The Gardens Between

 Switch
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 33 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 24 out of 33
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 33
  3. Negative: 4 out of 33
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  1. SuperkenGaming
    Sep 20, 2018
    7
    The Gardens Between
    A short charming puzzle
    The Gardens Between is a puzzle game where you play as 2 friends spending their final day together… And you control both of them… However not separately… The gardens Between takes place across 19 levels and is a little less than 2 and a half hours long… Here you’ll be doing increasingly challenging puzzles involving a lamp… The controls    The Gardens Between
    A short charming puzzle
    The Gardens Between is a puzzle game where you play as 2 friends spending their final day together…
    And you control both of them…
    However not separately…
    The gardens Between takes place across 19 levels and is a little less than 2 and a half hours long…
    Here you’ll be doing increasingly challenging puzzles involving a lamp…
    The controls and Idea is simple... you can move forwards or backwards which will rewind time or progress time… and both characters move simultaneously... so there is no back and forth nonsense going on here exactly…
    there is a bit.. but it’s more of lining things up, passing the light onto the little box helpers in levels, or figuring out codes or ways to line up the environment to get past…
    All with the end goal of getting the light to the end…
    getting over the different environmental obstacles in your way trying to stop this from happening
    nothing ever too difficult which I appreciate…
    it’s a quick little charming brain teaser…
    and I felt the gameplay consistently changing things up slightly as the game goes on while keeping the goal the same…
    but slowly new obstacles will be thrown at you which will carry onto the problem solving of levels throughout..
    There are so many unique and memorable puzzles here…
    this is definitely a game puzzle game fans should give a shot…
    There’s not much of a story and things won’t necessarily challenge you…..
    But there is something special and enjoyable here in the Gardens between
    I give the gardens between
    a 7.5/10    … Expand
  2. kokernutz
    Sep 23, 2018
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Perfect length for me - under 3 hours. Good ramping of difficulty - mostly easy with some more difficult puzzles scattered throughout. Good mood/atmosphere. Wonderfully detailed levels. Great music. For some reason that level towards the end with the jacket and the big drain really messed with my head on an emotional level.… Expand
  3. curzon_dax
    Nov 18, 2018
    8
    It's very short. HOWEVER, it's very good. If you do value your money a lot, this might be slightly overpriced, but in general the game is good, and even if it's technically short it's not like it didn't explore most of its gameplay.
    The genre is a puzzle story which has a medium level of difficulty; it will be found hard by beginners but it's very doable by everyone else.
    The puzzles are    It's very short. HOWEVER, it's very good. If you do value your money a lot, this might be slightly overpriced, but in general the game is good, and even if it's technically short it's not like it didn't explore most of its gameplay.
    The genre is a puzzle story which has a medium level of difficulty; it will be found hard by beginners but it's very doable by everyone else.
    The puzzles are generally sensical with the exception of one or two only.    … Expand
  4. GORI_B
    Oct 27, 2018
    10
    Very cleverly constructed gameplay, as is for the story. I was more focused on the graphics and art style, which was beneficial as controls were simple to enjoy the rest. The story itself touched my heart as I have been through something similar, something that most people also have. Such a charming game that I can't wait for next game from the developers and I will def. let my friends to try.
  5. dugan
    Jan 19, 2019
    10
    Challenging without being frustrating, beautiful visuals with a compelling story line. This is a puzzle gamers must have game. The design of the puzzles and the satisfaction of solving them made my jaw drop. As a puzzle gamer, I totally recommend this game!
  6. simpsonvince
    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 itThis 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… Expand
  7. memus
    Oct 6, 2019
    9
    I first found this game in Sep 2018 when it has beed juts released. And it felt surreal in its depiction of my life almost: Frendt and Arina looked exactly as me and my girlfriend at the time. I even shared the art from the game on Instagram, tagging us both. I was in love then, on the second year of the most intense relationship in my life. And the only reason I didn't buy the game then,I first found this game in Sep 2018 when it has beed juts released. And it felt surreal in its depiction of my life almost: Frendt and Arina looked exactly as me and my girlfriend at the time. I even shared the art from the game on Instagram, tagging us both. I was in love then, on the second year of the most intense relationship in my life. And the only reason I didn't buy the game then, it wasn't coop one. And I wanted to play with my girlfriend.

