Monster Garden takes you to a world of fantastic creatures and asks you to chat with and befriend them. But how will you know HOW to be friends with a monster?
Monster Garden made for a charming experience at BitSummit 7 Spirits. In it, I wandered around a colorful landscape, looking to bring life back to a garden through meeting new buddies. As I clicked around this garden, I found myself taken to different worlds filled with an array of special monsters, each with wildly unique looks and personalities. I never quite knew what sort of conversation I’d find myself having when I met up with a long-legged beast on a unicycle, or a living, somewhat irritable lake.
Further complicating things was that I wasn’t really choosing what to say to these creatures. You don’t pick what you say so much as you choose which of your monster pals you want to talk for you (and each has a general tone for their chat). When met with a monster’s problems, do you have Foofter be soothing and comforting (for me, the answer was always YES), or do you let Mr Bobo be a bit more aggressive and pushy with them? It’s always a surprise to see what shakes loose during these conversations. Sometimes you make a new pal. Sometimes you don’t but you help them. It’s all about seeing what these creatures want to say to one another.
These conversations result in a game that is endlessly surprising. I could try to guess at how someone would take a certain tone, but I was often blindsided by different results. I assumed being comforting was always a good thing, but monsters didn’t always take to that. Sort of how humans don’t always appreciate certain tones when you chat with them, even if you think that’s how you;d liked to be talked to.
I loved this aspect of Monster Garden. For starters, you couldn’t be sure of which monsters would become your friends, and this changed your pool of available replies for new monsters on future runs. Seeing who responded to what would make for a great deal of replayability, as well as many different chats to look forward to.
Moreso, I loved the way it reflected the challenges we face in making friends and talking to them as well. We’re all often guessing how to get through everyday talks, or struggle to figure out how to help a friend in need. As we get to know them, knowing how to speak with them becomes easier, and also becomes a large part in showing that we care. Monster Garden uses this idea to create a world of vast needs, asking us to care about the creatures within like our own friends, while reminding us to take care with how we speak with our loved ones as well. Such a powerful experience was easily one of the best we had at BitSummit this year.
Monster Garden is available now on Itch.io and Steam.
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