The game I chose is called The Good Gardener, created by a small indie developer and available on itch.io. What first caught my attention was the art style. It looked calm and peaceful, almost meditative. But what really pulled me in was the description. The developer explained that you play as a gardener growing plants to support your nation’s war effort, which felt like a very strange and interesting mix, so I wanted to try it out.
The gameplay in A Good Gardener is mostly calming and meditative. For much of the experience, you’re engaged in a quiet, repetitive cycle: retrieving seeds, planting them, and patiently watering them. The simplicity is part of the game’s charm, creating a gentle rhythm that feels peaceful. The only mild challenge comes from managing water—since you can only refill the watering can when it rains, you're often left waiting on the weather to continue your work. This tranquil pace is disrupted sharply toward the end, when the sky fills with thick smoke, gunfire echoes in the distance, and the Supervisor appears at the door bloodied—only to be abruptly shot by soldiers. The sudden violence stands in stark contrast to the calm that preceded it, making the moment especially jarring and emotionally impactful.
(start menu)
Graphics and Sound
The art style of A Good Gardener is painterly and cartoonish, with moderate detail. Its vibrant, bright color palette gives the game a cheerful, almost whimsical atmosphere that fits the quiet routine of planting and watering. This visual tone reinforces the sense of calm early in the game. Music plays a key role in shaping the mood: on some days, the soundtrack is light and happy; on others, it shifts to a deep, ominous tone that signals a change in the narrative or something unsettling on the horizon. The sound design is especially well-crafted. For instance, the watering can’s pitch gradually lowers as it empties, and when it's finally dry, picking it up produces a hollow metallic sound—adding a layer of realism that reflects real-world physics. In the final moments of the game, the abrupt arrival of distant gunfire shatters the peaceful soundscape, creating a jarring and dramatic contrast that catches the player off guard.
(The Garden)
I extracted the game’s audio files using an open-source tool called AssetRipper, which is hosted on GitHub. This allowed me to directly access the game’s soundscape and present specific examples of what I was hearing—giving you a clearer sense of the game’s atmosphere and emotional tone.
Main Game Sounds
Main Theme Song - Main theme song that plays when you open the game, and during sunny days.
Bushtit - This is the bird that you have to chase away, as it destroys your plants.
Wind - Wind that plays in the background during sunny days.
Waterspout Sounds - As I mentioned earlier, the waterspout makes different noises depending on how empty and full it is.
This is the sound of it when it is full
This is the sound of it when it is empty
Rain & Ominous Music - These two sounds play at the same time when it rains, which is every few days. Personally, this was the most exciting sound to hear, as it also waters all of your plants, which saves them from dying.
Rain
Ominous Music
Final Days of The Game Sounds
Gunshots - The audio file of this is actually named "fireworks", which is pretty interesting. Playing the game, it never regiestered in my brain that they weren't actual gunshots, but it's a very smart approach. This sound plays during the last few days where the sky is filled with dark smoke.
Factory - This sound plays during days where the sky if very cloudy, and the factory is pumping out smoke. It becomes more frequent towards the end of the game.
Plane - This sound plays during the final days of the game, with the sky being covered with trails of black smoke, simulating a war in the distance.
“Single Gunshot” – This sound plays when the Supervisor is shot by the soldiers, marking one of the final moments in the game. Despite the serious context, I found it funny as the sound felt very anticlimactic, especially after the quiet tension leading up to it. Interestingly, the sound itself isn’t a real gunshot, but is a recording of someone hitting a metal trash can lid with a crowbar.
Fire – This is the final sound heard in the game, as the soldiers set your garden ablaze. After killing the Supervisor, the soldiers choose not to enter the house. Instead of trying to get inside, one solider says he’s tired, and tells the other to burn everything down. Flames slowly begin to engulf your surroundings, and the credits roll, cutting between the spreading fire and flashes of what’s left behind.
Player Interactions
The player can interact with a list of things in the game. They are listed below
Watering Can - Watering can to water plants, you can fill it up by placing it under the gutter when it rains.
Supervisor - The supervisor will come and talk to visit, you have the option to talk to him or not.
Seed Box - Seed box collects seeds from package, you can select what seeds you want to plant.
Seed Package - Seed packaage gets shipped every morning, you can interact with it to transfer it to your seed box.
Seeds - You can throw seeds on soil from the seed box to plant them.
Weed Plucking - Weeds will grow on the soil with time, you can go up to them and pluck them.
My Quarters Door - A door that you can interact with to skip to the next day.
Chair - You can sit in the chair to save your progress.
Gutter - Interact to fill up watering can under the gutter when it rains.
(Quarter Hall Space)
Characters
There are only four characters throughout the entire game, making it a very minimalistic experience when it comes to characters.
Gardener
This is the character you play as. The Gardener is silent and passive, carrying out instructions and tending to the plants day after day. You don’t speak or make choices directly, which adds to the sense that you’re just a small part of a larger system.
Supervisor
The Supervisor visits periodically to check on your progress and deliver vague, bureaucratic dialogue. He wears a suit and is stationary, acting as the middleman between you and the war effort. He seems more concerned with productivity than with people, and ultimately becomes a victim of the very system he represents.
Soldier #1
One of the two soldiers who you hear behind the door at the end of the game. He tells the Supervisor to open the door, and asks whats inside. The Supervisor insists that he has no idea, and he doesn't have a way to get in. He then makes soldier #2 shoot him, and suggests burning the place down rather than entering the building, saying he’s too tired to go inside. His line reveals the cold, detached attitude of the military presence.
Soldier #2
The second soldier, who acts more decisively. He’s the one who kills the Supervisor and leads the act of burning the garden down. His presence emphasizes the sudden and brutal shift from calm routine to violent erasure.
A Good Gardener stands out as a quiet but powerful example of how games can function as art. Its vibrant artistic design and repetitive gameplay create a calming routine, one that gradually becomes unsettling as subtle narrative shifts begin to unravel the world around you. The contrast between peaceful gardening and the violence of war is stark and deliberate, forcing the player to reflect on how easily ordinary life can be swallowed by larger systems. Without spelling anything out, the game seems to almost critique bureaucracy, obedience, and the absurdity of militarization through its silent protagonist and emotionally detached characters. It’s a short experience, but a surprisingly memorable one, proof that even simple indie games can leave a lasting impression.
