Garden Galaxy

Played
December 2022
Link
on Steam
An isometric 3d model of cute home and plant themed items, like fences, animal planters, flowers, and many different plants. The lighting is dark and the environment is lit by various lanterns and campfires.

initial review (dec. 2022)

I started playing the demo for this the other day and I am completely obsessed with it. It tickles the same part of my brain that really enjoys Dorfromantik—placing things neatly, cute and colourful tiles, soft cozy vibes, charming sounds and interactions.

Unlike Dorfromantik, Garden Galaxy is more of a sandbox game and doesn’t have a scoring system or win/lose mechanic. You don’t run out of items to place, though each one you get is random.

One of my favourite things was discovering new items as I played—my favourite items are the little animal planters.

The demo is available now, with the full game coming out Dec. 14 (i.e. next week, as of writing this).

Highly recommend!!

update, dec. 2023

Been playing this on and off—my biggest complaint is that it’s not a true sandbox game because you need specific currency to acquire items, and there’s RNG, so I’ve devolved into an awful lot of item management, which is not what I want to do when I play it. I got burnt out on it so now I come back when there’s a content update.

Game screenshot: a cozy winter night scene with several snowmen, winter plants, and lights. The art style is cute and isometric.
wintry ‘frost’ update from this month
Cute isometric block scene of a cozy dark marketplace, with glowing visitors at various stalls. There's plenty of greenery around.
marketplace where i get most of my visitor coins
Daytime scene of various items scattered around: gacha machines, climate changes, and items that affect scenery.
all the utility and special effects stuff (changing lighting, scenery effects)