Voodoo Garden Review

<p>Many farming simulation games are set in lush&comma; fertile farmland out in the country&period; We play as a farmer&comma; tending his or her cattle&comma; and don’t think much about it&period; <em>Voodoo Garden<&sol;em> turns this idea on its head&comma; putting players in the role of the owner of a hut in the middle of a swamp&comma; growing and producing supplies for voodoo concoctions&period; <em>Voodoo Garden<&sol;em> is a colorful&comma; cute agriculture simulation game set in an area that most games wouldn’t dare to tread&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;110565" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-110565" style&equals;"width&colon; 1920px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-110565 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;07&sol;03114929&sol;voodoogarden&lowbar;screenshot&lowbar;4&period;png" alt&equals;"&lpar;Voodoo Garden&comma; Liu Lidan&rpar; " width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-110565" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Voodoo Garden<&sol;em>&comma; Liu Lidan&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>So&comma; in <em>Voodoo Garden<&sol;em> you are the owner of a hut in the middle of a swamp&period; By growing trees and other plants&comma; you collect ingredients that allow you to craft and sell occult supplies and accessories&period; In addition to these plants&comma; you can also feed and raise cute pets that can then be sacrificed to summon Helper Spirits that can make your work easier&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There isn’t much direction provided to the player at the start of the game&period; There is no tutorial&comma; and you are thrust right into the action without so much as a short introduction&period; You are provided with a few plants&comma; and immediately have to keep watch for bats &lpar;who will steal the fruit off some of your plants&period;&rpar; You also need to harvest the fruit&comma; while watching for bees who will nest in your fruit bushes&period; The bees can be used in the production of bee nests&comma; which are just one of the things you can use to make various products&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;110566" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-110566" style&equals;"width&colon; 1920px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-110566 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;07&sol;03114904&sol;voodoogarden&lowbar;screenshot&lowbar;5&period;png" alt&equals;"&lpar;Voodoo Garden&comma; Liu Lidan&rpar; " width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-110566" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Voodoo Garden<&sol;em>&comma; Liu Lidan&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>As you progress onward&comma; you will level up which will allow you to unlock new things to buy&period; Things you can purchase in the store are plants that let you make better products or totems that can do a variety of things&comma; such as attracting bees to your plants&period; There are upgrades that you can buy for your plants and animals as well&comma; which allow you to harvest them faster and reap the animal’s benefits more when they are sacrificed to become a Helpful Spirit&period; Helpful Spirits can harvest things for you&comma; make certain plants grow faster&comma; and provide a few other helpful effects&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>At first glance&comma; it seems like there is a lot to <em>Voodoo Garden<&sol;em>&comma; but truthfully it isn’t at all complex&period; The music is relaxing and calm&comma; but the game follows a similar pattern to idling games like C<em>ookie Clicker<&sol;em>&period; Click on things to harvest them&comma; gain money&comma; upgrade your garden and your plants&comma; rinse&comma; repeat&period; This is where <em>Voodoo Garden<&sol;em> becomes boring&comma; because after a while you find yourself with the game open&comma; just waiting for your plants to be ready to harvest&period; You aren’t given enough information to set goals as you play&comma; and there aren’t any interesting characters or plot elements to keep things interesting&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;110567" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-110567" style&equals;"width&colon; 1920px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-110567 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;07&sol;03114840&sol;voodoogarden&lowbar;screenshot&lowbar;3&period;png" alt&equals;"&lpar;Voodoo Garden&comma; Liu Lidan&rpar; " width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-110567" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Voodoo Garden<&sol;em>&comma; Liu Lidan&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The minimalistic nature of <em>Voodoo Garden<&sol;em> harms its overall appeal&comma; because despite the creatures and the visuals being colorful and cute&comma; there isn’t much substance to be had at all&period; There aren’t any real goals beyond getting all upgrades and making the biggest garden you can make&period; There is no real sense of excitement or victory as you progress either&comma; and as I played I found myself wondering why I was even making this garden&period; What is the motivation&quest; Why should I care&quest; These are questions that never get answered&comma; and that is the main reason <em>Voodoo Garden<&sol;em> is a bust&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>My honest&comma; final opinion of <em>Voodoo Garden<&sol;em> is that it would be a fantastic time-waster as a mobile game&period; However&comma; paying any amount of money for <em>Voodoo Garden<&sol;em> wouldn’t make sense &lpar;much less the &dollar;2&period;99 purchase price the developers are charging&comma;&rpar; as there really isn’t enough substance to justify it not being a free-to-play title&period; I had high hopes for <em>Voodoo Garden<&sol;em>&comma; but it didn’t have enough content to truly deliver&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><em><strong>A PC review code for Voodoo Garden was provided by Liu Lidan for the purpose of this review<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;