Tiny Garden is a relaxing, bite-sized gardening sim where you grow a miniature garden inside a magical, clamshell-shaped toy, evoking ‘90s Polly Pocket or Mighty Max playsets. Blending farming, puzzles, and light strategy, you plant seeds, turn a crank to grow crops, and trade harvests for new seeds, tools, and furniture to personalize your tiny world. With no scores, timers, or game-overs, it’s a stress-free experience focused on relaxation, creativity, and discovery.

As you grow plants like carrots, cacti, or lilypads, you unlock a touching story through letters, uncovering the toy’s history and its past owners. However, the game can become grindy, requiring frequent backtracking, and some mechanics aren’t well-explained, leaving you to figure things out on your own.

Haven For Cozy Gamers

You start with a small grid of soil tiles that grows as you progress. Each plant needs specific terrain, like regular soil for carrots, desert for cacti, or waterlogged soil for lilypads. Some plants change nearby tiles when grown, adding a puzzle-like challenge. For example, planting a cactus turns adjacent tiles to desert, which can block other crops but allow desert plants. Tools like fountains or gnomes also alter terrain to help.

Progression system is currency-free, relying entirely on bartering crops for items. Early gameplay is straightforward, with basic crops like radishes and carrots unlocking new seeds. As the game progresses, complexity ramps up, requiring you to chain multiple plants and tools to achieve specific soil conditions. For instance, growing potatoes might involve planting a cactus to create desert tiles, then using a fountain to make damp dirt. This “easy to learn, hard to master” dynamic makes planning satisfying, though personally I found the mid-to-late game grindy due to high crop costs for rare seeds.

Top half of the toy is a customizable living space where you place furniture, stickers, and color schemes bought with crops. Decorating is a big highlight, with choices like dollhouse-style furniture or indie game cameo stickers, such as Duck Detective or Grapple Dog. A free-play mode, unlocked early, lets those with more creativity decorate freely. However, fancier decorations are expensive, requiring a lot of farming to unlock premium items.

“Easy to learn, hard to master dynamic makes planning satisfying.”

Not Without Its Flaws

Tiny Garden tells a gentle, touching story through letters and collectibles you uncover as you unlock items. The narrative explores themes of legacy, memory, and the emotional value of objects, as Super Rare Games puts it: “Objects aren’t just things, they carry traces of lives lived.” Though not the main focus, this story adds emotional depth, appealing to fans of cozy games with a hint of heartfelt meaning.

The game boasts a colorful, cartoonish art style that channels the playful charm of ‘90s toys. Its simple yet vibrant models and clean textures make everything easy to read. The toy’s design, with a crank and customizable colors, sparks nostalgia, while plants and furniture feel lively. You can tweak the toy’s color, background skies, and plant hues for eye-catching combinations.

It also has some accessibility issues. Sometimes it explains things clearly, but other times, as mentioned, you’re left to figure things out on your own. Without a system to track the production chain or a visual seed tree showing required terrains, you must manually trace each seed’s dependencies. By the time you’ve gathered half the chain’s requirements, you might forget what you were even trying to grow.

“The narrative explores themes of legacy, memory, and the emotional value of objects.”

You’ll Find Something To Enjoy About It

Tiny Garden isn’t an idle game, it demands active play, and if you don’t enjoy cozy games, it might not be for you. But if you love decorating, unleashing your creativity, or spending an hour on a relaxing game, you’ll likely get hooked. The progression system keeps you engaged as you unlock new seeds. However, buying a single seed requires harvesting one to three other crops first. Stretch that to six or seven stages, and it can feel overwhelming.

In the end, Tiny Garden shines as a cozy game, mixing nostalgia with creative mechanics and a unique Polly Pocket-inspired toy setting that refreshes the farming sim genre. However, it’s not perfect. The late-game grind, with costly crops, may frustrate those seeking pure relaxation. Compared to other cozy games, it doesn’t match Stardew Valley’s open-ended depth but stands out with its focused, bite-sized experience, ideal for those craving a short, strategic escape.

“If you don’t enjoy cozy games, it might not be for you.”

