Hidden Memories of The Gardens Between

[h1]Experienced on the Meta Quest 3[/h1] You can view my gameplay & early impressions here: https://youtu.be/Iv02kgz4-0I This is a casual zen-like puzzle game with time manipulation and hidden object gameplay mechanics. The puzzles are cute little dioramas which you can grab and move around and shrink or enlarge to get a better view. There's also a bit of an abstract story to uncover. This puzzle type is unfair to compare to games like Red Matter or Ghost Town because it's not a puzzle adventure game. It's going for something different. It's meant to be a relaxing type of puzzle game, where the journey is the goal, not the destination (solving the puzzle isn't the point). I think the game is solid. It accomplishes what it sets out to do. If you enjoy this type of puzzle experience, then I think you'll like this game. I liked how the hidden objects usually involved unwrapping something else to get to it. It made discovering the diorama fun. I'm still thinking about some objects that I missed. Game is running on the Unity Engine. On my RTX 3080, I was getting a steady 90 fps. This game does have nodal teleportation, but that's only really at the start of the game. Once the puzzles levels start, everything is in front of you and you can manipulate the diorama by grabbing it. So you can comfortably play this game seated. [b]Rate 7/10.[/b] [quote]Please note: I received a free Steam key through the Steam Curator Connect program. If you enjoyed my review, please consider joining my Steam Curator group [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Oculus_WMR]Oculus Rift Reviews.[/url][/quote]

🧠 Review: Hidden Memories of The Gardens Between VR 🎮 Spielzeit zum Zeitpunkt der Review: Um die 40MIn! Ich hatte das Glück, Hidden Memories of The Gardens Between VR bereits vor dem offiziellen Release spielen zu dürfen – vielen Dank an das Entwicklerteam dafür! 🙌 Jetzt, zum offiziellen Steam-Release, möchte ich meine Eindrücke teilen: Dieses Spiel ist eine stille, emotionale VR-Erfahrung, die sich ganz auf Erinnerungen, visuelle Details und die Kraft des ruhigen Erzählens konzentriert. Kein Action-Feuerwerk, sondern ein entschleunigtes, fast meditatives Erlebnis. 🌀 Spielprinzip & Atmosphäre Man reist durch kleine Traumwelten, in denen man mit der Zeit spielt, Gegenstände manipuliert und kleine physikbasierte Rätsel löst. Alles funktioniert komplett über VR-Bewegung und Handinteraktion – sehr intuitiv, sehr stimmig. Die Umgebungen wirken wie Miniaturwelten, gefüllt mit Symbolik, Kindheitserinnerungen und ruhiger Musik. Was besonders auffällt: Es gibt keinerlei Sprachausgabe oder Untertitel – das Spiel erzählt alles rein über die visuelle Gestaltung. Viele Beschriftungen, z. B. auf Kartons oder Schildern, sind nur auf Englisch, obwohl auf Steam Deutsch als Sprache angegeben ist. Wer damit kein Problem hat, wird trotzdem alles verstehen – aber es sollte ehrlich erwähnt sein. 🧩 Gameplay & Rätsel Die Rätsel sind angenehm zu lösen, nie zu schwer – aber auch nie langweilig. Es geht nicht ums Durchspielen, sondern ums Eintauchen. Die Zeitsteuerung und das Entdecken kleiner Details machen den Reiz aus. Die Interaktion mit Objekten fühlt sich gut an – alles wirkt, als wäre es wirklich für VR entwickelt, nicht einfach übernommen oder angepasst. 💬 Mein Fazit Hidden Memories VR ist ein Spiel für ruhige Momente. Es richtet sich an Menschen, die VR als erzählerisches Medium erleben wollen – nicht als Adrenalinkick. Die Preisgestaltung finde ich noch im Rahmen – mehr dürfte es nicht kosten, aber für die Qualität und den Stil, den das Spiel liefert, ist der Preis fair. ✅ Positiv: Wunderschöne, stimmungsvolle Welten Echte VR-Steuerung mit cleverem Leveldesign Stille, emotionale Erzählweise ohne Worte Faire Preis-Leistung Technisch stabil ⚠️ Hinweise: – Spielzeit ca. 3–4 Stunden – Keine Sprache, keine Untertitel Bei mir Nicht nach 40 min. – Nur englische Texte auf Objekten, trotz deutscher Sprachangabe auf Steam – Eher ein ruhiges Erlebnis als ein klassisches „Spiel“ 🎧 Empfehlung: Mit Kopfhörern spielen, Zeit nehmen, eintauchen. 🔑 (Key vor Release erhalten – danke an das Team!) Lg HundelungeVR https://youtu.be/GI8tJ_4SUy4?si=ig0jPVSPcD11jhuP

Everything about this title is right.. except the price. $25 is a lot of money for me, for a light VR game you mostly watch. However I do love the aesthetic, the music, the little illustrations and the puzzles... pretty much everything about it. I do believe this title is worth exploring, at a price more competitive for a VR game of this size and scope... I'd much rather see an ambitious title go for $15 dollars and sell 500 copies than it go for $25 and sell 50. I hope the devs understand where i'm coming from 💜 I appreciate the free copy and the very nice message it arrived with. Check out my other VR reviews! https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44403058

Such a beautiful VR puzzle game. The music visuals just pull you in, it’s a really immersive experience. The story and the world are so nostalgic and emotional, it sucks you in and drives you to keep solving the puzzles. I found it really moving, calm and meditative. The puzzles were just the right level of tricky, it was satisfying to discover and figure them out. I wish there were more games like this.

