Grow: Song of the Evertree
is a delightful, nature-based game of exploration and
conservationism. As Prideful Sloth's sophomore game, it takes a lot
of mechanics and visuals from their first game, Yonder: The Cloud
Catcher Chronicles, while twisting them into something new. Grow
worlds, build towns, and solve puzzles while bringing harmony back to
the land of Alaria. Strap in – there's a LOT to this game, so this
review is going to get lengthy. This isn't your grandfather's farming
sim!
The story of Grow: Song of
the Evertree is a simple one: people lived in harmony with the land
until they didn't, and then the Withering grew from their disrespect
and took over, causing almost everyone – save yourself – to flee
out into the universe. But you felt a duty to save Alaria, so you
stayed and studied alchemy in the hopes that one day, you could
restore the land to harmony. And that's what you do-- use alchemy to
create new worlds on the Evertree to help it flourish, while also
using those resources to clear the Withering from Alaria and bring
people back. While doing this, you are also searching for fragments
of the Song – the life force that holds it all together but was
broken by the greed of humanity. It's a story of environmentalism,
and Prideful Sloth echoed this by planting a tree for every copy
added to a Steam wishlist leading up to the game's release, which I
loved! Game studios take note: more of this, please!
Creating your character
at the start of the game is fairly basic, with a few choices of hair
color and style, body type, and other simple features. It does
feature a non-binary option for gender, and all hair and clothing
options can be worn regardless of gender. However, the real character
customization happens as you play and obtain clothes, accessories,
and hair options through shops and rewards. Those who played Yonder
or watched my review for that game will find this familiar-- it's a
mechanic that works very well in both games. Additionally, in Grow,
you can give any of these to townies, customizing their looks, and
everything remains gender neutral in regards to them too. In fact,
you may even get a situation where a female character requests a
traditionally masculine thing like a beard-- and they look fabulous!
Along your journey, you
have some help. Coppertop and Book are your alchemy mentors--
literally a talking cauldron and book who raised and trained you
since you were young. They help you through the tutorial of the game
but also remain a constant as you progress. Eventually, their helpful
hints give way to charming banter once you know what you're doing,
but they remain essential in other ways. You use Coppertop to
alchemize ingredients and create world seeds, and Book keeps track of
your goals and achievements.
Kazumi is a beautiful,
mysterious creature who flies you up to the Evertree every day to
tend your worlds, and they can also be called upon for fast travel
throughout the overworld of Alaria. You can befriend them through
daily interactions of caring for them, which unlocks additional poses
for photos with them, and progresses their own little storyline. I
won't spoil the surprise, but it's really cute and worth doing!
The last of your helpers
are the Everkin, fun little creatures who live in their own little
world of Where-ever, accessed through a portal near your house. At
the beginning of the game, they teach you how to use your tools,
including how to catch fish and bugs. Once that tutorial is
completed, you're free to explore Where-ever-- and I do encourage
exploring it, there are many chests and secrets to find!-- and you
can return here whenever to trade for rare essences, town
decorations, and more. Everkin also visit Alaria, where they are
happy to help build structures in town and clear rubble blocking
paths. Additionally, you're asked to find Everkids while you explore
Alaria and your worlds on the Evertree, and these playful Everkin can
then be stationed at a completed world or nature reserve to gather
resources for you. The Everkin are so helpful because they share your
goal-- they want harmony to be restored, and the fragments of the
Song to be found and put back together.
While you have help, and
everyone wants the world to be restored, the game remains a no
pressure, go at your own pace story. You can cheese getting unlocks
to find all the song fragments and finish the story quickly, or you
can take your time, ignoring the story completely for days on end to
tend to your towns and worlds. It's up to you-- although I will say,
taking time to develop each town makes the story's end more
satisfying, and both world tending and town building can continue
indefinitely once the story is complete.