Review copy provided by the publisher

4

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In Wanderstop, you take on the role of Alta, a former martial arts champion who reluctantly runs a tea shop in a magical forest. Alta's journey of self-discovery reflects the struggle to find peace and purpose after inner turmoil. Throughout the game, you will grow, collect, and mix ingredients using a unique tea brewing device, talk to customers, listen to their stories, and create personalized teas to meet their needs.

Beneath the calm atmosphere of the tea house lies a rich story of healing and acceptance. Wanderstop combines relaxing gameplay with an emotional narrative, offering players the opportunity to reflect on their own challenges while finding comfort in Alta's journey.

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If we take a look at the recent games from farming sim genre, we can see that they try to offer players something more than simple planting, watering and harvesting. For example, some of them experiment with horror elements, turning relaxing gameplay into a fight for survival (like in Pumpkin Panic or We Harvest Shadows.) In other cases we find ourselves in an unusual setting that encourages us to explore and uncover its secrets – like a post-apocalyptic world of Doloc Town, which demo version I lately played. After that, I got a chance to try yet another casual game with a twist to it: Everholm. This time managing a homestead on a magical and welcoming island is accompanied by a mysterious disappearance and strange behaviour of the local folks. So if you’re looking for a cozy, but not too cozy RPG, this title might be just the thing for you.

Lost in the calm

Lilly is looking for her lost sister, Melanie. During her search, she discovers a magical portal and gets spirited away to Everholm – a cozy, lovely, but also mysterious island where everyone seems to recognize her. Now she needs to establish a homestead, meet friendly Everfolks and uncover the mysteries of this little cozy place with the help of a local witch.

We’re thrown into action right off the bat: in the middle of the night we follow the clues scattered along the way, leading to peculiar portal. After entering it, we are suddenly teleported to our house in Everholm, where we are introduced to mechanics associated with management of our farm and goals that will help us with the exploration. The game doesn’t waste any time – after receiving basic instructions players are given a lot of freedom when it comes to collecting natural resources, crafting and shaping the overall look of their own place. I especially enjoyed fishing as an activity that put your reflexes to a test. At the beginning I also had fun with catching bugs and picking up mushrooms and berries, however it later became quite repetitive, and even frustrating.

As the progress with farming may take some time in this type of games, I rather focused on exploring and getting to know the characters. The town and its residents are diverse and colorful, but at the same time you just can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong. However, the hints and suggestions are really subtle – one time it’ll be weird line spoken by someone, the other time you’ll find a suspicious object in the forest. It is vital to balance your objectives so that you will have time to thoroughly traverse the island, but also impress local folks enough so that they let you know their secrets. There are number of things that take consistent effort to discover, so being patient is the key for this game.

Cute, Cozy, Clandestine

Both pixel art and soundtrack convey charming and magical atmosphere of the island. It is worth pointing out that the scenery changes according to seasons, but it’s not limited only to weather – there are some holidays and events that are emphasized with various decorations and activities. It was a pleasant surprise that you can have a break from your current tasks and simply enjoy a day filled with new forms of entertainment.

Since we’re talking about general presentation of the game, I can’t overlook the experience of entering the mysterious portal in Everholm after conversation with a witch. The moment we teleport into dungeons is truly stunning – the play of light is otherworldly, music is enchanting, and the new fighting mechanic brings freshness to the already well-known cozy environment. These sections are also tied to the soul-capturing element, which allows players to expand their abilities in an unusual way.

The truth beneath the surface

It is true that there’s more than meets the eye to Everholm. In the mystery aspect we’re not only struggling with the disappearance of our sister, but also inaccessible areas, unexplained occurrences and stubborn residents. On the one hand, it’s thrilling to get surprised with something new each time, but on the other hand, the routine of managing farm and interacting with others might stall your progress with the main story, making you less interested in it. In my opinion, the approach to this matter depends on how far you are in the game and how much time you are willing to spare to bring yourself closer to the truth.

Ending thoughts

Going back to the beginnig, is Everholm worth checking out in the surge of different kinds of farming simulators and cozy RPGs? For me, it offers an experience quite different than the rest of the games, although it definitely could use some updates and improvements, such as character customization. Overall, Everholm is a good example of casual gameplay connected with mysterious lore, which invite players to set out on a mission full of twists.

