Strange Horticulture

 PC
Strange Horticulture Image
Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 11 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
6.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 23 Ratings

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  • Summary: Welcome to Undermere, a quaint town surrounded by hag-infested forests and rugged mountains. You are the Horticulturist, owner of local plant store Strange Horticulture. As a cast of colorful customers come by your shop, you are quickly thrust into an occult mystery stretching back hundredsWelcome to Undermere, a quaint town surrounded by hag-infested forests and rugged mountains. You are the Horticulturist, owner of local plant store Strange Horticulture. As a cast of colorful customers come by your shop, you are quickly thrust into an occult mystery stretching back hundreds of years.

    Strange Horticulture is an occult puzzle game in which you play as the proprietor of a local plant store. Find and identify new plants, pet your cat, speak to a coven, or join a cult. Use your collection of powerful plants to influence the story and unravel Undermere's dark mysteries.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. Hardcore Gamer
    Jan 27, 2022
    90
    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.
  2. Hey Poor Player
    Feb 14, 2022
    90
    Strange Horticulture is the botany game of my dreams. It has that research-minded gameplay I’ve been seeking for years. And while its story has a lot of moving parts that makes it hard to shift gears between listening carefully to a few patrons and peeking through a microscope, poring over books, and braving the elements to find exotic flora, it pulls you in with its deeply intriguing mystery nonetheless. I can’t recommend Strange Horticulture enough, and for a multitude of different reasons that all boil down to a unique blend of elements entrenched in an unsettling mystique, I declare this to be the bar by which all other games released in 2022 shall be measured.
  3. GameGrin
    Mar 21, 2022
    90
    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.
  4. Movies Games and Tech
    Feb 7, 2022
    85
    I was pleasantly surprised by Strange Horticulture. It sports an extremely satisfying loop of collecting, cataloging, and solving puzzles.
  5. KeenGamer
    Mar 21, 2022
    80
    I really enjoyed playing Strange Horticulture. Although at times the puzzles were a little too challenging, it’s certainly a game I would—one—play again, and—two—absolutely recommend to others. It’s not simply filled with puzzles, but the educational aspect is really entertaining, as you learn useful facts about the many different plants. I may not have a green thumb, but this game certainly makes me want to get one—even if only virtual!
  6. Edge Magazine
    Feb 24, 2022
    80
    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]
    All this publication's reviews
  7. GameCritics
    Feb 10, 2022
    70
    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.

See all 13 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 8
  3. Negative: 1 out of 8
  1. levoxyl
    Mar 28, 2023
    10
    it's a great game but it needs improvement with one of the quests which might've been lagged. It makes you feel involved and in nice place
  2. Thedarkpath
    Aug 11, 2022
    10
    A genuine delight. Atmospheric and enchanting. Puzzles are interesting and free from timers. Very chill and relaxing to play.
  4. gingersnap225
    Sep 4, 2023
    9
    Loved it. Wish there was a little more agency. Like real consequences to getting the puzzles incorrect. But the game was delightful. ILoved 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.… Expand
  5. hardkot
    Apr 18, 2022
    7
    Ctulhu, papers please!

    Puzzle games always were pioneers of genre mixes. This game is also a fresh mix of Collectable game, Papers please    Ctulhu, papers please!

    Puzzle games always were pioneers of genre mixes. This game is also a fresh mix of Collectable game, Papers please with Lovecraftian horror.

    Visual (8/10) Graphics and music are very atmospheric, on the other hand nothing very special. I like character arts, interface and other staff on your desk, I feel comfortable there, instead of the parts when you go somewhere or see some horrible things. Flowers are the main visual and gameplay element and I can say that they are beautiful and has a lot of real life prototypes. So everyone who love plants will enjoy this.

    Gameplay (7/10) The main gameplay mechanic here - find new flowers and give them proper badges. Sounds boring, buut in fact to find this flowers you need to do different mini quests, and all of them are DIFFERENT, it's great because I don't feel I'm farming this flowers. It feels like real adventure to me, you collect flowers to have more puzzles and to use it for more complex tasks like creating elixirs. I don't like that after 12 days you will have a lot of papers on your desk and it may be difficult to find proper blanc with clue. Puzzle task are also good - first you will need just to find proper flowers, after each day you will need to do a more complex decisions. If you do something wrong - you will have mind debuff and after 3 fails you will need to restart day. It isn't so annoying like in Mind Scanners, on the other hand this fails don't reflects on the ending. While in MS and PP you were always in stress.

    Story (7/10) I love Lovecraftian horrors and stories, so I can say this story is interesting but not very excited. Endings are also very straightforward and it's easy to predict what will be in the end. Characters are below average. In game you will have something like near 10 characters, but in fact really main characters are only 4 that have impact in story endings. It's not a big minus in puzzle game, but they are really not involved in main story. All in all adventure and story is good and I feel satisfied about it.

    I can recommend this game for all puzzle lovers, florists or Lovecraft fans. This game is really good but you don't want to play it more than one time IMHO    … Expand
  6. Traxillion
    Feb 8, 2022
    6
    A nice puzzle game with some pacing issues that cause the story to falter.

    Most of the puzzles are well made but there are a few that are    A nice puzzle game with some pacing issues that cause the story to falter.

    Most of the puzzles are well made but there are a few that are kinda bad.    … Expand
  7. dubesor
    Jan 22, 2022
    6
    Pretty decent puzzle game. About 6 hrs of content. Gameplay is reminiscent of Paper's please, where you greet 1 customer at a time, check yourPretty decent puzzle game. About 6 hrs of content. Gameplay is reminiscent of Paper's please, where you greet 1 customer at a time, check your handbook for infos, navigate items on your table/work area and have to sometimes make choices The only big difference is that there are no time constraints here, so it's far less hectic and more forgiving when making errors. The story is rather weak, you inherit a flower shop and immediately people flock to your flower shop to shower you in totally unrelated conspiracy theories, it felt hamfisted/forced to get a plot going in an totally unrelated setting. I did not care for the characters or story at all. Organising the flowers/mushrooms was a bit annoying, there were some missing QoL features, such as correctly identified plants not being marked in the book. There is a paper map for visiting places and solving certain puzzles and that part I found done well. The puzzles were neither too easy nor too hard. Overall fairly decent. Biggest downside is the story+characters, which the game didn't manage to make me interested in.… Expand
  8. DickPain
    Jun 22, 2022
    3
    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, andI'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.… Expand

See all 8 User Reviews

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