The Gardens Between Reviews
Beautifully designed and painfully creative, The Gardens Between is an absolute delight. It's a shame that the lack of levels and short runtime prevent it from reaching true classic status.
The Gardens Between feels right at home on the Nintendo Switch, allowing you to play in short bursts or in one go at home or on the go. The game looks great on the TV and on the Nintendo Switch, and the way the game is presented and how you interact with each small island you explore means that there is no slowdown or weird graphical artifact that would get in the way of enjoying this charming and short puzzle adventure. I highly recommend that you download The Gardens Between so that you can dive into its colorful and enticing world.
One other artistically awesome indie game that left an emotional impression on me was Old Man's Journey. Now with the journey of Arina and Frendt, The Gardens Between manages to go for the same areas of emotion. There's nothing seriously gripping here, but it's meant to leave an overall personal feeling, which it does well. The environmental puzzles using objects from each memory builds up a personal idea of what event is actually taking place and ultimately becomes resonating when it is revealed. It's fun getting to those points. The Gardens Between may look simple when giving it a brief glance, but it's one of the most charming, clever and wholesome games of 2018 and it's all about beautifully capturing friendship.
While some may not be fond of the game’s conclusion (I personally thought it was appropriate and touching) the journey in The Gardens Between is absolutely a special one. While mechanically a puzzle game, and one that can be tricky in places, as an overall experience it has a remarkably universal quality that I think anyone can appreciate. In a sea of indie (and even AAA) titles it stands out and is deserving of both praise and your attention.
Even if the nostalgia of the objects littered throughout the islands is before your time the emotional resonance of The Gardens Between should work for everyone in some regard. Memories from being younger, simpler times. The ending is bittersweet, but the journey there is every bit rewarding through interesting mechanics and subtle story-telling.
The Gardens Between shouldn’t be overlooked. The near-perfect title combines beautiful imagery with seamless gameplay and challenging puzzles, creating a top-notch gaming experience.
Although short, The Gardens Between is a relaxing puzzle game with unique ideas and a nostalgic, bittersweet snapshot of childhood friendship.
Overall, The Gardens Between is not particularly complex or subtle with the linear-nature of its puzzle-solving and familiar story, but the level of creativity and depth the game reaches with its uncomplicated parts is not to be understated.
I enjoyed my time with The Gardens Between and appreciated it dealing with a topic that almost everybody can identify with but few games have tackled. Contemplative and moving, The Gardens Between is perfect fodder for a rainy morning in bed spent reminiscing about friends lost and the years separating then and now.
The Garden is a very beautiful and moving game that lacks some fresh ideas after a few minutes of game. Its mechanics are cool but it's too bad it lacks some challenge and never tries to renew its formula during the whole adventure.. that is only 3 hours long.
Review in French | Read full review
The Gardens Between is a masterpiece of minimalist storytelling, weaving a wordless tale of friendship and time. By drawing upon a few, nearly-universal childhood events, it allows the player to fill in the story with their own emotions and memories, creating a shockingly moving, personal experience. Featuring a gorgeous, surrealist style and challenging but fair puzzles, this is a must-have title for anyone who enjoys puzzle games.
The Gardens Between is a great example of a puzzle game with the most simple of mechanics, showcasing how much can be stretched out of so little. Its light story of friendship is sweet (if not a bit too saccharine). It complements the core mechanic of controlling the passage of time, and well, the inevitability of how no matter how much you'd like time to stand still sometimes, it'll move along regardless.
The Gardens Between is almost a truly great puzzle game, but it gets hung up in a couple of small areas.
Beyond those couple of snags, and really, those snags just remind us designing puzzles is a human effort, The Gardens Between stands out among its physics/puzzle/metaphor-driven peers. It's beautiful to look at and listen to, gratifying to solve (most of the time), and in the the end tells a simple story that's just bittersweet enough to sting your brain into thinking about your life a little.
Relaxing as it is taxing, The Gardens Between offers a poignant coalescence of charming visuals, a relaxing soundtrack and a bittersweet story.
The Gardens Between is a magical journey that's well worth your time
A beautifully told tale of childhood memories wrapped around an inventive, if overly short puzzler, The Gardens Between nonetheless remains a warm and touching experience that deserves your time.
A seductive art style, hazy synth sounds, and some well-designed puzzles give The Gardens Between a pleasant mood, but it doesn't stay in the mind long after the credits.
With only three buttons, this time-bending story is an impeccably crafted minimalist model of video game and puzzle design
Melbourne studio The Voxel Agents' debut console game proves that they are already masters of the craft. This is a shining example of what indie games can be