Strange Horticulture

Reviewing (mostly) every game (or DLC) in my library, part 77: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆☆ (8/10) [i] Strange Horticulture [/i] is a slow, meticulous, and utterly spellbinding occult mystery. You’re not a hero, you’re not a chosen one: you’re a quiet shopkeeper identifying plants, uncovering eldritch secrets, and maybe deciding the fate of the world from behind your apothecary desk. You’ve inherited a plant shop in the gloomy, rain-soaked town of Undermere. Locals come in seeking help—some polite, some desperate, some clearly hiding something. You identify strange flora, match their properties to ailments (or curses), and slowly begin unraveling a creeping cosmic mystery involving cults, witches, and forgotten powers buried beneath the soil. Just beware—some flowers bite back. [b] 🌱 Pros: [/b] [list] [*] Wonderfully tactile detective work. Each plant is a tiny mystery. You’ll pore over your botany book, compare sketches, and second-guess your identifications with growing paranoia. It feels like work—in the most satisfying way. [*] Unique blend of occult mystery and cozy shop sim. Equal parts spooky and soothing. You’re flipping through pages while thunder crashes outside, deciding whether a strange weed will heal ... or kill. [*] Rich, atmospheric worldbuilding. Without ever leaving your shop (aside from occasional field expeditions), you piece together an entire world of secret histories, town gossip, ancient powers, and hidden alliances. [*] Branching story paths. Multiple endings depending on which factions you support, who you help, and what you plant (or poison). Your moral compass is the only guide. [*] Smart puzzle design. Whether it’s decoding a strange cipher, aligning map coordinates, or noticing a subtle pattern in a leaf, the game rewards careful observation and patience. [*] Visually distinct and elegant interface. Everything—your shop desk, map, plant labels, and journal—looks handcrafted. It’s a pleasure just to interact with. [/list] [b] 🌧️ Cons: [/b] [list] [*] Slow pace may not suit everyone. There’s no action here, just deep attention and quiet observation. Perfect for relaxing; not ideal if you’re seeking thrills. [*] Can get repetitive. The core loop—identify plant, give plant, update book—doesn’t evolve dramatically. By the final chapters, you may find yourself going through the motions. [*] Vague clues occasionally frustrate. Some customers are maddeningly cryptic, and without the right combination of plants or notes, progress can stall. A built-in hint system might have helped. [/list]

It was kind of fun, and then, tedious. The premise is cool: You take over a plant shop with zero plant knowledge, so you rely on an encyclopedia to ID what customers want. And, a Lovecraftian mystery begins to unravel. Gameplay is very Papers, Please, minus time limits and stress. The story ended up being just okay, but serviceable. What I disliked was the interface and the gameplay repetition. The interface is BUTT. It starts fine, but as your plants and doodads pile up, your shelves and drawers become a nightmare. It’s hard to organize and hard on the eyeballs. Most plants you ID you never need again, but they don’t go away when you sell them (or... give them away for free?? it's unclear). They just sit there forever, cluttering up everything. The clutter is a CRIME. Plants should just go to storage once identified, where you can access them only when needed (so: rarely). I felt this game start to drag after 3 hours. Map puzzles could occasionally be cool head-scratchers, but plant identification is too easy and there's too damn much of it. There are 77 plants. I’d have preferred half that number, but with more in-depth ID. I’m not asking for a full dichotomous key (though that would be a VERY cool resource), but the system feels underbaked. A little too simple. A little too empty. The entire game kinda feels that way.

Strange Horticulture is indeed... strange. Basically, you solve puzzles, find plants, help (??) people, solve mysteries, and even try to give plants to someone [spoiler]in an attempt to take them out (??).[/spoiler] It’s a nice game if you enjoy plants and problem-solving together.

