The Garden Path Has Blossomed, Out Now With Launch Discount!
Keep cool as a cucumber this summer… by taking a break from the heat and wandering into The Garden Path!
This slice-of-life gardening sim is now out on PC (via Steam and itch.io) and Nintendo Switch. Plus, start gardening with a 15% launch discount on Steam!
For more info on the Nintendo Switch launch, please check out this tweet for details.
Thank You
"The Garden Path has been a labour of love and an endless learning experience. It's some piece of me that I've been shaping almost every day for over seven years. All those years there's been countless times I've lost the wood for the trees, but advice and kind words have recentred me toward where the game is now.
If you've been following me along the way, from the bottom of my heart: Thank you. If this is your first time playing, then I warmly welcome you to the Garden."
- Louis Durrant
If you’re still on the fence and wondering what to expect from the garden, we’ve put together a few resources to help you as you start your journey. Check out the below links for more information on what is in the furtive, tender world of pondering, gardening, and wandering:
Additionally, we have a wiki! It’s meant to be a collaboration between the devs and players, and so while we’ve filled in the basics - we encourage players to contribute if they so wish! We can’t wait to see what you all get up to and what curious things curious gardeners will uncover. Check out The Garden Path official wiki for more info!
One Week to Launch, Plus Nintendo Switch Preorder Discount 🐣
After more than three years of development by a solo dev, The Garden Path is blossoming into the world on Steam and Nintendo Switch on July 30. That’s right, it’s unbe-leaf-able, but we’re only one week away!
If you’re excited and want to reserve a copy now, being an early bird comes with benefits! 😉 Nintendo Switch preorders are now available with a 15% discount. This offer applies to all regions, excluding Japan.
In the lead-up to launch, we’ve put together resources to help you decide if you’d like to get your hands dirty in The Garden. Check out the below links for more information on what you can expect in the furtive, tender world of pondering, gardening, and wandering.
Do you be-leaf in friendships between a gardener and vegetables? If so, you’re in luck. Leafy and charming residents will occasionally stop by the Garden, and you can get to know them by striking up a conversation. They all have their own personalities, some upbeat and others gloomy. If certain requirements specific to each resident are fulfilled, they may even request to stay long-term in the Garden!
Vegetable residents will also occasionally ask for items and if you fulfill their request, they’ll likely give gifts back in return! Meet five of the many vegetable residents below.
1. Caroline
🌱 Has a cauliflower head, which is a nightmare to wash. 🌱 Doesn't mind when conversation falls silent, but desperately avoids it. 🌱 Tries to always be five minutes early, no matter the occasion.
2. Molly
🧄 Are a garlic, but come with none of the tang. 🧄 Likes to catch dragonflies, but only for a moment. 🧄 Has a real eye for color, but prefers to keep things pink.
3. Emerson
🥦 Have a broccoli head, and feel it's not easy being so green. 🥦 Secretly enjoy the feeling of soggy boots. 🥦 Prefer to worry about the things they have no control over, than the things they do.
4. Ida
🌿 Are sweeter than most other plums. 🌿 Never tells the same joke twice (or, at least, tries not to) 🌿 Like to hum songs they've never heard before.
5. Alex
🍑 Choose to keep their peach fuzz. 🍑 Like to walk a little louder to let folk know they're coming. 🍑 Sure know how to shine a pair of shoes.
Sprouting, Growing, Blossoming: Everything You Need to Know About Gardening 🌱
It would not be The Garden Path without, well, growing a garden!
We find The Garden Path is best enjoyed when you embrace a wanderer's spirit: get lost, take detours, and get to know the locals. Gardening is not the main goal of your adventure in the Garden, but if it strikes your fancy, we have a few tips on cultivation.
Seedlings
You can grow plants anywhere in the Garden as long as it’s on land and unoccupied by existing vegetation. There are various ways of obtaining seeds. Harvest them from existing wild plants or barter for seeds from merchants. (A few plants present in the game, like the chamomile and bluebells, were featured on social media in the past!)
Since it’s summer, we’ve included below a lovely garden full of plants that bloom during the summer in-game. Sunflowers, foxgloves, buttercups, and also… a lovely little birdbath as garden decoration.
Planning
If you’d prefer a more chaotic, unplanned garden, simply plop the seeds wherever you’d like to plant them. But if you have grand ambitions and want to plan out the landscape before planting and acquiring seeds, you can use popsticks and project files! Both tools allow you to browse a library of possible plants and plan in advance. You can assign projects to a resident in the Community Center, and that resident will start working on the project and planting what you planned while you go about your day.
There are a variety of ways to obtain popsticks, but the most straightforward option is to deposit debris and organic matter into the compost bin. Worm the frog will then reward you with popsticks!
Tending
Much like a real garden, plants need time to blossom. To increase the growth speed of seedlings, players can “listen” to plants and hear what fertilizer they prefer. For example, if you “hear” an oak leaf and pine needle, combine both into fertilizer in your inventory. Then give it to the plants directly. Buttercup, a merchant, also has a selection of mulch that you can check out for additional effects.
Harvesting
This is straightforward! Harvest and enjoy the fruits of your labor by picking blossoms or obtaining clippings of weeds and twigs. Flowers only need to be picked by hand.
