An upcoming indie game that allows players to plant seeds and learn how to make them thrive, entitled Cloud Gardens, has been announced by its developer on Twitter, coming later this year.
Though the summer has seen amazing gaming news, with PC ports like Horizon: Zero Dawn coming to Steam, new PC AAA games are in a bit of a lull currently. It's the perfect time for PC gamers to try out some experimental games from small developers. Currently, the new survival game Grounded is dominating Steam sales ahead of its full release, and later this year, gamers should look out for the release of the relaxing plant sandbox title Cloud Gardens coming from developer Noio.
Cloud Gardens will task players with overgrowing "lo-fi scenes of urban decay and manufactured landscapes" with excessive foliage. The goal is to plant seeds in the correct places to manipulate scenery into becoming brutally beautiful, "repurposing hundreds of discarded objects to create unique structures" in a landscape where nature had been forced away.
The gameplay is meant to be chill and relaxing, finding delight in the player's own creative capacity. It will feature a campaign of six chapters, where the goal is to balance nature with the man-made landscape, covering each chapter in salvaged objects and lush vegetation. A meter will help the player keep track of their progress, but for those who would rather relax with no goals, a sandbox mode will be available.
In the past, Noio has released a series of minimalist strategy games called Kingdom featuring beautifully animated pixel art. This series, including Kingdom: New Lands and Kingdom: Two Crowns received great reviews from Steam users, ranging from Very Positive to Overwhelmingly Positive. Though it's been a couple of years since the developer's last game release, the high praise paves the way for an excellent indie game with improved art styles paired with a unique concept. Cloud Gardens will also feature the same composer of the Kingdom series, Amos Roddy.
Cloud Gardens will come to Steam sometime in later 2020.