Flower

Flower isn't challenging, it doesn't have hundreds of thousands of lines of dialogue (it has none, in fact), and you don't go around hacking and slashing down countless enemies. You are a petal. The wind carries you and you float and soar to make your surroundings green again. I'll be honest, I struggled a bit with the controls at first because they weren't as precise as I would have liked, and they felt a bit floaty - which makes sense if you consider that you are technically controlling the wind. Once I got over that, however, I got weirdly invested, wanted to turn all these grey environments into blooming meadows with trees and flowers, and I never expected it to be anything other than that. There is something more to it, however. I wouldn't call it deep, but it sure surprised me after I got into it without any expectations. The game is quite pretty, and the music is very nice and accentuated by the additional sounds and tunes you get when collecting/blooming flowers. Basically it made me smile, then it made me sad, then it made me smile again. For non-completionists it's also quite short (1.5 hours for me). Flower is likely not for everyone, but if you like chill and emotional games, I'd say it's for you. As I said it's not challenging, and while there are a few achievements to get I'd recommend to experience it as is before paying attention to any of that. Relax and just be a petal on the wind.

I love playing this. The first few levels are simple but it does get more difficult as you progress. I think the machine requirements may be a little understated - I had no success getting it to run on my older i7 PC, but it works just fine on my new Legion laptop (using a wired Xbox controller.) Not an Adventure game really. I suppose Simulation and Exploration are ok for descriptive purposes but it's some kind of hybrid genre. (It does have it's own strange universe. I'd just call it Completely Different.) Anyway, it's fun, very satisfying if you don't give up on the higher levels, and is well worth the current asking price on GOG.

Look - I'm a cynical guy. I've heard the term 'games as art' so many times over the last few years - especially when it comes to indie games. How many walking simulators have we seen? Or glowing neon thing swallowing other glowing neon things to simulate marine life etc...? "Oh, it er...portrays mental health problems! Or something..." What I've always thought in the past is that a developer has found a pleasant graphics technique or art style and built an engine or environment based on it. And then they've thought "oh shizzle, we'd better put a game in there!". And to be honest, Flower is no different - but it just works. Maybe it is the fact that it is 'art' that the enjoyment of this is subjective. I certainly haven't gained any deep philosophical messages or spiritual fulfilment. What I have gained is chilled-out 30 minutes sessions of a petal blowing in the wind with a beautiful soundtrack before I get on to my next dose of reality - and that justifies it for me.

If you know the famous games from these people, you know that it is more experience than game. A ballet of music and color controlled by the player. Now, there is a goal, a beginning middle and end, and you interact, so I still consider this, Journey, and Abzu real games. It's best to view it having the same principal as a skateboarding game, except instead of jumping and doing tricks, you are a petal on the wind. You revitalize plants and bring color to the world. Very engaging and satisfying if you enjoy the feel of cleaning something or creating beauty in a game, and you do it through movement. Some might be put off by it's simplicity or the fact that the control you have doesn't feel super tight. Also I could be wrong but this ps3 game doesn't seem to have controller support. But if you want a nice, pretty experience especially as a sampler for what was to come from the creators before we got blown away by Journey, you should be happy with this game for this price.

Very comfy game. You can finish it in 2 hours.