Are you ready for an enchanting journey through a Victorian-era manor? In Botany Manor, players step into the shoes of Arabella Greene, a retired botanist determined to finish her "Forgotten Flora" book. This captivating game is not just about solving puzzles; it’s about exploring a beautifully crafted world filled with whimsical plants and intriguing stories. With a blend of creativity and clever deductions, Botany Manor promises to be a delightful experience for both puzzle enthusiasts and those who appreciate a rich narrative.
As you navigate through the manor, each room reveals secrets and challenges that require keen observation and thoughtful solutions. The game encourages players to delve deep into the lore of the Greene family while also connecting with the fantastical flora that grows in the estate. The environment is designed to draw you in, making the exploration feel rewarding as you uncover the mysteries of the past.
In a gaming landscape overflowing with cozy titles, Botany Manor stands out with its unique premise and engaging gameplay. The effort put into the design and storytelling is evident, making it a must-play for anyone looking to escape into a world of botanical wonder and Victorian charm. Get ready to plant seeds of curiosity and watch as your adventure blossoms!
What You Will Learn
- The well-crafted puzzles enhance the charm of exploring Victorian-era England.
- Fantasy plants introduce fun twists and visuals that enrich the gameplay.
- This cozy game shines with creativity, exploration, and clever deductions.
I feel like I owe Whitethorn Games an apology. As an indie publisher, they've genuinely helped in bringing a large number of cozy games to the masses, and yet rarely do we pay much attention to them. Maybe it's just burnout over the constant influx of "cozy" games these days (with the Wholesome Directs starting to feel overwhelming after a while), but there hasn't been anything in their lineup that’s excited me enough to get truly invested. At least, not until now. And I didn't expect to get excited over a game such as Botany Manor, a Victorian-era adventure/puzzler centered around plant cultivation by developers Balloon Studios (or maybe it should have been expected, given how great Strange Horticulture is). The positive buzz around this is intriguing, but what exactly is buzz-worthy here?
A Greener Downton Abbey
As mentioned prior, Botany Manor is set in the Victorian era, specifically 1890, and has players take the role of Arabella Greene, a retired botanist who heads back to the titular manor in order to finally finish her "Forgotten Flora" book and get it published. Finishing it means having to properly grow and study some of the plants encountered by members of their family prior in one way or another, which means having to actively research their prior notes and plant the seeds in the right conditions, and luckily, the manor isn't lacking in amenities that can help out. So it’s off to explore the manor as it gradually opens (with keys to new rooms being gradually discovered), and see just what exactly can be grown here...
It might not seem like the most exciting premise at first, but there’s a genuinely well-crafted story here lying around as you uncover it through all sorts of documents and oddities lying around Botany Manor. Arabella has faced a lot of obstacles in her life, as you’ll discover, with the main one being that she’s a woman in 1890’s England, and so needless to say, her aspirations to contribute to the world of academia aren’t exactly taken seriously. The story of the Greene family’s members comes up through a lot of small, nicely-subtle details, as you look over every note you come across. It’s all good as is, but the story shines through at its best via the plants themselves.
That last part may sound odd, but the thing to know is that Balloon Studios clearly put a ton of effort into creating fantastical plants to be featured in the game—ones that only grow when specific conditions are met. Specific sunsets, the right temperature of water, certain nutrients, and many more. And with every plant comes the details of how exactly Arabella and the Greene family have seen them, and so in solving the mystery behind each bit of flora, you get several small stories along the way that provide nice bits of world-building, either via the Greene family or the plants themselves, all of which have their own unique looks and unique atmospheres that burst out in a rewarding fashion upon finding the proper solution for growth.
Secrets Behind Every Seed
Uncovering the details behind each plant, though, isn’t that easy. None of the residents of Botany Manor have merely kept entire journals filled with detailed notes, it would appear, though there are at least a few of those. Instead, Arabella has to gather clues from everything around her, ranging from greeting cards to news clippings and posters. And thus the challenge in Botany Manor is solving its puzzles by properly stringing together all of these various clues. For example, you come across a tale involving a fairy who gets trapped in a flower, and elsewhere, you find a painting of a scene from that story which also includes a moth. Then another room has a poster of moths where you can properly identify the one seen, so now you can cross-reference it with a date on when it appears, and so on.
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