Grow Home made for a fun short game
I went into Grow Home looking for something a little more relaxed and simplified in subject matter than the story based game I played directly preceding it. I didn’t expect much from Grow Home, and all I knew was that it was a colorful game with a robot. What really blew me away about Grow Home - and I was blown away - was how delightful the whole game was.
The climbing mechanic in Grow Home is simple but I haven’t seen it before in a game, in that when either of the triggers on the controller is pressed, that arm on B.U.D. (the player character) grabs hold of whatever the indicator icon hovers over. Once the trigger is released, B.U.D. lets go. This simple mechanic meant that climbing up massive plants and mountains feels far more tactile and engaging than in any game I’ve played previously. The entirety of Grow Home is based around this simple mechanic, the player climbs, guides the growth of new stalks, and climbs further up the central great Star Plant - a massive budding sunflower that B.U.D. must grow further until it opens its petals in orbit next to his spaceship. The game is only a few hours long and is very pure in that the entire experience revolves around the climbing and growing, but it never grew dull, as the mechanic is so fun, and the world and characters (B.U.D. receives instructions from the AI that sent him, M.O.M.) are vibrant and very cute.
Grow Home was a joy to play and was the perfect length, its simplicity being a crucial part of its charm, I happily rate it with a
Score: A-
