I turned my last two plants into a monolith with four moves left. I couldn’t use up my growing turns because there was “nothing to grow”. But I couldn’t plant anything because I didn’t have anything to plant. Lost all my earned triangles and points because I had to start over in this predicament. Otherwise it’s a pretty mediocre game. Fine to play in the background of watching tv, or killing time. Not a super satisfying narrative, and would have appreciated if the field of play changed shape or something as the game went on.

It’s a beautiful and interesting game, but the lack of any instruction or guidance is frustrating and definitely not relaxing. Even just a ‘help’ section hidden on the menu would be nice, or maybe a hint after playing the first level 8 times without progress. These additions would at least have given me hope that I hadn’t spent 6 dollars on a single level in a hex mini game.More about the gameplay for anyone interested: To progress to new content, you have to copy the pattern displayed in a thought bubble. The types of plants you need to fulfill the pattern are displayed on a hex board filled with a rotating diagram of the hex pattern needed with 2D silhouettes denoting the types of plants necessary. The actual game board does not rotate and all plants are three dimensional shapes. It’s difficult to get perspective on where the pattern is possible on the actual game board as a result.

This may be my favorite game ever! I love puzzle and strategy games, but it’s so hard to find games that hold my attention and make me want to keep playing. After the first few times playing, this absolutely gorgeous game had me completely hooked, and although I’ve played to the end, I’m still hooked! The puzzle aspect mixed of the game with the strategy of the map was perfect. The final scene in the map was so moving. Having read the story behind the game in TouchArcade, and that the game was made to honor the creators’ mother (my own father passed away unexpectedly 2 months ago), it really touched me, and I’ll have to admit, I teared up at the end. I could go on and on about this game, I highly recommend it.

I appreciate the lack of hand-holding. So many games have tutorials that walk you through every little detail; it can feel like being a kindergartener. Evergarden dropped me into its puzzle and let me work out the rules myself, which became part of the fun. There’s a mysterious feeling to this game, as though it’s a single piece of some larger world.The gameplay is reminiscent of Triple Town (or 2048/Threes), combining small-valued flowers into bigger ones, but the mechanism is different. And then there’s a larger matching game overlaying that, and I’ve just gotten to some mini-games that unlock new powers and reveal bits of what may be a story...Highly recommended if you enjoy thoughtful puzzles and tranquil moods.