Seedlings
Immerse yourself in nature as a sentient seed in this relaxing award-winning 2D puzzle platformer. Set in the tranquil backdrop of New Zealand’s native forest using real photos and videos.
Traverse through earthy greens, rocky plains and crystal-clear waters filled with interesting puzzles and secrets to uncover.
Features
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Take control of several unique creatures, each with their own abilities.
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Solve intriguing puzzles through beautifully hand crafted levels.
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Collect hidden secrets strewn across the photo-realistic environment.
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Relax with the beautiful ambient soundtracks and nature sounds.
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Learn more about the origins of the Seedlings through a narrative driven story.
Are you ready to be one of the Seedlings?
Read More: Best Nature Singleplayer Games.
Castle Rock Beach, West Australia
Beautiful, Teleporting is very broken as you fall through the map a lot and the items seem to have a lower resolution as soon as you teleport to the place. On the other hand, walking regularly in game is soothing, beautiful, the movement is realistic and you can hear your footsteps on different surfaces, it also never falls through the surface and every item has time to render in so it’s resolution is much better. The only downside to walking is it makes a high percentage of people who play VR motion sick. Teleporting doesn’t make you as sick, but again, it is broken. I luckily don’t get motion sickness from VR at all, so I can write a great review for this outstanding game.
– Real player with 2.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Nature Relaxing Games.
Matt Newell is a young talented 3D artist who deserves more fame. In April 2020 I experienced for the first time his interactive fully explorable virtualscapes on Steam. I started with the exploration of Myrdalssandur, an outwash plain in the south of Iceland. Then I experienced all of his works on Steam: Fushimi Inari, Wakamarina Valley and Castle Rock Beach.
Photorealism is not enough to describe the experiences. Matt brings out the best from Unreal Engine 4; assets, textures, rendering of light and shaders are at the state of the art. Oh yes, rendition of light is superb! He succeeds to create a virtual Nature that is more beautiful than real Nature! It’s not properly Nature, it’s an idealization of Nature! It’s a Nature without perils, without insects, without dangerous animals, without smells, where you don’t risk getting dirty with mud, you don’t get wet even if it rains. It’s a Nature expressing just an outstanding aesthetic beauty able to enjoy your eyes and lull your soul. Walking in such virtual world at sunset or at sunrise or when raining, it is satisfactory, relaxing, charming. There are just you and Nature, accompanied by an ethereal soundtrack and environmental sounds! You just take a stroll, discover interesting places, take a few photos, enjoy beautiful seascapes and landscapes with different lighting and weather conditions. Today, contemplating wild and unpopulated landscapes or seascapes is impossible, tourists are everywhere and everytime; and it’s not rare to find trash even in the more remote lands, reminding you how many two-legged pigs are in the world! Plus, you have to organize and afford long and stressful travels! On the contrary, thanks to Matt’s artworks you need just to turn on your PC and sit on your sofa for enjoying elegiac and spiritual experiences; they are well suited for people searching for a break from the everyday stress in our crowded society, especially during pandemic emergency! “Walden: A Game” (USC Game Innovation Las, 2017) gives you similar feelings.
– Real player with 2.3 hrs in game
Cloud Gardens
When I first went to play Cloud Gardens, I didn’t know what to expect. Come to find out, that’s exactly how you should approach this game.
Cloud Gardens is a unique experience that’s hard to describe or compare. It’s partly a gardening simulator, partly a Dystopian landscape builder, and partly a puzzle game that is both satisfying and without frustration. Any and all preconceptions I had about the game were dashed as soon as I started playing it.
Not only is the game beautiful and unique, but it also hits all the right marks: The controls and level design are absolutely on point. It’s so much effortless fun working your way through level after level, and when you fail a level it’s no big deal to go back and try it again. As a matter of fact, you’ll look forward to it.
– Real player with 35.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Nature Experimental Games.
This game is so satisfying! At first it’s so simple you might think you’re playing a repetitive and boring experience, but it quickly gets more and more creative and captivating. Some levels are shorter and offer less room for wild creativity, which creates a good pacing considering the large amount of levels in the game (I’m not even halfway through apparently).
I almost never write a review before completing a game, but this is something else. Good vibe with simple and solid mechanics, charming pixel art, and a surprising amount of player agency: you’re growing plants, sure, but also placing (or dropping) all kinds of objects near your plants to make them grow. Those objects let you create storytelling in every scene, then make great foundations for more procedurally-creative plant growth. This is also why the initial simplicity might be misleading: at first, there’s not much room to expand, but wait until you add vehicles and buildings on larger levels to see the true potential of the game. There’s a puzzle element to it, too, for reaching 100% and completing each level.
– Real player with 19.2 hrs in game
![DeepStates [VR]](https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/1619350/header.jpg)
DeepStates [VR]
(Received this for free thanks to the thoughtful developer, after I provided a bunch of feedback during the ‘beta’. I had been planning to buy this on release and I think the asking price is just right!).
Absolutely stunning (highly realistic) environmental beauty, not just in visual fidelity but in sound, space, and spirit.
I’ve played and enjoyed a variety of ‘environment’ apps in VR, and none of them have impacted me like this. I’m on the Reverb G2, and these spaces feel so incredibly real I almost cried just looking out at the stars and moon from the desert landscape.
