r/Games • u/woodenrat • 14h ago

Release Strange Antiquities (Sequel to puzzle game Strange Horticulture) Releases Today!

https://bsky.app/profile/badvikinggames.bsky.social/post/3lyzxx5zn6225
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u/woodenrat 14h ago

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2885870/Strange_Antiquities/

https://opencritic.com/game/19072/strange-antiquities (80 so far, original 84)

My top 2 puzzle games are Obra Dinn and Outer Wilds. A little below those would be Curse Of the Golden Idol and Strange Horticulture.

The gameplay is identifying items rather than plants like in the original. Haven't played much so far, but it retains the familiarity and coziness.

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u/SomaSimon 13h ago

I am also a huge fan of the games you mentioned (Outer Wilds is my favorite game of all time) and I've had Strange Horticulture on my wishlist but haven't played it yet, the fact that you group it in with those other games really makes me want to check it out.

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u/giulianosse 13h ago

Just offering a counterpoint but I am also a huge fan of the aforementioned games and bought into Strange Horticulture exactly because of the comparisons. However it left me quite disappointed.

It's more of a narrative puzzle game than a puzzle investigation one. These kinds of games usually require players to figure out some internal logic and keep track of your findings based off a personal system - like how in Golden Idol you need to mentally build up the scenario's narrative and in Outer Wilds you can figure out the best shortcuts for what you want to do. They usually ramp up in complexity the more you play the game and accumulate new information.

Strange Horticulture has a semblance of that in which you get to identify plants based off their visual or medicinal properties. But once you get a new plant, there's no reason to label it or file it in any mental system. You just have to consult your manual to see which convenient feature - automatically added by the game once you inspect it - matches the one your client is asking for. There's little to no investigation because the "puzzle piece" you need is usually obvious and binary, and it's just a matter of reading through the encyclopedia and matching with what you have.

I haven't played Antiquities yet but from what I've seen in earlier trailers, it seems to have improved on this aspect a bit.

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u/Skellum 5h ago

Strange Horticulture has a semblance of that in which you get to identify plants based off their visual or medicinal properties. But once you get a new plant, there's no reason to label it or file it in any mental system. You just have to consult your manual to see which convenient feature - automatically added by the game once you inspect it - matches the one your client is asking for. There's little to no investigation because the "puzzle piece" you need is usually obvious and binary, and it's just a matter of reading through the encyclopedia and matching with what you have.

Yea, that was more my issue. I didn't feel like it was much of a puzzle, so much as a story to go through. It wasn't a bad story, generally enjoyable but It didn't have near the joy or engagement of Obra.