Gardenscapes is a match-3 puzzle game that debuted eight years ago when farming and decor games were trending on Facebook. Along with Township, Playrix’s games featuring Austin the butler remain some of the most popular for their company. They’ve seen spin-offs for Austin’s childhood home to decorate the interior as well as a zoo managing simulator, but Gardenscapes remains the most charming and welldesigned out of the roster.
Gameplay
We follow Austin as he restores the gardens around his old home, meeting up with childhood friends, meeting new faces and hosting a plethora of events within each restored area. Each section of the garden carries a theme or a story for the characters in the game, so the player can expect to see many different styles that are based on seasons, or feature pirates and fairies while exploring different cultures. It has seen many expansions over the years and the levels have spanned to over 10,000 puzzles. Finishing each level gives Austin energy to accomplish a task, so players clean up the areas, restore the wildlife and decorate the garden.
Changes Since it’s Release
Over the years, Gardenscapes has added limited-time events that allows for players to decorate rooms and restore areas around the house. They’ve also brought in daily rewards so that players who attend every day get an item, currency or a jackpot prize for signing in. A battlepass element has been added where players can earn even more items by completing puzzles and by paying to unlock the exclusive tier, they can get special skins, pets and decorations that relate to the current battlepass theme. There have been ranch themes, 90s rock and the circus, which is currently ongoing.
The Best of the Bunch
Popularity has returned to the game after a rush of ads for all types of games have hit social media platforms that both showcase the game but have also been notorious for being misleading to new players. A lot of Playrix’s ads have included minigames in its features that players within Gardenscapes are unlikely to come across. However, In the later series, such as Homescapes, players can run into these ads constantly to either complete or skip over as they aren’t an integral part of the story or gameplay. The style changes can also be interpreted as immersive-breaking and have been added allegedly for the sake of addressing concerns when it comes to ads tricking new players when the gameplay featured in their advertisements aren’t actual features in the game once its downloaded.
Despite not having the minigames from the ads, Gardenscapes is still one of the best-rated game that Playrix has released. It has endearing characters that are memorable and diverse. Players get to see them grow up, develop their backgrounds and add to the events once they are available. The gameplay is fluid and functional, with design implements such as the dynamite and fruit being a nice wink to the garden aspect of the game. While Homescapes offers more interior designing, the gameplay is a bit more quirky with its rules and builds as the levels grow to be more advanced. And with the advertisement mini games running between some levels, it can make for jarring gameplay for players who just want to relax and complete puzzles.
Picking the best among the Playrix roster is tricky because each game they release is well-designed, has stylish decor and is enjoy able to play without the stress of having to log in every day or worry about limited events since much of the gameplay is the same throughout. Players who leave for long amounts of times are often rewarded with many items and hours of free runs to puzzles as thanks for returning to the game. Though it does have many pay options in the game, it isn’t necessary to complete puzzles or decorations and doesn’t hinder the player from advancing further. There’s always a competition going on that either challenges players or have them compete against others to see who can achieve a high score or maintain a certain ranking.
Deceptively simple and yet hours of good fun, Gardenscapes is one of the best games to try out if you are looking for a puzzle game with a charming story and comforting stress-free playstyle.
Jordan is a student studying Digital and Print Journalism at the University of North Texas. After discovering how much fun gaming journalism can be, she hopes to make a career in it once she graduates. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys playing games such as Genshin Impact, Ace Attorney, and Fire Emblem or watching Murder, She Wrote late at night on weekdays.
