Anyone who's tried to cultivate a garden knows it's hard work. You can't just plant some flowers, water them once a week, and leave it at that. Every single flower, plant, and tree requires a different level of care; seasons and weather affect plants' growth, and some can't survive certain seasons.
But, as English poet Albert Austin wrote in his book The Garden that I Love , "The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul." carrotcake's debut game, The Garden Path , fits this mantra to a tee.
Solo developer and artist Louis Durrant started working on this passion project over seven years ago; upon planting the seeds for this entirely different slice-of-life sim, he worked to meticulously care for and nurture every single aspect of the game. From the art to the mechanics to the vibe , The Garden Path is the most accurate representation of gardening in a video game, and it's both the game's biggest strength and biggest weakness. The Garden Path answers the age-old question: "What if Animal Crossing stopped to smell the roses once in a while?" Using shades of Nintendo's life sim and the feel of the Moomin comics, The Garden Path feels like a quirky British children's book from the '80s with beautiful watercolour visuals, amusing residents and travellers with vegetables for heads, and a love of tea.
The game appropriately starts in spring; each day in the garden follows your Switch's in.