WORLD SEEDS
Much of the gameplay –
most of my 150 hours, personally – is spent creating and tending to
worlds on the Evertree. These little pocket worlds are procedurally
generated based on the essences you choose to create the world seed,
and have six basic biomes: desert, frozen, fungi, gross, nature, and
princess. Depending on the essences used, you can mix and match
biomes to create some really unique combinations. Once I was done
with the story, I kept creating worlds to see what spawned. If
there's an addictive part to this game, this is it for me!
Oh, and did I mention
that there's no stamina or
tools breaking? I love it! Tools breaking is a mechanic that
should've been left behind years ago in most sim games, so I'm glad
that Prideful Sloth didn't embrace it here. You don't even need to
refill your watering can! The only thing you have to worry about, in
regards to tending your worlds, is getting everything done before the
sun sets – but don't worry if you don't finish! Plants won't wither
and die if you don't get to them – you just pick up where you left
off the next time you visit the world. In fact, you can go days
without tending your worlds, and the only consequences are halted
progress and not gathering those resources. I love the stress-free
farming that this game provides!
Tending worlds is time
consuming, so you can probably only manage up to 3 blooming worlds at
a time, and it's mundane and repetitive-- but mundane and repetitive
in the best way. I recently joked that Grow is more of an “adult”
game than the likes of Call of Duty, and I stand by that. For a lot
of adults, especially those of us with ADHD whose brains almost never
quiet, these “mundane”, repetitive tasks are exactly what our
brains crave. It's so relaxing to fly up to a world to plant, water,
and weed to my heart's content. It takes 9 in-game days for a world
to fully bloom, and then you can release it to make room for another
world, or keep it to continue harvesting and collecting. And, oh, the
collecting! This game is a collector's dream-- or nightmare,
considering it's endless.
Each world has a list of
unique things to collect-- fish, bugs, flowers, and more that are
only available on that specific world. Some are common and you'll
collect lots without trying, while others are rare to the point of
questioning your determination to complete the collection. I've spent
days clear-cutting worlds trying to get a rare fruit to spawn, and
good luck finding that last insect on a fully bloomed world. (Here's
a hint: try to catch them all while you're developing the world and
it's still fairly empty!) But, it's so nice seeing all the items
checked off on the progress list! Also, many of these resources can
be converted into different essences, so it's important, especially
early on, to hunt down everything for a chance at the rarer essences.
Additionally, every world
spawns a number of critters that you can befriend and adopt. These
come in two types: small, dog-like creatures and large, bovine-ish
animals. Their specific appearances are, like the other flora and
fauna, procedurally generated based on the biome, and you'd be hard
pressed to get the same exact animal on two worlds. However, I do
wish there were more critter types. They're cute, and I've definitely
come across plenty that made me squee with delight, but after seeing
all the unique creatures in Yonder, this is a bit of a letdown. I
want a cute unicorn deer type to populate my princess worlds, is that
too much to ask for?
But, the animals here are
cute, and I do enjoy them, don't get me wrong. And once you've
befriended them, you can “adopt” them and place them in houses,
ranches, and nature preserves in Alaria. So if you've got a
particular favorite, you can keep them and visit them whenever, even
if you decide to release their world to make room for new ones.
And
there are so many more reasons to keep creating worlds to see what
you get! In addition to the randomized fauna and flora, each world
has a chance to spawn special features such as puzzles, caves, and
even gnome huts. Additionally, every biome has unique “Points of
Interest” that have a rarer chance of spawning – mushroom people
in fungi worlds are a delight to talk to, and I was far too amused
about smashing pustules on a recent Gross World. Plus, aliens and
UFOs on desert worlds? Sign me up! There are so many different things
that can spawn, and I haven't even seen them all yet. It's why I've
made about 30 nature themed worlds hoping for the rare Alice in
Wonderland motif. Like I said, it's addicting!
In
addition, there are Perfect Worlds and Strange Worlds. In your
exploration, you'll come across alchemy recipes that, when followed,
create Perfect World seeds. These worlds are special in name only, as
they have the same chances of spawning unique Points of Interest as
others, but there is a pretty great reward for growing a perfect
world of every biome. Plus, if you're looking for a particular
characteristic for a critter or plant, creating perfect worlds
narrows the chances compared to having a mixed biome world.
