Botany Manor

Whilst not being much of a plant lover myself, I spent my time growing up surrounded by them. Having a florist for a mother, I was always surrounded by the beauty of nature. Even though I don’t share the same green fingers, I still have somewhat of an affinity for flowers and as such found myself rather attracted to the trailer for Botany Manor.

Playing as a Botanist in an old Victorian Manor house, your goal is to complete the research on various species of plants and complete the herbarium in the hopes of getting it published. The house is slightly in disrepair, but still retains all the essential equipment needed to get the job done.

Many thanks to the publisher for the review code.

BE-LEAF IN YOURSELF
This simple setup sets the stage for your adventure in this gargantuan residence as you gradually explore it further and complete your research. Quite cleverly , the game restricts your progress via the use of locked doors to ensure that you know exactly where you need to work. Whilst there is the occasional amount of backtracking to previous areas, the vast majority of your work will be done in the newly unlocked spaces, which makes things feel far less stressful.

Completing your research essentially boils down to a series of twelve puzzles, revolving around each plant type. Whilst the process for planting a seed remains mostly the same throughout – simply adding soil to a plant, adding the seed, and sprinkling it with water -, actually making it grow becomes more problematic. Perhaps the plant will only grow during thunderstorms, thus requiring you to recreate similar conditions – or perhaps the difficulty is cracking open a seed’s hard shell in order to ensure it can actually grow.

Each one has its own puzzle to solve, and solving them requires hunting down clues that can help you piece together what you have to do. These can take various forms, from newspaper clippings, to diary entries, to just random objects scattered around. Each puzzle is compromised of various components, so it’s often a good idea to actually assign each puzzle part to the appropriate section of the herbarium in order to help gather your thoughts (although frustratingly you can’t actually view the clues from there…). It’s an interesting system that helps make the process of growing plants seem far more interesting, even if the puzzles rarely pose all that much in the way of difficulty.

But, that hardly matters when the game is so well presented. Indoor locations typically are detailed and colourful, but when going outdoors you are treated with a gorgeous watercolour style garden. It’s a great design choice as the lack of intricate detail works well with the Switch’s limited hardware power, yet it still allows the environments to look jaw-droppingly beautiful. Even with some minor pop-in issues, it’s hard to deny just how amazing it all looks.

With only five chapters and twelve plants to grow, it’s not an experience that will take especially long to get through – and finding every single clue isn’t that hard to do either – but it also never outstays its welcome either, ending just before the formula starts to wear thin. Some may bemoan the limited amount of content available, but the creativity on display here is so charming that I find it hard to complain about.

VERDICT
What Botany Manor lacks in both length and difficulty, it more than makes up for with its sheer beauty and relaxing gameplay. It certainly may not be for everyone, but those looking for a puzzle game with a unique twist may very well find what they are looking for here.