Potata: Fairy Flower Review (Nintendo Switch)

Review code provided with many thanks to OverGamez

Remembering the Garden

Flowers are quite a wonderful thing. They cheer us up if we see them growing in the garden or even poking through small cracks in the pavement. They have this magical ability of making people smile. My grandfather always told me that if you see a particularly good looking flower not to pick it but leave it and let everyone else enjoy its colour. I’ve kept to that lesson and after playing through Potata: Fairy Flower I’m starting to see why it may be best to let pretty flowers be.

Longing for Adventure

The game is about a young witch hungry for an adventure. After following a firefly she finds a beautiful flower with a fairy in it. On picking it the forest is suddenly sent into disarray and so begins Potata’s epic journey to find all the flower petals and set things right. There’s a decent amount of depth to Potata’s tale. You’ll meet a variety of village folk as well as interesting characters on your journey learning about their back story along the way. There are also a lot of notes to be found adding further depth. The dialogue is often humorous and will garner the odd chuckle or two. Potata is young and adorable on the outside but she’s also not afraid to tell it as it is to characters. She certainly doesn’t take any rubbish from anyone, be it boss character or villager.

Some Boss characters are a little obvious

Riddle me this

The game is mostly a casual platformer with puzzles to solve. Not too long into the game you obtain a wooden sword to whack any enemies that look at you wrong. But these encounters are quite rare. The focus is more on navigating through platforms and avoiding hazards, some one hit death but most costing you a health shard. Potata’s death animation is her disappearing into star flakes. This reminded me of Avengers: Infinity War, you know what scene I’m referring to if you get the reference. You also have the occasional boss fight on your journey.

The highlight is the games’ implementation of puzzles. Sometimes the action will pause for you to solve a Tetris style puzzle or other board based brain teaser. Often you’ll need to use the right item in the right place or on the right NPC to progress onwards. Sometimes you’ll need to be aware of your environment in order to solve some of the games cleverer conundrums. The game occasionally gives you the option to buy your way out of puzzles or tough platforming segments altogether should you need the assistance. But this service is not always available however, which seemed odd. For me none of the puzzles felt too over bearing, trial and error and exploration will pull you through.

Que the Violin

The graphics are colourful and vibrant. It feels like I’m playing a nursery rhyme from a picture book when I was younger. The characters are calm and welcoming and the forest is filled with greenery and fireflies. It’s a happy looking adventure. The soundtrack also has some memorable violin numbers, which gave me Irish folk vibes from my youth. In fact I can’t name many games that make use of this kind of score. It was one of my favourite parts of the game when it kicked in, usually on boss fights or when up against a tough platform segment.

Over Too Soon

Potata is not a long game. An experienced gamer will clock through this casual adventure in under four hours easily. But it’s a fun adventure and there are multiple endings to discover. However, the game felt over just a little too soon for me and it just sort of ends without any major event. While I enjoyed the ride I would not say no to more content like extra difficulty modes or more challenges. There are some alternative dialogue options to discover when you chat to characters but there’s not a lot of reason to revisit.

Now you must Bloom

An easy casual game to recommend for a Sunday afternoon session sitting in the garage with the door open and a cold drink (I don’t have a garden so this was my only option.) This is a lovely stress free game to enjoy on the TV or on the go. Good graphics, music and solid controls. It’s all very safe but just feels it could do with a bit more content.

Final Verdict: I liked it

Dedication

My grandfather was quite the gardener. He poured his heart and soul into his hobby and had one of the most beautiful gardens I ever saw in his bungalow on the Isle of Wight. He also volunteered at the Botanical gardens where his passion for plants and flowers continued. A remembrance plaque is there to this day as a thanks for all his hard work. I miss him and often think of him when I garden. I volunteer as gardener today and growing flowers is a main part of that role. It’s with this in mind that I would like to dedicate this review to his memory. Thank You.