Looking for a new workplace companion? Want to decorate your desktop with lovely flowers? Then BuGarden is the idle game you have been searching for.
Idle games have become somewhat of a special interest of mine. The combination of low-stakes gaming and regular dopamine hits often helps me get through my workday. So when BuGarden, a cosy gardening idler, came up in my feed, I made sure to check it out.
From Simple Seeds
BuGarden begins slowly. You and your snail companion work together to sow and nurture a small gardening plot. Over time, your seeds will mature and grow thirsty, so you’ll need to water them before they can keep growing. Thus, the gameplay cycle begins.
Naturally, there are things to do while you are waiting for plants to grow. Insects will become attracted to your plot if you pop down fertiliser. So you will need to take care of the bugs with one of the deterrents. However, you can also activate a “rain cloud” that constantly waters your plants for a short period. This only activates by filling a gauge that tracks your keyboard inputs, meaning that if you want it to rain, you’ve got to work.
Cultivate & Create
The shop has six tabs: seeds, watering tools, fertilisers, pot skins, bug repellents, and snail upgrades.
Each tab has a wide array of items for you to unlock. However, unlocks largely depend on cultivation and, most importantly, cross-pollination results. You can rely on luck to breed mutations, but fertilisers are the best way to boost your chances.
Bonus decoration settings let you decorate your desktop with plant pots and furniture. These include cosy backgrounds for placing tables and chairs, but they don’t affect gameplay.
Another Plot
Once you have uncovered enough variations of flowers, you will unlock different pots to further your botanical adventure. Each pot offers a new biome and new plants to uncover and evolve. While some upgrades are shared across each biome, cosmetics are unique to each pot, allowing you to customise them to your tastes.
This unlock mechanic isn’t unique to BuGarden, but I think it works well here. It makes hitting the “sell all” feature in your inventory a bit risky, but I liked that you could favourite some to keep them safe.
I also enjoyed the huge number of seeds and mutations to uncover. Each biome has so many unique flowers that are lovingly hand-drawn and whimsical that it’s hard not to fall in love with your cosy companion. Smooth animations and gentle sound design round it out into a lovely, complete package.
Infinite Automation
The aim of BuGarden is to automate and earn incrementally. This means unlocking every plant, fertiliser, and bonus you can. Players will still need to check in occasionally, but it’s well balanced enough to encourage work sessions.
Sprinklers will water your crops automatically, and some fertilisers reduce time and water requirements. The snail also has upgrades and gains skills that let him water and replace crops, so you can leave the game idle for longer periods.
Herbidacious
BuGarden is a great example of an idle game designed to boost your productivity. The colourful graphics and engaging gameplay loop are enough to keep you returning without disrupting your actual workflow. Similarly, you gain more ways to automate the system as the game grows in complexity, keeping your focus where it needs to be: on your work.
Between the ability to move your plot around your screen and change the size on the fly, and the literal hundreds of hours’ worth of gameplay, BuGarden is certain to bring something for any idle game fan.
Platforms: PC
Publishers: 西梅树工作室, 3DM Games
Developers: 西梅树工作室
Played On: Steam
Key Provided By: PressEngine
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