Solitaire Quest: Garden Story Reviews

THIS GAME DOES NOT PLAY TAKES AGES TO LOAD AND VERY SLOW

I like the adding of tokens for building more on the scene.

Very relaxing and cute solitaire game .. recommend to anyone who wants a chill out relaxing game

I enjoyed this game for several reasons: it's a good solitaire game with 200 levels, a story and a garden to build with the tokens you earn. I set the game on "Relaxed" which made it super easy to progress through the levels--it seemed the right card always came up and it was rare that I needed to "buy 5 more cards" to complete a level. I personally didn't like the music, especially with such a short loop it became way to repetitive. I ended up playing the game with no music while I watched football on TV (divided attention of course but relaxed mode made this easy). It was fun to keep going to complete the garden upgrades!

Garden Story was fine, nothing really different from other games like this though so the 5 dollar price point is a little high. Sending me back to the garden after every level instead of the map was a little annoying, mostly just made the game go by slower than it needed. I do recommend but only on sale A bug i encountered was sometimes the card in my hand shows the wrong card (ill play a 2 on a 3 and my hand then shows 10)

If you enjoy Solitaire and are looking for a cute story to go along with it, I would suggest getting this game. I found myself saying "just one more level" and then be ten more levels in. For $5, definitely worth the price IMO.

This game was fun with good cartoon graphics for 15 hours. Until the last levels, could not finish the game as there were not enough crystals to finish the garden and find out the ending of the game. If I would have known that I would not have devoted 15 hours of my time I cannot get back. Until the game producers make an update I would not waste the money or time on the game. UPDATE: I just received an update from the producers and after downloading it the game was able to finish. So I commend them for listening to their customer, the game is now officially fun in my opinion

[b]solitaire quest: garden story[/b] is yet another generic +1/-1 card game that doesn't offer anything new but it was supposed to be a welcome change after the endless lazy suricate (jewel match) and 8floor reskins, if they even bother to change the skin at all. the garden theme is not really for me but I'll take anything over atlantis for the billionth time. I thought the dev would be a welcome change too. boy, was I wrong. I found a bunch of issues outlined below, but instead of fixing them (shouldn't take long in competent hands), they told me of their 15-year experience and intentional design decisions based on all sorts of player feedback. no idea who would think some of these are in any way convenient, acceptable or should be a standard, [b]making games for a casual audience shouldn't mean throwing common sense out the window[/b]. no wonder you can't tell these games apart, it's as if they were all made by the same hivemind (or probably [i]for[/i] the same hivemind). I thought these guys were new on the scene, would explain a lot, but they're just as bad as suricate. call themselves playzzy, the 'p' must be silent. [b]200 levels[/b], a good amount, doesn't overstay its welcome. one level unlocked at a time but besides the stars themselves, [b]a different color should indicate imperfect levels[/b] so they're easier to find on level select. [b]4 ways to play[/b] to please everybody, with optional per-turn or per-level timer or untimed with extra cards. it can be changed anytime. the optional in-game help explains what you already know. grab crystals hidden under cards, some are frozen, locked, etc. they [b]really went overboard with the annoying 'face changes after x turns' nonsense[/b]. grabbing the crystals is enough for 3 stars most of the time, except when it's not. it must be based on the number of cards left, not mentioned anywhere of course, nor is there an on-screen star progress. there's an [b]illustrated diary[/b] and some dialog with a paper-thin narrative and a [b]garden to decorate[/b] with the crystals. they're 'upgrades' and have to be bought in order, can't go straight for the one you actually want to see. [b]endless mode[/b] unlocks after about 30 levels and not only is it endless but also pointless. unlimited deck, no undo, no shop, a tiny bit of extra cash. as soon as the board starts to clear, more cards appear, enjoy if you can. [b]power-ups are fucked up.[/b] shuffle, turn cards up, etc. bought from the shop, only accessible from a level, as they're all per-level and used instantly, except [b]jokers and wildcards, which are lost at the end of the level[/b] whether you used them or not. also, [b]can't use the spade to remove a card if there's only one left[/b], last altogether or the others locked, defeating the very purpose of that power-up. shuffle is very conditional as well, even if there are plenty of cards to mix up, 5 is apparently not enough. and they went even further: [b]everything gets more and more expensive with each purchase throughout the game[/b]. instant consumables with an ever-increasing price tag, genius. but wait, there's more. offering [b]5 extra cards for 100 gold at the end of an incomplete level[/b] is a very mobiley but potentially helpful thing to do, except [b]there's no confirmation and the button is right under the last card[/b], in the upper half. another example of stellar game design, a misclick losing you a bunch of money. I've lost count by now but here's another never-before-seen idiocy: [b]undo changes the next card[/b]. missed matching the 7, you see the next is a king, undo, match the 7, draw next card and it won't be the king again. are you serious? [b]achievements are bugged[/b] as well. don't care personally but the one for completing 50 levels with 3 stars popped after 35. and they only appear outside levels, not when conditions are actually met (or not met, as it were). [b]navigation is awkward but still nowhere near the nonsense one has to deal with in jewel match solitaire.[/b] game mode selection comes up when starting a new game but there's no confirm button, gotta close the window to continue. there are [b]single screens of text with a skip button when it should say continue[/b], there's nothing to skip. and the level complete screen should have more buttons (menu, map, garden) and [b]continue shouldn't lead to the garden every fucking time[/b], whether you can upgrade something or not, but load the next level. as you'd expect, the game is very pleasing to the eye, except for the very basic main font. there are a few card customization options, separate volumes, a non-resizable but much smaller windowed mode, game cursor toggle, in-game representation of achievements and multiple player profiles. unfortunately, [b]settings aren't accessible from the pause menu[/b], gotta go back to the main menu to adjust volumes, and [b]progress is stored in the registry, the worst possible place[/b]. don't even dream about cloud saves. and esc doesn't bring up the pause menu because why would it? all things and questionable decisions considered, it's [b]a whole lot worse than most other games in the genre and the bar isn't exactly high[/b]. since it evidently won't get the extra attention it badly needs, not even basic grammar fixes, it's not something to recommend. not sure why loading a level takes so long either. my pc is ancient but not as much as the system requirements and come on, it's a very basic card game that should work on a broken toaster. tried it on more recent hardware, no problem there (except for [b]deliberately slow animations when levels get laid out[/b]), but it still gets the award for [b]worst performance in a solitaire ever[/b]. 15 years of 'extensive experience' my ass.

I was holding off writing a review for this game as the ending had a bug that preventing completion but I am happy to say it is now fixed and the garden can be complete and all the achievements earned. I did not want to write a bad review for this game as it was fun. It gave me a relaxing 8 hours of game-play and no level really gave me too much trouble. Their is a light story to accompany the game and and you can access the in-game shop to purchase extra undo's, jokers, wild-cards, shuffles, double coins and removal of a card (selected or random) at any point in the level. However those shop items will NOT carry over to the next level. It is only for the current level so don't buy a bunch of jokers thinking you have a few to last you. Anything you buy will disappear once the level is complete and you carry on to the next one. Overall a fun game with a good length for a nice price. 🌼