The Gardens Between Description
Best friends Arina and Frendt fall into a series of vibrant, dreamlike island gardens peppered with everyday objects from their childhood. Together they embark on an emotional journey that examines the significance of their friendship: the memories they’ve built, what must be let go, and what should never be left behind.
Lost in a mysterious realm where cause and effect are malleable, the friends find that time flows in all directions. Manipulate time to solve puzzles and reach the apex of each isle. Follow the duo as they unpack and explore their significant moments spent together, lighting up constellations and illuminating threads of a bittersweet narrative.
"A masterwork."
- The Guardian
“A must-have title for anyone who enjoys puzzle games.”
- Gaming Trend
“An incredibly clever and frighteningly intricate puzzle formula.”
- Nintendo Life
"Full of creative touches and small magical moments."
- GameSpot
"A magical journey."
- Polygon
“You really need to play it.’
- Engadget
FEATURES
• Vibrant, storybook-inspired art style
• Dreamy tale of adventure, friendship and growing-up
• Gorgeous single player experience with a meaningful personal story
• Bespoke ingenious puzzles require the manipulation of time to solve
• Accessible design; simple controls, and no text, speech, time pressure or complex UI
• Relaxing, ambient soundtrack by feature-artist Tim Shiel
• Play in widescreen landscape or tall portrait view
• Seventeen achievements to find and complete
• No internet required. No data tracking. No in-app purchases. No ads.
AWARDS
• 'Apple Design Award' Winner - Apple 2019
• 'Mac Game of the Year' Winner - Apple 2018
• 'Game of the Year' Winner - AGDA 2018
• 'Most Innovative Game' Winner - Game Two 2018
• ‘Best Technology’ Winner - Sense Of Wonder Night 2018
• 'Visual Excellence' Finalist - IGF 2018
• 'Best of MIX' Winner - MIX Seattle 2018
• 'Game Design Excellence' Winner - BIC Fest 2017
• Plus another twenty industry award nominations
• 'Final Selection' of more than 16 international festivals
Story
The game revolves around teenagers Arena and Freindt, a girl and boy who live next to each other and have become close friends since the Arena family moved to the area. On a rainy night, the two sneak in and hide in the tree house, which is built on a small garden yard next to the two houses. In the midst of a rainstorm, they see the shape of a light ball in front of them, which suddenly causes the tree house to fall into the vast ocean of dreams with small islands consisting of their common experiences. They sail between islands in the treehouse to illuminate each gate on top, and finally to a central island and a large gate together; As they advance, the dream space becomes cloudy and then rainy. Once ignited, all the islands in the ocean collapse, leaving them in their tree house. When the next morning comes, Arena and Freund embrace each other, as Frendt's family now moves. The two say their last goodbye as the Frandt family sets out.
The game consists of about twenty abstract levels, grouped in groups of two or three levels, each affected by memories of Arena and Freind's friendship. Arina controls a magic lantern that is able to carry a field of light, which is necessary to activate a portal to the next level, while Frendt has the ability to emit wind sounds that open or close flowers that provide light to the lantern, as well as communicate with a device that handles the flow of time for some things. Obstacles in the environment include small cubes that jump around the level, but can also carry the obstacles of the previous Arena lantern, flowers that emit black light steal areas of light approaching, and solid purple fog when light is not present but becomes intangible when light is close.
While the path to the gate at the top of each level is straight forward, the game is about controlling the flow of time. The player does not move the characters directly, but instead his process moves forward or backward in time, which causes the pair to move forward or backward along the path. However, Arena and Freindt's interactions with the environment remain subject to change over time. For example, a player might need to work Arina forward in time to capture a field of light for the lantern, move time back for her to place it on the jumping cube, then continue moving forward to pass the fog bridge to remember the cube later. The player cannot move the time forward or exceed a point where Arina or Frendt cannot progress. Separately, Frendt might need to be able to interact with devices that control the flow of time for objects in a plane to create pre-blocked paths, or round off light falling flowers close to Arina paths, or similar movements. Other solutions may require lateral reasoning to learn how different time flow manipulations work.
Once the player completes a set of levels, he is introduced with a short scene to Arina and Frendt involved in these activities, where a hidden jump cube can be found using the manipulation controls at the same time. This completes a constellation, which once the final level is completed, merges into a final memory.
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