Sometimes you need to take a break from massive RPGs and in depth combats mechanics to play something a little more chill. Luckily Xbox Game Pass has you covered with Botany Manor, a plant growing puzzle game with chill vibes and an easy achievement list.

Botany Manor is a puzzle game where you have to decipher clues around your environment in order to make plants grow. You step into the shoes of Arabella Greene, a skilled botanist and owner of the picturesque titular Manor. The story is light; you are finishing up your manuscript in order to submit it for publication. In order to do so you explore the property searching for seeds and the perfect conditions in which to bloom them in to weird and wonderful flora.

Flora & Fauna

I love a puzzle game. Something that makes me think, but doesn’t test my (admittedly rough) reaction skills is the perfect way to relax. And Botany Manor is just what I needed after 60+ hours of Dragon’s Dogma 2. As you find seeds, you’ll also find pieces of information in the surrounding areas to populate clues in your journal. Finding all of the clues is rather simple – anything you find that is relevant to growing the plants will automatically be available to choose on the plant page. Once you’ve assembled all of the clues you then piece together the exact steps necessary to nourish your particular seedling.

The methods aren’t very difficult – I never struggled to figure out the solution. Some people may want a greater mental workout, but I didn’t really get the vibe that challenging was what the devs were going for. Sure I had to do some maths, some wordsmithing and even some morse code, but the clues were so thorough that if you’re paying attention you shouldn’t need any outside help. Although, it might be for the best that the puzzles are quite simple given that you bafflingly cannot read the clues from your journal. This lead to a frustrating amount of backtracking around to reread clues to double check temperatures, sugar levels etc for the plants. The game isn’t very big, but not being able to review the clues from the journal still feels like a big QoL oversight in such a chill game.

Botanical Gardening

The manor itself is beautiful, and the clean crisp visuals and art style really helps with the relaxing feel of the game. It’s a quintessential English manor house, and a lot of care has been taken to capture the essence of the location and the period. I played on a particularly horrible day here in Scotland and the vibrant colours and plants were a lovely contrast to how grim it was outside. If you enjoy the simple, painterly style of things like The Witness you’ll have a nice time wandering the gardens (don’t expect the same difficulty of puzzles though!)

Conclusion

All in all I enjoyed my afternoon with Botany Manor. It’s not very long, or very challenging but it a perfect game for a relaxing Sunday afternoon. Not to mention, if it’s your thing, the achievement list can be wrapped up neatly as you move through it giving a rough 4hr 100%. The puzzles could certainly be a little more challenging, and the journal thing was annoying but if you go in looking for a relaxing time you’ll find one.

Game was reviewed on Xbox Series X. Also available on Xbox Series S, Nintendo Switch and PC.