![]() These are my thoughts after playing a few hours of the game and reaching the second area. Plus everyone is a fruit, vegetable, or other adorable critter. I’m a massive fan of these types of games that combine the action-adventure of Legend of Zelda with the foraging and quests of Stardew Valley. ![]() The first time I saw Garden Story was late 2019 when developer Picogram announced they’d be partnering with Rose City Games, who would publish the title. Still, new seasons bring new opportunities for growth, and I very much hope to see Garden Story sprout again in a new form.When I say I’ve been waiting years for this game–I mean it. It just seems like the dev team tried getting too much from a plant that couldn't produce enough to meet demand, and the result was a watered-down version of the ideal. There's depth in its foliage and a charming world at its foundation. Garden Story shows what RPGs and top-down adventures can be like. Most of its big ideas just fell off the vine before they ripened, unfortunately. Garden Story wants very much to do something bold and new, and I appreciate that. What you’re left with is a slightly sour aftertaste. There’s not much interaction you can have with the NPCs, and you rarely, if ever, see the payoff from all the quests you complete to help revitalize each village. It’s evident Garden Story wants you to care about its inhabitants, and I do - when they let me.ĭespite the world’s depth, it feels surprisingly impersonal. More variety would have been the equivalent of a grocery store spritzer keeping the journey from wilting.īarring that, I’d have been happy just letting Concord put down stronger roots in each village. Garden Story doesn’t set itself up as the next great action-RPG, but fighting is a core part of Concord’s adventure. Run up, smack smack, run away, buff with modified Dew, repeat. Most enemies have a set attack pattern that’s easy to learn, including bosses, and you’ll quickly settle into a predictable rhythm. Combat is stiff and unrewarding, though, hampered further by a stamina bar that seems more like a carryover from farming simulators than a useful feature. You can build and decorate, but only in limited measure.Ĭoncord gets an array of tools for fighting Rot, from the handy pickaxe to a parasol and even a hammer. Daily quests are almost invariably the same, and most of the environmental puzzles follow a similar pattern. Garden Story is ambitious in its design and ideas, but it doesn’t carry through enough on any of it. That’s where the rot starts to set in, though. Every day brings a new round of requests that help Concord level up their stats, such as maintenance, and rewards them with some cash for new tools or upgrades. There’s no shortage of folks who need help either. Each region has a cute bungalow complete with a leaf rug for sleeping and saving, a Dew well for replenishment, and some other odds and ends. Once Concord arrives in a new area, they stay as long as they want. They’ll travel through four season-themed areas and combat the rot in all its forms, but Garden Story adds a nice twist on the usual top-down adventure. The bulk of Concord’s mission is a solo one, however. Everyone helps encourage Concord to do their best outside the Kindergarden, and characters such as the lazy-but-endearing Rana the Frog inject some welcome humor whenever they’re on screen. ![]() These conversations happen nearly every time Concord speaks with the guardians, and it adds an unexpected sense of urgency to their mission and depth to the world. Plum and the other guardians muse about the world’s grim fate and how things have withered prior to Concord’s story beginning. In reality, it’s a surprisingly melancholy tale in parts. What follows is a twee little adventure that’s sort of like The Legend of Zelda with a bit of Harvest Moon grafted on… well, that's how Garden Story appears on the surface. Enter Plum, one of the realm’s guardians, who whisks Concord off to the land of perpetual spring - a real place, not a euphemism - where they learn the principles of guardianship. That makes our hero Concord’s job as tender of the Kindergarden a bit redundant. No new fruits have blossomed in years, thanks to the ever-expanding Rot that threatens to engulf all life. There’s a problem in Garden Story, though. The Kindergarden is where tender plants await the day they can drop off the vine and join the world. The fruits of their labor might not be fine wine, but Garden Story’s unique and pleasurable aroma gives it a flavor that stands out even among the finer vintages, if only because of what might have been. It’s a hefty task placed on their non-existent shoulders, in more ways than one.
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