#GARDEN STORY REVIEW FULL#

Often, objectives are as simple as “wait until tomorrow”. Though the Rot is always present in the form of basic enemies sprinkled all over the map, the stakes feel low for the first half of the game. The repetition feels extremely intentional, like an old-school Harvest Moon. Victory achieved, it’s off to the next area to do it all over again. After enough requests have been fulfilled and key figures placated, Concord delves into that area’s dungeon for a handful of rudimentary puzzles and a quick boss fight. Concord comes to each new area to find an individual, like the architect Fuji (an apple) or the aging Guardian Plum (guess) but must spend a few days in that area building trust and learning to wield a new tool or mechanic. There are four main areas in Garden Story, and the flow between each one is similar. Image courtesy of Rose City Games Deep Roots On their quest to stem the growth of the Rot, Concord helps heal the community as well.

While the Rot is dangerous, a constantly expanding threat on the health of the Grove, the existential threat of a community riven by distrust is also deeply felt. A guardian’s burden is to foster trust in their community, and helping the inhabitants of the Grove with menial tasks shows that Concord cares. Though occasionally tedious, these requests work to show that Concord is more than just the defender of the Grove.

#GARDEN STORY REVIEW FULL#

Forage requests ask the player to put a certain amount of items into a nearby box, which can take mere seconds if the player’s inventory is packed full of scrap, and sometimes much longer if the player is unlucky and can’t find what they need.įulfilling requests is the unassuming heart of Garden Story.

Conflict requests ask the players to engage in combat with specific enemies, sometimes during certain parts of the day, while maintenance requests ask Concord to play the handyman, fixing fenceposts, or unclogging a river packed with waterlilies. Requests are broken up into three categories: conflict, maintenance, and forage. Every morning, a new set of requests are posted for Concord to fulfill or ignore. In every town throughout the Grove, Concord can find a request board. While the combat is frequent and often satisfying, what really ties Garden Story together is its request system. Spring Hamlet is lush, green, and nonthreatening, the perfect place to understand what will consume the bulk of the player’s time. Over the course of its first hour, players engage in battle and find items that will aid them in combat but more importantly, they spend a lot of time simply getting to know the surrounding area. It is always satisfying to fulfill requests, no matter how small the task (Image courtesy of Rose City Games) But with the other Guardians perished, missing, or just plain old, Concord must step up to figure out how best to protect the Grove. Having grown up in the safe and friendly environments of the Kindergarden, Concord might not seem like the obvious choice to protect the Grove from the encroaching threat of the Rot. Concord is also a Guardian, a protector of the Grove and one of very few remaining. Concord, the hero, is a Greenling, a grape who sprouted from a vine and was given sentience by magical dew. Garden Story begins, as so many role-playing games do, with the player character heeding a call to action. While it shares elements with farming sims, dungeon crawlers, and even Soulslike action games, Garden Story succeeds by being wholly its own thing. But Garden Story is more than just a retro-styled Animal Crossing clone. Anyone who has followed the game is familiar with its adorable aesthetic, where ambulatory talking fruits and vegetables live in harmony with frogs and fish. Though its immediate release after the recent Indie World Showcase came as a surprise to some, Garden Story has been in the works for years. Image courtesy of Rose City Games Rich Soil

Garden story review