Garden Buddies

Garden Buddies does a sprinkling of things well, but it doesn’t excel at any one thing. At its root, the solid concept and intention is let down by its lack of depth and reward for achievements. It’s not terrible at all, but with so many other relaxing, cute games competing to calm you, we think it’s okay to give this one a miss.

Though the format of Garden Buddies feels far more suited to a mobile app than a game for PC, that makes it stand out on Steam, and Nintendo Switch doesn’t have many tiny games marketed purely as mindfulness aids. I respect it for giving us a solid option. If your child does get a phone or tablet, this is easy to recommend to have as something calm and brief. I appreciate that Garden Buddies has some direct instructions for fighting stress, as well as a variety of games to choose from to release that tension.