Video games about gardening and plants are among the most relaxing titles players can enjoy after a long and stressful day. Popular games like Viridi and Stardew Valley are instantly recognizable among thousands of players who love to grow houseplants or take care of their own gardens.
Most of the best gardening games offer a laidback experience, beautiful environments, and brilliant gameplay designed to help players grow their virtual plants (sometimes with real-time game clocks). These casual games are a great way to unwind and cultivate plant lovers’ digital green thumbs.
10 Flower
Flower is Thatgamecompany’s spiritual successor to Flow, and as the title suggests, the 2009 game focuses on plants instead of water. Both games emphasize movement, with Flower allowing players to control the wind to guide a flower petal through visually stunning locations. The goal is to bring life wherever the petal goes and to collect other petals to fly with along the way.
Despite being an older game, Flower’s grassy fields and rolling hills are still strikingly beautiful to fly through. There’s no dialogue or text in the game, as it relies instead on its visuals and dynamic music to narrate the player’s journey. The music makes it an especially emotional experience, as it changes with each new scene and is affected by the petal’s movements.
9 Stardew Valley
After the player inherits a run-down farm from their grandfather in Pelican Town, it’s up to them to clear the weeds, boulders, and trees to improve the property. There are a ton of things to do in Stardew Valley, from fishing and crafting to interacting with the town’s NPCs.
The quaint pixel-style town and ever-improving farm can keep players hooked for weeks, as they work to expand their property and make a profit. There’s an in-game calendar that dictates the changing of the seasons, which affects the kind of crops players can plant. Stardew Valley’s simple but engaging gameplay makes it one of the best games in the simulation genre.
8 The Botanist
In The Botanist, the protagonist has been fired from his job, but instead of letting the situation overwhelm him, he decides to pursue his dream of starting a plant business. He does this by planting seeds, choosing pots, and photographing plants for his catalog all from the comfort of his home.
This simple feel-good game is more entertaining than it seems. The relatable main character’s journey is a satisfying one to go through – from losing his job to becoming a successful online business owner. There’s also an endearing touch of personalization in the game, where plants grow from words that players can choose. This means players can name plants after loved ones or pets and watch them flourish under their care.
7 Ooblets
Ooblets is one of the most relaxing video games and it lets players grow and train adorable creatures, decorate a house, and complete fun quests. It takes place in Badgetown, which is a vibrant small location with shops and clubs. As the player grows more Ooblets, performs dance battles, and improves their home and farm, new, explorable areas are unlocked around town.
Ooblets is a fun and quirky game where players have to pit their homegrown creatures against other adorable monsters through dance battles. Its emphasis on creature collection is reminiscent of Pokémon, while its town sim and farming mechanics are more like Stardew Valley’s. It all surprisingly comes together to create a weird, cutesy, entertaining game.
6 Mendel
Mendel is a creative sandbox game that thrusts players into a barren alien planet, save for a few plants. Players can then take samples of different plant species and hybridize them before planting them back into the soil. Over time, the plants will mutate as they cross-pollinate with other flora on the planet, eventually covering the world in a lush, vibrant field of hybrids.
There’s no real objective in the game, which is part of the appeal. Players can hybridize as many plants as they want or just sit back and watch nature do its thing. There are thousands of combinations possible, which makes every new alien garden an exciting one.
5 Reap
Reap is one of the most underrated indie video games that turns gardening into a means of survival instead of relaxation. The nameless protagonist in the game has woken up on an island after a shipwreck, with only a few tools and some turnips. It’s up to the player to keep the lone survivor alive by planting and growing turnips and chopping wood to build a shelter.
There’s a day and night cycle in Reap, where the player’s mobility is limited during the cold evenings. Time management is crucial to ensure that there are always enough turnips to eat. The simple pixel art style and monochromatic colors of the world reflect its straightforward gameplay, reminding players of their only goal in Reap – to survive.
4 Story Of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town
Players have inherited a dilapidated farm located in sleepy Olive Town. It’s up to them to clear the land and repair its facilities to get it up and running again. Like Stardew Valley, players can interact with townspeople to build relationships and complete quests.
Formerly known as Harvest Moon, Story of Seasons doesn’t push the envelope of its genre, but it does capture all of the core elements well. It also offers players an alternative 3D art style in case 2D ranching and foraging isn’t their thing. There’s a variety of crops to choose from depending on the season, from turnips and onions to pineapples and strawberries.
3 Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is one of the most entertaining life simulators on the Switch. It lets players manage and design their own private island through landscaping, gardening, breeding flowers, and more. They can also interact with Animal Crossing’s intelligent characters and even visit other players’ islands.
The game isn’t only about gardening, but it does have a lot of the same features that plant lovers will enjoy. Tending to an entire island in real-time is not easy. There are a ton of things to do at any given moment to make sure things are running smoothly! Players have to gather wood and harvest fruits, plant trees and flowers, and keep villagers entertained.
2 Pikmin 3 Deluxe
After crashlanding on the planet PNF-404, three explorers must find their way back to each other to get back home. Navigating the unfamiliar terrain and taking down alien monstrosities are only possible with the help of the Pikmin, which are plant-like creatures that players can control. Different Pikmin have various abilities that can help players dig holes, build bridges, defeat enemies, and more.
Pikmin 3’s lush forests are a treat to explore and there’s always a new adventure behind every rock and across every river. The Pikmin are such adorable and helpful companions as well, and growing them is one of the most rewarding experiences in the game. It’s easy to get lost in this wacky and chaotic alien planet, but the plant creatures are always around to help players through it.
1 Viridi
Viridi is a straightforward simulator that lets players care for a pot full of succulents. These succulents grow in real-time and have similar requirements to actual plants. Water them too much and they become waterlogged and die, or go too long between watering and the succulents will wither away.
Anyone who has actually owned succulents will know that they’re not that easy to keep alive, and this game replicates the thoughtful care needed for these plants to thrive. It requires a lot of patience, as it can take days for new leaves to emerge or for plantlets to get bigger. Players who manage to care for their plants will find Viridi to be a rewarding game over time, as the once bare pot becomes filled with plump and beautiful succulents.
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