As for other harvestables, the appropriate tool is picked when you focus on a plant, tree, or shrub - so you don’t have to worry about switching manually between equipment. Note that you may require tones, a resource, in order to obtain a “seasonal” harvestable. Tones are separated into temporary and permanent. Permanent tones can be obtained by using equipment. Hover over equipment in the menu to check what to do to generate permanent tones.
Gifts for friends <3
Harvestables can be used in a myriad of ways. Obtain seeds for the next iteration of the garden, or give them as gifts to vegetables residents that stop by the garden. You can also brew tea with certain harvestables, as well as trade the items with merchants for clothing, decorative furniture, and more.
Remember, you aren’t locked into any forced loop of gardening. Plant as much or as little as you wish, as often or as infrequently. What type of garden and what plants you grow is entirely up to you!
The Garden Path is a place of your own to play and wander in! You choose how to spend your time, whether that be wandering around harvesting plants, finding new spots to songfish, or just chatting with a new friendly face.
You won’t be left without direction, and the Garden gently nudges you towards how to use tools. But afterwards, you’ll need to put your best boots on and grab gardening by the reins (or by the trowel). How the game unfurls is up to you. There are no continuous linear quest lines or main narrative throughline, though there are plenty of delightful characters to meet and chat with.
The Garden Path offers a more meandering and flexible play, than a directed journey. Take your time tinkering with systems. Let curiosity and instinct guide you. Plant whatever strikes your whimsy, like a beautifully curated rose garden or if the impulse strikes, a wild chaos garden. Or perhaps just slowly stroll past the lakes and underbrush, listening to the sounds of birds.
One Bite at a Time
Meant to be a companion to your daily life, The Garden Path can’t be finished in one giant bite. Stop by whenever the urge strikes to see how things have changed since your last visit!
As time progresses in the real world, so does time in the Garden. You will have an opportunity to set the clock in-game, choosing how many hours behind or ahead of real-time it’s set at. You can only do this once, though! While you’re away, new plants will have sprouted and different merchants will roam to and fro.
A Companion Through Thick and Thin
After a long day at work, make a pot of tea, and come back to the Garden to relax or to reflect. If it’s a nice summer day, perhaps take the game outdoors on your Nintendo Switch on the porch or in a park. The game can be cozy and full of mirthful charm, but there is a melancholic and nostalgic patina present, much like a rainy day or the static whirring of a slightly damaged cassette tape. The Garden is a place in which you have the flexibility to shape, but it also grows alongside you over time - and perhaps, can surprise you with a secret or two.
Welcome to the mysterious Garden. Armed with a tent, a few items in your bag, and endless curiosity, take your time getting to know the Garden and its visitors. And perhaps... you can also plant seeds of friendships? 💚
The Garden Path is meant for short bursts of play at a time. And every new in-game day brings different travellers to the Garden. If you see a toad, a bear, and other friendly faces roaming around, be sure to say hi. Maybe you’d like to just listen to sarcastic, but endearing, banter from Tabbal the toad. Or perhaps you’d like to check out what wares these travellers have in their bags.
To obtain travellers’ items, you’ll need to trade items. Our game doesn’t have currency like money or gold, and bartering is the way-of-life within it. Every merchant will part with their stock for different goods, like fish, flowers, tea and yes - even bundles of weeds!
Augustus
One of the first travellers you’ll encounter, Augustus is an Eurasian Brown Bear. He’s earnest and a bit timid, but wholeheartedly enthusiastic about scouting. And we swear by scout’s honor, he’s the most loveable big guy you’ll encounter in the Garden.
Tabbal
Ah, mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the grumpiest of them all? Tabbal, a Turkish Berber toad, brings spunk, impatience, and attitude. He sells mainly spices and botanicals, but occasionally also has rare trinkets in stock.
Caoihme
With her passion for fashion, Caoihme is the Garden’s resident fashionista. She’s an Atlantic puffin from Ireland. Approach Caoihme for antique furniture and to, of course, buy from her large collection of garments, hats, shoes, and more. She can also give gardeners haircuts!
Buttercup
Buttercup’s always equipped with her pickaxe and headlamp as a British Landrace Pig. She’s usually digging underground, but when she pops up, it’s because she’s lost her way and decided to take a break. If you catch Buttercup during her breaks, exchange different soils with her for fine brews.
Bunk
A traveller who knows everything about tea, Bunk is a Japanese macaque from northern Honshu. Her tea knowledge comes from working with a team of tea masters after being adopted as a pet by a tea-loving poet.
She’s on a journey to discover teas of all sorts. Chat with Bunk to experiment with flavors and discover new brews.
We’ll have more travellers to show players in the future, so stay tuned for more info! As always, we appreciate any and all wishlists!
Invite a dear friend over to garden together in The Garden Path! The local co-op feature has just been added to the beta. Chop wood, admire the flora and fauna, and maybe even just wander alongside each other. Asides from that, we're happy to announce that folks can also play the game in Japanese, Spanish and French in this beta update as well!
If you are a Kickstarter backer that chose Steam as your preferred edition, you should have received a Steam code for access to the beta. If you are not a Kickstarter backer, the other way to play the beta is to purchase it on itchio! Players who purchase the beta will also get the full version of the game when it releases on July 30.
