Sights & Sounds
- The game's visual aesthetic is a pleasing and cozy storybook style. I found the simplistic human designs to be a nice counterpoint to the interesting and diverse plants that eventually populate your shop
- There isn't much notable here by way of sound design. The music kinda forgettable, and there isn't any voice acting
Story & Vibes
- The story is the real draw in a game like this, and I'm happy to report that the plot here (and the way the player-character factors into it) is pretty good
- As a quick and spoiler-free synopsis: you inherit a horticulturalist's shop from your uncle in a fairly large town. As you build your business, you start to catch wind of unusual happenings in the surrounding lands. You quickly become a pivotal part of the story and how it plays out
- Being a game with multiple endings, the specifics of the story will be different depending on the choices you make over the narrative's 16 days
Playability & Replayability
- In terms of genre, it's a puzzle/adventure game with a sim-game façade. There aren't any actual sim elements, though. Managing your business mostly involves trying to give people the correct plant
- The game mostly takes place at either your desk or the map. While at your desk, you can tend to customers, read your mail, inspect/label/identify your plants, peruse your plant guide, solve your daily card puzzle, solve one of many other puzzles, or pet your cat. The map is usually just for traveling to find resources
- And you'll be doing quite a lot of traveling! Not in a meaningful sense, though. You just click on a square on the map's grid (usually guided by a puzzle solution or directed by a piece of mail) and read the result. This process is how you get all your fancy plants and the plant guide pages necessary to identify them
- The puzzles are almost entirely deduction and observation based, so read things carefully, pay close attention to what you see, and remember details from what characters tell you
- Given that the game is short and choices matter, I'll probably revisit this one in the future
Overall Impressions & Performance
- I was initially interested in the visual style of the game, but wound up being pretty very impressed by the story and pleased by the fact that you play a real part in it
- Although I played the whole thing on the Steam Deck, I think I'll do any future playthroughs on PC. Despite the game's always available magnifying glass, the text was still a bit small
Final Verdict
- 8/10. If you like cozy games with a narrative focus and moderately strenuous puzzle-solving, it's certainly worth a look
- The game's visual aesthetic is a pleasing and cozy storybook style. I found the simplistic human designs to be a nice counterpoint to the interesting and diverse plants that eventually populate your shop
- There isn't much notable here by way of sound design. The music kinda forgettable, and there isn't any voice acting
Story & Vibes
- The story is the real draw in a game like this, and I'm happy to report that the plot here (and the way the player-character factors into it) is pretty good
- As a quick and spoiler-free synopsis: you inherit a horticulturalist's shop from your uncle in a fairly large town. As you build your business, you start to catch wind of unusual happenings in the surrounding lands. You quickly become a pivotal part of the story and how it plays out
- Being a game with multiple endings, the specifics of the story will be different depending on the choices you make over the narrative's 16 days
Playability & Replayability
- In terms of genre, it's a puzzle/adventure game with a sim-game façade. There aren't any actual sim elements, though. Managing your business mostly involves trying to give people the correct plant
- The game mostly takes place at either your desk or the map. While at your desk, you can tend to customers, read your mail, inspect/label/identify your plants, peruse your plant guide, solve your daily card puzzle, solve one of many other puzzles, or pet your cat. The map is usually just for traveling to find resources
- And you'll be doing quite a lot of traveling! Not in a meaningful sense, though. You just click on a square on the map's grid (usually guided by a puzzle solution or directed by a piece of mail) and read the result. This process is how you get all your fancy plants and the plant guide pages necessary to identify them
- The puzzles are almost entirely deduction and observation based, so read things carefully, pay close attention to what you see, and remember details from what characters tell you
- Given that the game is short and choices matter, I'll probably revisit this one in the future
Overall Impressions & Performance
- I was initially interested in the visual style of the game, but wound up being pretty very impressed by the story and pleased by the fact that you play a real part in it
- Although I played the whole thing on the Steam Deck, I think I'll do any future playthroughs on PC. Despite the game's always available magnifying glass, the text was still a bit small
Final Verdict
- 8/10. If you like cozy games with a narrative focus and moderately strenuous puzzle-solving, it's certainly worth a look