Houseplant Heaven

The latest stop in my cozy game tour is the plant-tastic game Leafy Corner.  If you like plants (or aspire to liking them/keep them from dying) or just want a comfy, gentle game to enjoy, it's a great option.  I enjoyed my time, but do think a few additional features could maybe slightly improve gameplay.

What is it?

A casual, management game where you run a cute plant shop.

How much playtime can I expct?

Likely ~10 hours.  This number, always, can vary widely depending on your playstyle.  If you just want to tear through the accomplishments/unlocks, you could likely finish it much more quickly.  On the flipside, you could also just run your shop indefinitely.

Pros:

+ Create your own character.  You get to create a shopkeeper character to run the store.  There are a decent amount of options for hairstyles, clothing, etc.  All the shopkeeper character does is stand behind the counter, so you're not actually going to see too much of them.

+ Simple, but satisfying gameplay.  Basically, you just sell plants.  You start off with a few, small houseplants unlocked and start selling them.  Customers enter your shop, do some browsing, and then will typically find the plant of their dreams.  Then, you pick another plant from the menu of options, pick a pot, and plant and water your new plant.  There are specific goals to achieve which will grant a currency that can be used to unlock new types/sizes of plants as well as furniture to decorate your shop.  As you progress, you can expand your shop and add even more plants.

My leafy haven.

+ Tons of adorable options for decorating your shop and potting your plants.  There are numerous little knicknacks, paintings, lights, etc. which can be used to give you shop a fun, plant-forward vibe.

+ Occasionally a customer will come by who needs help.  They will typically be seeking out a specific type of plant and you need to recommend the correct plant for them.  There's no penalty for getting it wrong and it's rewarding to help them find what they're looking for.

+ Special orders.  Once in awhile the shop phone will ring and someone will have a special request for certain plants.  Sometimes they will want a specific kind of plant (for example a plant that can thrive in low light or high humidity).  The nice part about these orders is that there is no timeline for completion and you can plant what you need and wait for the plants to mature.

A sampling of the plant guide.

+ Variegated plants help spice up your normal selection.  Variegated varieties (basically a genetic mutation/variation that produces a slightly different looking plant) can randomly occur in certain plants.  It's fun to have a plant come up as one of the variegated ones and there's a little pop-up that tells you when this happens.  Unlocking all the variegated plants is quite an achievement (one that I did not accomplish).

+ Nice, light music that matches the laid back vibe.

+ Good for shorter gameplay sessions.  You can basically save at any time.

+ Many different varieties of plants.  You start off with small houseplants, then get medium plants, and finally wind up with large plants.  Each size has a wide variety of options--you can actually learn quite a bit about different kinds of plants and maybe will recognize some of your own houseplants in the mix.

Cons:

-No explanation about how to propagate variegated plants.  I kept wondering why my goal wasn't rolling over and then noticed that I needed to propagate five variegated plants...but there was never any tutorial/explanation about how to do that (it's not hard--you click on the plant and there's a little symbol that pops up along the bottom that indicates you can propagate it.  The plants need to be mature before you can propagate them).  It's a minor gripe and easy to figure out on your own.

- Gameplay is nice and relaxing, which is great.  However, there is a part of me that sort of wishes for a little bit more.  Maybe some special events?  There's a cat convention in town and everyone wants some cat grass!  You have two days to cash in on this event--or something along those lines.  Maybe that would upset the cozy vibes too much.

-Like most games of the casual variety, it's on the shorter side.  If you just want to accomplish the main goals, it's less than 10 hours.  I stopped playing after this, but hadn't unlocked all the variegated plants (which happen randomly) or purchased everything.  You could technically play forever if you're just content to run your shop.

Recommendation:

It's cute and relaxing and there's something satisfying about the peaceful job of selling plants.  There's a tiny part of me that wishes there was a bit more to the gameplay, but I had a nice time just helping customers find their new plant pals.  If that sounds appealing to you, give it a gander.