently procedurally generates new species for "every unique combination." I'm excited to see how absurd the combos get.
Even though the game's designed to be idle while you work or play or chill, I'm still worried it'll put a fat dent in my productivity, mainly because Whimside is borrowing another major Poke-Feature: Shiny Creatures that are super rare and super colorful, so why wouldn't I devote hours to catching them?
There's no release date yet on this one, though its Steam page predicts it'll be out sometime later this year.
Why not check out some other upcoming indie games of 2025 to wishlist?
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