Strange Horticulture

Strange Horticulture is a fine puzzle game, but I can only recommend it for those who are ready to read a lot of text and be ready to stop and think. I stumbled upon a Strange Horticulture at random: the description didn't really captivate me at first, but I liked the art style and reviews (very positive) gave a good impressions, so I got it. I was pleasantly surprised from the start and before I knew it, I was at the end. While the gameplay gets repetitive fast, I think that there's plenty of things to keep you occupied. I refrained from using any hints (this is, of course, purely a choice of the player) and sometimes had to really think about the solutions. Which, in my opinion, is only a good thing: I managed to figure the puzzles out without any help and it did what puzzle games do great: giving you a sense of satisfaction. Sure, most of the problems you solve are mundane by nature (you ARE a flower shop owner) but there is also the bigger puzzle on the background, which slowly progresses as you do the smaller ones. The game is dialogue heavy and do require attention and information management if you're willing to solve everything without hints. There is a log of the conversations (except once, towards the end of the game, when the conversation didn't get included on the log, but this is probably a bug), which came handy couple of times. Sadly, conversations aren't voice acted, which would have been a nice touch (also if you have someone to play with, you could always divide the roles and voice act yourself, if you're into that). The reading heaviness and the setting (or more specifically the time period) reminded me of Sunless Sea, to give a comparison if you're familiar with that. Summa summarum, I recommend Strange Horticulture for those who are looking for cozy puzzle solving, that flows with players pace and are willing to read a lot of text.