A HERO AND A GARDEN

I'm not into clicker games, but I immediately recognised the art from the dev's previous visual novels so I was happy to check this one out. Didn't regret it at all, it's quite adorable.

I played it focused on the visual novel, with the garden-themed clicker elements for pacing/breaks. It took me about two hours to finish the story part, resizing the game window to read other stuff while waiting and casually harvesting berries to unlock the next scene. Suited my ADHD brain pretty well actually. I was mildly bored for a bit, but really liked how some of the story lines developed, and started looking forward to unlocking more. It's not some super elaborate plot, but imo it has more depth and reflection than a couple of those games that try to be very meaningful and emotional. One or two references to domestic violence, but nothing graphic. Funny moments and some big AWWWs. There's only a single choice towards the end, and thankfully you can replay both that one and the other closure type scenes from the menu afterwards.

When you're done with the story, you can also play Endless mode that lets you unlock more backgrounds, music tracks and decoration (click through the UI to find stuff, everything is different now). I wished there would be something to interact with and I didn't think I could be bothered to continue after the story was finished, but I ended up keeping the game running and unlocking most of the stuff anyway. The NPCs sometimes appearing in the other roomwere a really cute touch.

The gardening music was nice but became repetitive very soon (and I didn't like it as much as the other tracks, which I really liked), should have varied more before unlocking endless mode too.

Anyway, I approve! I was left with warm and fuzzy feelings. Might buy the soundtrack to support the dev and composer/musician.

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If you like chill and story-driven games, check out my curator Peaceful Adventures and Stories. You're also welcome to join the group.

”Let Me Tell You a Story”

"Once upon a time, there was a princess locked in a tower. The evil witch kept her away and ordered her minion monsters to keep the humans away. All travelers who were brave or foolish enough to go on a rescue, had never returned or ever heard from again.
Until one day, a mighty hero with a magical sword came and bravely annihilated all the beasts and their mistress, then he rescued the princess from the rusty chain of the broken tower. Evil forever perished from the kingdom, the knight married the lady, and they lived happily ever after… The end.”

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And that is what most of us were told when we were kids, as bedtime stories, or in literature sessions. But alas, the concept of good and bad has never been a distinct black and white difference.
The simple yet brilliant visual novel/gardening clicker, A HERO AND A GARDEN, perfectly interprets that ideal, while also giving meaningful messages about forgiveness, empathy, and letting go of your past.

[table]
[tr]
[th]😇Wins[/th]
[th]💀Sins[/th]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]- Distinctive and cute art style with pastel colors.
- Simplified yet wholesome and meaningful lessons of various concepts.
- Skippable text if you have encountered it.
- Relaxing background music with lo-fi remixes.
- Endless mode to run in the background with music on.
- Easy achievement hunting.[/td]
[td]- Linear progress with no choices to make.
- The whole experience is still too short, even more so compared to npckc's previous title.[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2811225210

📖The story began…

… With the young knight, Cyrus, comingto rescue the princess from the tower. Wielding a magical sword, he wreaked havoc on the monsters and their settlements on his path. Suddenly, the witch struck him with a magical bolt, rendering the lad invulnerable.
After waking up from the coma, he found himself bound to a curse that wouldn’t allow him to return to his kingdom. Now, he is forced to work for the so-called “evil” witch and her “dangerous” minions by picking up enchanted berries and repairing the town for them, as it is the only way for him to lift the curse. However, he soon finds out that not everything is as it seems to be because not all monsters are evil, and some can be his new friend.

🌻The shy and weird-looking “monster”

A creature that refuses to talk to Cyrus every time she collects berries from him. AAfter hearing his monologues so many times, she finally opens up about not engaging in conversation, the reason why she’s shy around him. Ultimately, thanks to the mutual empathy the two give to each other, they become an unlikely but adorable couple of friends.
Undoubtedly, she’s the most relatable and favourite character of the bunch. Because it is indeed hard for us introverts to make friends when people make fun of our appearances or voices.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2811232040

🥼The doctor or Horned Guy "monster"

A judgemental guy with horns who’s acting passive-aggressively towards Cyrus at first, which is understandable. But as the story progresses, he finds out that the lad was just naive and didn’t question what was told and bestowed on him by his father and their strict knighthood tradition. Soon, he forgives Cyrus despite his actions towards the townspeople. Just like how Peter Parker forgives Flint Marko in Spiderman 3, forgiveness is truly deserved for the desperate or naive people who are just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

🍆The beetroot-looking "monster"

Definitely the odder fellow out there. Excited and curious about Cyrus whenever he receives the ripped and delicious berries, he desperately wants to know the lad’s secret behind growing them. To his surprise, it was just the loving and caring intention of the gardener that magically nutriates the plants. He doesn’t take Cyrus’s destructive actions to heart, as the boy has helped more than the harm he caused, thanks to the happy berries. Their interactions were funny and wholesome, as they gave me some laughs here and then.

