Review for Botany Manor

Written by
Becky Waxman — July 19, 2024

Once upon a time I lived across the street from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden could wander through its spectacular environs nearly every day. I soon became a flowering plant aficionado. So with great anticipation, I recently stepped into the opening chapter of Botany Manor, developed by Balloon Studios, hoping its landscapes would equal or exceed those from my nostalgic past. 

Set in late 19th century England, this adventure begins in a conservatory where you learn the basics of potting plants and acquire the Forgotten Flora Herbarium book, which will be vital for solving the game’s challenges. You assume the role of Arabella Greene, whose goal is to research, complete and then publish Forgotten Flora, bringing diverse, exotic plants to the attention of the horticultural community.

Players will walk (quickly if they choose) through the grounds of a vast English mansion. The stylized 3D graphics are enhanced by subtle animations. From a distance the gardens look rather still, but up close, you’ll notice sparkling water in ponds, fluttering butterflies, birds on the wing, slowly drifting clouds and foliage swaying in the breeze. Then stroll between clipped hedges and tall stone walls, pausing to admire a collection of colorful shrubs, flowers in full bloom, manicured trees, and water lily ponds.

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Marble statuary, trellises with clinging vines, intricate metal gates and large garden pots add variety. Benches provide frequent places to rest and admire the stunning views. Varied birdsong and chirping, rippling water, footsteps, and the rumble of a nearby river add to the atmosphere. Intriguingly, the visuals take into account the reality that no garden is perfect – at times rock debris is strewn about and occasionally brown patches appear in the grass.

The mansion has multiple rooms to explore, containing vintage furniture, framed paintings, books scattered everywhere, and plants, including a tall indoor tree. You will encounter textured and stained-glass windows, beautifully tiled floors, fireplaces, porcelain vases, and fancy chandeliers. Gentle string melodies occasionally play in the background, especially when you enter a new area or complete an investigatory challenge. One room in the manor features a harpsichord that you can tinker with, and another holds an ancient phonograph with “records” containing brief melodies for eager listeners. 

Arabella is alone in her exquisite surroundings, but she has many reminders of friends, relatives and colleagues: assorted pictures, cards, newspapers and other memorabilia. You don’t directly interact with the people in her life – there are no dialogs and no voice-overs – but you feel as though you do get to know how others treated her in the past, and there are tantalizing textual tidbits revealing her reactions to various unusual circumstances.

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The gradually disclosed narrative gives glimpses into the 19th century attitudes toward women (like Arabella) who wished to contribute research-based knowledge or to participate in technical careers. Part of the mystery that steadily builds is the question of whether Arabella’s vast botanical expertise will ever be recognized by male authorities in the field.

An aspect of Arabella’s background that is implied but never openly explored is her apparently vast wealth. Living on an estate of this size with spectacular surroundings, having domestic servants and groundskeepers, traveling parts of the world to investigate various plant life, acquiring anything she needs in terms of research paraphernalia – these benefits are only possible if Arabella is from one of the wealthiest families in England. Yet it is not readily apparent how access to all this botanical bounty has affected Arabella’s personality. It’s as though her extreme financial privilege is taken for granted. I wonder if the fact that Arabella apparently never had to deal with certain distractions – working for a living or worrying about how to pay for necessities – was part of what allowed her to develop her curiosity and determination to stick to her goal of making a significant contribution within her chosen field.

Botany Manor features a first-person perspective; I played the game on Steam. Players use the WASD keys to move and the mouse to pan. Interactable items reveal a white dot that surfaces when you approach from the correct angle and distance. Objects that can be moved produce a white outline when you pick them up. The “E” and “I” keys allow you to access items and inspect them closely. The Tab key brings up the Herbarium book containing drawings of plants Arabella is experimenting with, and references to information you have gathered that must be matched with the correct plant. The book also contains maps of the mansion and gardens. There is no inventory – players can carry certain items (one at a time) before using or dropping them. When you acquire keys that will unlock doors, they are attached to the Herbarium book until you find the right lock. There is only one manual save slot.

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The overall mission involves growing various plants (mostly flowering varieties) from seeds that are stashed in small bags throughout the mansion and grounds. The necessary steps to accomplish this are simple at the start but become quite difficult in the final two chapters. You must match information found in various books, posters, poems, photos and drawings with a specific plant and use that knowledge to change something about the plant or its environment that will cause it to sprout and then rapidly mature. Connections are sometimes obvious and at other times extremely obscure. 

Multiple steps are usually needed before you succeed, so there is quite a bit of backtracking involved. Not only must you find the seeds and plant and water them, but you often discover something particular about each seedling that will match its unique makeup – for example, the temperature it requires to grow or chemicals that should be added to the soil. Often growth only occurs in a particular spot within the gardens or mansion – sometimes this involves using devices like an old-fashioned camera or telegraph machine. Certain solutions seem almost magical. By the time I reached Botany Manor’s fourth chapter, I was unable to come up with correct matches without going back and re-reading all the documents and using trial-and-error to try out the combinations. I consulted a walkthrough occasionally – a particular surprise surfaced because I didn’t have exhaustive knowledge about the strength of certain vegetation that makes it traversable. 

Though I spent almost ten hours traipsing happily about in Arabella’s shoes, taking my time, luxuriating in the gorgeous scenery, revisiting letters and books and noodling out the surprising quirks and truths about people and plants, I never felt a deep connection to the heroine who impressed me so much. I empathized with her frustrations in a time period where women were clearly blocked from career advancement. And I admired her stamina and focus as she overcame many of the obstacles in her path – both human and horticultural. But I wish that, somehow, I could have watched her as she worked, or heard her voice.

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Botany Manor has a relaxing, gentle atmosphere that matches the incredible beauty of the surroundings. You can explore as rapidly or as slowly and thoroughly as you like – I recommend the latter, as there is plenty to see if you proceed down every set of stairs and winding path and examine every corner and panorama. The puzzles gradually become trickier, but are extremely satisfying to solve, and pondering them takes place in what is essentially a floral paradise.

So – do the gardens in Botany Manor live up to the famed Botanic Garden from my past? Well, they lack the overall variety, but in every other way, they come very close to knocking it out of the park*…err… garden.

*Achieving a splendid result.