Grow, cultivate and sell in Tiny Eden by Bajka Games. Transform your apartment balcony into a thriving garden in this cosy farming simulator that just landed on Steam. We’ve played quite few cosy games at Thumb Culture so we’re adding Tiny Eden to the roster.
If you’re interested in grabbing Tiny Eden it’s currently available for £13.75.
Don’t overwater those strawberries!
Time to transform this balcony
Gameplay
The premise of Tiny Eden is that you live in a futuristic city and you want to grow plants on your balcony. It’s a simple idea and you start with a small collection of pots and seeds to get you going. Gameplay develops by introducing different tools, new rooms and orders for you to complete. There’s also a little robot and a cat to keep you company on your new venture. As you complete orders, you unlock additional equipment and crops to grow in your balcony. You start with just a few pots and quickly stack the tools up including the usual watering can, shears and more!
Timed elements are featured in Tiny Eden which aren’t too bad. However, when you get to the later crops where they require less soil and less water it can actually be a bit of an issue. There were a few times where I was holding the button and the bar seemed to start too late and I’d already overwatered my plants. Usually I’d just get over it but this is a gardening sim and watering plants is kind of a big deal.
The gamplay isn’t anything ground breaking by any means but it feels pretty accurate to actual gardening… you know ignoring the speed at which the crops grow. It’s exactly what it says on the tin. A gardening sim where you wake up, garden and go to sleep. By all means the gameplay isn’t bad, I just didn’t find it very engaging. Ultimately the biggest issue is it never felt like I was achieving anything which made progression more of a struggle than anything else.
Pacing Issues
The issue with Tiny Eden is that it simultaenously feels like you’re making no progress and everything is snowballing. The first hour is a slog and I really had to fight to get through it. There’s also the issue of certain jobs being available via email but you can’t complete them for another few hours because you have to unlock things. If you can lock in and not feel disheartened, after that first hour things seem to level out. Unfortunately, through the tutorial and first steps of freedom, everything starts to move a little too quickly.
Graphics & Audio
The graphics and audio are probably the strongest elements of Tiny Eden. It’s such a cosy art style and really is an example of what cosy games should look like. Even though you’re somewhat confined for your apartment, the outside world still looks inviting. Tiny Eden’s art style is so lively with its bright colours. Everything gels together really really well.
Longevity
There are plenty of games where you do the same thing over and over again. With Tiny Eden, unfortunately, the gameplay isn’t engaging enough for me to play for hours at a time. I’ve played a lot of cosy games where you do the same thing repeatedly, as well as tidy up games that I can lock into but I just couldn’t with this game. Playing in short bursts is still fun but, unlike other games in this genre, the urge to go back and play isn’t that strong.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately Tiny Eden missed the mark for me. I know that simulators can be simplistic and not have a lot to them but they still feel like you’re achieving something and that wasn’t the case here. In short bursts this game was enjoyable but I don’t think I’ll be rushing back to unlock more plants. To give kudos to the devs they do seem to be on the ball with updating and fixing bugs as there have already been quite a few big updates fixing things. After playing Tiny Eden I’ve got to give it the Thumb Culture silver award. I don’t doubt there are plenty of people that will adore this game, but unfortunately it just didn’t hit for me.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
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