Strange Horticulture review - finding the right plant for the right occasion

You’ve just inherited a plant shop from a family member. Unfortunately, you know nothing about plants.

Armed with an incomplete encyclopedia and a small, but growing, collection of unidentified plants, you are tasked to provide fellow villagers with the appropriate plant for their situation.

The game features an interesting storyline that plays over many days. There are even a few branching paths with 8 different endings influenced by your decisions. Each day, a few customers will make their way to your shop and ask for a plant. Sometimes the customers will be nice enough to name the plant they need, but most of the time they’ll give you vague details such as the smell, what it looks like or some other information that is usually just enough to be able to figure out what they need.

Picking the right plant is not always easy, but failure is never a big threat. If you fail to give the right plan to the customer too many times, you will simply have to start the day over.

As you play, you’ll discover new plants for your collection and new pages for your encyclopedia. You will also discover new ways to interact with your shop which is where you will spend the entire game. There’s a large map to explore, but the exploration consists of clicking on a coordinate and reading what happened or what you found there.

I really enjoyed my time with Strange Horticulture and I recommend it for fans of relaxing puzzle games that want to test their observation skills. It takes around 5 to 6 hours to complete the game.

And if you enjoyed the game, there’s a follow-up coming sometime in the future called Strange Antiquities.