Strange Horticulture
Something is rotten in the county of Cumbria. As the new proprietor of a humble shop trading in rare plants, you might not notice it at first, but a sense of unease steadily creeps in and takes root. At first, you’re picking out flowers to make the ideal gift, or as a balm for mild ailments, but it’s not long before things take a turn for the weird. On excursions to find fresh blooms, you see crows gathering overhead; discover a dead deer, ribcage exposed, lying by a riverbed; encounter a shadowy, hollow-eyed man, gesturing towards some wild flowers. It’s more likely to be fear than hope that rises on the Grasmere, then; while it’s not exactly panic on the streets of Kendal, the Lake District has never seemed quite so sinister.
Your job, ostensibly, is to identify unusual plants for your customers. You invite them to the counter by ringing the reception bell, they give you a name or a description of what they want, and you leaf through a reference book on your desk, a combination of the text and an illustration of a specific part giving you just enough information to pick one out from your shelves before you hand it over. Get it right, and a chime will sound, letting you label the plant for easier access later on. A meter, effectively reflecting your character’s wanderlust, will fill up, too: once you’ve built up sufficient ‘will to explore’, you can pull out a gridded map and pick out a spot in the famously beautiful local countryside to visit. Yet it’s worth waiting until you have a clue to where a new plant may grow, lest you come home with empty pockets but a boost to your character’s dread gauge (which also increases when you pick out the wrong plant).
While we don’t come close to losing our grip on reality, there’s enough of a suggestion of threat to unsettle, with evocative flavour text and a piano-led theme subtly hinting at an undercurrent of darkness from the off. A tactile interface and effective sound design generate a powerful sense of place, as you unfold maps and letters, hold a magnifying glass up to examine plants more closely, physically rearrange your stocks and tidy away written hints and key items in a small drawer. As the mystery grows, the clues get more elaborate, folding in cryptic hints and strange devices powered by floral extracts, while halfway through the game you’re afforded the chance to combine plants to brew your own special elixirs. This isn’t just the most satisfying detective game since Obra Dinn, but one that has a similar transportive quality, the world unfolding like a flower’s petals as you steadily cultivate your knowledge of it through the wonderfully weird plants that flourish within.