Time is everything, it defines our patterns, our routines, our days, and even our lives. There’s no getting away from it, time is ticking forward without the slightest hesitation. We don’t have time to look back, no time to rewind, we need to push forward to achieve our goals. Without time we would both be free and lost. We need it but we want to break its chains at the same time. In The Gardens Between, you are time. You control the time and see how it impacts our two protagonists.
A mesmerizing story
The Gardens Between starts with our two protagonists sitting in their treehouse in the garden of the house they moved to. Due to some unexplainable reason, their treehouse crashes down, transporting them to a group of floating island. Using the treehouse as an improvised boat, they set sail to the islands in order to return the light to the top of each and every island. Although the story is never literally explained, I really liked this approach. During the game, you’re constantly wondering what’s going on. It becomes clear that the islands are metaphors for what the two children have seen in the real world. The more islands you clear, the more you know about the children in the normal world. I won’t spoil the experience for you here but it’s a mesmerizing story and an extremely unique way of storytelling.
The flow of time is always cruel
The flow of time is always cruel, or so that’s been told in older games. In The Gardens Between this is not always true. As said in the introduction, you don’t control your characters, instead, you control the flow of time. The only thing you can do is rewind or fast-forward in order to solve the puzzles. This is an interesting concept and I fell in love with it straight from the start. During your adventure, you’ll need to bring back the light to the top of the island. The girl can carry the light while the boy can interact with certain objects. By messing around with the time, you’ll activate certain switches, turn on certain electronica or bring back a light to a point that’s more interesting.
I really liked this mechanism and the more I advanced, the more difficult it all got. Besides the girl, there are special small robots who can also carry the light for you. Manipulating the time and finding out when you have to hand over your small light to one of those robots is key in order to advance. At certain points, it reminded me a bit of Captain Toad. Just like Toad, our characters can’t jump and depend on alternative routes to reach higher grounds. Of course, this is where the comparison stops, this is a different kind of puzzle game through and through but I can, in all honesty, say that the puzzles reach the same heights as Toad’s puzzles. It’s an extremely innovation mechanism and it simply works like a charm. Everybody can play this game thanks to its straightforward controls but not everybody will find the solution to a problem in mere seconds. The Gardens Between forces you to think outside of the box and try things over and over again until you find that one flow of time that works.
A gorgeous adventure
If you’re used to puzzle games, this isn’t a very long game. The levels aren’t that big and you’ll often find the solution in minutes. This isn’t a bad thing, however, since the game is all about the overall experience too. The graphics and sound both are gorgeously created and transport you to a new world created of dreamy scenarios. It’s fun spending time in this gorgeous small universe and time moves fast while playing. There’s a high ‘just one more’ feeling while playing and that’s perhaps one of the biggest compliments I can give the game. It’s clear that the team wanted to create something new and unique and I must say, they really succeeded.
Conclusion:
The Gardens Between is a very unique game that I absolutely adored. The graphics and solid soundtrack create an innovating and mesmerizing atmosphere that we haven’t seen before in the genre. It’s an interesting puzzle game where you’ll often need to think outside of the box to reach your goal. Since you control the flow of time in this one, you’ll need to rethink your strategies over and over again. If you’re looking for a great puzzle game, look no further, this one deserves every minute of your time.
