8 Gardening and Plant-Based Video Games for Spring
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Gardening video games are a wonderful way to celebrate spring from the comfort of the great indoors. Sure, I’ll go touch grass every now and then, but it’s entertaining to play video games about plants while I’m not soaking up the sun.
Our picks for the best gardening video games include quality choices for those who play on PC, console, and mobile devices. You can also check out WIRED’s guides to the best games for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Switch, smartphones, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Badass Botany
Strange Horticulture
An indie game released early in 2022, Strange Horticulture lets you run an eerie plant shop. Achieve one of multiple endings by identifying plants, giving visitors the right items, and encountering the occult while at work. I loved the witchy aesthetic and investigating all the hidden secrets. A delightful game, Strange Horticulture was well received by critics and Steam users. In his review for PC Gamer, Christopher Livingston wrote, “I straight-up murdered a guy with plants because he was a little bit rude.”
Pixelated Seeds
One of my favorite games of all time, Stardew Valley uses a nostalgic, pixel artwork style and starts with the inheritance of a family farm. Choose between plots of land with environmental distinctions like the riverland farm, the forest farm, and the beach farm. When playing Stardew Valley, I’m often more interested in exploring the mines and romancing the nearby villagers, but you can also grow numerous crops on the land.
New players who want to prioritize gardening in the game can learn useful strategies online. For example, ezlilyy on YouTube has advice for building efficient greenhouses and Wickey can show you how to cultivate the highly profitable ancient fruit.
Rural Replications
Growing up in Kansas, I knew many people involved with agriculture, and Farming Simulator 22 is a well-executed representation of a rural industry. Farming Simulator 22 is ideal for gamers who like business management sims and large vehicle replicas. The career mode has varying levels of difficulty, from “New Farmer,” where you begin with land, equipment, and a profitable economy to “Start from Scratch,” where existing bank issues and a tepid economy are stacked against you. Run your farm as you see fit and harvest an abundance of crops: wheat, barley, soybeans, potatoes, olives, and more.
Quick Snips
Prune is described on the app store as “a love letter to trees,” and its artwork primarily pulls from Japanese ink-wash paintings. Guide your sapling to the sunlight by cutting off excess branches and navigating around toxic red balls. Win by getting enough flowers to blossom. Apple Arcade members can play Prune as part of the subscription service.
Seasonal Bliss
A fantastic game to play for a little escape from reality after a rough day, The Sims 4 has splendid gardening mechanics in the base game. If you’ve ever fantasized about owning a nice house with the perfect backyard for gardening, try The Sims 4. In her roundup of the best game additions available for purchase, product writer and reviewer Louryn Strampe recommends Seasons ($40). She writes, “If you’re only getting one expansion, this is the one you want.” In addition to dynamic weather, the Season pack unlocks a gardener career path, which lets you role-play as a botanist or floral designer.
For gardening gameplay tips, check out this video from Carl’s Sim Guides. Devoted players searching for even more plant experiences may appreciate crafting homestead fantasies with the Cottage Living Expansion Pack ($40) or designing the ideal outdoor space for making out with the Romantic Garden Stuff ($10).
Sweet Succulents
Good vibes emanate from Viridi, a cozy game about caring for succulent plants. Pick your starting pot and succulents, then sit back as the plants slowly develop, making sure the right amount of water is doled out. A little snail hangs out with you, traveling around the lip of the pot. The laidback soundtrack adds to the overall mood. Viridi is free to play, and all of the extra downloadable content is available for $7 on Steam.
Gold Roses
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is an adorable game that exploded in popularity during the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and remains fun to play on occasion. The game was such a cultural phenomenon in 2020 that it inspired memes, hot takes, and unusual political outreach events. In Strampe’s extensive tip guide for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, she shares how to grow hybrid flowers on your island. A video from Austin John Plays on YouTube has great advice for breeding those elusive golden flowers.
Pocket Plants
Terrarium: Garden Idle
This is a decent game if you’re looking to spend a few minutes on your phone each day caring for digital plants. In Terrarium: Garden Idle, you passively grow a collection of potted plants that eventually produce the required amount of oxygen to level up. As you progress through the game, more plants become available, like yucas, moonstones, and Venus flytraps. The app is free to download and includes in-app purchases.
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