Unleash your inner gardener and immerse yourself in the serene world of Garden Buddies, developed by JamPics and published by RedDeer.Games. Here is my first look at this new cozy game.
A copy of this game was provided for the purposes of this review.
In Garden Buddies, you’ll be a new friend of Mutsy and aid him in growing his little garden and helping new friends along the way. Gameplay primarily consists of decorating the garden with items and flora, and minigames to help grow your friendships. It is all simple and relaxing, and you can choose between a 90-minute story mode and multiple other game modes. Now, the instructions for the gameplay aren’t always the most clear but none of the games are difficult to figure out.
Another highlighted feature is how the game introduces essential life skills such as mindfulness exercises, stress reduction techniques, and emotional well-being practices. You’ll learn some breathing exercises when your day comes to an end, for example. It’s a nice touch on top of an already relaxed gaming experience.
While I did find Garden Buddies to be a decent cozy game, I did have some bugs and lengthy loading screens, even on the lowest graphic settings. And admittedly, those issues do make me not want to necessarily play again, especially when told that to fix game crashes you have to contact the publisher. I feel like my initial playthrough was enough and the gameplay and concepts don’t wow me enough to deal with the errors I experienced.
Overall, Garden Buddies is a nice concept with some cute gameplay, but I’m not inclined to enthusiastically recommend the game to others. I think other cozy games are more intriguing and fun than this one.
This post is an Indie Game Collective Showcase