Garden Story took me a while to figure out the concept for my review. Not in a bad way, but it took me a while to find the right words – every time I thought I figured it out, Garden Story took me by surprise and gave me an insight into a new … branch of gameplay. So I decided to hold out on the review till I finished every nook and cranny to give you the complete review I could write, which is a challenge with two little kids.
Garden Story
Games are often about escapism, and Garden Story offers another way to lose yourself in the virtual world: the hero protagonist is a grape, burdened with great purpose. Concord is but a youngling, wrenched from the Kindergarten to fulfill the role of Guardian after their predecessor decides to leave town — a role that will require them to defeat the insidious Rot that has infested the land.
The Grove, where Concord lives, is divided into four seasonal towns: Spring Hamlet, Summer Bar, Autumn Town, and Winter Glade, but the Rot has affected each one of these towns differently, and you’ll have to visit each one, in turn, to fix what damage the Rot has done. So you see, Garden Story may lure you in with its Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley-like aesthetic, but this game about community and saving the world turns out to be an RPG in farm sim’s clothing.
Zelda Story?
Concord can unlock and upgrade different weapons, from the standard sword-like Pick to the wide area-of-effect Hammer and the Dowsing Rod, both a fishing rod and a ranged weapon. Each weapon feels ‘good’ and offers different pros, and con’s against certain enemies. The potion system is relatively complex, too, with different types of “Dew” that offer various buffs as well as healing some of your HP, and even different bottles that vary in both the time it takes to use them and the amount of Dew they can hold.
The skill tree is unique, too: rather than letting Concord gain permanent upgrades or leveling up through experience, Concord will instead unlock “Memories” and “slots” to keep them. The memories are tied to past Guardians, which felt like a nice touch. You get a bonus one for discovering the grave of each Guardian, too. You can switch these around at any time — some will help you find rare materials used for upgrading tools and Dew bottles, and others will add extra Stamina or health points to your various bars.
Pro’s and Con’s
Remember when I talked about RPG with Farming-Sim elements? Well, there lies both its strength and weakness – since my main problem with Garden Story is its pacing. It has a terrible pacing problem. See, games like these are about exploring in a Zelda-esque way, in which you gain items and tools to progress further in the world. However, each town can be upgraded by completing certain tasks, which compel you to stay and investigate further. I loved most towns, but the tasks felt a bit repetitive after a while, which urged me to seek out the other towns. Also, due to my own collectionism, I felt a bit overpowered or underpowered in certain areas – since I did not seek out or collected enough of said material. Especially since you can’t carry that much in your pockets, nor your storage…
And to add even more Zelda to the mix, at the end of each village’s quest, you’ll have to complete a dungeon crawl, and fight the boss at the end. Each dungeon is differently themed — one town’s dungeon is a sewer with a Rotberg problem, another is a Bookworm chewing through a library — the puzzles are always themed around your weapon and create a nice change of pace with the rest of the game. Especially when you move towards the end game of Garden Story – you’ll see.
Conclusion
Garden Story took me by surprise, and even with its pacing problems, it felt like a nice change of pace. Combining wanted-for-help quests with Zelda-esque dungeon crawls, the game offers the best of both worlds. The art style, soundtrack, and story are great and give anyone that loves a good cute RPG a great deal. Certainly one of my favorite games of the year!
8.5/10
Tested on the Nintendo Switch,