Strange
Worlds are very unique worlds that aren't able to grow to full size,
but may provide rich resources not easily obtainable otherwise. Run a
balloon obstacle course for a chest at the end, or mine to your
heart's content with a cave world. It's always a surprise when you
plant the seed and see what you get. According to the wiki, there's
no way to guarantee a strange seed, just that they have a 10% chance
to be created instead of a regular world seed. However, it's RNG
based so it could take more than that, your mileage may vary. Once
you have plenty of extra essences, I highly recommend messing around
to see what you get!
ALARIA
Alaria,
the overworld, has been overtaken by the Withering, and it is through
your journey that you clear out the Withering and unlock more of the
map. This is done by a few components: unlocking an area, paying
Everkin myora to clear out piles of debris and Withering, finding
Song Fragments, and raising the area's happiness to 100%. Once you've
done these, the Withering is pushed back more, unlocking the next
area and its surrounding land. There are 7 towns and areas in all,
each with their own objectives, environments, and secrets.
Each
region's town can be uniquely customized, and this is another part of
the game that you can easily sink dozens upon dozens of hours into.
When you first start, you're very limited by buildings available, not
to mention the cost of myora to place buildings and decorations. But
this quickly becomes less of an issue, especially if you're regularly
tending to your Evertree worlds and building with variety. Caring
for your worlds generates both myora and essences that certain
buildings will require, and sometimes placing a certain number of a
specific building will unlock a different blueprint. Additionally,
while you need myora to build, happy towns generate quite a bit of
myora daily. I rarely have to worry about running out of myora after
the third district unless I undertake a huge redecorating project in
a single day. I think this aspect is balanced nicely between the
limited resources of the start of the game versus when you've put
time and care into re-harmonizing the world.
It
is worth noting, however, that you can only customize the exterior of
the towns. Decorating or changing the inside of buildings, including
your own house, isn't a mechanic in this game. The interiors are
cute, and at least you can go inside them and they're functional
spaces, which is a step up from Yonder, but I can only imagine how
many more hours I'd put into this game if there was interior
customization! From the perspective of being a town and world
management game, not including this aspect makes sense but from the
perspective of being able to customize everything else, even the
townies, the lack of this is noticeable. If Prideful Sloth ever
revisits Alaria for a sequel, or even a big update, this is what I'd
like to see besides some bugs and performance issues being addressed
– but we'll get to those.
As
another note, there's a day and night cycle, and you are
forced to go to bed at midnight. It's annoying to someone like me who
doesn't love that mechanic – I praised Yonder for not
forcing me to sleep at night – but honestly, it works well in this
game for the most part. The nightly reset gives the game a chance to
tally up myora that was generated, spawn new visitors for your towns,
and progress your blooming worlds to the next stage. I just wish we
had more
time at night, or, at the very least Book's warning about going to
bed came with a little more time to finish up what we're doing before
we pass out. But overall, for the type of game that Grow is, having a
day/night cycle makes sense, and they incorporate it well here.
CHARACTERS
The
main story is essentially a solo journey, although you do have the
guidance of Book and Coppertop. However, there are many more NPCs
that you can meet and interact with, from regular townspeople to the
mysterious Everkin. While a few of these NPCs get individual stories,
none are fully fleshed out, and the townies that populate the
district are very one dimensional. Each person has their own dream
job, skill level, and preferences, but are otherwise interchangeable
from one NPC to another, including repeating dialogue. This is fine,
as Grow is a world management sim rather than a life sim, but it's
worth noting in case someone expected actual friendships or
personality.
There
are a few exceptions – there are 5 characters that get their own
miniature stories as you progress through your own story. They do
still remain fairly basic-- I'd say maybe they're more 2 dimensional
than 1-- but it's nice to flesh out the other people and their
involvement in the world a bit. However, these characters are
romanceable – as I discovered when I accidentally ended up with
Oleander just from being nice to him. I tried to stop it at the very
last interaction, once I realized what was happening, but I guess I
was in too deep at that point! I do wish this wasn't in the game, as
it happened so early that it locked me out of parts of other NPCs'
stories, and I wasn't even interested in the first place.
