Game: Black Flower
Genre: Puzzle, Adventure, Strategy
System: Nintendo Switch (Also on PC (Windows, macOS, Linux) via Steam, Epic & GOG, Xbox One/X/S, PS4/5, iOS and Android)
Developer | Publisher: Triomatica Games
Age Rating: US Everyone | EU 3
Price: US $9.99 | UK £7.99 | EU € 8,99
Release Date: September 10th, 2026
Review code used, with many thanks to Triomatica Games.
Black Flower is a roguelite strategy game, developed by the team behind the fantastic puzzle adventures: Boxville and Boxville 2.
Will Black Flower smell as sweet as a rose, or be a thorn in my side?
Simply Grow a Black Flower
There is a vague backstory to Black Flower; you have rented a small apartment and part of the agreement is that you must maintain the garden. To help achieve this, you have a magical calendar, and a few starting seeds. The key to success, though, is to produce the fabled Black Flower, as its bloom will change your life.
The objective sounds simple, but before you start planting, it’s worth reading through the instructions, as the garden is full of hazards. I soon discovered that planting nine seeds was not the way to succeed!
White flowers take three days to grow, needing water to progress through each stage, although they can survive briefly without being watered. Once grown, you can cut the bloom, which acts as a currency, or pollinate and collect the seeds. The Black Flower will take considerably longer, must be watered every day, and will wilt in sunshine. However, you are totally dependent on the weather; there’s no watering can in this garden!
At the start of each new day, you organise your nine plots (although you can’t move a plant), then click on the calendar. You’re given the choice of three weather cards. There will always be at least one zero-cost card, but the others could cost one, two, or three white seeds. Sunny days might bring a bird or mole that will destroy your crop. A wet day could see a frog jump in and squash your plant, and although a storm will bring rain, it could also bring lightning, hail, or tornadoes.
What happened to my nine innocent seeds? Well, one got eaten by a bird, another was dug up by a mole, and then two were taken out by a hailstorm. The bird did leave a gift of two white seeds and the mole dug up a coin, so it wasn’t all bad, but really not a great start!
However, I hadn’t checked the achievements, and I should have! The achievements guide you through the game, each unlocking an advantage and helping you negotiate the dangers. For example, how do you cut the flower blooms? By using secateurs, which are unlocked in the farm shop, once you’ve made a flower bloom. Where’s the shop? It’s unlocked by collecting five coins, but is only available using certain weather cards.
By studying the achievements, you’ll learn that by placing lots of worms (which attract birds away from your seeds), you’ll unlock the black domes, offering protection from the sun needed for the Black Flower. Plant thirty seeds, and the freezer will be available to purchase. The freezer can collect and store rainwater, which can be used to water a plot at a later date.
You’ll have a full year to complete the objective, and you can start a new year at any point, especially useful if your only Black Flower has been destroyed. The achievement rewards are permanently unlocked, so you might start with more coins or white flower blooms in the following year, but anything in your inventory will be removed.
However, once you’ve grown one Black Flower, the garden will still need nurturing, and the challenges will continue in the next chapter. I’ve played for around 10 hours and reached the final chapter.
Controls and Options for Black Flower
The controls are straightforward, using the analogue stick to move the cursor. It can be a little tedious at times, and it’s a shame that there is no touchscreen functionality or Switch 2 mouse control to alleviate this.
Throughout my gameplay (mostly on a docked Switch 2 using a Pro Controller), I didn’t experience any issues. Some of the text is small, but due to the clear font and colour, it is easy enough to read, even on the Switch Lite screen.
Black Flower saves automatically.
Conclusion
Black Flower is a clever and very strategic game. The random nature of the weather gives it an element of stress. However, the achievement rewards provide in-year assistance and a better starting point, softening the heartache as your precious bloom wilts and you begin a new year.
It is well worth checking out the free demo available from the eShop.
Final Verdict: I Like it a Lot 
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