Evergarden

This is a cute game with nice graphics. I can tell the dev cared about it. There’s a light storyline about restoring a garden with a small magical creature guiding you, but it barely develops. It plays like a tile matching puzzle game where you merge plants to grow higher tiers and unlock new areas. The core loop never expands beyond matching and clearing space. There are a few hidden interactions and small surprises, but they don’t change much. Progress is slow and it feels like it would work better as a mobile game.

Chill little game with slow pacing and emotional storytelling even if predictable. The animations are gorgeous.

A simple puzzle game with fun things under the hood

I'm at a bit of a loss, I have to say. I'm confused as to why this title has such a high rating. There is nothing here. It's just the exact same loop every time, and that loop is nothing more than the most basic combine two items to make a new bigger item. No strategy, no challenge, just drag one item onto the other. You are meant to create certain shapes of items, like a straight line of shape #3, but each "map" is identical with the same functionality. Again, I am at a bit of a loss, I have to say. I'm confused as to why this title has such a high rating. This is the sort of game you'd get from a magazine demo disk of the mid 2000s, that's the level of complexity. To charge money for a very simple game that you'll find for free on itch.io is almost criminal.

Evergarden's puzzle gameplay can get very repetitive, but it's a nice little matching game to occupy your hands. The origami aesthetics are nice, and I like that it has some stuff to unlock and progress through. I'd only recommend getting it on sale or in a bundle, but it's worth a go at a cheaper price. For clarification's sake: I've played 4 hours of Evergarden at time of this review, the other 6.4 on record were spent AFK.

It's a cozy, calm puzzle game. The music is very relaxing.