Touch grass with some favorite springtime games
Spring has sprung, and alongside the blooming of gorgeous flowers and chirping of baby chicks comes a pollen count so high that you might as well invest in stocks for your local chemist. If the call of the wild sends your sinuses into crisis, look no further than our list of horticultural games. That way you can enjoy the beauty of the natural world without any of the sneezing.
There’s a game below for all kinds of flora-loving players, from those looking to relax and go with the seasonal flow to those who prefer to use their green thumb to take out opposing forces…with force.
APICO
Bees are Mother Nature’s strongest and most adorable soldiers, diving through flower fields and pollinating plants, all the while making a tasty glue that's perfect for porridge, toast, and pizza. In APICO, you manage a colony of these fuzzy friends, collecting resources, breeding bees, and playing mini-games to achieve cozy conservational success.
Perhaps the most endearing fact about APICO is that much of the content is grounded in actual biology. So as you expand your database of creepy crawlies, you can also learn about real floriculture and repopulation tactics. Go forth and grow your buzzing empire sting-free.
NAIAD
If the life cycle of bees is too intense, why not take a beat and float down a lazy river as a lovable water nymph? Set across soft, painterly environments, NAIAD asks you to journey downstream by swimming, singing, and assisting a cavalcade of adorable critters along the way.
Naiad isn’t just here to kick it, though, as you’ll also need to help save the flowing waters from pesky humans (those rotters) that seek to pollute them. Thankfully, Naiad is a powerful guardian who can help the flora grow back through song, returning things to the proper natural order.
Flower
If you want to truly embody nature, Flower is the game for you. This arrives from the dream weavers at Thatgamecompany—yeah, that one, the same folks who brought us Journey. Here, you control the wind’s flow, pushing petals along dreamy horizons. As you ferry them through open spaces, you’ll bump into more blooming flowers and pinch petals to add to your collection. The game is broken up into stages, with each new stage inviting you to explore fresh biomes as you form a tornado of bouquets.
If you needed more convincing, when Flower was released in 2009, it took home a slew of awards, including a BAFTA for Artistic Achievement, thus solidifying it as an essential indie game worth adding to anyone’s backlog. Plus, if you don’t have much spare time, you can get through Flower in around two hours or so—perfect for a lunch break in the middle of spring cleaning.
Tropico 6 - Return to Nature
When talking about Mother Nature, the dictator city-builder Tropico 6 might not be what you have in mind. Alas, the minds at Realmforge Studios are here to prove you wrong with the Return to Nature DLC.
This add-on sees Tropico 6 go green, with your typical industrial camp being built next to a towering tree called Biggdrasil. Alongside bunkers and barracks, the DLC welcomes eco-friendly structures like beekeeping and treehouses, which you can use to build up your new utopia.
It is still a Tropico game, though, and you’ll still have to manage your people as well as your green thumb to avoid brutal intervention from rebels and foreign invaders. Remember: You can't spell soldier without soil!
Plants vs. Zombies: Game of the Year Edition
Spring cleaning is an essential post-winter activity. You’ve got to clear out the cobwebs, get rid of unwanted clothes, and destroy the zombies encroaching on your yard. Okay, maybe not that last one. But what if, right? It’s always good to have a contingency plan. In Plants vs. Zombies: Game of the Year Edition, your job is to curate a team of undead-bashing potted plants in service of defending your home.
A moreish loop of tower defense objectives engages your inner tactician as you grow your garden army, one explosive-toting corncob and pea-shooting belle flower at a time.
The Sims 4 Cottage Living
Gingham? Check. Braided pigtails? Double check. Thatched roofs and quaint flower boxes? You betcha! The Sims 4’s Cottage Living DLC is a content pack full of cottagecore kitsch. Quaint decor and Create-a-Sim outfits enable you to countrify your households. Plus the pack introduces a location inspired by the British countryside called Henford-on-Bagley as a new base of operations.
In this pastoral town, your Sims can fully commit to their crunchy fantasy, foraging for ingredients, caring for barnyard animals, and growing organic veggies. Among the light-hearted, free-form fun, the new township is also home to a pub where you’ll find familiar faces serving you drinks as well as plenty of odd locals to meddle with. It’s up to you whether to make their lives hell or help them achieve their rural living dreams.
We hope you enjoy these glorious springtime games from the pollen-free safety of your home.