This was a fun game about identifying plants. The game gives you the plant encyclopedia and doesn't hold your hand (but there's a hint button if you need it). Additionally, there are some other puzzles, including a map where you need to figure out the correct planes to go to get new information or plants and given some clues. I really liked the core gameplay loop of identifying the plants and solving puzzles to get new plants and encyclopedia entries. I thought the map puzzles were pretty fun. I was intrigued by the story, and it has just enough branches to be interesting without being overwhelming (I think there's about 4 choices that affect the story and maybe a couple more that probably don't affect anything). An example would be someone comes to your shop being troubled by something, and you cold choose to give them a plant to protect them or a plant to attack their troublemakers. The game has a bunch of similar looking plants, especially given that some encyclopedia entries only have vague pictures of the leaves instead of the flower and it is rare they describe the color. I believe the game is designed so that you identify some of the ambiguous plants before unlocking more, so as long as you keep on top of labeling as you identify it should be solvable. Would highly recommend! It took me about 5 hours to play through the story, but I plan to pick it up again in the future to see some different endings.

Light puzzle game with an intriguing story with interesting characters.

Such a great game! It's very engaging but also slow paced. You can solve everything at your own pace. I didn't even notice more than 4hrs have passed. It's something I have been looking for in detective/mystery games. Can't wait for the sequel !!

Great exploration game. Lots of observation skills required. I just enjoy the lore and narration. It is a beautiful and sad and delicious game. Enjoy!

The sorting of known plants is hideous and exhausting, as I have to make a quick scan every time I need something. Also, the cooldown when you finish visiting a place (regardless of right or wrong guess) make going to places loses its interest.

Strange Horticulture is an excellent plantshop mystery mostly assembled by a pair of British brothers. The story is nicely done and foreboding, set in an alternate past where England is overrun by alchemical plants and strange summonings. I'm very impressed by the user interface design and smooth gameplay, generally focused on meeting the needs of customers, searching for new plants on the map of the countryside, and petting the shop cat. Late in the game, I resorted to an online guide to help sift through some of the branching paths and map directions, as well as to confirm that I had correctly identified several plants at a critical juncture. There's some achievements wrapped up in alternate endings I didn't take, but I'm good with the path I chose for now. I'm definitely looking forward to the upcoming sequel. Befitting the intricate construction, there's added layers of depth to the desk that takes center stage for most of the story. For a game that basically revolves around investigating a very disturbing workstation with a batch of similar tools, I recommend 'Please, Don’t Touch Anything' (and its 3D remake).

Spooky in the coziest way possible. Relaxing and fun, excellent art work, creative and engaging story lines. And, of course, KITTY!!!!

good, fun deduction game that is hindered by its repetitive gameplay loop that gets rather boring by the end. still a recommend overall though

I took classes in herbology once upon a time and this is how I imagined I would run a shop. Not that this is at all how it is done, but it was so fun and made me feel clever when I solved the puzzles. The story in engaging enough, but the artwork and mechanics are just perfect.

Great game where you unravel a dark mystery. There are several different endings, so your choices matter. Sorting and keeping track of your plants does get a bit tedious, but overall it's still an easy thumbs up.

[plays well on the deck] -easy to navigate and use, none of the controls are too difficult or complicated. - puzzles are fun, the clue cards you get daily can be a bit tricky at times, I enjoy that they get a bit tricker every day so that it gradually increases the difficult - the plants are fun, not too difficult to identify but every once and a while one is tricky enough or has two possible options to keep you on your toes - I love the overall gothic theme, there’s a sort of eerie vibe that doesn’t make it scary per se but def gothic. Our sense of dread being a fun way to keep the vibe while monitoring our “life”, our sense of dread grows with every wrong answer and if we do die, we come back after we “put the pieces of our mind back together” in a piece puzzle - the story is fun and interesting - the most difficult part is just the map, it just takes a while to find places and navigate - I appreciate the zoom setting especially on the deck and that it’s with a magnifying glass instead of being too out of place, it’s easier to zoom and feels part of the game

