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It’s hard to say just how good Strange Horticulture is. The pitch on paper seems so specific — an occult puzzle game themed around flowers — that it’s hard to imagine how it could be fun to thoroughly examine a plant’s leaf shape to make sure that you’re not going to accidentally poison a customer. Or… maybe purposefully poison a customer.
Strange Horticulture, a game about running a florist and selling plants to the titular “strange” townsfolk, has a mixture of things that set it apart: Firstly, the occult bit, which is told through a veil of strange goings-on, many of which will require that you read between the lines. Secondly, the map, which is full of secret places to explore, many of which you will only find through cryptic clues. Thirdly, it lets you have all the power. Well, all the power afforded to you by your job, selling flowers. Flower power, if you will.
Let’s say someone comes in looking for a poisonous plant, and they tell you — in a suspiciously shifty manner — that it’s for slugs, and definitely not their husband. Do you fulfil their wishes, or do you direct them to a plant that merely causes stomach upsets? That’s totally up to you, pal.
Many of the clues as to which plant a customer is looking for are not immediately obvious. A plant may be described as “irritating to the touch”, from which you can divine that it’s maybe good for causing skin rashes (if that’s what you want). Or you’ll read some ancient history book that speaks of a healing potion, made by two mushrooms of the opposite colours, and you’ll have to figure out which ones it means. It’s a fantastically clever way of making players sift through all the information at their fingertips to make deductions.
If you’re looking for a game that’s one part Streetpass Garden, one part Astrologaster, and one part Sherlock Holmes, then your very-specific prayers have finally been answered: Strange Horticulture is out today on the Nintendo Switch.
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