Furthermore, once you have the last cutscene for your “romance”
storyline, that's... it. They give you a token of some sort, and you
go on your merry way. Technically you're dating, I guess, because it
prevents you from pursuing the other candidates, but in reality, they
just become another regular townie after that. In fact, I pretty much
stopped talking to my “beloved” after this, because I was so
annoyed with how it went, but when I did talk to him, he had the same
repeating dialogue as anyone else. So, I think romance was something
that easily could've been left out, and is awkwardly included at
best. (Hey, that line also sums up my love life!)
EXPLORATION
As
you explore Alaria, you'll quickly see that there's a lot
to discover. Journals, caves, secret Polka societies... the land of
Alaria is big, and taking time to look around is well rewarded.
You'll often stumble upon quick puzzles, and the temples that hold
the Song Fragments also hold bigger, more intricate puzzles. All of
the puzzles in Grow are on the easier side of things, but that's okay
with me. I don't need everything to be a challenge like the shrines
in Breath of the Wild – I'm bad at a lot of those puzzles, okay?
These are much more my pace and satisfying, not frustrating, to
solve. Of course, if you do
like more difficult puzzles to solve, you may be let down by these,
but I feel the easy level of difficulty matches the game's overall
relaxed vibe. And some may still stump you for a bit, as they did me,
because pieces are well hidden or certain platforms are tricky to
navigate. Additionally, the worlds you grow also have a chance to
spawn caves and puzzles, but they're often a much more simplified
version of them.
Since
the land of Alaria is so big, you'll probably be happy to know that
fast travel exists. In fact, there are three different forms of fast
travel, and you can use two of them right away! Your mount, Kazumi,
is the one you'll probably use the most, especially considering
they're the only way to get up to your worlds on the Evertree. But
Kazumi can also bring you around the overland – calling them will
bring up a map and from there, you can select any town or nature
preserve that you've unlocked, as well as the Alchemist Grotto and
festival plaza if it's an event day. Additionally, this is the only
way to view a map in the game – as Alaria is so expansive, I find
myself calling Kazumi often to see where I am and where I'm going.
Okay, if we're going back to my earlier point about wanting a
late-game update, adding a map or minimap would definitely be on the list!
It's way too easy to get lost in such a big world, and even calling
Kazumi doesn't give you a great
look of the map. Still, it's better than nothing, and Kazumi will get
you to any town you need to go to.
The
second fast travel option is the Everkin door. This magical door is
tied to the outskirts of each town and your house. This option is
great for quickly getting to your towns in the morning to do some
building and moving in visitors, or getting home at night before Book
chastises you for being out too late. If you're near one door and
going to another, this is a quick, convenient way to get there but if
you're far from one, you might as well call Kazumi.
The
third fast travel option is a Leap Gate, small doors scattered
throughout the landscape. These aren't tied to the towns but rather
the spaces between
towns, so they're useful for getting to other areas for exploration.
However, the doors have nothing to identify where they let out, so
you either have to trial and error picking a door, or be really good
at remembering the order of the doors. Ultimately, the Leap Gate
falls under “cute idea, but rarely used” for me.
PERFORMANCE
Phew,
that's a lot of gameplay to talk about! Now, let's talk about the
technical side of things, because there are a few points I want to
bring up. First, for transparency, I played this on Switch, PC, and
Steam Deck, so I have no experience with how it runs on XBOX and
Playstation 4 or 5, and can't speak to those. If you're concerned
about performance on those consoles, I would urge seeking out that
specific information in other reviews, or joining either the Prideful
Sloth or Grow discords and asking the community there (I'll put links
down below). Watching this video and happen to have played Grow on
one of those consoles? I'd love some feedback on that if you want to
leave a comment!
