Happy Saturday, Cozy Friends!

I know that I said I’d share some adventures about Lost Ark, but before I do that, I wanted to show you folks this adorable plant game I’ve been enjoying for the past couple of days!

When I’m trying to manage my stress, I find games like these to be very helpful. My mortal life can involve a lot of mentally exhausting research and writing, and so, giving my brain a break every so often is really important in maintaining my mental health, as well as preventing burnout. This is when idlers can actually be really helpful during work breaks.

I’ve been curious about idlers since I found Tsuki’s Odyssey on mobile. But you know, mobile games tend to have ads, sometimes developed right into the gameplay. For me, the last thing I want is an ad, especially when I’m relaxing with my cozy games. But that is probably to be expected on both mobile games, as well as free games on the Google Play store.

So, I thought, maybe I should look into idlers on Steam, or games tagged with “relaxing” or “casual”. As I clicked through my Discovery Queue, I ran into this amazing game: Garden In!

I have to say, I was immediately drawn in to this game, even within the first couple of minutes. Already I have logged 12 hours into Garden In! and every moment I’ve felt engaged and relaxed. I love to collect plants at home, so of course, I knew this would be something I’d enjoy.

In Garden In! your plants can’t wither and die, so you can safely put the game down whenever you want or need to. The purpose of this game is to simply grow many different types of plants and build your plant encyclopedia.

You start off in a small studio space with a desk and a couple of shelves. From there you can fill your space with dozens of plants. As you water them, they flower and bloom. As you grow different plants, you can open up your encyclopedia and learn their scientific name, family free, and soil type. One of my favorite parts about this game is being able to keep track of every plant and enjoy the illustrations in the encyclopedia. The art style is really cute and colorful! As you gain achievements, which you can also track, you will unlock more furniture, decor, and even larger rooms!

The best part of all? You can pet them! Yes, you can pet your plants! When your plants are happy, they’ll have little pink hearts above them, and that’s when they’ll want a little affection from their virtual plant Mom or Dad.

If you enjoy games where you can decorate your own little space, such as in the Sims, Animal Crossing, or even Disney Dreamlight Valley, I think you will really enjoy this cute little plant idler. It is, of course, just a small snippet in comparison to these other titles, but can really be enjoyed casually.