This is one of the most relaxing games I've played in a while. The puzzles are enjoyable and just the right level of challenge. The visual storytelling can be a bit hard to follow at first, but it becomes more engaging as the game progresses. Overall, I’d give it a solid 7/10. So, kick back and unwind while you dive into this peaceful puzzle experience.

A great little gem of a puzzle game! I've played it before on flatscreen, but being inside the world in VR is something else. Colorful, charming visuals that run great even on my aging RTX 2070 Super. I had a hard time putting the game down once I started playing! You don't directly control the characters, but instead you manipulate time forward or backward, watching events unfold and guiding them indirectly to solve diorama-style puzzles. Finding all the hidden collectibles were my favorite part, and 100%-ing the game after finishing was pure joy. The puzzles are on the easier side, but that actually makes the pacing feel smooth. It’s over a bit too soon (4–5 hours, or double for 100% completion), but the experience is more than worth it. The devs have been quick with bug fixes since the Next Fest pre-release demo, and I’m excited to see what they make next. [b]My score: 8/10![/b]

Really tried to like this game, as I enjoy great puzzle games, but this game feels way too simple and rigid. Everything feels pre-animated, you have no free movement - feels like phoneVR with close to no real physics, and this game was made for the Adreno 650 phone gpu in the Quest 2 standalone hmd. Then again, the game has also been made for flat screen, but this feels more like a Quest port to me. You can only turn forward or backward - turning forward, prerendered animations will show - like playing a movie forward or backward. As said, you have no real control over the characters you play. Using RTX 3090 I did get solid 80 fps using Index res 500% and using maxed settings with 2xMSAA. Index res 500% is an insane res of 45 million pixels per frame combining both eyes. The good news is that you can play this game just fine using a GTX 1060. As another positive note, we do get nice dynamic shadows and options for antialiasing. Textures probably are improved too compared to the Quest version, but many still look low-res. Levels are very small and restricted. Index controllers are fully recognized by the game, but the controls still feel somewhat cumbersome and clunky. Puzzles are weird and feel forced, and are not very hard - and the game basically is not very fun to play. For $20 you can find extremely much better games which have been built ground-up for real PCVR. I would recommend this game only if the price was lower than $10. If you want much better puzzle games, go for RoomVR and The 7th Guest VR.

"The Gardens Between" is a wonderfully cleverly designed and charming puzzle game in which time is manipulated in a variety of ways to solve various puzzles and reach the end point of the pretty dioramas. VR is integrated creatively and meaningfully, both in terms of gameplay and visuals. In the levels, you don't control the movement of the characters themselves, but rather time: for example, when you push the analog stick to the right, time moves forward and the characters automatically move forward. If you push the analog stick to the left, time moves backward and the characters walk backward on their own. This forward and backward movement of time is used to control events and thus overcome various obstacles. It is always fascinating how, in the end, everything meshes together like a complicated mechanical clockwork and leads the two protagonists to the exit. The protagonists are two friends whose memories we relive with them: a girl who carries a lantern and can pick up "balls of light," and a boy who cannot use the lantern himself, but can interact with certain objects that influence events in the world. The "world" consists of small dioramas decorated with symbolic objects from the era of the memory, which determine the theme of the level. The main goal in the levels is to find a ball of light and bring it to the exit of the level. The light is also needed for various puzzles, for example to build bridges or dispel fog and clouds. However, the light from the lantern can be sucked out of the lantern by "darkness flowers" when you pass them. The boy can then activate mechanisms to manipulate these "darkness flowers." Together with the fast-forward and rewind mechanics, artful puzzles are spun that surprise with ever-new variations. New puzzle elements are added with almost every level, and I was constantly surprised, delighted, and challenged by the creativity and intelligent puzzle design. At certain points in the dioramas, it is possible to change the perspective to view the action up close. This is not only beautiful to look at, but also makes it easier to find the collectibles hidden in each level. All of the objects together form a short animated scenario from the children's diary, which charmingly completes the storytelling. Since the collectibles are really well hidden in places, there is enormous replay value. I loved everything about the game: the creative and intelligent puzzle design, the beautiful little worlds, the wordless narrative structure consisting of many small episodes that eventually come together to form a meaningful whole, the sensible integration of interactive VR elements, and the poetic art design. For transparency: I was gifted a key as a kind reward for participating the beta but this did not influence my opinion. I loved the game at first glance.

Beautiful, surely one of the best puzzle games in VR. The atmosphere is chill, nostalgic and melancholic at the same time, the puzzles are original and well-balanced, adding some cool and cute VR interactions to the non-VR base game.

Perfecta recreación en VR de un juego de puzzles muy original, basado en avanzar y retroceder en el tiempo. Merece la pena.