Second, the items you can place and seeds you can plant in these scenes are labelled and categorised and stored in your catalogue for future use. This keeps things tight, with no sprawling convolutions to get your head around. This sort of thing can be a bit meandering, but Noio has installed some clever guide rails around its post-apocalyptic playground to keep it moving along at just the pace you want.įirst, the main game comprises compact dioramas presented in sequence, each needing to be completed to move to the next. It ticks the critical boxes: open-ended, low-pressure gameplay wistful ambient music and graphics in colours muted enough and pixels chunky enough not to overcommit to anything. In a unique, existential acceptance way.Cloud Gardens places itself in the rapidly expanding game genre “chill”. It’s funny in a way - humanity is gone, but these little representations we’ve brought to life take our place in a scene frozen in time, slowly being reclaimed by nature.

After setting up these once lived-in scenes, the game throws you a few gnomes to “inhabit” the setting you just made.

As you plant seeds and place objects, you’ll occasionally get items like tables, chairs, boom boxes, TVs, and even bottles of beer. One of my favorite parts has to be the simultaneously cheerful yet dark humor that unfolds during this somewhat emergent gameplay through the use of gnomes. Be prepared to lose hours in these floating gardens - you’ll have a really hard time wanting to come back from these peaceful little patches of heaven.Ĭloud Gardens has an overall placid vibe that will absolutely lower your blood pressure, but that certainly doesn’t mean boring by any stretch of the imagination. The dioramas are shrouded in a vaporwave-palette fog as well, and when coupled with the calming, subdued soundtrack and sound effects, Cloud Gardens becomes quite the meditative experience. While this low-poly, PSOne era-type art style is often found in horror games these days, it’s really found a foothold in these serene overgrowth scenes. The most soothing aspect of Cloud Gardens has to be the aesthetics. If it was simpler to get started, I think the sandbox mode would be far more enjoyable as it stands, it’s weaker than the campaign mode, but worth a go nonetheless. In fact, my only real criticism of Cloud Gardens is in regards to the sandbox mode, specifically when it comes to laying down any ground. It’s a little bit of a mess at first - especially when you are just starting out and don’t have a ton of assets to work with - but those who have seen Cloud Gardens’ campaign mode to the end will surely find a lot of fun and freedom in this setting. When it comes to sandbox mode, Cloud Gardens pleases those with a virtual green thumb and plenty of creativity. Although the levels may be bite-sized, the entire game itself is pretty substantial - the pre-release version took me about six hours to complete, and a slew of levels have been added since. Beating each diorama means unlocking items to use in sandbox mode, giving players a handful of pixelated prizes upon completion. After hitting the growth goals for the level, the next level will unlock, and players will be whisked away to the next small post-apocalyptic scene.

The goal? Plant seeds and encourage their growth by placing more objects in the little environment. In campaign mode, players will find a themed diorama with remnants of humanity strewn about the scene. Hovering somewhere between a game and a sandbox toy, Cloud Gardens has already received the coveted Overwhelmingly Positive rating on Steam with nearly 1,000 reviews - a good sign for those still wondering if this title is right for them.Ĭloud Gardens offers players two different modes: campaign and creative. Described on its Steam page as “a chill game about using plants to overgrow abandoned wasteland dioramas,” Cloud Gardens is available at a launch price of $13.49 (regularly $14.99). During this time of chaotic devastation, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with news of almost immeasurable loss due to such a destructive force although Cloud Gardens doesn’t extinguish the problems, it serves to soothe the nerves with its chill aesthetics and gentle reminders that even in death, life always finds a way.ĭeveloped and self-published by Noio, Cloud Gardens spent a year in Steam Early Access to weed out bugs and implement quality of life changes based on player feedback. Now, as I review Cloud Gardens nearly 365 days later, California is literally embroiled in a wildfire battle yet again with the second-deadliest fire the state has ever seen. This time last year, I previewed Cloud Gardens during one of the worst wildfire seasons my corner of the US had ever experienced.

Cloud gardens