The Garden of the Sea sensory gem combines world exploration with farming, creativity, and more. If you are looking for progress and adventure, you will find it. If you are looking for relaxation, stay where you are and let the world gently take its course. The healthy game launches on PlayStation VR2 on February 22.
Garden and craft everything you could possibly want to customize them, from bamboo, coral, wood, stone, plant parts, etc.
- Pet and feed a variety of animals with home-grown vegetables and cuddle their babies
- Expand and decorate your home by crafting items, furniture and paints
- Go fishing for your new pond buddies
- Ride your boat to explore new lands and environments
- Non-violent – all tend and make friends
- Complete quests to unravel the mystery of each island
The Garden of the Sea invites you to cross the ocean as playful sea creatures swim along, to discover new lands and treasures, build a home and fill it with the best of the word. your adventures.
Meet the developers
Linnéa, Christoffer and Flippy of the Neat Group.
We spoke with two of the developers: Art Director Christoffer Svenningsson and Artist Filip “Flippy” Tengwall.
What led to the beginning of the development of Garden of the Sea?
Christoffer: I’ve been wanting to do a specific genre of game for a long time, like a more fantasy version of Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon. Something bright, imaginative and wholesome with lots of creativity, farming and places to explore. On a boat!
slippy: It’s a genre that a lot of us at Neat love to play on our own, so when we heard the idea, it was easy in our minds to think, “What if this is in VR?”
Christoffer: When the idea came up, we found ourselves surreptitiously working on Garden of the Sea even while the first Budget Cut game was still in production. It’s been in the planning for a long time so the concept has to be slow and organized while we explore as many of our ideas as possible. It’s fun to work with and makes a relaxing contrast to the dark hallways of Budget Cuts, so it’s hard to stop us. Someone took a picture of me during recess while I was lying on a cushion playing GotS like a happy man with a big smile on his face. That one definitely popped up on our instagram at some point.
What is the core of what you want to create?
Christoffer: The original pitch is actually quite different from the final game that ends, though much of it is still there. I wanted to explore a world that felt familiar on some level but was still different from everyday life. From the beginning we toyed with many ideas, such as islands floating in the sky and exploring them in a hot air balloon but we ended up landing (no pun intended). ) by boat in an archipelago. We haven’t seen many animals in VR yet, so the care aspect is also something new for us to explore. There are not many VR farm simulation games in general. With that, we feel that these types of games are the most interesting for us personally, we are really excited about the project. I’ve been following the genre for a long time so as a fan it felt very natural to put it in the VR scene. And it turns out it works great.
I can confess that I played Stardew Valley for the first time when I was on sick leave from insomnia and stress, and for a while it was the only way I could find the relaxation to pass the time. times when I’m too exhausted to do other things. And when I read some Garden of the Sea player reviews, I came across several that mentioned mental health and how Garden of the Sea has helped them in different aspects of their lives.
slippy: From the top of my head, there was a fairly recent review that mentioned feeling less lonely while playing. It reminds me of when the pandemic hit. We opened the game to buy and play to gather feedback from players before its official release in January 2022. It’s clear that there are a lot of unknowns and fears in society at large and all We all work from home, as most people can work from home. used to. We keep in touch with the player community for feedback, and many have also reached out to us privately just to let us know how the game has helped them cope. Although this is a single-player game, many people feel it has helped them overcome isolation and other difficulties.
Christoffer: I can also see that from my own life, growing up in the countryside on a farm with lots of animals around. I feel more alone here in the city, where many people don’t have the space at home to keep their pets. I definitely felt an emotional connection to the GotS animals even though they were digital, which surprised me a bit.
slippy: I think VR as a medium often amplifies immersion time by hundreds of times. Since many games out there are geared towards action and conflict, VR in entertainment has proven to give us stronger thrills and more realistic scares. But it was interesting to discover that we can also use that immersion-enhancing ability to work with other emotions, such as what people commonly call “positive” emotions. That was especially obvious to us when we saw people playing the game. Their reactions to cute animals are often surprisingly strong, like “GoshThat’s cute!”
Garden of the Sea will be launching on PS VR2 on February 22nd.
