Review | The Gardens Between (IOS/Android)
It begins on a stormy night. Two friends, Arina and Frendt start watching time go backward and their treehouse mysteriously ends washing up on an island. As they reach an altar shortly after, you realize this was happening in the kid’s minds, and it turns out that the whole adventure was a metaphor of how they remember meeting for the very first time, when Arina moved into the neighborhood. As the kids walk through the deserted islands in The Gardens Between, it becomes obvious that the simplicity of childhood innocence is being portrayed and translated into gameplay itself. With only two active commands (rewind and fast-forward time) the game keeps it simple while retaining a challenging nature to puzzles at every level, with some deeper abstract thinking required in the late game.
Despite the usual reputation of mobile ports, The Garden Between is still a looker on pretty much every device.
The only glaring gameplay issue is the fixed camera, something that should have been more freely controllable to allow players to better grasp the obstacles in a level. This especially becomes an issue when you are forced to rely on trial and error guesswork to deduce puzzles with multiple choices. Repeating these sections adds an unnecessary layer of chance in a game that otherwise relies purely on accuracy. However, those moments are infrequent as the game usually succeeds at demanding your accuracy and thought to solve numerous puzzles at once.
From connecting thunder clouds with metal pieces to delicately stopping time to make a drop of water create a shortcut, the game asks you to stop and think once, twice, and thrice about your surroundings and how they play into the story in The Gardens Between. There are some wonderful moments where you need to alternate between Arina and Frendt’s abilities at different points in time. Mind benders where you create situations that see you jump into the unexpected, solving an incomplete puzzle and then going back in time to keep progressing. All of this only further symbolising the relationship between these kids and how much they rely on each other.
A table for 22 please.
Childhood friendships and the adventures you have during those years are always exaggerated versions of what ends up being mundane in later life. Toy planes, cans, computers, and beach balls, everything is dramatically oversized and exciting. Back when a molehill of a situation as simple as losing a jacket or building a little treehouse was more of an epic, mountainous and challenging adventure. But as fleeting as those friendships are in our memory if you had the ability to stop the flow of time and relive past anecdotes, wouldn’t you let nostalgia drive you back to simpler times?
Review Round-Up:
Pros:
Intuitive game mechanics that are simple to understand yet challenging to master effectively.
Dynamic puzzles that encourage abstract thinking without being a hassle.
Effective environmental storytelling.
Cons:
A fixed camera limits the player's field of view.
Some puzzles relying more on just rewinding multiple choices than using the game’s mechanics.
