75
The Gardens Between's story certainly does not shine but the game features a brilliant concept and artistic design and delivers a truly enjoyable experience.
75
I was impressed with the concept. I just craved more of it and was left with a melancholy feeling myself once the memories ceased. [Issue #37 – January/February 2019, p. 19]
70
There are fleeting moments of brilliance to the puzzle design in The Gardens Between, but, between them, the pace meanders to the point where my interest started to wane. There can be no doubt that it’s unlike anything else that you will have played before, but, in turn, the wondrous idea that lies at its core never feels like it blossoms into something that manages to enter its stride. The potential and talent is clear, though, and I greatly look forward to seeing what The Voxel Agents create next.
7
The Gardens Between is a nice little game with pleasant visuals, nice ambient and an interesting game mechanic. I only wish the game was a bit longer and the puzzles were a bit harder towards the end.
8
Wow. I haven't been so impressed by a puzzle game since Monument Valley. The Gardens Between has an absolutely charming atmosphere, great visuals and animations, and, most important, that nostalgic feel for anyone that once had a childhood. And while the time mechanic is literally everything in gameplay terms, it is amazing how many different riddles the developers managed to rip out from it.
0
Just one of those cheap, generic looking "indie" games that makes you guess what the developers have programmed into their OWN game and calls it "puzzles". Not even worth the dollar it is during eShop sales
The Gardens Between
Released On:
Sep 20, 2018
Metascore
Generally Favorable
79
User score
Mixed or Average
7.1
My Score
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Metascore
Generally Favorable
70% Positive
16 Reviews
16 Reviews
30% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Sep 19, 2018
95
The Gardens Between is a masterpiece of minimalist storytelling, weaving a wordless tale of friendship and time. By drawing upon a few, nearly-universal childhood events, it allows the player to fill in the story with their own emotions and memories, creating a shockingly moving, personal experience. Featuring a gorgeous, surrealist style and challenging but fair puzzles, this is a must-have title for anyone who enjoys puzzle games.
Sep 27, 2018
85
A beautiful narrative-driven puzzle game which pays tribute to friendship in childhood and the importance of shared memories.
User score
Mixed or Average
58% Positive
40 Ratings
40 Ratings
30% Mixed
21 Ratings
21 Ratings
12% Negative
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
Aug 7, 2022
10
Beautiful animations in this relaxing time based puzzle game. It’s puzzles are very original too.
Feb 2, 2022
10
Wow this game was excellent. I loved the characters and the way they interacted with the levels considering how little direct control you have over their movements. The puzzles were clever, consistency changing, and occasionally even mind bending where I had to reimagine the rules the level in order to solve them. The story was a nice ode to fleeting childhood friendships and the infinite imagination you have while playing with your friends at that age. The levels themselves showed the player the the silent, melancholy story taking place after each set of levels through the use of larger than life set pieces like giant slides and video game consoles. Can't say I'll play a game just like this ever again.
Oct 8, 2018
80
Though it's a tad short, The Gardens Between is a beautiful puzzler with some wonderfully clever ideas.
Sep 19, 2018
80
The Gardens Between is a great example of a puzzle game with the most simple of mechanics, showcasing how much can be stretched out of so little. Its light story of friendship is sweet (if not a bit too saccharine). It complements the core mechanic of controlling the passage of time, and well, the inevitability of how no matter how much you'd like time to stand still sometimes, it'll move along regardless.
Feb 26, 2019
75
I was impressed with the concept. I just craved more of it and was left with a melancholy feeling myself once the memories ceased. [Issue #37 – January/February 2019, p. 19]
Feb 25, 2019
70
There are fleeting moments of brilliance to the puzzle design in The Gardens Between, but, between them, the pace meanders to the point where my interest started to wane. There can be no doubt that it’s unlike anything else that you will have played before, but, in turn, the wondrous idea that lies at its core never feels like it blossoms into something that manages to enter its stride. The potential and talent is clear, though, and I greatly look forward to seeing what The Voxel Agents create next.
Sep 19, 2018
60
The Garden is a very beautiful and moving game that lacks some fresh ideas after a few minutes of the game. Its mechanics are cool but it's too bad it lacks challenge and never tries to renew its formula during the entire adventure...which is only 3 hours long.
Mar 30, 2019
10
This game is beautiful...sound design is amazing; characters are pretty cool. It's cohesive, interesting, wraps up well and makes you feel something. You're best off playing with this game with headphones/earbuds in or with nice speaker.s.. the sound is really that good. The puzzle difficulties range from easy to pretty hard. It's a pretty brief game and you likely won't want to play it again until enough time has passed that you forget how to solve the puzzles. But i wish I could forget and play it again! Look forward to more games by the Voxel Agents
Apr 23, 2025
7
The Gardens Between is a nice little game with pleasant visuals, nice ambient and an interesting game mechanic. I only wish the game was a bit longer and the puzzles were a bit harder towards the end.
Sep 23, 2021
7
This game is…okay. It’s a short, linear puzzle game that doesn’t have much of a story and is probably most akin to Captain Toad Treasure Tracker in gameplay. But rather than moving freely you move you characters backward and forward through time, while manipulating their available pathways and objects through time as well. Doing this to get to the end of each stage. It’s got some neat little puzzles and I didn’t mind it being short, but something felt missing. I think it needed a interesting story to dress up the puzzles to keep you wanting to see what was next. A real reward for completing each puzzle. Without the more interesting story, it just felt like it was a string of stand alone puzzles that shouldn’t have bothered with a theme or story at all.
Sep 14, 2020
7
Small nice game with a big heart and creative puzzles. Couldn't expect more.
Jul 17, 2023
0
Just one of those cheap, generic looking "indie" games that makes you guess what the developers have programmed into their OWN game and calls it "puzzles". Not even worth the dollar it is during eShop sales
SummaryThe Gardens Between is a surreal puzzle adventure that follows best friends, Arina and Frendt, as they fall into a mysterious world of beautiful garden islands. Manipulate time to solve puzzles and discover the secrets of each island.
Rated Efor Everyone
Platforms:
- PC
- PlayStation 4
- Nintendo Switch
- Xbox One
- iOS (iPhone/iPad)
- PlayStation 5
Initial Release Date:Sep 20, 2018
Developer:
Publisher:
