The Gardens Between Reviews
In The Gardens Between, a new puzzle and adventure game from The Voxel Agents, the central idea is to manipulate time. It is a puzzle game with relatively simple mechanics: you move back and forth in time, following two friends while carrying a flashlight to the top of a small island. Read our review.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
I personally appreciate that The Gardens Between never came close to overstaying its welcome. Minimalist images between the islands help the player piece together the story, and the game ends with a subtle-yet-powerful scene that made me think about my childhood and the time I spent with friends in the moment.
Control time itself in this charming puzzle game from The Voxel Agents.
There are no words to describe how incredible my experience with The Gardens Between was. A simple but pleasant story. An unique and innovative gameplay. A magnificent visual that confuses the boundaries between game and art. Like everything good in life, I found myself thinking about every moment I've spent with this game, and I could not help feeling a strong sense of Déjà Vu.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
A beautiful, relaxing puzzler that demands little more than your attention.
The Gardens Between is delightful, its soundtrack is beautiful and calming, its art style is pleasing, its characters are charming and expressive, and its story is touching and melancholic, and I found myself truly amazed by the consistently great level design.
The Gardens Between is an excellent example of a creative puzzle game, where beautiful graphics, pleasant music and original mechanics with time manipulation create a perfect symbiosis.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Although a lot of The Gardens Between is focused on its narrative, it also has clever brain-teasing puzzles and an engaging world that will hold the interest of gamers looking for an immersive story as well as those who love a challenge.
The Gardens Between is a short and sweet puzzle game where you control the flow of time.
Time flows inexorable, but this work allows us to play with it, to mold it to our liking, but it always takes us to the end of the narrative. Although the reality is that there is no end to it: memory and friendship, memories and shared experiences move in a circle, like the islands of this work. A wheel that has no beginning or end, in which looking back also implies look ahead. A wheel.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
The Gardens Between is an enjoyable and minimalistic adventure that has you watching two friends ascend abstract memory islands. The puzzle mechanics involving time manipulation are simple, but deliver ample variety over the short journey.
Knowing that I was walking into an abstract puzzle game, I wasn't quite prepared for what I received. Even at that, I found myself to be pleasantly surprised and challenged by this game. I tend to gobble puzzles for breakfast and some of these islands had me stumped. I love this game and would recommend it to all ages because of its art style, casual nature, and general concept. It does not have any violence, fighting, nor inventory management making it the perfect game for youth and adults to enjoy.
The Gardens Between is an amazing game, with an amazing story and style. The puzzles make the game challenging and add to the time you need to complete te game, but are never to cruel.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
The main strength of The Gardens Between is the deeper meaning found within. It utilises a largely voiceless and textless narrative to great effect. Not only is this an impressive feat on its own, it showcases the brilliance of the medium. This game eschews tradition to draw players into a fascinating world. As they witness the memories shared by Arina and Frendt, they may find themselves recalling their own childhood. While those memories aren't always the kind one can look back on with fondness, their significance can't be understated or forgotten. They are what shape us.
I enjoyed every bits and pieces of The Gardens Between and I admired every garden of it. My only regret is that the game is kind of short.
The Gardens Between is a well-needed bite of escapism, both for the two protagonists as for the player. With cute and, more importantly, uniquely clever diorama set pieces, this tiny adventure that spans just a few hours feels as innovative as it is refreshing and heartfelt.
The Gardens Between is a beautiful and innovative journey to the memories; memories of friendship and kindness that will make you wonder. If only the journey was not so short, it could've been one of the best experiences you'll ever have.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Thanks to its pleasant palette and meditative sound design, The Gardens Between is a calming experience. It may not have too much to say, but at least it doesn't overstay its welcome. A little sadly, I doubt I will be getting all that nostalgic over a game about nostalgia.
The Voxel Agents have managed to knit a clever game concept around time manipulation with only one key plus analog stick and completely without text, which not only becomes a bit more complex from level to level, but also hardly repeats itself. If you don't mind the short playing time, The Gardens Between is a wonderfully playful and pretty puzzle adventure that's perfect for in between.
Review in German | Read full review
While it may seem like nothing more than a Braid clone, The Gardens Between is anything but. Creative and evocative, other than the length, there's little to dislike here.