For Mobile Friday this week is i tried out Window Garden - Lo-fi Idle Game, from developers CLOVER-FI Games and Camilla Santiago. i played this on my iPhone 14 pro.
Many recent idle games i've played have had a lot of action and/or story. so seeing Window Garden - Lo-fi Idle Game and what it's app store page said got me curious about a different style of idle game. so going in i knew it was more casual, more laid back, and had a lo-fi feel to it.
And yet, i don't think it does great at expressing that to the player itself. if someone decided to play this game because of the lo-fi element, they maybe expecting a modern idle game. Window Garden - Lo-fi Idle Game starts with a brief introduction from another character and this would've been the perfect place for that character to say we can come back once or twice a day, that plants are hardy and will be ok, and that the game has a vacation mode. the game is a bit too keen to start.
But when it does it's good to see that it asks us if we want a tutorial. as Window Garden - Lo-fi Idle Game is out on other platforms, it's possible that we might've played it else where. it's not clear if the cloud save is just from this device or if we have a personal account. i wanted to see the tutorial so i don't know if the game asks to link to an account and get our save or start anew.
The tutorial looks great, until it abruptly stops right as we get to the main menu. i wanted a tutorial, i asked for it, so like modern mobile games i expected some, if not all, of the icons to be explained or at least pointed to. thankfully it's not difficult to work out what these buttons do when you press them.
I liked the pixel art and the art in general. but some elements of it weren't designed for my phone. my phone's screen has rounded corners, so the big text box at the bottom looks weird as the bottom corners are missing. the same with the pause button and frenzy bar. the Dynamic Island never got in the way but it was a little strange we could put items over it. i feel like something more bespoke for the phone would've worked better. maybe taking the icons and putting them to the side with the Dynamic Island and leaving the rest of the screen for the game.
Something like that might've helped with the mini games. the game with a bucket was the most awkward to play as it uses the full length of the screen. but none of my fingers could cover the entire bottom of the screen so i had to try and switch thumbs as i played. but so much is coming down so quickly, i was not effective at playing it. if the screen was smaller, like my example above or if we played on a fake handheld, so we would see the front of the handheld and played on that screen, it would've been easier. (I've tried to think of a fun name for such a portable but can't do better than "Skylight" or "Wardian")
It is good to have some mini games, but the controls just hold them back. the flower idea is good, too. but i was surprised that the game doesn't lean into it more. they do look good on the window, taking care of them is also simple enough. But that's kinda it. we have a book showing which flowers we have, but this just shows the same information. i genuinely thought we were going to get like a wikipedia article about the flowers (or a copy of the Simple English page) but there's nothing extra. i thought there was going to be a zoomed in pixel art of each flower, but again it's the same image we already see.
The lo-fi aspect of the game also has the same limitations. it's good that it says what each song is when it starts, but then it disappears. surely we could choose to have the current song permanently displayed or not. and then there's the record player, there's no play or pause of stop option. The game does have a sleep mode that i don't think i fully understood how to work or why it's there in the first place. if the lo-fi music is so important it's in the name, why not give us a music player mode. i called it a commute mode where the game fades into the background and we get to enjoy the music. maybe our plants could be on screen as a screen saver.
There's nothing wrong with Window Garden - Lo-fi Idle Game, but on the other hand there's nothing great. it's good at a lot of things but also doesn't excel at anything. I would still recommend it tho. there is a lot to like and a lot of potential with this idea. it's being regularly updated so it's also a game i'd recommend keeping on your phone and checking out what each update brings. but as it is, it's fine to check in once or twice a day, maybe before and after work on the commute home, and spend a relaxing time with it with the sound on.
Version 1.3.15 Played.