This is a lovely little game. It won't keep you busy for very long, but it's a great cosy puzzle game that drew me in. You'll be examining plants in excruciating detail, and it will be surprisingly enjoyable? There's a great joy to labelling and organising your collection as you correctly identify and administer your plants in a satisfying loop. The puzzle aspect of the game isn't terribly difficult. The daily puzzle cards did have me studying the map fairly carefully, but I never really felt stuck. It's a nice, contemplative pace. The setting is spot-on, in Victorian-esque England and all the melancholic charms that go with it. One can imagine themselves in a world troubled by maladies like consumption, where you, the horticulturist, are their last and best hope for relief and respite. The game occurs against a backdrop of the occult, bordering on the Lovecraftian. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the overworld map is a semi-accurate representation of real places in North West England, including a number of places I've been to in real life. This was a big personal draw for me. I have a few minor criticisms, though. The story is exactly what it needs to be. There's just enough of it to keep the game moving. Though I can't help but feel all the interesting stuff is happening just out of sight. We never actually see anywhere outside of our humble shop, we only hear about all the terrible things happening just outside the door, through the various characters that are passing through. Even in the final moments of the game [spoiler], we are involved in this final climactic battle that the whole game has led up to, including some big twists and surprise identity reveals. And yet, we're reduced to simply reading about all this epic drama that we're not allowed to see. [/spoiler] It really breaks the rule of "Show, don't tell". It's clear that there are talented artists working on this game, and it would really add impact to add some more visual aspects in the more dramatic moments. Though, this isn't to take away from the written content of the game, which in general I thought was good. The game has multiple endings, possibly a great many. I was prepared for this, given that the game makes it clear early on that some choices will be "important". However, the actual number of true choices is quite limited and they're spread fairly thin. And it's not possible to replay the last portion of the game to get any extra endings. I think replay value is already limited by the fact that the player will remember many of the plants, as they're quite visually distinctive. Personally, I won't be replaying the whole game any time soon to get more endings. The joy of playing this game is discovery and deduction, most of which will be already done in subsequent playthroughs. I expect the quest for endings will just become a repetitive slog. Last tiny gripe: When you acquire a new plant, it's placed on your shelf of plants automatically, in a fairly illogical place, and inevitably you'll want to move it again. Sometimes I swear that the new plant would displace one I had already placed there, which is really annoying. BUT I HAVE A SHELVING SYSTEM, GOSH DARN IT. I would really just like the opportunity to place new plants as I acquire them; it would help in keeping track of new plants and keeping some order as the shelf fills up. You're going to get A LOT of plants, and there's really not that much space to put them by the end of the game. But I digress. This game was great and it's absolutely worth your time despite its few flaws. I'm very excited for the sequel.

I truly enjoyed the laid back aspect that also provided some little decoding. I'd say if you're looking for a game that you can play while also doing other things this is for you. Little witchy vibe, black cat you can pet, and different endings.

A nice cozy game to take the edge off the outside world nonsense with a simple 'sketch book-like' art style, music that fits the vibe of your own little herb shop set in a town where the rain rarely stops. Identifying plants was a captivating experience, using descriptive and quick bites of info as to not overwhelm the player, and thankfully at the close of business there is no rush to finish up and move onto the new day. Being able to explore the map by deciphering clues and puzzles given to the player from NPC's in your own time, following codes and clues to uncover a new plant or story beat; if you are waiting for the need to explore to fill, watering your plants is the key! I will be playing again to uncover another ending or three soon.

very fun game if you enjoy good storytelling.love the fact i could play one handed.

What a nice little game. Lots of small riddles, always fair.

The map riddles are fun and engaging. It's also really fun figuring out which plant is which

Just a fun game to play when you don't want high stakes, time limits or overstimulation. Spooky fantasy atmosphere that gives dark academia in the best way.

The puzzles are pretty straightforward and it is fun to play. I am not quite sure what the goal is yet, but getting there.