Grow
does suffer from some performance issues, noticeably (very
noticeably) on the Switch. Part of this is because of how the game is
designed – when you're on Alaria, the entire world is loaded, and
you can theoretically see from one end to the other if you can find a
spot high enough to look over everything. While this is great because
it means no loading screens as you go from district to district, it
also means a lot
is loaded at all times. If you've done a lot of building and
customizing in your towns, you may notice longer load times and
dropped frames occasionally, especially as you near the end of the
story with all areas unlocked. I noticed this mostly on my Switch
save, with load times every in-game morning taking a couple minutes,
and Kazumi taking longer and longer to pick me up when I called them.
The
Switch version also struggles in one major
way: the game has an autosave feature that triggers about every 3 to
5 minutes, and it absolutely chokes
the game on the Switch. (Once again, this gets worse the more you
play and unlock.) Even while tending your individual worlds, which
means the overland of Alaria isn't loaded as far as I know, the
autosave completely freezes the game while it runs. It's a huge
hindrance and why, if you can play this game on PC instead, I'd
recommend skipping the Switch version. To be clear though, I put 100
hours into my Switch save before getting it on Steam, so it is
playable, especially if you're a stubborn Capricorn sun, Taurus moon
like me... but it's not recommended if you have another way to play
it. But if it's your only way to play it, I still recommend it! Just
be aware of this.
Oh,
and I've played on both the original Switch model, the “newer”
base Switch model, and a brand new OLED Switch. I've played both
docked and undocked, and the game saved to both internal memory and
SD card. Not a single factor has changed its performance. Blame
autosave. That fantasy update I keep mentioning? Include an option to
turn off autosave and we'd be golden here – or at least silver. I
can take that.
On
the other hand, I've had nearly flawless
performance on my Steam copy, both on my computer and steam deck.
Honestly, it runs so well on Steam Deck that going back to my Switch
save for this review was even more of a letdown. I love
playing it on my deck; the controls, resolution, and performance are
all wonderful, and it's the perfect cozy game for my high pain days
when I can't sit at my computer.
There's
one additional reason to get this game on PC if you can. Due to
performance on consoles, the decoration limit in each town is set at
20 – but on PC, that's increased to 40, and there's a mod that can
increase that even further! If you're really into decorating, the 20
item limit just doesn't cut it, and it was much more satisfying to
work on my towns on my Steam save for this reason. So, again, that's
my recommended platform for this game if it's an option!
But
I did say it performs nearly
flawlessly on PC. Unfortunately, there are still a few persistent
bugs that you may encounter. Some are minor and have an easy
workaround, such as claiming the reward for adopting your first
critter. However, one is a big reward for growing a perfect world of
every biome type, and there's no known workaround for it. This one
really bums me out, as I've gotten the bug on both
my saves, and it's a pretty great reward that you can't obtain any
other way. Plus, you usually don't get this achievement until well
into your playthrough, so it's super disappointing to put all this
work in, get attached to your world, and then discover that this
major reward is bugged and inaccessible. I finally got the reward on my third save -- did I mention that I'm stubborn -- but I did a speedrun of making perfect worlds to make sure I could get it before investing more time into the save. But now I've got it finally! (Because it's a big reward, I don't want to spoil what it is, but I wish you best of luck with getting it!)
Still,
although this particular bug is disappointing, there are only a few
bugs that persist, and even this one doesn't ruin my overall
enjoyment of the game. So please don't let this last note deter you
from picking it up!
Overall,
Grow: Song of the Evertree is a nice, relaxing mix of farming and
town management sims, with a lot of depth to every main aspect of the
game. Although it's got a few performance issues and bugs, the good
far outshines the bad in this game. The simplified puzzles and
repetitiveness may not be everyone's cup of tea, but for those who
like the sound of that, you'll love Grow. I highly recommend picking
it up – on PC if you're able – if you like calm, cozy management
sims, stress-free exploration, and customizing and decorating your
world. And keep an eye out for more games from Prideful Sloth –
their next game, Go-Go Town, has a demo dropping soon that I can't
wait to explore with you!
