The Gardens Between tells a story without any text or dialog, it allows the characters to breathe and bring everything together.
Arina and Frendt are taken from their treehouse and thrown into an unknown world with some puzzles keeping them from returning home.
The way the gameplay is laid out is what makes The Gardens Between stand out.
The Gardens Between Video TimeStamps:
Table of Contents
Let’s bunker down in a treehouse and dive into the unknown to see if The Gardens Between is amazing.
The Characters Say a Lot With No Dialog
Arian and Frendt get transported into another mystical world one day while playing in their treehouse. A simple premise that is conveyed through movement and facial expressions.
There isn’t too much text and no dialog, which I think is a refreshing way to tell a story. One that gets the point across through the graphics and gameplay alone.
You’re in a world and you want to go home, that’s the start and finish of it.
From level to level everything has so much charm as well as character, simply through the design.
There are a lot of questions that anyone would have as soon as you start up the game, but they get answered as you play. Some of the core questions that stood out to me are:
- What happened?
- Why are they in this new world?
- What is going on?
- Why is everything part of this world?
I enjoy a game that takes this approach and has the player guessing as to what the heck is going on.
When the game is paused it shows a nice panoramic view of the level and all the little details that just make it so much fun to look at.
Puzzle Solving Time Control
As you jump from level to level you’re going to be controlling time to solve every puzzle.
The coolest aspect is that all the character interactions are set ahead of time. It is up to you to change the flow of how they act.
Frendt takes notice of a TV remote and he’ll rewind the tape which plays interestingly into the over dynamic of the puzzle.
From reverting Jenga pieces that have fallen over to taking control of a TV, it’s all front and center. All you need to do is move the thumbstick left and right to forward and rewind time.
From there you can pick up Orbs to create bridges and ultimately solve the level.
The world is filled with everything found in the treehouse and it all loops together to create all the levels.
After you solve all the levels of a set you get a nice cutscene showing the characters sit around and have fun.
It’s a nice reward before going to the next level and doing it all over again.
Is The Gardens Between Amazing?
The Gardens Between is amazing, it’s a truly refreshing take on a puzzle game.
The puzzles are challenging but not overly brutal and each level only lasts a couple of minutes. There’s so much character and visual splendor that you’ll just want to play more and more in that time.
Seeing that each solution brings Arina and Frednt closer and closer to going back home.
It’s a fun time and I highly recommend it, I know I had a ton of fun manipulating time!
