Botany Manor Demo Impressions

Botany Manor is a game we are looking forward to at LadiesGamers, so we were quite happy to take a look at the demo on Steam for first impressions. First, let’s see what the game is about.

Botonist Arabella Greene

The old estate of Botany Manor is home to retired botanist Arabella Greene. After a long career, she has amassed a collection of rare, long-forgotten plants that require some research to help them live again. You play as Arabella and explore the stunning historic manor and its grounds to look for clues. These can be found anywhere, in her notes, books, posters, and items scattered around the residence. All of this is to determine the correct set of circumstances to help the flora flourish. Meanwhile, you unlock new seeds and plant them.

Sounds like a nice gardening thing! But, the plants won’t grow just like that. The requirements for their growth are little puzzles: how to get them to grow and what mysterious qualities do they have? You find items around the property that can be turned and flipped will provide information to help you solve each of these gardening puzzles.

An area in the house used for potting up plants, the sun is coming through the windows, it's a beautiful sight with the stain glass windows — Now who wouldn’t love such an area with their house solely for potting use?

Planting and Puzzling

In the demo version of Botany Manor, a couple of puzzles have been included to give you an idea of what the gameplay will be like. I liked the puzzles, as it’s not so straightforward to solve them, you need to be on the lookout for clues all over. For example, I found a seed next to a postcard from Italy and, later on, a chart on the wall detailing what temperature and water a plant from the Mediterranean would need.

A pot with your first found seed, and a watering can and bag of sand on the potting table. — Planted my first seed; let’s see how the Windmill Wort will look

I sowed the plant, watered it and brought it over to a heating installation. Opened the vent until it was 60 degrees, and sure enough, the Windmill Wort grew and bloomed. The results were added to my herbarium, but I still have to find clues about this plant.

A page in my herbarium, where we see the Windmill Wort. The image isn't there yet, only the bulb from which to plant it — A page in my herbarium where we see the Windmill Wort. The image isn’t there yet, only the bulb from which to plant it

After that first find, I continued searching the garden, finding my way into the main house. Many doors were still locked, but I managed to find a second seed. But how to let this one grow?

A room in the manor, with the sunlight streaming in. there's a chair, a vase and a painting of a bluebell flower on the wall. — All manner of plant references are found in the Mansion

Beautiful and Accessible

The art style of Botany Manor is lovely. Seeing the sunlight coming through the sash windows and playing over the house’s interior. Finding little details, like this round hole in the wall, showing the house beyond. The garden isn’t one big stretch of lawn but has many hidden places and a meandering path leading to a new secret place.

A wall in the garden of Botany Manor, with a little hole through which you can see the house

What I also noticed is that the developer Balloon Studios took pains to make the game accessible. When you are reading a clue in a newspaper, you can turn it around and see the gist of what there is to see on the front.

There's a clue in a newspaper lying on a bench, and turned around the text is given clearly to make it more accessible. It tells about people in Somerset falling victim to smog. — There’s a clue in a newspaper lying on a bench, and turned around; the text is given clearly to make it more accessible. It

There’s also a variety of choices of controlling the game, which is great. After all, games should be accessible to as many people as possible. What I must remark, though, is that Botany Manor is a first-person game. So if you are prone to motion sickness, this might not be the game for you. I myself had to play it in sessions of 10 minutes max before getting nauseous.

More Secrets and Clues Coming

I enjoyed my time in Botany Manor. I hope the final game will give us more clues and secrets to find. In the demo, I felt that the garden was a bit empty. Beautiful, yes, but I kept looking for clues and finding hardly any. However, with so many lovely details in the game and the way planting isn’t straightforward but turns into searching for clues, I think we are in for a relaxing and fun gaming experience.

You can find more info on Botany Manor on this Steam page. Plus the game will also be available on the Nintendo Switch.