Garden Story

Garden Story is a top-down action-RPG where you take the role of a grape named Concord on a quest to save their home, The Grove, from the Rot that threatens to destroy it.

Throughout the game, especially at the start, it feels like there's a slight undercurrent of melancholy, with a lot of people throughout The Grove seeming to believe that the world might be ending. However a lot of the characters try to remain hopeful despite this, and the tone remains mostly hopeful, the colourful graphics and upbeat music helping with this.

The game is divided into four different towns you visit throughout the story. In each town, you can do quests each day, which go towards levelling up different aspects of the town. Quests usually involve gathering certain items, defeating enemies that have appeared somewhere, and repairing damage that has been caused by the Rot. The more different aspects of each town are levelled up, the more upgrades you can buy for your weapon, jar and inventory space.

Once you finish the town's main story quest, there will be a dungeon you will need to go to, defeating the enemies and puzzles on each floor, and then defeating the boss at the end. It took me a couple of attempts to beat these bosses, and I found it a little annoying to have to make my way back though the enemies and puzzles each time, but at the same time I understand that, at least in terms of the enemies, it's part of the challenge, with you needing to be careful not to lose too much health or waste all your heals before you even get to the boss.

The game's 'memories' system allows you to equip certain memories when you're at your house. You have a limited number of spaces, based on your Mind stat, and each memory you equip provides some sort of passive bonus. Some might increase some of your stats, some might give you more stamina or more health, some might increase the amount of rare items you find, etc. I enjoyed this mechanic, and found it pretty useful for a lot of things, (although several times forgot to put on combat-focused memories before going into a boss fight).

The game also has a building mechanic, where you can craft objects and place them around town, either to help decorate, or to make things more convenient, such as by adding another storage chest somewhere so you don't need to travel all the way back to your house to deposit some items into storage. You can unlock more objects to build by donating items to each town's library collection. Doing this also unlocks books, which can tell you a bit more about each town's backstory and lore.

Personally, I wasn't a massive fan of the game's combat mechanics, which I found felt a little sluggish. However, I grew somewhat used to them with time, and as I unlocked new weapons, I found the one I enjoyed using the most, and focused on that one. The game also lets you buy and upgrade different jars, which you can use to heal yourself. Each has a limited number of charges, which you can refill at any well, or buy some special dew that gives you a temporary buff when used. Some jars heal a little but are quick to use, others heal a lot at a time, but take a bit longer to use.

Overall, while the game has some flaws, the combat and movement feeling a little slow at times, I still really enjoyed playing it. I enjoyed helping out the towns, gathering new items and memories, discovering 'Oh! That's where I get that item I need for this library collection!' and just generally existing in this colourful world. I also really liked the game's story, and grew to care about all these little characters.