On Thursday January 26th, Italian developer DRAMATIC ICEBERG and Finnish publisher Bonus Stage Publishing released their latest game, Garden In! This cozy game features a variety of plants and settings that allow for a relaxing experience for those who need a break from their busy hectic days.
I was lucky enough to receive early access and be able to play the game and review my thoughts!
Zen experience
Garden Inn! Quite a nice experience. The basic idea of this game is to do gardening, it’s very simple. The ground floor is a small, furnished room where you can customize your space however you like. As you progress through the green thumb stages, you get different backgrounds and settings. This customization adds a nice level of fun to the game. The game starts with a little tutorial that teaches you how to plant and how everything works.
The game works in real time, so it took a bit of getting used to, but Zen and patience will help you there. There are options to speed up time, but this has a cooldown limit, so the player cannot speed everything up. Spacing your plants a little apart can actually work to your advantage. Plants obviously need water, so this becomes part of their daily routine. Some pests appear and need to be sprayed on them to maintain the plants.
As you progress, you’ll unlock more rooms and more space to grow, as well as a greater variety of plants! Another great thing is the 2 potted plant option. This allows players to experiment with different plants to see which ones work well and can create hybrid seeds. It was something I had a lot of fun experimenting with!
patience is the key
This game is not for those who get impatient easily. Garden Inn! It works in real time and often takes about an hour for a plant to progress through stages. Also, you need to pay attention to the plants, as they need water quickly. I logged off for about an hour and came back to find my plant completely destroyed. The good thing is that they don’t die when they get dehydrated, and once watered they move on to the next stage. You can play in your room while waiting for your plants to grow! I had a bit of fun trying out how many ramen bowls I could stack and how many I could build around the perimeter of the playable area. Here are my results:
Doing this I have to admit I chuckled quite a bit I know this is probably not what the devs had in mind but it brought me a lot of joy .
Overall Garden Inn!experience
I definitely enjoyed my time with this game. This is something you can fire up when you have a few minutes between tasks, and it’s also a game that spends a lot of time experimenting and customizing.
Garden Inn! is only $10 and is currently on offer with 10% off until February 1st, so if this game sounds like you, you can buy it here!
Does this game resonate in your alley? Let us know in the comments below!