You soon learn to construct amenities in the village, but almost all of them are for you (stashes, bounty boards, health refills in the form of dew), and precious few actually improve the town. The handyman (handy-pea?) side of Garden Story is good, if a little limited. It shares a button with a toolbox, too, and it’s frustratingly easy to find that you’ve waded into battle with a rusty (but useless) spanner. The shield – essential for certain bosses and projectile-firing roots that make up a lot of the game’s combat tasks – is also painful, taking a second or two to activate. Attacks feel tick-based, forcing you to wait before loading up the next attack. And even with Concord stacked with lifepoints and stamina, combat still feels rigid. This improves, of course, but the damage is done in the early game. Rarely do you have the damage capability to kill an enemy in one go. As a result, combat becomes a stilted, unsatisfying experience as you hit and run, wait a bit, then return to the fray. Other aspects also use the stamina, like a shield and dodge, which only cannibalises the small amount you have to play with. So, you’re whacking a slime or acorn-beast, and then you’re waiting several seconds for your stamina to replenish. Your attacks use up a chunk of stamina and, at the start of the game, you have three chunks.
But combat is here, and it’s a tad tiresome. You can close your eyes and imagine a Garden Story without combat, and it would likely have been a better, more accessible game for it. It’s in danger of being castaway between them all. It’s not as engaging as Stardew, not as exciting as Legend of Zelda, and doesn’t have the sweep of Animal Crossing. There is nothing here to be wowed by, and it doesn’t have the depth, story or compulsion of so many of its forebears. While Garden Story is nice, it is also perfectly happy to pull up a deckchair in the middle of the road. It doesn’t stray into the negative aspects of the word by becoming twee, and we can feel the day’s worries wash off us as we play. It’s the abiding, non-committal word that keeps buzzing in our head as we play Garden Story. Get those done and a new tool will be tucked into your backpack: perhaps a dowsing rod, which acts like a fishing rod in all but name or a scythe, for chopping down reeds. You must abandon all of the other towns to visit this one (presumably to keep your focus from straying), as you are quickly given a place of residence and some initial chores to complete. A new town is made available to you, themed to one of the seasons. While there is an easy-going comfort to interactions in Garden Story, they don’t really capture the heart or mind.Ī pattern begins to form as you play through Garden Story. It’s a warm, cuddly message that does work, but it replaces any high-concept stories, plots or even particularly interesting characters (only a frog, Rana, really registered with us). There’s a civic feel to Garden Story, as you learn the benefits of helping each other and working together to a common goal. They’re in various states of ruin, and often share animosity with each other. Being a Guardian means that you will be fixing bridges, clearing out water supplies and boshing the odd slime on the head with a hammer. This is a rather important title in the Grove, as it effectively positions you as one of the four towns’ champions. But they are soon seconded by a giant plum called, um, Plum, to become a ‘Guardian of the Grove’. You play Concord who, as mentioned, is the custodian of a tiny garden.
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