👸🏻The Princess

In contrary to what we were told about most princesses in fairy tales, this little lady wasn’t locked in a tower at all. Some girls just want to be themselves and not be restricted by the rules of a royal family, and this lass just happens to be like that. She may let go of her hurtful past, but she still appreciates the ones that loved her back then.

🍡The sweets-loving ginger catgirl “monster”

If only us humans would make gifts for each other after a fight to promise to be good in the future, something that the catgirl often does in her family, then the world would be a better place now for sure. Yet, we call them “monsters” and attack creatures who are just different than us.

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While the casts here aren’t extensively developed as emotionally as ones from npckc’s previous title A YEAR OF SPRING, they can give you a meaningful time together nonetheless. As I see this version of the “white knight” fairy tale is far more consequential, relevant and memorable than the ones we were told in the past.
With all the weird but endearing interactions between Cyrus and the crew every now and then, I found myself more intrigued the more I engaged in dialogue with them, so as to collect as many berries as possible to make amend for my - or Cyrus’ - actions.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2811230856
As expected from games made by npckc, relaxing music is always present in the entire experience, so leaving it running in the background while working, writing, or just chilling before sleeping are definitely great ideas. In addition, there are also lo-fi remixes of the songs available in Endless mode, where you can unlock collectables by letting Sooty the helper to collect berries by itself without your interference; this is a perfect setting for writing reviews, hence my unusually long playtime. Othewrwise, the game can be finished with all items collected in under four hours.

Final rating: 8/10

In honesty, A HERO AND A GARDEN should be the modern version of the good old fairy tale. More thoughtful and less one-sided is what we need in the world right now. When I got kids, I’ll tell them about Cyrus’ bizarre adventure before bedtime. I hope you will have a cozy and pleasant time with this adorable visual novel.

This game was generously provided for review purposes by the developer, npckc, via Summit Reviews. Grab a drink and enjoy some good reading.

A Hero and a Garden is a visual novel disguised as a clicker game by npckc. You play as a knight who unsuccessfully tries to rescue a princess from a wicked witch, but ends up as a gardener in a village full of monsters instead.

You collect magic berries from bushes, which you can sell for money and use to complete missions, which get you upgrades that help you gather berries faster. Every time you complete a quest or buy an upgrade, you see a cutscene with story dialogue. Sometimes, that means talking to one of the monsters in the village and learning about their way of life. Other times, you learn about the lives of the protagonist and the princess he failed to rescue.

Can you repair the town (that you destroyed)? Can you put your own life back together in the process? Why were you so desperate to rescue the princess in the first place? What’s the real deal with the witch and the princess, anyways?

Playing through, I find myself constantly intrigued to know more about the characters and their world. Though some parts of the story are sad, the main characters’ snark keeps the mood light hearted for most of the game.

Now I want to help manage your expectations about the genre: this is a story first and a game second. In my play-through I spent more time reading the story dialogue than collecting berries. If you are hoping for a massive idle game with thousands of possible upgrades and months of grinding, you will be disappointed! The veneer of an idle game adds a bit of immersion by forcing you to see things from the perspective of the protagonist, who initially doesn’t want to be a gardener. But the developer doesn’t make you live every minute of the protagonist’s life: you don’t actually have to spend a lot of time picking berries to see how the story ends.


If you’ve played other games by NPCKC, you are probably expecting this game to have a lot of LGBTQ characters, and in that regard the author does not disappoint. However, this is not a story about being queer: it’s just a story where all the characters happen to be queer.

The story is mostly linear. You can choose in which order to do some quests, but the plot isn’t affected by your choice in that regard. There are five endings, but which one you get is determined entirely by a single choice at the end. You can replay the ending from the “gallery,” so you can see all five endings without playing through the full game again. I wish there was an option to view other cutscenes in the gallery too.

There is also no meaningful character customization. The protagonist has a set appearance, personality, gender, and name (although it takes awhile before we hear his name, which is why I’ve left it out of this review.)

An older version of this game was released on Itch and Google Play in 2019. This is an upgraded version that was released on consoles in 2020. If you already have the original, what are you getting with this one? The first change you’ll notice is the addition of FHD graphics, though they retain the abstract hand-drawn style of the original.

Also added is an “endless mode,” unlocked when you beat the game, that allows you to continue collecting berries without any more story. In the developer’s newsletter, she said she “had a lot of people requesting this.” However, if you are like me and don’t like clicker games, then this mode doesn’t really add any value.

The gallery has a new section that includes the sounds from throughout the game, as well as some sketch pictures. However, as mentioned above, there is no option to replay cutscenes from the middle of the game.

Nothing new was added to the story compared to the original version. I think that is my biggest disappointment in this version of the game. While the protagonist's story wraps up nicely, I would have liked to see more of some of the side characters. Maybe someday we'll get a sequel.

All in all, I’m glad I replayed this game.