Game: Arabilis Super Harvest
Genre: Puzzle
System: Mobile (Android and iOS)
Developer|Publisher: Tim Overvliet
Age Rating: EU 4+ | US 4+
Price: US $3.49 | UK £2.99 | EU € 3.59
Release Date: March 10th, 2022
Review code provided with many thanks to Tim Overvliet.
Mobile game Arabilis is all about arcade puzzle gameplay, and this time, your puzzle pieces are seeds and crops. I must admit it’s been a while since I played a game on my iPad, so it was fun to dive into this world of Ara with her blue be-speckled eyes!
Matching Seeds to Form Roots

Playing Arabilis, a plot of land opens up with tiles, ready for you to sow seeds. No need to till the land, water the crops or another simulation element. You have to place the seeds that are popping up on top of the screen in one of the squares. Your goal is to connect the seeds, they will sprout automatically and produce a crop. The seeds will only connect and sprout if they are of the same colour, and if one of the dots, surrounding the seed, touches another dot. As the seeds you get are surrounded by one to 8 dots, you have to puzzle your way through them. A nice web of roots will form and the seeds have taken hold.

The seeds wait only a short time for you to place them. It also adds extra stress that the harvest happens automatically at timed intervals. You can see a countdown on the screen, and when that reaches zero, a sort of bar slides over de field, getting the crops that have grown. It leaves seeds that have roots but don’t have a crop yet alone, but seeds that haven’t rooted are gone. The game only allows you a limited number of dead seeds or its game over.
The Stress of Puzzling on a Farm
As on any farm, you will also be plagued by random seasonal challenges and pesky critters ruining your crops. Each successful season pushes you forward onto the next year, where things get progressively more difficult.

The pressure of the harvest and the rush you experience to place the seeds in the best way made me a bit nervous. Add the various pests and threats into the mix, and I didn’t feel very relaxed playing Arabilis. Even though the retro graphics, the gently swaying grasses and trees as well as the music fool you into thinking you’re playing a laid-back game. Fortunately, you can also choose Relax mode, where you don’t have to worry about other accidents. A pity that the counters are still in effect though.

And meanwhile, Ara looks on: a chicken with blue piercing eyes, spectacles on and a rake in its hand..uhhh wing. She warns you, that Ara likes seeds and crops alive….better try to not disappoint her! By the way, if Ara unnerves you, you can also choose to not show her in the options!
Conclusion
Arabilis is a nice challenging puzzle game, where additional dangers and benefits thrown at you keeps the game interesting. The retro graphics, the nice and relaxing piece of background music and Ara watching if I did it right left an impression on me. Personally, though, I would have liked the addition of a mode without any timer where I could control the harvest myself. But that’s just me, I know a lot of gamers like the challenge of timers and beating their best scores.

Arabilis has a download price for which you get 50+ levels of puzzling fun. If you want to give it a try first, there’s also a free demo version in the App Store.
Final Verdict: I Like It
It’s my favourite matching-tiles game.