An excellent game. It's a great example of crafted game-making. The art and sound design are well suited to the game, and whilst the UI does get a touch cluttered, and some movement is clunky it hangs together very well. Text size could be bigger - playing on the Steam Deck via a TV required frequent use of the magnifying glass. The puzzles are quite varied and rarely too difficult. The immersion is pretty much there, with just a few unanswered questions. My only criticism really is that as the game progresses your botanical knowledge increases and some puzzles require reading through this data which takes more time as the game progresses. There are a couple of issues with the gameplay loop (in one case having to remember the previous day, which in my playthrough was five real-world days earlier, in another case getting to the ending without realising I'd missed something leading to frustration).

The narrative works, which is something I find far too uncommon in video games. It's simple, branches a few times, and you lack much in the way of agency but the yarn does add to the immersion, as does the map.

Overall, it's well worth the asking price and well worth the six or seven hours it takes to complete a run. I can certainly recommend it.

Reviewed on Jul 06, 2023


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