Botany Manor Critic Reviews

There’s not a single misstep in Botany Manor. It looks fantastic, and it’s supported by a gorgeous, if sometimes subtle, soundtrack. It’s the puzzles that take the limelight, though: they’re almost flawless in design, requiring just the amount of brainwork to complete. The perfect blend of exploration and puzzle-solving makes Botany Manor an absolute delight — and as thrilled as we were that Arabella got to finish her book, we were gutted that it meant our time with her was over.

Despite its brevity, Botany Manor is a wholesome puzzle game that turns academic research into an engaging endeavor. The central theme focuses on finding the conditions to allow a living entity to flourish, a concept that is elegantly reflected in both Arabella’s personal journey as well as in gameplay. The game thematically underscores the overall interconnectedness of nature and highlights the influence that one's environment can have on well-being. Botany Manor left me yearning for more botanical discoveries and I can only hope that the developers sow the seeds of a sequel someday.

Botany Manor is a colorful exploration game with clever puzzles to solve and an intriguing narrative to back it up. With each problem solved I felt gratified and smart for putting together the right clues and reading between the lines. The environmental storytelling and the relaxing atmosphere made me want to explore every nook and cranny of the manor.

To be a part of Arabella’s green thumbed world is a gift. Sadly, it isn’t a gift we can keep enjoying once its complete, due to the way in which the puzzles are solved; their rigidity makes the game more of a one hit wonder. However, despite its short longevity, Botany Manor is everything you want from a plant-based puzzle game. In fact, I’d argue it exceeds expectations. No, I can’t easily return to re-do the puzzles, at least not if I want a fresh challenge, but simply to bask in the glow of the sun-lit grounds? Oh, I’ll return to Botany Manor in a heartbeat.

Botany Manor doesn’t expect much from you – grow some weird little plants in your own time, no rush. But through this, it delivered one of the most relaxing afternoons I’ve enjoyed in a while, wandering the halls of this gorgeous Victorian manor solving puzzles, growing flowers, and helping a woman succeed in STEM.

It’s a relaxing puzzler that doesn’t allow being “cozy” to get in the way of challenging you just enough. If you’re tired of puzzlers that all feel like they’re chasing after a game that almost perfected the genre more than a decade ago, this will be a very pleasant change of pace.

Even without this small wish list of things I would have preferred to see implemented, Botany Manor packs a powerful punch as an exploration of its protagonist’s life, coupled with some engaging and well-designed puzzles along the way that even the most gardening-averse in real life can master. Best of all, it manages to deliver all of this with a gentle, light touch, with beautiful sights and sounds you can relax to even as you solve its conundrums. It’s not the most aggressively difficult puzzler out there, nor is it the longest, but it certainly makes a great case for quality over quantity. It seems like a true passion project that reminds us that, sometimes, it’s important to slow down in our busy lives to stop and smell the roses.

Clever clues entwine with Botany Manor’s charming old English setting to make a lighthearted first-person puzzler worth tending to. Figuring out how to grow its fantastical plants kept me on my toes, and the blossoming flora painting onto the pages of my herbarium with bright colors gave me a comforting sense of achievement. I was more invested in deciphering its puzzles than I was reading the notes and letters that make up its fairly one-note story, but the variety of surreal seeds with unique traits in each new area gave an exciting cadence to the somewhat repetitive act of tracking down clues. Botany Manor is a laid-back game that doesn’t ask you to do too much, simply grow some strange plants and decompress – and sometimes that’s exactly what you need.

Though short, the time players do get to spend in the world is made immersive and engaging through its diverse map, classical soundtrack, and ambient nature sounds. It's definitely one of 2024's most relaxing puzzle games so far, and I found myself thinking about Arabella and her strange plants even after I'd finished the story. Because of its length, some players may wish to wait for a sale to pick up Botany Manor, but it's an undeniably charming title that's great to explore and unwind with.

Botany Manor is a solid puzzle game that lasts just long enough and is able to tell an interesting and more exciting story than we would have expected. It manages to do this gently and without ever overdoing it, with just a few lines to read here and there that are enough to tell us everything we need, both in terms of play and narrative, without wasting our time or boring us. If you like the genre we absolutely recommend it, just don't expect a particularly high level of challenge.

Developer Balloon Studios cultivates a beautiful puzzle game with the timeless allure of a summer's day stroll.

Exploring Botany Manor is a great experience as everything feels beautifully interconnected and the puzzles are fun and engaging to tackle the whole way through. It makes up for its lack of difficulty with charm in spades and an interesting personal story happening behind the scenes if you know where to look. Putting together the Herbarium is a lot of fun, allowing you to grow some plants you’ll never be able to kill.

Botany Manor isn’t a long game, but it is immersive and relaxing. There are fantastic, upfront accessibility options for players who struggle with the motion sickness that can often come with first-person gameplay. There’s a classic feel to it: it has touches of Myst, and The Witness, but none of their heaviness. The challenges are never too frustrating. It is a perfect two-night experience, a trip into a surprisingly sunny past, a story sprinkled with secrets that gently connect us to Arabella, but never weigh the player down. Though the story never lets us get too close to her, helping her to complete these measured, sophisticated puzzles is truly satisfying and peaceful.

Botany Manor is a standout puzzle-adventure game that offers a refreshing break from the norm with its unique botanical puzzles and an intriguing, historically themed narrative. The game skillfully blends its gameplay mechanics with a poignant story set in a beautifully crafted environment, making it a delightful experience for players looking for a thoughtful and engaging adventure. While its short duration might leave players desiring more, its inclusion on platforms like Game Pass makes it an accessible choice for those intrigued by its premise.

Botany Manor is a charming puzzle game with a lovely setting, a relaxed mood, and fun puzzles you can spend an afternoon with! While recommended for fans of both puzzles and botany, the three-hour runtime may be steep for the price point.

A nice and short first person puzzle game which provides nice puzzles and inspiring visuals while not managing to fulfill the excellent premise of its setting.

Botany Manor is a short but sweet exploration experience that serves to lower one’s blood pressure with serene garden sound effects, bright and airy visuals, and a relaxing soundtrack. The perfect game to play in a single sitting or boot up at random when feeling a little frazzled, Botany Manor is an experience that is easy to love and hard to put down until finished. If you’re looking for a Myst-like exploration experience but want one full of nature, whimsy, and peace, look no further than Botany Manor.

At the very beginning of Botany Manor, the player needs to grow a flower capable of filtering air pollution. Prior to growing the flower, the area they’re cooped up in is shaded dull brown. But then the flower blooms, a beautiful color palette seeps into the scene, and it all seems so perfect for the briefest of moments. Even if I wasn’t a fan of every design decision Botany Manor made, it was all worth it just for these glimpses of transcendent beauty. I would’ve gladly stayed in that manor for longer, if I could have.

The result as a whole is that Botany Manor is extremely peaceful and focused puzzle game, even as the puzzles increase in complexity. It is an oasis of calm. You know that everything you need is around you somewhere, and that you have all the time you need, and this makes it immensely satisfying when you do figure the puzzles out - because nobody helped you at all. You can take your time cataloguing apples. You can look for the different duck models that are hanging around. You can carefully examine the cards on the board game to discover which animal's heartbeat will stimulate this meadow plant. I only wish Botany Manor was longer - I would buy any DLC you care to name, be it a Succulents Pack or a Winter Plants Special, or what have you - except I have a suspicion it is perfectly balanced as it is.