LogFAQs > #978105971

Currently Playing: The Botanist

What Is It? An interactive comic that last 15 minutes and costs NINE DOLLARS HOLY SHIT WHAT THE FUCK

Gameplay Overview: You don't really "play" this. It is in the same vein as a visual novel, with a bit of Playdate functionality thrown in. You have these strips that you sort of crank your way through, and occasionally you'll need to use a button when prompted.

Here's The Game Page! https://play.date/games/the-botanist/

Here's Some Pictures!
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/b/bd617664.png
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/f/f774919b.png
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/c/c1d09b5f.png
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/d/d22279c2.png
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/1/1b2c187a.png
Thoughts:
-Im going with The Botanist next as Ive seen it mentioned a lot on the discord as a must play and it was one of the 10 Best 2023 Catalogue games according to the editors on the website.
-I should probably spread these out a bit more because this is my 4th of the 10 and Im going to run out soon and be stuck with HANA equivalents.
-Oop the game starts without me.
-Im on the Har Crater on Callisto. Not my number one vacation destination, I have to be honest.
-Wow this game actually has a chapter select option on the side menu. The last game wouldnt even let me go back to the title screen without first quitting back to the Playdate menu, so this is a massive improvement.
-So it is a little comic up front, which is cute! You rotate through the panels and theres an astronaut who emerges from some plants. He at least looks like he has a unique style and the person who drew things knew what art was, so again, huge improvement over some of the other games Ive played.
-Im guessing this is an adventure game from the bits Ive seen so far, which is nice.
-Oh how fun. I get to a part where the explorer has to climb a cliff and the comic goes from scrolling horizontally to scrolling vertical. Nice touch.
-The animation here is very solid. And I like the little movement you get in some panels. For example, as youre scrolling up you see this guys hands on the cliff top and as you keep scrollin up his head slowly peers over with a look of surprise on his face.
-There is no gameplay here so far but I already feel like this is a lock for the top ten. Thats probably a damning indictment on a lot of the other titles, but it is always pretty easy to tell which developers know what theyre doing and which dont and this one already falls in the former category based on the cute little touches theyve been throwing in.
-Alright I found a plant. Good job, me!
-Wow title screen music is a potential contender for best Playdate music so far. Thats a low bar to clear again, but it sounds like someone knew what they were doing here and not just torturing a harmonica an evil wizard brought to life.
-I didnt bring this up before, but I was a little concerned my speaker was broken. Thats how bad some of the music has been up until now. I thought no, no way was this made intentionally. It must be a mistake. But the music here is good! So I guess, no, just a bunch of people that hate music making games for the Playdate.
-Some minor on screen prompts get you to do stuff like press down to put in the specimen or use the crank to magnify the thing on screen.
-I get a message from someone named Commander Bishop telling me excellent work and that the species may be the key to solving our food shortage. Mm. Moon weeds. The most delicious of all delicacies.
-Bishop needs me to go out and collect a species for cross pollination and I have to leave RIGHT NOW. Jeez lady I just maybe solved the food shortage. Cant I scroll Instagram for like ten minutes?
-Nope. Spaceship leaves now and Im going to some other planet.
-Shuttle takeoff goes smoothly. You get to see the ship and it looks like theres an arboretum area on the top in a big glass dome. I dont know if thats the most effective shape for a spaceship, but Im not a botanic spaceship engineer, either.
-Autopilot engaged. Time to wander around the ship?
-You use the gyroscopic controls to float this guy up to the garden area. It took me a second to figure out why my crank wasnt moving things. Oops.
-Theres a little acorn on the tree. Food crisis solved!
-Well the joy is short lived because I get a collision warning, get his by a bunch of asteroids, and crash on some other planet. Hey stupid autopilot you arent autopiloting very good!
-I fall out the door of the spaceship and some weird other astronaut appears to be looking at my ship from behind some rocks. DONT YOU STEAL MY ACORNS!
-Well after I wake up I start a fire which I guess is good because there has to be some sort of atmosphere here. I also try to send out an SOS because I cant get good signal strength. Maybe our hero crashed in rural Nebraska?
-The Botanist sees a nearby peak and its like aha signal is probably better there! You see him building something and he builds legs for his computer to walk on. Why not just carry the thing, you lazy dork?
-Computer with a smiley face on the screen and two legs is probably a top ten Playdate character at this point though, sadly.
-You load the computer with flora and fauna information via what looks like a floppy disc from 1983. -Not at all how I assumed your high tech computer had information added to it.
-Yes yes we can travel to deep space now but can we all just agree that floppy discs looked cool and do all upgrades with those for now on?
-During our hike to the peak we run into a Woodland Anemone Fern. I know this because it pops up on the computers screen with the words EXTREME DANGER flashing on it. Yeah, I figured that out from the cow skulls right next to it.
-Maybe just dont walk into the plant guys and youll be safe?
-Oh haha its not that big. Like you dont get any perspective other than an animal skull at first, but when they show you walking past it, it looks like the size of a normal potted plant. Just punch that thing and move on.
-Oh that was anticlimactic. I didnt even punch it! I just gave it a stick and kept moving. Im assuming that thing will come back bigger and scarier at some point.
-We get to the peak but the signal is still too weak. Dang. Computer friend, do you have any ideas?
-Theres something playing catch behind us in the bushes by throwing what looks like a ball up and down. Im sure its friendly.
-OH. Its the specimen I was actually supposed to collect. Well thats lucky.
-The Botanist grabs the ball thing and it looks vaguely like a cartoon representation of COVID. Well, I know what Im sending people next time I catch COVID.
-Aw it causes the plant to die. Thats not cool, Botanist.
-When its plant corpse falls over, it reveals another shuttle in the distance behind it. Hey whos shuttle is that and can I steal it, please?
-The Botanist uh tells the computer it loves it? Maybe? This one Im not sure about but it grabs the computer by its sides and a heart icon appears above its head.
-AH ITS A PIRATE! I know because he has an eyepatch and looks like a jerk. Also the chapter is called the pirate so that helps too.
-He pulls out a gun and the computers display changes to dont shoot! which is super cute and you really shouldnt shoot him, pirate.