Overall I loved this game! Its a fun and relatively short (I finished this game in a weekend, took me about 5 hours) mystery-puzzle game with an interesting plot. I felt very engaged playing this game and it was very enjoyable. The puzzle aspect of figuring out which plants are which definitely varies by the plant and how you interpret some of the clues. Some pages don't have a very clear description or sketch, while others do. I wish the sketches were always an external part of the plant, instead of showing cross sections of parts of the plant. Going through the book can take longer than I'd like too: the book is alphabetical by common name, so if you're looking for a Latin name, you have to go through the whole book till you find it, you can't use a search function for the book. This is more annoying late game when you have a ton of pages. Once you start getting a lot of plants too just finding the right one can be difficult since you have to remember which is which or look at all the labels till you find the one - so start putting your plants in alphabetical order or something from the beginning. I do also wish there was something in the book that made it more clear which were plants and which were mushrooms. The elixir part in later game was a bit odd, since there is only 3 you can make in the main game [spoiler] (1 more for the epilogue) [/spoiler], it felt weird to include with so little content. The amount of endings you can get is very cool! I initially thought there were only 2 or 3, but after doing more research it looks like plenty more than that, which I like, and it increases replayability. And i really appreciate the [spoiler] epilogue that essentially identified the rest of your unconfirmed plants [/spoiler]. The game itself could have been longer if they included more random customers with each day, the customers are pretty much only the story people, so I only had 2 or 3 times that I gave a plant that I had already given before. But this I guess plays into replaying the game, to go through faster for the different outcomes, less tedious when you don't have so many random customers. Minor note, there is really only 1 song for the entire game, [spoiler] with 1 different song playing for the climax [/spoiler]. which got just a little but annoying over time. Its made as background music, so it blends well and gives lo-fi background noise vibes, but I wish it would cycle between 2 or 3 songs. In the end, I really did like this game!

Cute, kind of spooky plant-identifying mystery/puzzle game. It's a quick play to get to an ending then to confirm the remaining plants, though there are multiple story endings. If you've got a decent memory, I can't see the re-playability being excellent, but there are definitely some choices you make throughout that would affect whose side you end up on. Definitely worth the sale price.

This is a simple puzzle game with a horticultural bend. Unfortunately the plants are not real but its fun to try figure out what's what. The storyline is simple but not uninteresting. I feel that there are different endings depending on the decisions you make so I'm going to go back and try something different. All together enjoyable and kinda relaxing.

I need more of this game! It's a nice relaxing game with a beautiful aesthetic and music. AND you can pet your cat, Hellebore! All games need to allow the petting of cats. I've played through it a few times to see the different endings whenever I need some chill downtime.

A short and cosy game where you can immerse yourself as a horticultural expert, exploring the world for new plants and identifying unknown ones, all while solving a dark mystery. The puzzles are simple and forgiving with optional hints and unlimited tries. The story is slow-paced yet engaging with multiple endings depending on your actions. Would recommend if you've got some time unwind and want to solve puzzles without any pressure.

Delightfully creepy, very pretty art. Straightforward gameplay. I enjoyed it. Took me six hours to reach my first of several alternate endings. Some of the puzzles were quite imaginative. I look forward to playing through again.

Really interesting puzzle game. Fairly short, can complete in ~8 hours. Good to grab on sale.

5/10 Gameplay becomes boring after few identified plants, story isn't breathtaking either. The arts are beautiful, music is ok and the atmosphere is wonderful. Game is VERY slow paced and certainly not for everyone. It's good if you need some cozy, simple game which will tickle your brain a bit for a few hours. Despite giving it an average note I enjoyed the time spent with this game, sometimes I wasn't even noticing the passage of time while playing.

A pleasant diversion. Once the main story ends, you are able to identify any remaining unknown plants. You can complete most things in one play through but I chose to play twice because the first time was quite messy and a lot of people died. I didn't try to get all the endings but I was happy with the ones I got. I had to look up a couple of things that weren't obvious to me. Overall, I enjoyed this a lot and look forward to the sequel. Played the demo and wasn't sure I liked it, so am glad I went ahead and bought it anyway.

