Critical Play: Gardenscapes
There must be some reason over 100 million people have downloaded this game, I thought as I opened Gardenscapes for the first time. It’s one of those games that has always lived in the fringes of my awareness — I knew it existed, but never thought I would end up playing it. After all this time though, I found myself bursting little chains of fruit and smiling at Austin the butler’s amicable musings. Here’s what I learned about Gardenscapes.
What is Gardenscapes?
Gardenscapes was released by Playrix in 2016, and is part of a series of games that involve similar gameplay. It’s available for pc or mobile.
You play as the owner of a dilapidated garden, and work with Austin the butler to restore it with personal customized decisions on benches, fountains, and shrubs. In order to interact with other characters and get tasks done, players must gain stars and coins through match-3 levels and mini-games.
Formal Elements
Players
Gardenscapes is a single-player game, but you can make friends and form teams with other players through facebook to help each other gain resources. There is also a leaderboard which ranks teams by overall points of its members.
Objectives/Outcome
The main goals involve construction and exploration.
I think the ultimate outcome is to fully restore the garden to its original glory, but in a manner that you prefer, since you get to personalize your choices — this is where we see the “sandbox” nature of the game emerge.
Another objective might be to uncover the existing relationships between characters in the game’s storyline, and understand how they interact with one another. I think this is the least prominent, yet most interesting aspect of the game.
Yet another objective might be to gain the most points in occasional challenges, where you are ranked against other players. These challenges add variability to the game and likely keep players coming back due to their limited nature
Resources/Conflict
Players depend on three items in the game: stars, hearts, and coins. Stars are used to complete tasks and to choose custom additions to the garden. Hearts are used to play the match-3 levels in order to earn stars. Coins can be used to buy power-ups to make the match-3 easier, or to speed up tasks, and can be bought for real $$$.
The only conflict in the game seems to stem from a lack of resources, which would prevent a player from completing tasks to beautify their garden.
At least as far as I’ve played with Gardenscapes, I don’t think the in-app purchases are overly promoted, and it is possible to advance without them. They don’t detract from the fun, but allow impatient players to move past conflict more quickly.
Procedures/Rules
Players can only complete tasks and customizations if they have enough stars, and they can only earn stars through playing the match-3 levels. You can only play the match-3 levels if you have enough hearts, which you can gain through simply waiting, or by requesting them from friends.
Aesthetics
Abnegation
This is definitely the most prominent aesthetic of the game — It’s a game that you play once in a while to relax, and you can allow tasks to run in the background while you go about your day. Swiping the little fruits and watching them explode is soothing and doesn’t require much thinking.
Expression
Since you get to personalize your garden, you get to express yourself through the choices that you make. However, I will say that I found this game to be less of a sand-box than I expected, since even the choices you make are limited to three options each time.
Exploration
Gardenscapes doesn’t make the relationships between characters a prominent focus of the game, but I think for some players like myself, uncovering new dialogues and interactions between players is an important part of the game (in addition to the discovery of new areas of the garden, which also plays to exploration).
I understand now why many people play this game — it’s a great way to relax and to feel like you’re working towards a larger goal, while also expressing yourself in some ways. I think the gem in this game is actually the lil’ relationships between the characters — but if that’s not for you, feel free to pop fruits to your hearts content. Plus, who could resist Austin’s perfectly shiny head?
