Developer: Ao Norte
Publisher: Super Rare Games
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Tiny Garden – Review
If you’re a ‘90s kid, you may remember a time when clamshell toys that housed tiny worlds inside were everywhere. Whether it was Polly Pocket or Mighty Max, there is a good chance you had some of these lying around at some point. Developer Ao Norte took the concept of these childhood staples and turned it into a cozy farming sim titled Tiny Garden. Is Tiny Garden worth putting in your (digital) pocket, or should the idea behind it have stayed in the ‘90s?
Story
Initially, Tiny Garden gives off the impression that there is no story present at all. You’re simply presented with a pocket-sized trinket with a side crank, which houses the titular garden in its bottom and a cozy living space in its top. As you slowly make your way through all the unlockables that Tiny Garden has to offer, bits of lore are drip-fed to you. The gist is that the item you hold in your hand is a family heirloom, passed on to you, and that it’s important to take good care of it. The narrative isn’t fleshed out as much as we would have liked, but Tiny Garden’s gameplay loop makes up for this.
Graphics
The pastel-tinted visuals play a huge part in Tiny Garden’s appeal. The game fully embraces the toy aesthetic, with soft, round shapes and adorable designs for vegetables and furniture. The “inner workings” of the Tiny Garden are decidedly toyetic as well, with tiles rotating as you turn the crank to move time forward. Cosmetics play a huge part in the game, and you can customize how the game looks based on what you’ve unlocked so far. Tiny Garden’s customizability makes the garden feel like it’s actually yours, adding to the appeal. Visual performance is fantastic too. That isn’t surprising, as this is a relatively simple game that doesn’t push hardware to its limits.
Sound
While Tiny Garden’s visuals are essential to the game’s identity, the audio plays a much smaller part. The music is soothing and relaxing, but also comes across as understated and generic. It was also rather soft, even when we cranked up the volume of our PC to its maximum setting. There’s no voice acting present in the game. The game’s sound effects are good, but not outstandingly so.
Gameplay
With Tiny Garden, Ao Norte managed to distill the classic farming sim formula into a cozy, pocket-sized experience. Most of the familiar elements are present. You start out with a small plot of land and grow crops. Earnings are subsequently reinvested in your budding farm, allowing you to grow different types of veggies or create different biomes. Once you’ve got a steady flow of income, you can also start investing in more frivolous things, like furniture and other decorations for the top half of your pocket garden. It does take some time before you can get to that point, but that is by design. Tiny Garden is a game that is supposed to be played at a relaxed, leisurely pace after all. The developers have tried to make it as accessible and frictionless as possible. Even the flow of time itself is under your control. You can carefully plan your next moves before turning the crank on the side of your garden and moving on to the next day.
That isn’t to say that Tiny Garden is a game that doesn’t require thinking. Quite the opposite, in fact, as you need to strategize around your resources. Tiny Garden’s economy is built around trading your goods rather than selling them. You’ll find that obtaining items or new seeds requires a mixture of different produce. The game does ease you into its mechanics and feels quite slow-paced at first. There is a feeling of trial and error to the whole thing, as the requirements for some of the plants and vegetables aren’t always laid out clearly, and take multiple steps. As things start to open up, you’ll find that there is a satisfying complexity to the gameplay loop, and that there are different strategies to try out depending on what you want to grow.
Your lofty goal in Tiny Garden is to unlock everything. That may sound a bit underwhelming, especially since a good chunk of what needs to be unlocked includes the different decorations and other cosmetics. However, this is the kind of game where the journey itself is far more important than the end destination. In terms of game length, Tiny Garden is also, well, tiny. The game can be completed over the course of three to four hours. There is some replay value here, as you can try out different strategies, and the game will continue to receive support in the form of both free updates and paid DLC. As such, there’s no doubt that we’ll be returning to our own Tiny Garden in the near future.
Conclusion
As a digital “toy”, Tiny Garden nails what it sets out to do, offering an experience that is more about playing with it than working towards completing it as quickly as possible. This is the kind of game that draws you in with its sheer charm and relaxed atmosphere. As you continue to play, however, you’ll find that there is plenty of strategy to be found here as well, but you can tackle everything at your own leisurely pace. It’s far from the most challenging farming sim out there, but as a way to unwind after a busy day at work, Tiny Garden strikes the right balance between being relaxing and tickling your brain.
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