    I didn't know then then just a few weeks later in October the relationship would end abruptly. With my heart being broken and empty ever since.

    So when I saw this game yesterday again, I decided to see what emotions it will stir in me. And boy oh boy it was an emotional rollercoaster. I cried and cried and cried which make this one more an art than a game for me. Cause the purpose of art is to move you, not to necessarily entertain you. 

    This is a nostalgia-induced game. When you miss something and cherish having it at the same time. This mood was elevated in me with each level. And the ending scene delivered the final blow to my heart. And then this song, oh my, it should have been illegal to add it.

    I won't write a formal review (the game has an awesome art direction and nice flow of puzzles, though). I will pose a philosophical question for myself. I envy these characters for their team work (oh, when they play videogames on a coach or put the lantern into the pedestal together) and for their caring about each other (oh, this failed hunt for Arina's jacket). I wanted to go and see stars with my girlfriend too. But I didn't manage to do it until it was too late. Our relationship wasn't really cooperative anyway. So there are much less memories where we actually did something together and were present for each other. So I envy the game and its characters. Here comes the philosophical punch, though. It's not a coop game. So Arina & Frendt don't have an agency outside of each other. As a male player I related more to Frendt. But that makes Arina just a slave of my storytelling as a god-creature in this game. So is it possible to create such a relationship at all with two different people having different agendas in real life?    … Expand
  8. RedPixel
    Aug 30, 2019
    9
    Excellent puzzle game with about 3-4 hours of play (so, on the short side). The two characters work together to solve the puzzle, though they move in tandem in the sense that the controller moves them forward or back together (though sometimes they move at different paces and over different terrain). The characters move backward and forward in time, and can at times move parts of theExcellent puzzle game with about 3-4 hours of play (so, on the short side). The two characters work together to solve the puzzle, though they move in tandem in the sense that the controller moves them forward or back together (though sometimes they move at different paces and over different terrain). The characters move backward and forward in time, and can at times move parts of the environment forward and backward in time, so there are sort of two things to focus on while solving the puzzles. Beautiful game, including the music, and a sweet little background story. The puzzles are reasonably challenging while also being constrained... there's only so many actions you can take. Although I played it through, it's also a game where you could just work on one puzzle and then put it aside for another day. (There's not a lot to remember about how this world works.)… Expand
  9. Mintendo
    Jan 23, 2020
    8
    A relaxing puzzler with beautiful art and design. While I could predict where the story was going, it was still a touching experience to complete the game.
  10. spam3040
    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 infiniteWow 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.… Expand
  11. Snowstreams
    Aug 7, 2022
    10
    Beautiful animations in this relaxing time based puzzle game. It’s puzzles are very original too.
  12. spencerplewe
    Mar 13, 2020
    9
    I had a fear going into this that the game was going to be way too short, but thankfully that was not the case. It's a thoroughly satisfying, and cleverly designed, story of childhood friends that reaches an emotionally heartbreaking (in a healthy way) conclusion. The controls are kind of like a rewind and fast forward function on a cassette tape, but the twist is you alter time slightlyI had a fear going into this that the game was going to be way too short, but thankfully that was not the case. It's a thoroughly satisfying, and cleverly designed, story of childhood friends that reaches an emotionally heartbreaking (in a healthy way) conclusion. The controls are kind of like a rewind and fast forward function on a cassette tape, but the twist is you alter time slightly so you can achieve a more desirable solution than what you would run into if running on autopilot.… Expand
  13. bergcamp101
    Sep 14, 2020
    7
    Small nice game with a big heart and creative puzzles. Couldn't expect more.
  14. marketbroiler
    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 neatThis 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.… Expand
  15. ironfoam
    Jun 11, 2022
    8
    Unique, interesting and quite beautiful. A short, but sweet and interesting experience. I in particular enjoyed the atmosphere of the game.
  16. bnan_j
    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

Awards & Rankings

99
#99 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2018
83
#83 Most Shared Switch Game of 2018

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 23 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 23
  3. Negative: 0 out of 23
  1. Jeuxvideo.com
    Feb 29, 2020
    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.
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  2. Nintendo Force Magazine
    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]
  3. Nintendo Insider
    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.
    Read full review
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