The steady rise of work games from the 2010s onward is a fascinating scenario.  While it's true that simulators, be it farming, flight, or whatever else, were around with niche audiences before then, a specific category of indies melding an offbeat profession with important decision-making (dialogue choices, puzzles, and so on) took off alongside them.  Helmed by Bad Viking (founded by Rob & John Donkin), Strange Horticulture is among the most recent to essentially use that odd profession as more of a front for a self-described "occult puzzle game."  While current console limitations prevent the Xbox version from reaching full bloom, that won't prevent anyone from admiring such strong roots.

The town of Undermere is home to a few odds-and-ends, Strange Horticulture among them.  With the recent passing of your uncle, you've become the proprietor of this popular plant store.  While ostensibly focused on fulfilling customer orders for certain ailments or the occasional bouquet for an anniversary, the more plant & fungi species you unearth the more unnerving situations you find yourself in.  The seeds of something... stranger have taken root across the country and you've somehow found yourself in the middle of it.

Of course, you get to smell the roses for a bit before more sinister undertones begin sprouting.  The gameplay rhythm is quite simple: ring the reception bell to see the next customer in, they'll provide a description of what they're after, and you select the correct option(s) based on your uncle's horticulturalist bible.  Said description will oftentimes specifically name and detail what it's for; on occasion, however, the customer will only have limited knowledge ("the one with the stiff leaves running up the stems") for you to then deduce the rest.  The correct choice is signaled with a chime and short musical number; the wrong plant results in your dread gauge filling up, until eventually hitting a fail state (essentially a mini-game speedbump to lift the player-character's spirits before restarting with the same customer).

Even if that minor punishment doesn’t carry the weight that "dread" implies, there's just enough within its melancholy mood and presentation to capture a rich atmosphere.  It's the little things within Strange's design that keep the horticulture loop engaging.  There's an inherent reward in processing a customer's request, learning a lore detail or two about said plant, and narrowing down the correct one based on an incomplete summary or stenciled picture.  As your panoply of unique vegetation grows and the info customers give to you gets hazier, you grow more obsequious about the details to get a correct match.  Once you've done that, returning to potential repeat orders gets easier after labeling them. 

The drip-feed of dopamine wouldn't work so well without such a clean layout either.  Taking notes from Papers, Please and the like, the UI conveys a great sense of space by balancing your plant collection, the desk, various gauges, the waiting customer, the drawer with various knick-knacks, and so on.  It sounds like informational overload – and there can be occasional menu overlap, but most of it feels incredibly clean.  From using helpful doodads to leafing through your guidebook, every interaction has tangible tactility.  Those little visual and aural touches also go a long way in building the Victorian-era setting.

Even though playing plant detective is the main course, I’d argue that exploring the countryside is Strange's true backbone.  Whenever 'The Will to Explore' meter fills up – whether by cooldown, finished orders, or the local postman’s delivered mail – you unlock the chance to search one spot on a gridded map.  Given its vast size (approx. 15 x 30), plenty of 1x1 squares will be dead ends.  There's prudence in waiting for a clue, be it from a tarot card or other correspondence, before making any choice.  If correct, you'll find a certain spot that’s either a story-critical location or a special locale with new flora to take back to your shop.  Again, like the plant selection, it seems odd to be so immersed in selecting a little map tile, yet it's harnessing your puzzle-solving itch.  What elevates it to something more is the context surrounding each discovery. 

Most of this narrative focuses on the grid map too.  Special spots unlock text-adventure snippets about that environment and/or the grander narrative taking shape.  Regardless of which, the terse writing never disappoints.  Whether it's the macabre details of discovering a new fungi within a dead deer's rotted ribcage or the investigations into a mysterious cult which literally "Praises the Dendrew," each new slice of text impels you to learn more and more.  As time goes on, you’re lured further into a traditional Gothic horror with multifarious choices that lead to surprisingly disparate outcomes.  Depending on your actions to specific customers, you'll be lead down one of several paths by the end.  That's the glue that binds these two sets of puzzles.

While the off-beat fusion succeeds on a grand scale, a few granular details herb my enthusiasm.  For starters, it's funny how you're able to search on the map while midway through an order; imagine waiting in the store for your tulips and then the vendor randomly decides to explore a distant castle before checking you out.  It also could've done better at tutorializing a couple of supplementary mechanics.  There's a good emphasis on subtly incorporating instructions through the game world instead of UI pop-ups, but there could've been a tad more guidance.  And it's annoying how labeling plants was locked off for me until Day 3 or 4.  Perhaps this is a highly random glitch, but I swear I wasn't able to grab them from my drawer until being informed about their usefulness.  That'll be a non-issue if you don't forget to toggle the auto-labeling option though.


What's undoubtedly my biggest contention is one that's avoided on certain platforms: the controller-cursor scheme.  From what I can glean, Bad Viking did have mouse & keyboard support prepared at launch before spotting crucial problems at the 11th hour.  While this could be rectified in the near-future, it's still disappointing to experience at launch; compounding that, there are currently no cursor speed/sensitivity options either.  None of this is to say the game is outright ruined, but mouse & keyboard is really the way to play.  As the store begins teeming with an ever-growing variety of plants, there's – dare I say – objectively no better way to organize, research, and label than an m/kb setup.

Regardless of platform, there's no difficulty in appreciating Strange Horticulture's oddball personality.  Its peculiar combination of puzzle design with plants suggests anyone's interest would quickly wither, yet Bad Viking's blueprint does a great job of emulating and branching off of Papers, Please and similar work games.  With an entrancing atmosphere and world-building to boot, it's easy to appreciate this unique tempo.  Although currently lacking the best control scheme (mouse & keyboard) may compel some to get the Xbox version at a later thyme, it remains an evergreen puzzler for start to finish.

Contractor by trade and writer by hobby, Lee's obnoxious criticisms have found a way to be featured across several gaming sites: N4G, VGChartz, Gaming Nexus, DarkStation, and TechRaptor! He started gaming in the mid-90s and has had the privilege in playing many games across a plethora of platforms. Reader warning: each click given to his articles only helps to inflate his Texas-sized ego. Proceed with caution.