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0 Tiny Garden is an upcoming cosy game from developer Ao Norte and publisher Super Rare Originals. It also has a free demo in this month’s Steam Next Fest. Thanks to the team over at Super Rare, we got access to that very demo a week early!
Polly Pocket : Landscaper Edition
Gameplay
So what exactly do you do in Tiny Garden? Look after and grow your own plants in a small plot of land within a magical toy, obviously. The gameplay is actually that simplistic. Essentially the gameplay loop can be broken down into four simple steps:
- Grab a seed and bury it in the soil
- Turn the crank
- Collect plants
- Trade plants for other seed types or home accessories
Of course you have to add in things such as customising your home area, changing your colourways of both your toy and the background. You might even discover some secret messages on the underside of the magical toy itself. Side eye emoji here.
There is slightly more to the game than this simple loop though and this is hinted at during the demo. Alongside your landscaping duties, you’ll receive letters revealing just where this magical toy came from and why it’s special not just because of what it can do. I don’t want to spoil too much, but it’s a sweet hint at how objects are often cherished not just for what they are.
Graphics & Audio
The graphics oozed 90s nostalgia. And not just in the fact your Tiny Garden is very much a pocket sized capsule toy, but in all of the game’s aesthetic. It’s full of cute and fun cartoon style models. Let’s face it, simple shapes and bold colours are a a great way to tap into the hearts of us 90s kids.
As for the audio, I found it really really quiet. Even with my fancy headphones on and the audio menu volumes turned right up, it was still very quiet. Now I know this is supposed to be a cosy farming simulator, but I do think some adjustments to the volumes is needed. I would love to hear the crank of the handle a little more and the water fountains trickling like my favourite white sounds app. Ramp up the audio cosiness! That being said what I did hear was really gentle and quite simply, nice. The music complements the game well. Which is what we like to hear. Wahey audio joke.
Final Thoughts
Tiny Garden is a simplistic game but I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. The demo was limited to the first two sections of the game, whereas on full release there will be five additional sections. The core gameplay loop will be the exactly the same though. If you ever wished your Polly Pocket/Mighty Max toys were real or you enjoyed games such as Tiny Glade or even Short Trip, then you should definitely check out the Tiny Garden demo.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this preview.
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