There are some games which are difficult for me to sum up, but Garden Story is not one of them. It's classic Zelda with Stardew Valley chores and Cave Story-esque aesthetics, and from start to finish my impression never deviated: it's cozy, relaxing, and welcoming.
What I find most refreshing about Garden Story is that it tells the story of the Hero's Journey is a way quite unlike most other RPGs; the catalyst for the journey is not the death of your parents, the destruction of your village, or exile or abandonment. Instead, the main character is chosen to become a Guardian who protects and assists the inhabitants of the Grove. And as you travel to various settlements within the grove, some of which are insular and unwelcoming, all of which are wrestling with their own struggles, you not only help them with their problems but also help them reconnect with old friends, heal old wounds, and lighten old baggage. This is a Hero's Journey that quite atypically happens entirely while the hero is firmly rooted in their community. And viewed through that lens, the tedious daily chores that feel like busywork and filler make thematic sense! I totally understand if that's not your thing, but it's very apt to have a big part of the playtime be running errands for your community, because they are you first and primary duty as a Guardian, and also because a stronger community makes you stronger as well (quite literally, as the available shop upgrades are tied to how many tasks you are able to complete).
The dev team crafted a really colorful world here. There's a lot of cool lore and worldbuilding - even though some of it is communicated a little clunkily - and each little town you visit has its own unique personality and its own little cast of memorable characters. And despite the general cozy pleasant vibe of the aesthetic and (very good!) music, there's a melancholic undercurrent to it all. Things in the Grove are slowly falling apart, and the different ways that each individual and each community reacts to this lend the narrative a subtle sense of depth. And while I really don't want to spoil it, I think the final boss of the game is probably one of the most memorable final bosses ever in the way that it organically makes use of a familiar mechanic in a new context, and in a way that is both surprising but also thematically and narratively apt.
While I feel a lot of things in this game work really well, I also feel like some parts of the game are needlessly tedious in ways that don't add to the experience or the 'community' theme. Certain tasks like planting crops or repairing broken items require lots of manual item-switching that slows the game to a crawl. And the save mechanics are rather annoying - the game is divided into 'days' and you can only save when you wake up. While I appreciate that they were trying to divide the game up into bite-sized chunks, only being able to save in the morning had the opposite effect. Due to the endless nature of needing to farm resources, buy new items, build stuff, plant crops, and run errands, you start every day with a sizable to-do list. And having the autosave happen before you can even get started on any of those things is a real momentum-killer. Either that, or you're incentivized to just keep going 'one more day' and 'one more day', but that seems anathema to the laid-back vibes of almost everything else in the game!
As I said at the start, Garden Story is easy to describe and easy to know what you're getting into. It's not epic, it's not addictive, and it definitely can't be rushed through. But if you engage with it on its terms - as a cool little world to immerse yourself in from time to time, and as something that's derivative but also somehow refreshing - then it's definitely worth a shot!
What I find most refreshing about Garden Story is that it tells the story of the Hero's Journey is a way quite unlike most other RPGs; the catalyst for the journey is not the death of your parents, the destruction of your village, or exile or abandonment. Instead, the main character is chosen to become a Guardian who protects and assists the inhabitants of the Grove. And as you travel to various settlements within the grove, some of which are insular and unwelcoming, all of which are wrestling with their own struggles, you not only help them with their problems but also help them reconnect with old friends, heal old wounds, and lighten old baggage. This is a Hero's Journey that quite atypically happens entirely while the hero is firmly rooted in their community. And viewed through that lens, the tedious daily chores that feel like busywork and filler make thematic sense! I totally understand if that's not your thing, but it's very apt to have a big part of the playtime be running errands for your community, because they are you first and primary duty as a Guardian, and also because a stronger community makes you stronger as well (quite literally, as the available shop upgrades are tied to how many tasks you are able to complete).
The dev team crafted a really colorful world here. There's a lot of cool lore and worldbuilding - even though some of it is communicated a little clunkily - and each little town you visit has its own unique personality and its own little cast of memorable characters. And despite the general cozy pleasant vibe of the aesthetic and (very good!) music, there's a melancholic undercurrent to it all. Things in the Grove are slowly falling apart, and the different ways that each individual and each community reacts to this lend the narrative a subtle sense of depth. And while I really don't want to spoil it, I think the final boss of the game is probably one of the most memorable final bosses ever in the way that it organically makes use of a familiar mechanic in a new context, and in a way that is both surprising but also thematically and narratively apt.
While I feel a lot of things in this game work really well, I also feel like some parts of the game are needlessly tedious in ways that don't add to the experience or the 'community' theme. Certain tasks like planting crops or repairing broken items require lots of manual item-switching that slows the game to a crawl. And the save mechanics are rather annoying - the game is divided into 'days' and you can only save when you wake up. While I appreciate that they were trying to divide the game up into bite-sized chunks, only being able to save in the morning had the opposite effect. Due to the endless nature of needing to farm resources, buy new items, build stuff, plant crops, and run errands, you start every day with a sizable to-do list. And having the autosave happen before you can even get started on any of those things is a real momentum-killer. Either that, or you're incentivized to just keep going 'one more day' and 'one more day', but that seems anathema to the laid-back vibes of almost everything else in the game!
As I said at the start, Garden Story is easy to describe and easy to know what you're getting into. It's not epic, it's not addictive, and it definitely can't be rushed through. But if you engage with it on its terms - as a cool little world to immerse yourself in from time to time, and as something that's derivative but also somehow refreshing - then it's definitely worth a shot!