Initial release date: April 9, 2024
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X and Series S
Developer: Balloon Studios
License: proprietary license
Genres: Puzzle, Adventure game, Adventure
Publisher: Whitethorn Games
Engine: Unity
We got a winner for ‘game location that would make the best Airbnb’.
Botany Manor is one of the most gorgeous, soothing settings in gaming. By the time it came to an end and we had exhausted all of its flowers and plants, we found ourselves taking one more tour of the estate. We did not want to let it go.
Botany Manor must have been a difficult sell for the marketing team. It is most closely associated with an escape room. You’re confined in a portion of a big estate, and your goal – provided you sweep away all the greenery – is to solve riddles to progress to the next part. If you’ve been to your local escape room for an hour, you’ll understand what you’re getting here.
However, Botany Manor makes a few changes to the formula, cross-breeding it with a few of other influences. The first is that Botany Manor has a comfortable atmosphere. Stunningly so. Plaintive piano music plays while you explore, reminiscent of the excellent Wingspan soundtrack. There are no pressures at all. While we relate it to escape rooms, there is no sense of being trapped or time constraints to deal with. This is a peaceful environment, and we would happily have spent some money to remain there for a few days. Weeks, maybe.
We also discovered a significant amount of Gone Home DNA. If you haven’t played it, Gone Home is a terrific walking simulator that manages to produce drama from some discarded letters. You arrive alone at a vast house and learn about the people who live (or have lived) there based on what you discover. The same holds true here. Botany Manor might have simply kept to its riddles, but it has bigger goals. You play Arabella, a skilled botanist in Victorian England, and Botany Manor is ready to tackle issues like misogyny and sexism. We felt our fury boil on occasion while reading patronizing messages from guys who wanted Arabella’s passion to remain a pastime.
Finally, there are the plants. We’re being a little simplistic by calling Botany Manor an escape room. Because the plants are the stars of the show, aside from the structure itself, which is a true star. Your mission at Botany Manor is to grow some of the world’s most bizarre and exotic plants. They are all entirely fictitious; we had hoped to learn something about lesser-known flora, but they were all made up. And by growing them and meeting ridiculous demands that would make Mariah Carey jealous, you get access to more rooms and seeds.
There’s a nice small loop here. You enter a new region of the house, and chapter text appears on the screen. The initial task is to hunt for small white dots that represent the interactive feature of each room. Sometimes these dots hover over plot pieces that accomplish little more than establish the scene. Other times, there’s a melodic jingle that lets you know that, sure, this is a clue for a specific plant. You might wish to open your Forgotten Flora: A Herbarium journal to put that hint in its proper spot. There’s a nice, easy mechanism here that allows you to connect clues to each plant (you can investigate up to four at the same time), and the clues lock in place if you get them all correct.
We’ll interject here to offer some criticism. It would have been nice to have gotten each hint from the book. This hurt my wife more than it did me (we played at the same time, and she also fell under Botany Manor’s spell). The difficulty is that the book is quite helpful, telling you where each clue is and whether you’ve located it, as well as when you’ve tagged it to the correct plant. However, it does not take the obvious – and welcome – step of revealing the clue in the book. Instead, you must physically move yourself to the clue, which is often many rooms away from where you are.
The hints point to a set of botanical requirements. A plant could be aquatic, meaning it requires water at a specific temperature to thrive (along with a mineral). Another person may crave for the bird songs of their childhood. So, you’re satisfying their requests, often making do with what the Manor has to provide. Watching the plant develop is a tremendously cathartic experience, not to mention that the gatehouse doorbell will ring shortly after, and a new key will almost certainly arrive.
The riddles are incredibly reasonable, and there was only one point were we got stuck. Otherwise, this is a silky-smooth collection of puzzles that always feel like they lead to a logical, sensible solution. We enjoyed completing the puzzles together because there are no finicky sudoku or other minigames to participate with. Each puzzle is conceptual.
Another interjection, because there is another minor critique to be made here. We’d have wanted to take a break from paperwork. 90% of the riddles at Botany Manor are supplied on scraps of paper and parchment, which became a touch dry after a time. We would have liked more tactile moments, as physically engaging with the mansion resulted in some of the game’s most memorable moments. Opening a secret passage and refilling a pond gave us ‘wow’, although there were just a handful of these moments. The paper puzzles aren’t bad; there are simply too many of them.
When we finished Botany Manor, proudly clutching 1000 Gamerscore in our plant pot, we felt a twinge of regret. We had grown to enjoy its laid-back, horizontal pace and the soothing satisfaction of bringing wonderful flora to life. We missed exploring the mansion and its corners, as well as learning about Arabella’s life in a time when she was mostly ignored. We even began to like the gossip, which was scrawled on scraps ready for the fire.
So, reward yourself. Botany Manor is a little plant, yet it is incredibly beautiful and cozy. There are also very little hurdles to getting your hands on it: if you have Game Pass, you are only a few steps away from playing it. We enjoyed every moment within Botany Manor’s walls, and if there is no DLC, we will riot. Very gentle.
Review Overview
Gameplay: 82%
Controls: 84%
Aesthetics: 90%
Content: 81%
Accessibility: 83%
Value: 82%
Overall: 84%
BLOOMINGLY BEAUTIFUL!
Summary:
“Botany Manor” transports players to a tranquil realm of plant discovery, combining puzzle solving with an immersive botanical setting. The gameplay is relaxing and focused, with players tasked with cultivating various plants via carefully designed environmental challenges. Controls are simple and add to the game’s calm atmosphere. “Botany Manor” depicts the elegance of an old mansion packed with lush flora, resulting in a compelling look. While the content moves at a slower pace, it’s great for anyone looking for a relaxing and fulfilling experience focusing on nature and exploration.