CritterGarden

I grew up playing Viva Pinata a lot, and not a lot of games scratch the itch that VP left me with. The gameplay loop is similar in a really fantastic way, I love the tree of the critters and the complexity of it. I played the demo of CritterGarden and found myself sinking hours into it, and I bought the game on launch. I usually am hesitant to do so because there are bound to be bugs on release day. This is a dev working on a passion project, and the game had some bugs on release. It feels so rare though, to find one that utilizes the discord to communicate with the community and puts so much effort to patch these bugs the first days of release. I love this game and am so excited to see where the dev goes from here.

Really cute game, fun to play while I'm watching something. It doesn't hold your hand, and it takes some testing to figure out some things, but I do like that! Reminds me of viva piñata, with the whole, creating an ecosystem and trying to get more creatures and to keep it running smoothly

This game is great fun and very cozy and relaxing. Critter evolutions and mutations are exciting to discover (and super cute!) as you expand your garden into different biomes. I have only scratched the surface at the time of reviewing, and it seems there is a ton of content ahead. Fans of viva pinata will love this game and so will gamers interested in cozy and farming sims.

Love this game!! The lil critters are adorable and as a biology major I appreciated the science aspect behind it. Might even incorporate this into my high school science class. Excited to keep playing!

Had lots of fun with the demo and the full release so far! Its relaxing when you want it to be but can be played more actively if you prefer. The pixel art is really cute.

Very fun! I get to recreate an exoplanet's ecosystem and enjoy the art style

A truly comfy experience, which is what I'm always looking for. Only problem is, I have become insatiable for the dopamine from discovering a new Critter

I am loving this game so far! It’s such a unique concept. I’m big into games where you can collect and this one checks that box and more. I love the broad range of critters you can find. I also appreciate the science/biology aspects throughout the game.

Viva Piñata lives on

CritterGarden is a fantastic little game. On the surface it seems simple enough, and it is, but the ever branching tree of life, managing your critter populations, evolving new critters and designing the garden make it feel very complex. It's not a very difficult game, it just takes time and patience. Your goal is to restore life to the planet, and recreate all the species that were once lost. You do that by feeding the critters various foods to have them breed or evolve. Some of these foods can be tricky to get, and might involve breeding up new critters to feed to the one's you're trying to evolve, and making sure they also have enough food. Basically you're creating food chains, some of which are quite complex. I was also pleasantly surprised that, when you leave these food chains to their own devices, they mostly balance themselves out. Though a few of these food chains did need a little more maintenance, for the most part the predators aren't just eating themselves out of house and home. There's always a lot to do, whether it's evolving that next critter, or unlocking a new tool or recipe - the game keeps you busy, but you can choose to focus on whatever you want. And it even has a nice little story, (and maybe a few secrets)! Overall, a very fun and satisfying game to play.