Cloud Garden preview

Gaming can be a powerful tool in relaxation and comfort. Many take it for granted, but in the grand scheme of things, gaming can be awe-inspiring, relaxing, and provide support for those in need. Gaming can be intriguingly complex, and it can be beautifully simple. Cloud Gardens, the game of today’s preview is extremely simple in nature, even so where the Steam description is only eleven words long -

“A chill game about using plants to overgrow abandoned wasteland dioramas”

What does that mean, why should you play Cloud Gardens, and why it’s actually one of the most refreshing and original games to come out in a very long time.

What is Cloud Gardens?



Cloud Gardens has no story as such but is a rather abstract journey of nature taking over dystopian landmarks. I can see plenty of people going full-on with the conspiracy theories or those, like me, or were just fascinated about the prospect of playing a post-apocalyptic game that doesn’t center on NukaCola or zombies with mushrooms growing from their heads.

You play a disembodied induvial who has the responsibility of growing various plant life across numerous dystopian set pieces or more so dioramas if you will. Each landmark is vacant and empty, but with a few seeds and harnessing the power of junk and discarded items, you can grow your seeds and let them flourish into a magnificent spectacle of nature.

It does sound very strange and when I first played this, I was a little unsure. The prospect of growing plants to cover up decaying landscapes and landmarks did not sound that interesting. But there were some things which made this such a beautifully engaging game.

What is so good about it?

First off, I love the visuals. I’m an old school gamer and I love the PSone era of graphics, whether it was for horror games like Resident Evil or the more family-friendly Crash Bandicoot. While it’s subjective to say the graphics are great in my opinion as these low res/low poly graphics might not be to everyone’s fancy. I feel the low poly look works wonderfully, as the game already incorporates an immense atmosphere, a fantastic range of colours, and the dynamic and almost organic way that plants grow is visually extraordinary.

Aside from graphics, the sound design is also very neat, with diegetic sound design that works well as plant life grows and the landscape develops. The music is very calm, almost unnoticeable but gives a sense of relaxation and comfort. The presentation is extremely bold and the choice for 5th generation graphics is extremely well thought out and works flawlessly with the tone and nature of this game.

What else is good?



Cloud Gardens’ gameplay offers a very compelling sense of accomplishment and reward but while also keeping you chilled and focused at the same time. It’s a weird experience to see a game that focuses on a unique lateral challenge but also feels like the most mellow downtime possible.

So, the objective for each stage in Cloud Gardens is to grow a garden of sorts and design along the way, a dystopian diorama, resembling a fragment of life that time has long forgotten. My favourite way to approach this notion is by thinking I’m creating scenes for a Playstation one version of The Last of Us.

Players will get a scene, usually a vacant lot, old building, part of a highway, or anything in between, and a few seeds to plant. From here, you plant the seeds where you see fit and then are presented with a heap of junk. This junk is what allows your garden to grow. So you’ll be using junk to harness the power of nature and allow a new, greener, and more beautiful world to thrive.

The junk ranges from glass bottles, garden gnomes, chairs, signs, old cars, bathtubs, skips, boxes and so much more! You get the chance to set up a scene however you see fit, but the purpose is to create a beautiful scene that will allow nature to take it over. That’s the goal.

Logic wise, small items will help encourage small growth in plants and need to be close to the source. Whereas larger items have much more impact but if anything touches the plant life, then it’s destroyed. So small items are safer but offer less growth while larger items such as cars and fridges allow a massive boom in plant life but could end it quickly if contact is made.

So each scene is working out where is right to plant the seeds and where to place items to allow the most effective growth, without risk of damaging what your growing and of course, making a scene that makes sense (although the objective is about gaining as much growth as possible to fill a meter).

As plants grow (I know I’m using this term a lot, but the game is about growth now), special spores and pods will flourish which will give players water when collected. Collect enough water and you will gain seeds, thus planting more and allowing an expansion of nature! You even get crows who come by and visit your creation, which is neat.

In the preview build, there are about 5 types of plants to grow including what appears to be Ivy, Arrowhead vines, large gatherings of moss, and cactus. Each grows in a different way and requires certain surfaces to be planted. So this as well lends very well into the lateral and planning side of gameplay.

Why does it work?



Cloud Gardens is a unique and rather mellow puzzle game that requires forward-thinking, an artistic touch, and a good sense of planning. But it’s also a great game for those looking to be purely creative and the whole tone and feel of the game just seems to be so relaxing. I found myself after a long day of work to just boot this up and spend 30 minutes to an hour to just growing and designing a beautifully flourish landscape hiding a decaying ruin.

It’s so easy to pick up, learn and the amount of creativity here is immense and highly original.

What doesn’t work?

Sadly, there were a couple of things that do not work but nothing major to detract from the overall experience. However.

The clunky controls for starters can be a little bit of a pain. Moving objects is fine enough, but when you have some of the smaller environments with large objects to place, it can be a little tricky. The inconsistent range in difficulty dips and rises in random intervals, meaning there’s no sense of progression at times, but rather long moments where the game feels pretty easy with a very small area that requires only a handful of items to complete, to an area (such as the Rooftops), where the only items seem to be pipes and air conditioner units, which really does kill the creativity at a moment's notice.

But it is best to look at Cloud Gardens mainly as an exercise of creativity as you can skip areas you don’t feel particularly interested in them.

But the main one is the lack of dynamic elements and behaviours of plants. I would love to see certain requirements being introduced in a sort of challenge mode, where certain plants only grow near a water source or introduce plants that consume other plants or even to have the birds come by and eat the newly flowered pods as an extra element of challenge.

These could enhance the game in small doses, but regardless, Cloud Gardens is still an enriching experience that thrives with creativity.



But there is so much creative freedom here

Plus, you have a sandbox mode to play around in. All you need to do is complete a few areas to unlock more items for the landscape and you can do whatever you want without restrictions or the element of challenges. You can be free to create and with these unique gameplay elements, it’s really one of the most interesting and refreshing sandbox modes I’ve played.

Overall?

While still in early access, Cloud Gardens is one of the most compelling, creative, and intriguing games I’ve played this year. It’s so different and bold that I could recommend it to anyone looking for a change in their gaming diet. Having a game that infuses lateral and creative elements in such a unique way reminds me that gaming can be still awesome, surprising, and wholesome. Cloud Gardens is one of the most entrancing games to pop out of nowhere and I hope the full version comes out soon for everyone to see.