Tiny Garden is bringing back the spirit of Polly Pocket with a cutesy farming sim game set inside a virtual plastic clamshell inspired by the nineties toy phenomenon.
Spanish developers Ao Norte’s adorable game imagines a world in which the iconic hinged mini-dioramas are ecosystems of their own able to grow crops, as players sow seeds before turning the handle on the side of the clasped toy to help carrots, lettuces and all other manner of plants and vegetables spring up. (Nice find, Eurogamer.)
The objective is simply comfort and customisation, with no defined scoring or challenges to speak of. Harvesting crops gathers more seeds, with the chance to discover new plants – including rare shiny plants, Pokemon style – and complement your garden with furniture and other decorations acquired by trading your crops.
Certain plants can also terraform the gridded landscape, allowing for more arid solid to plant cacti in, verdant grass and bushes, or water created by fountains to grow water lilies and other aquatic flora.
Ao Norte explicitly describe the game as being as compact as the clamshells that serve as its levels, saying not to expect hundreds of hours of unique gameplay from the “tiny game by a tiny team”. Still, it sounds like there should be plenty for anyone after a relaxing few hours to pass the time with at least.
Tiny Garden has already passed its modest funding goal over on Kickstarter, with Ao Norte aiming for a release on Steam and Itch.io next February for the relaxing farming toybox.