Review copy provided by the publisher

4.0

The post Everholm – What the eye does not see, the heart does not grieve over first appeared on IndieGames.

Doloc Town is a sanctuary built from the debris of trains and bridge structures. Here you can admire unique architecture and meet warm-hearted people. Your goal is to build a dream farm from scratch – to achieve it you’ll have to harvest various crops, craft advanced tools and connect with townsfolk for much-needed resources. However it won’t be easy: prepare to encounter dangerous creatures and powerful enemies along the way. The key is to endure the wasteland and pursue whatever your heart truly desires.

We start the adventure as a clueless newcomer in this remarkable town, however the game doesn’t waste any time to introduce essential mechanics such as planting, watering, chopping, building, crafting, trading and much more. After quick tutorial we basically know everything that we need in order to further develop our farm. There is also a list of quests that allow us to explore the area and meet others, yet players are given a lot of freedom when it comes to completing them – they can change the order or prioritize their own investigation. I thought it was a cool idea to give hints in form of a mail from different characters – it also served as a way to get to know them better.

The world of Doloc Town is absolutely adorable. Pixel art graphics give the feeling of coziness, but also fit the post-apocalyptic setting. It could be seen especially during the night, when neon signs and lonely lightbulbs create astounding atmosphere. There are many different sceneries and residents awaiting us, so getting famiiar with them will definitely take more time than the playthrough of demo version.

Since we got only the glimpse of the elaborate crafting and constructing system, let me point out to the quite unusual solution: drone companion and combat. It’s not something you would expect from a casual farming sim, but it certainly does make the game more interesting. I really enjoyed the way that this mechanic influenced exploration and the story – for example by letting player join the „Guild” with a task to slay dangerous creatures. It also made sleep and health bar more balanced – if your stamina runs out when you’re far from home, you’ll pass out and lose some of your loot.

Doloc Town combines many entertaining ideas with mechanics from different genres: you can find elements from platformers, farm simulators and cozy games. It offers both charming graphics and fast-paced bullet hell. There’s still a lot to discover regarding the locations and the story, so, based on the impressions from the demo, this game looks really promising so far.

You can play free demo of Doloc Town on Steam.

The post [Preview] Doloc Town – Farm at the back of the beyond first appeared on IndieGames.

Embark on a journey to Doloc Town, a post-apocalyptic oasis filled with abandoned ruins, unique architecture and warm-hearted people. Build your dream farm from scratch and explore the mysterious wasteland. Harvest, plant, build, and battle against ferocious creatures while discovering the untold stories of the forgotten land.

Construct buildings, upgrade facilities, and craft advanced tools to turn your little corner into a farming paradise. Get to know the townsfolk and connect with them for much-needed resources. Scout the vast, untouched wilderness in search for secret relics and treasures, but get ready to enjoy fast-paced bullet hell combat when enemies find you. Above all, the key is to endure the wasteland and pursue whatever your heart truly desires.

The post Pixel Art Farming Simulator Doloc Town has been announced for PC first appeared on IndieGames.

This game combines favorite aspects of Stardew Valley with a vibrant, sun-drenched coastal metropolis filled with intriguing characters. Although there is no trailer yet, the game's Steam page shows some interesting screenshots. According to the game's description on Steam, players will take on the role of "a newly hired staff member in Pico Corporation's new pilot program called 'Peco Pioneer'."

Your task will be to build relationships within the vibrant Apollo community and advocate for the corporation's new environmental initiatives. However, not everything is so perfect: wild animals are becoming more and more aggressive, the waters are lifeless, monsters are coming out of the canals, not to mention the constant migraines that plague the residents.

Unlike Stardew Valley, where players have their own farm, in Sunkissed City players can tend to home gardens organized by the local "plant-punk" group or spend quiet afternoons in the park with a good book or drinking coffee with the residents of the Weird Dog Café. It is also possible to fish and pick wild herbs. It looks like the game version of mines will be replaced by channels full of monsters.

Sunkissed City offers an alternative life for those who may have grown tired of fresh air and growing their own vegetables. It promises to be an intriguing and original game that allows players to explore the charms of life in an exciting city.

The game is slated to release in the fourth quarter of 2024, although an exact date has not been revealed. The PC version will be released first (Steam), and then the console versions.

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