I loved this game! It was a great mystery point and click game, with supernatural elements. I enjoyed the puzzles immensely, although sometimes I needed help figuring some of the trickier ones out. SPOILER: The map is super helpful! The only downside is that there isn't much room for replayability. I am on my second playthrough now, and while there are some things I can do differently - make different choices - there isn't too much different. Still a super enjoyable game!

I struggled with this game. The atmosphere is fantastic, and I love the background music. It's a really cool concept and aspects of the game are designed quite well. But I found it to be a little too tricky to navigate exactly where you need to go on the map (i.e. this square or this square) and some of the steps were a bit less than intuitive. I just always felt like I was missing something and eventually gave up.

Fun little mystery game with multiple endings and clever puzzles to solve.

Not a very long game, but the story and the game design were very engaging.

Enchanting little game! I enjoyed every bit of this, even as a brown thumb myself. Honestly didn't know about the [spoiler] multiple endings which makes the game even more interesting [/spoiler]. I wish I played this sooner, and I'll be looking out for future releases of the developers.

I enjoyed the game and it lasted enough that I didn't get bored of it, but I don't think I'd want to play it much more. However, the ending felt a bit abrupt and somewhat dissatisfying. I wish there was a bit more to do with the plants collected – either used more in puzzles or other tasks, as it felt more that a lot of them were there to pad out the game. This led to the most (rather inconsequential) frustrating part of the game – the organisation of the plants. You need to use them incidentally enough that it's helpful for them to be in alphabetical order, but maintaining it is a bit cumbersome, with the scrolling getting old quickly. The map travel also breaks the in-game illusion somewhat – when you can do it mid-task, or as there’s a person sending letters on their travels and you cover the same distance (or more).

I thought this was just going to be another alchemy game (I actually bought it because some of the pictures reminded me of that Toca Boca game where you made your own plants) but there's so much more than that. Right off the bat there's a sisterhood of witches and honestly, that hooked me enough to play for nearly four hours straight. Not all of the puzzles are super intuitive, but the hints make things pretty clear if you truly need them. Beautiful art style. I do wish things were bigger on-screen, but they do give you a helpful zoom tool to make things easier!

Cozy little shopkeeping game about plants! But with some twists and turns! I had a great time playing this and have all but one of the achievements. The only thing that disappointed me was that I wish the game was a little bit longer! Or that the epilogue allowed for "normal customers" with various needs/ailments that are not story based. I loved the set up and the story, and honestly I went ahead and downloaded the Strange Antiquities demo, and I cannot wait for it to come out! The puzzles do take some thought, which was nice, but it also gave a lot of choice to the player on what to do. I would highly recommend, especially for someone who likes games like Potion Craft Alchemy Simulator or similar games.

Very interesting I love puzzle games with a bit of investigation, perfect to excercise my mind!

I got the game for the plants and potions and stayed for the storyline. I played it through in one sitting and want to replay it already to see the different endings!

Was a fun game! I wish it was a bit longer because I was having such a great time.

This game is really good for people that like plants but also those who love a good walk through of things. A lot of it is identifying weird plants but there are some websites to help and the story does change a bit depending on a few of the choices you have to make in game.

A fun game with interesting puzzles and an intriguing story. It’s pretty straightforward but still really satisfying. I just wish there was more to do or some deeper, more complex puzzles.

Short game but neat. Good story. identifying the plants from vague descriptions can be frustrating, but the challenge is the point.

Neat game, I tried out the demo first (recommend you do the same, it gives a good overview!). I wasn't sure about it in the first few minutes but then it just really clicked with me. It's largely a text-based puzzle game but the existing visuals are great and the atmosphere is immersive.

Fun game to casually play while you watch a show or listen to a book.

Enjoyable, short game. You can finish it in one seat if you have around 6 hours of free time. According to your actions, you can unlock one of many finales, and the game allows you to go back in time afterwards to explore the rest of them.

perfect blend of cozy yet dark and mysterious, Strange Horticulture has some really cool lore

Super fun game, very cute, perfect blend of spooky and cozy