Free Game Friday: Under the Garden

In this gaming world of ours dominated chiefly by shooters and the like, games in niche genres will prick our ears if for no other reason than how fascinating we find the concept. This is perhaps one reason a game such as Minecraft simply exploded in popularity, practically overnight. Paul Greasley’s Under the Garden carries a distinct Minecraft-like flavor, complete with chopping down trees, mining for goods, and building your house, but the frailty of your survival plays a much stronger role here.

Your house has been partially destroyed by harsh weather, and you must travel the land in search of replacement parts, all the while keeping a watchful eye on the weather and your own stamina. You’ll set out in short expeditions at first, collecting wood for your fire back home (which doubles as a recovery source and save point) and meat for your belly, but gradually as you survey the land, you’ll be out for much longer periods of time, weather permitting.

The weather plays a huge role in the game, as being exposed to the elements will very quickly deplete your stamina and send you crawling back to the safety of your fireplace, and you’ll find yourself planning your trips entirely around how nice it is outside. This can, at times, be a bit tedious; it snowed almost constantly for two days in my game, forcing me to stick very close to home and pass the time by chopping wood and busting down rocks for supplies. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, however, since it only makes the severity of your situation that much more palpable.

According to the game’s topic, there’s actually a clearcut storyline and progression here, but I personally haven’t gotten far enough to notice, so focused have I been on my own survival. Avoiding pits of death, rapid currents, and killer wind have been more than enough to keep me occupied. Oh, and bears. Did I mention the bears?

The game is not without its share of issues. It suffers from clunky controls and the occasional collision bug, but it’s nothing so terrible that you can’t overcome it if you dig the concept. If your love affair with Minecraft runs deep, but you yearn for something with more of the raw survival-sim feel of Fallout: New Vegas’ Hardcore mode, Under the Garden may be right up your alley.