Strange Horticulture Review (cheebok)
8 hours, full completion review
The game is on sale! Buy it and enjoy.
Strange Horticulture is a charming game, one created by two brothers based in the UK, in which you inherit a plant shop in Undermere knowing basically nothing about plants. I would describe this game as a cosy point-and-click, the best types of games! As you delve further into the game, you soon realise zero of these plants are "normal". Each has a special use, some more devious than others. You must explore the surrounding area of Undermere in order to discover more plants to aide your fellow customers and... some rather interesting folks *cough* occultists? *cough*
In the just over eight hours I spent playing this game, I can say it well and truly lives up to reviews, along with the £14 price tag included. Sometimes these types of games don't look like they have a long run time, but do not doubt this game. The clues for some of the plants to find were challenging at times, especially the acronym one which left me clueless as I had to wait for more travel points (my only gripe with this game).
Each character feels well thought out, and fleshed out too. They have their own personalities and each lead to different endings (well, majority). I love the art style, it really adds to the whole experience, which includes the SFX ambience of rain, or other noises. There's a lot about this game that I find so wonderful but for spoiler sake I won't list, I would rather you discover it for yourself!
The achievements were not hard to get, funny enough the hardest one for me was murdering Burbidge because I didn't realise it was an option at the beginning of the game, so I had to do day 2-5 again! The ending achievements can all be done in the same save, just reload on the last day. I really really enjoyed ordering all the plants and labelling them, especially just because I enjoy those sorts of games the most.
I would love if there was an "endless" mode, but in a way it would get boring. I just liked handing people plants :3
Can't wait for Strange Antiques to release!