Strange Horticulture

Strange Horticulture is a shining example of why indie games are worth the time to look into. The art, sound, and story show that simple and subtle design is truly transcendent when the execution is done well.

Strange Horticulture is a true hidden gem and a pleasant surprise to start the year on, a delightfully quirky and charming puzzle game that puts a unique spin on botany and requires you to develop a green thumb in order to succeed, largely thanks to puzzle design that truly excels in creating simple yet challenging orders. Backed up by an intriguing world that allows for a lot of interesting lore behind each plant and a relaxing atmosphere, this is something fans of puzzlers should check out. Pardon the awful pun, but it’ll grow on you.

A beautiful and engrossing detective game packed with mysteries, puzzles, and intrigue.

I was pleasantly surprised by Strange Horticulture. It sports an extremely satisfying loop of collecting, cataloging, and solving puzzles.

This isn't just the most satisfying detective game since Obra Dinn, but one that has a similar transportive quality, the world unfolding like a flower's petals as you steadily cultivate your knowledge of it through the wonderfully weird plants that flourish within. [Issue#369, p.118]

What a strange and delightful game! You’ll spend many hours tending to weird plants and dealing with occult mysteries – and it works so very well. If, that is, you like your simulation games and don’t mind a bit of routine.

While the gameplay is simple and the core loop of identifying plants and making customers happy might be too repetitive overall, Bad Viking’s slow-burn title might end up feeding a green thumb that some players didn’t even know they had.

Loved it. Wish there was a little more agency. Like real consequences to getting the puzzles incorrect. But the game was delightful. I loved having to try to identify plants.

Cute, relaxing and demanding at just the right level.Basically, a much softer "Papers, please".

Unique type ****. Nothing to be overhyped about, but it's a good one. Strange: yes, very strange. Atmosphere: good and somwhat nice rainy autumn feel. Still I don't feel the need or the eagerness to actually finish the game. It's been months already and I'm 7 hours in, think I'm approaching the end but I don't know for sure. But comforable enough to give this one a solid 7.

I've played the game for two hours and have given up. So far, there are just two types of puzzles. Work out which plant is which, and following some clues to a point on the map. Each puzzle is simply rewarded with either new plants or new pages in the book, and neither the puzzles nor the rewards feel ... rewarding. After two hours of gameplay, I'd hope for some variation, or a stronger storyline, but neither emerged. While the theme is rather original, I simply didn't find the game fun. Perhaps it gets better beyond the two-hour mark, but I'd rather cut my losses.

Strange Horticulture, with its uninteresting story and repetitive rewarding, is downright boring, a tedious experience.