Mutazione's new Garden Mode lets you make more plant music

Mutazione is the name of an island town, or what's left of one, after a rogue meteor crashed into it decades ago. Now all the folks are mutant-y creatures and the protagonist Kai is the only human-looking human around, come to hang out with her old gramps for a bit. Aside from chatting with the locals, Mutazione lets Kai play around cultivating musical plants, which is what its new Garden Mode update lets you do a lot more of.

Alice B explained the plant bits in her Mutazione review: "Mutazione allows you to be an artist, as you choose where your plants will grow, perhaps with a big splash of pink leaves on the left and a smattering of bright mushrooms across the ground, and also a composer. Then you can sit and watch, and listen to it. It’s a miracle that all the little sounds come together to make music." She says some of them sound like acoustic guitars, others are little percussive rattlings, and some are just ambient sadness.

Unlike in the story, Garden Mode lets you play around composing plant music for as long as you like. The Cloud Garden, which sits above the gardens in story mode, is a standalone area. You'll have seven new seeds types at your disposal and can trade them with friends as well. Apparently you can even leave the garden running and listen to the sounds change over time like some kind of auditory lava lamp.

Mutazione has also snagged front-runner at the IGF awards with four nominations, including the Seumas McNally Grand Prize. Two thirds of Alices at RPS agree that it is good. You can grab Mutazione on Itch, Steam, and GOG for £16/€18/$20. The Garden Mode update is out now.

Disclosure: Hannah Nicklin, who has written for us, is studio and narrative lead at Die Gute Fabrik.