Hands-on with Cozy Playtest is here, where I discuss several games I have had the pleasure to playtest. This time I test Garden and a Goat. You can find my other playtests here.
What is Garden and a Goat About
I had the pleasure of playtesting Garden and a Goat by Contemplation Games. It’s a self-described “animal collecting progression game” heavily inspired by Viva Piñata.
I played on a PC with a controller. In a nutshell, you are a robot in the multiverse, cleaning up a polluted ecosystem and trying to repopulate it with plants and animals.
You are assisted by MOTHER (Multiverse Overseer for Transforming Habitats and Ecosystem Repair), who provides guidance from time to time. When you begin the game, the landscape is barren, but with work (and science!), you can restore it. Working toward this goal, you build up a database of information by scanning plants and animals.
How it Feels to Play – It’s Progressive.
Garden and a Goat is purposely very casual. There’s no day-night cycle, no energy bars, no need to eat or sleep. After all, you are a robot! You can play when you want and for as long as you want. There is a slow but steady progression as you bring the ecosystem back to life.
The gameplay consists of planting things to heal the soil and then attracting animals. For example, you plant mushrooms to improve the soil so you can plant groundcover. Once the groundcover is established, you can attract bees. A fun challenge is that you need to have certain plants to attract certain animals.
To progress from one level to another, you must collect a certain combination of animals and plants, thus restoring the ecosystem. As a bonus, every scan earns you some ecobits, which can be used to purchase plants or decorations or to make treats for the animals. It’s intended to be a slow game; you are encouraged to take your time. Also, did I mention that you can pet the animals? The petting animation is darling!. You can feed them special treats, and you can even name them.
Your Goals and Your in-game Helpers
There will be three gardens in the initial game, each one with multiple levels and its own flora and fauna. The devs may add more gardens as time goes on, too. Each garden will be home to a different group of animals. In the level we played (the Oak forest), there were 8 animals to collect. The best part is that as the game progresses, we will be able to teleport between levels. Your goal is to restore all the animals to their ecosystems.
There are interactive “tech consoles” in Garden and a Goat to help you move forward. One of them gives instructions, and the other allows you to craft things. In the playtest, I crafted treats for the animals. When the treats have been crafted, they are presented to you in a fancy box with a box on top! That’s different! I believe more consoles that help in other ways will open in later levels.
In addition, later in Garden and a Goat, if you treat your animals right, they can produce 1-2 variants. For example, the bee that we collected in the playtest can become a “bluebee” – he’s all blue!! Here’s another fun thing – in the playtest, I planted blueberries and raspberries. They need to be watered occasionally and then harvested. When harvested, they make a lovely, satisfying POP POP POP sound! Also, later in the game, you will get access to drones, which will help you with planting, harvesting and other chores. There’s a lot to this game!
So……What About the Goat?
And then there’s the goat!! What is he doing there? MOTHER does not believe he exists, but I assure you he does!! I see him going in and out of portals, and sometimes that frisky guy head butts me! I have been told he will do even more things in later levels.
Wrap Up and What the Future Holds
At this point, controller support is not at 100%; the developers know this and will correct it for the final game release. They are also making many QOL changes based on the feedback during the testing, which I commend them for.
When I played Garden and a Goat, I was a bit confused at first. It seemed a lot of instructions were thrown at me quickly. I know this is partly a ME issue, but perhaps it was an issue for other players, too. I was told that the devs recognized this and in future iterations, the game instructions will be more concise with important parts highlighted and may even include helpful animations. I did figure things out after asking for help on Discord, and I had a good time playing from then on.
The group is hoping for a full game or Early Access game release in the spring of 2026. They know they have more work to do on Garden and a Goat, but they are very enthusiastic about it. Garden and a Goat is very chill and has a lot of heart. It will be super fun to play when it is completed. It will be available on Steam, and the team hopes to make it available on the Switch, too.
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