– Real player with 18.6 hrs in game
This is a great vr experience, my favorite worlds were the planet and the time lapse area. The guided meditation worked surprisingly well, especially with the humming interaction, that was awesome. The mixing of the voice kind of knocked me out of it though the more I heard it. I feel like it’s too present, too much low end EQ and not enough verb. It sounds like someone speaking right next to your ear when it might be more comfortable for it to sound like it’s coming from the heavens. And maybe some gentle effect that quickly ramps up into the voice to let you know you’re about to hear it so it’s less alarming when it starts. Comfort adjustments worked great, the strobing effect was super intense (which is a good thing, I’d rather have effects like that come in strong and be able to dial them back with settings). Great work, this is awesome and I look forward to what worlds you build next.
– Real player with 1.8 hrs in game
Guppy
Relaxing fun, especially when you get good at swimming fast.
Controller support didn’t work for me (Steam/Linux) but configured as keyboard instead.
For the price well worth a punt.
– Real player with 2.9 hrs in game
Guppy is a poetic game, which lets you control a fish by moving its tail left and right.
No other control is used; and every movement of the tail is propelling the fish in the direction of the movement. Used alternatively, left and right movements allow the fish to progress forward, or any way you so desire; by gauging how much of each movement to produce.
Both the left and right sticks can be used; but the game really shines when shoulder controls are used, epecially the analog ones. I am unsure as if the game is using them in an analog fashion (I think not), but using them feels most natural to me.
– Real player with 2.7 hrs in game
Lushfoil Photography Sim
Experience detailed, true-to-life recreations of various landmarks around the world. Each environment is authentically recreated using reference photos taken on location, and includes detail at both a small and large scale.
- Capture Every Detail
Use a realistically inspired DSLR to observe and capture the world around you. Includes an abunance of settings that you’d expect from a real-world professional camera, including Auto/Manual Focus, Exposure, Contrast, White Balance, Aperture and a selection of filters, for full creative control over your shooting. All photos are saved to your hard drive, like a collection of real photos.
- Leave no Stone Unturned
Objectives are not the first priority in the game, but it will reward the types of players who are patient, observant, and like to venture off the beaten path. Each environment is filled with Unlockables, Secret Objectives, Collectibles, and Easter eggs that not everyone will find.
- Smooth as Butter
Each environment is very efficiently optimised and doesn’t need the latest hardware to run. There are extensive custom settings that will help the game run on a wide range of systems, and will still take full advantage of high-end cards.
- VR Support
A Virtual Reality DLC will be released in Early Access shortly after the game comes out. I’m a huge advocate for VR and I would love to give everyone the opportunity to experience the level of immersion that VR offers.
Daffodil Yellow: A few poems from an insect collector
“Daffodil Yellow: a few poems from an insect collector” is a 3D game/interactive experience about the reconciliation between someone and a season.
The story takes place at the very beginning of summer. This season makes the collector see everything in black and white. One day, after taking a nap, he turns into a butterfly.
He will go through three memories that are dear to him, which took place during previous summers. Looking for a color in each of them, he will repaint his current summer.
Flowers for You: a pleasant walk
Great game for relax. Adorable colorful graphics. Great job guys.
– Real player with 4.3 hrs in game
A beautiful and relaxing game. Simple mechanics but cool..
– Real player with 1.2 hrs in game
Leaf on Wind
A relaxing game though not without its challenges. The scenery helps create a cathartic atmosphere while you breeze about piecing together some pretty poetry. Good for a casual gamer to chill out to.
Looking for a game to de-stress with after work or between more intense games? Check out Rouem’s Leaf on Wind.
For more niche curation, follow me at: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/27440015-CSH-Picone/
– Real player with 1.3 hrs in game
It’s a Flower clone of sorts. Expected it to be before I bought it though. Except this time instead of flower petals, it’s a single leaf.
Your aim in this game is to go around collecting glowing square thingies in order to make up a poem in each level. Kinda expected something MORE akin to Flower, but I’ll take it. Still a decently chill game to play. The OST is also nice.
That SAID however, after you finish the first 6 levels, to play more of the game, you need do those 6 levels AGAIN but without touching anything. Just feels more like a chore than anything. I gave up at the “repeated” third level, because the wind is just ridiculous and works against you and it’s annoying (and the controls don’t help either, since they aren’t the most fluid thing ever (though not “bad” either)). No offense, but it just takes away from the “relaxing” factor and feels like forced replayability. I’m not a fan of that. Will either push myself to see the rest of the game at some point soon or refund the game, haven’t really decided yet. But yeah, I’m very in the middle with this one tbh.
– Real player with 0.8 hrs in game
Dune Sea
A relaxing side scrolling game set in a visually attractive world, with a soundtrack that promotes a calm and casual play style.
Controls feel more natural using a controller as opposed to a keyboard and are indeed solid. The only issue I had during play was the camera placement, which is a small negative and doesn’t take away from what this game is about.
Check my experience here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUfIURFSeQs
– Real player with 3.7 hrs in game
Dune Sea is a wholesome, zen little side-scrolling game where players take on the role of a Goose trying not to fucking die, well at the same time bringing back some life to a desolate desert.
The soundtrack is helps me get in the gliding mood, the controls are floaty but not too unruly and it’s got a quite beautiful low-poly world. If you’re looking for a game to kill an evening just zoning out and flying this is your game.
– Real player with 1.8 hrs in game