Imagine running your own farm à la Stardew Valley, but out of your own apartment. It’s a dream many cottagecore folks forced to live in the big city often have. Sure, you may not be able to plant sprawling fields of maize or fish for hours on end, but just maybe your fresh strawberries could be a hit at the local farmers market, or your knack for cooking, combined with freshly grown ingredients, could make you the star of local businesses looking for a healthy, local lunch alternative. It might be hard, but with enough determination, it just might work.
That is the dream behind Tiny Eden, a gardening sim set in a high-rise apartment, designed for go-getters who aren’t fortunate enough to inherit ten acres from a rural-dwelling grandfather.
The game puts you in charge of your own apartment and business, with your balcony used to grow plants and a stove to cook meal orders for the small businesses at the base of the tower. These businesses are your sole customers, and you will grow plants or, as I mentioned, cook for them to fulfill orders and make a profit.
Before I get into anything else, I want to compliment the game on its soundtrack. Tiny Eden features a lo-fi hip-hop soundtrack that was a pleasant break from the genre’s norm. Sure, lo-fi beats might occasionally make an appearance in similar gardening games, but few really lean into the genre’s roots of remixed bars and punchy, satisfying beats. It makes the game stand out and certainly made the experience more enjoyable for me, as I love the genre and found the soundtrack to be the perfect fit.
Right off the bat, you’re going to notice that Tiny Eden is pretty involved.
From building your furniture and taking care of your cat to cooking and gardening, the game has a lot to do. The steps for most of these activities are fairly intricate, with gardening being the most complex.
Growing your crops is a process that begins with building and placing your own planter, then filling it with the right mix of soil for the plant you wish to grow. You don’t want to add too much sand or soil to the pot, with a perfect ratio being your target depending on the plant. As with most aspects of plant care, you can get this mix wrong, so you have to be careful to fill it to the ideal point without going too far over.
You then plant the seed, which is its own minigame similar to the pot-filling process and other aspects of gardening. Seeds must then be watered, with the goal of achieving the right level of wetness while also evenly dispersing the water across the soil. Should any weeds pop up, you need to prune them with the right tools. Once the plant is fully grown, you harvest the fruits of your labor and prepare to sell them as is or turn them into a meal to fulfill another order. Oh, and if you spill any soil in the process, don’t forget to vacuum it up.
As you might imagine from that description, which only covers the gardening mechanics, Tiny Eden can become a bit involved. So involved, in fact, that some might argue the game doesn’t belong in the “cozy” gaming genre. And some do.
Tiny Eden will keep you busy. Your plants must be tended to, your meals must be cooked, and your orders must be managed. It can feel a bit hectic at times, made worse by the fact that your business is barely profitable. Recipes are costly, seed prices change almost at random, and the work you do pays very little. You will also be hit with bills that quickly drain your meager earnings, meaning you have to really grind out the already involved processes just to keep the lights on.
Some might argue that this is an unfortunately accurate depiction of the fantasy the game hopes to emulate. However, most people don’t play games for a realistic approach to their dreams. For those who like challenging business management sims, Tiny Eden will feel like a breeze. Those who play cozy games to relax may feel like their virtual world is crashing down as they struggle to keep up with their strawberry business, not helped by the fact that your in-game cat goes missing all the time.
Progression is demanding, but also a little bit boring, as the different shops you encounter are basically just reskins of each other. There isn’t any real dialogue or personality to be found in the different shopkeepers, who just flood you with orders without adding anything else to the experience. Tiny Eden leans a bit too heavily on the economy side of the game, feeling more like a tycoon game with a cozy layer of paint than something that’s actually cozy.
On the mechanical side of things, Tiny Eden is pretty involved, which is nice in its own right, but it still becomes rather repetitive over time. You’ll notice this quickly, as the game’s unbalanced and demanding economy will have you rushing to fulfill as many orders as you can, as quickly as possible. You can’t really progress at your own pace, with slow and demanding progression that will really put you to work. Players may find fun in the game’s gardening mechanics, involved as they may be, but they will have to be prepared for an economy sim that demands a lot of work. Players looking for a cozier experience may be left disappointed, as the game demands much for little reward, putting much more emphasis on slow, demanding progression instead of the typical “play at your own pace” design of these games.
That said, if you can handle the slower progression and the lighter focus on community and NPC interaction, the game can feel rewarding. Watching your garden grow from a small selection of planters to a thriving ecosystem on your balcony feels great. The engaging mechanics, when you’re doing them for their own sake and not worrying about the economy, are plenty of fun. There is a lot here to offer; it just might take a bit of patience that most fans of the genre aren’t used to investing.
The Final Word
For a game that wants to be cozy, Tiny Eden puts too much emphasis on its economy. Running your patio garden business can be stressful, as the game offers very little reward for your work and a demanding progression system that you will likely move through slowly. With a bit of patience, however, the game can give you a lot. You just have to work for it, and some might not feel compelled to give that kind of effort for a game that is advertised as effortless.
Try Hard Guides was provided a Steam key for this PC review of Tiny Eden. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on our Game Reviews page! Tiny Eden is available on Steam.
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