This game is what it says it is, word for word - a meditative game about growing plants on wasteland dioramas.
Basic gist of the game is that for each level you have a mostly empty diorama upon which you can drop seeds and various junk objects. When an object is dropped next to a plant, said plant grows. When plant grows enough, it flowers, and gathering flowers gives you points to buy new seeds, creating a very straightforward gameplay cycle. You have a limited number of objects and need to reach a specific goal of plant coverage to finish the level and unlock the next one. Progressing in the campaign grants new sandbox items, so there is an extra motivation to finish each level.
The game also does a good job at explaining its mechanics without words, although the very beginning can get a bit confusing until you figure out what is your goal and how to plant things. But once you do, there is not much else to learn, just the ways new plant types spread over dioramas - and the game offers mini-levels to help you learn them.
The campaign has some measure of difficulty to it, although not much - if you don't plan your flora and object placement at all, you can actually fail the level and will need to restart. Granted, it's usually not an issue (and since items get send back if lost, one can exploit dropping objects into the void to boost the plant growth), but I suspect it can get a little frustrating if you just want to make beautiful dioramas and unlock sandbox items. Still, it's not very hard to progress.
Besides plants, the only living things in the game are crows, who are purely decorative. They add life to the scenes, flying around and landing on objects, but you can't interact with them other than scaring them away by clicking. Sometimes they levitate over the ground or T-pose menacingly in the air, but they certainly make dioramas look more atmospheric.
The sandbox mode could use some improvement in terms of more precise object placement, as well as an ability to move already placed objects. Object placement is also too time consuming in comparison to other sandboxes, since you need to drag, aim and drop each item - and newly dropped items can dislodge already placed ones. Aiming isn't very comfortable either, and it's not that great for building; good, but not great. Then again, all of that can be changed as the game develops.
Overall, Cloud Gardens is good for some relaxing playing sessions, but it's neither complex nor very challenging, although quite pretty. It can get boring if you play many levels in one session - although this is true for any game of this type, - but offers a good experience for sandbox players. Personally, I liked both the campaign and the sandbox modes, and would love to see Gardens grow (pun intended) into an even better game during its Early Access.
Basic gist of the game is that for each level you have a mostly empty diorama upon which you can drop seeds and various junk objects. When an object is dropped next to a plant, said plant grows. When plant grows enough, it flowers, and gathering flowers gives you points to buy new seeds, creating a very straightforward gameplay cycle. You have a limited number of objects and need to reach a specific goal of plant coverage to finish the level and unlock the next one. Progressing in the campaign grants new sandbox items, so there is an extra motivation to finish each level.
The game also does a good job at explaining its mechanics without words, although the very beginning can get a bit confusing until you figure out what is your goal and how to plant things. But once you do, there is not much else to learn, just the ways new plant types spread over dioramas - and the game offers mini-levels to help you learn them.
The campaign has some measure of difficulty to it, although not much - if you don't plan your flora and object placement at all, you can actually fail the level and will need to restart. Granted, it's usually not an issue (and since items get send back if lost, one can exploit dropping objects into the void to boost the plant growth), but I suspect it can get a little frustrating if you just want to make beautiful dioramas and unlock sandbox items. Still, it's not very hard to progress.
Besides plants, the only living things in the game are crows, who are purely decorative. They add life to the scenes, flying around and landing on objects, but you can't interact with them other than scaring them away by clicking. Sometimes they levitate over the ground or T-pose menacingly in the air, but they certainly make dioramas look more atmospheric.
The sandbox mode could use some improvement in terms of more precise object placement, as well as an ability to move already placed objects. Object placement is also too time consuming in comparison to other sandboxes, since you need to drag, aim and drop each item - and newly dropped items can dislodge already placed ones. Aiming isn't very comfortable either, and it's not that great for building; good, but not great. Then again, all of that can be changed as the game develops.
Overall, Cloud Gardens is good for some relaxing playing sessions, but it's neither complex nor very challenging, although quite pretty. It can get boring if you play many levels in one session - although this is true for any game of this type, - but offers a good experience for sandbox players. Personally, I liked both the campaign and the sandbox modes, and would love to see Gardens grow (pun intended) into an even better game during its Early Access.
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