Grow Home Review (PC)

good
key review info
  • Game: Grow Home
  • Platform: PC
  • Show system requirements
  • Gamepad support: Yes  
  • Reviewed on:
Grow Home review on PC

Ubisoft may have a reputation for being a huge publisher that constantly churns out new triple-A titles in the Assassin's Creed or Far Cry series, but it's taken great care to show that it also fosters independent movements within its huge studios.

Ubisoft Montreal's various smaller teams have already released big indie-like titles like Valiant Hearts or Child of Light, and now it's Ubisoft Reflections' turn to show that it can also establish its indie credibility with Grow Home.

The innovative game started out life as an exploration of procedurally generated animations but quickly went on to become its own experience, starring a quirky robot, a giant plant, and some intense climbing mechanics.

Does Grow Home manage to bloom into a great experience or should it be nipped in the bud? Let's find out.

Story

Grow Home features a pretty basic story, as players take control of BUD (Botanical Utility Droid), who is thrown onto an alien world by his ship's computer, MOM, in order to help an intriguing Star Plant bloom. Don't expect any other exposition, as you're just thrown into the world, much like a small child.

MOM does offer some reassuring words when you reach new checkpoints and areas through the Star Plant but that's about it. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as unlike Child of Light or Valiant Hearts, Grow Home focuses more on gameplay than on story.

Explore the world in Grow Home
Explore the world in Grow Home

Gameplay

The main claim to fame for Grow Home is the procedural animation that powers BUD. At first glance, he seems like a Lego robot inspired by Wall-E and other such things and his clunky walking pattern is more a reference to a small child who's learning to explore the world.

However, the game gets interesting when you're first invited to climb things. Each controller trigger or mouse button controls a hand, and you can only progress by constantly alternating between the hands in order to power his climb. The system may sound weird and it certainly feels clunky in the beginning, but after you spend some time with it, it soon becomes second nature.

Video games have taught us that vertical walls are a barrier, but in Grow Home, they're just paths to more adventures, and that's certainly a great aspect of the game.

In terms of the actual goal, Grow Home tasks players with climbing the Star Plant and growing it. This is done by finding branches and then growing them towards floating energy rocks. Once connected to the rock, the Star Plant grows a bit more and eventually reaches different stages that are composed of much bigger environments.

At first, you have to find just a few energy rocks but the number increases in each stage and their layout requires a more strategic approach, even if you're not limited to the number of branches you can expand. Once you progress through the later levels, you'll have to grow them out bit by bit in order to eventually reach the target energy rocks, or the other floating islands that hold various surprises.

Besides growing the plant, you can also collect gems scattered throughout the environments. Once you reach certain thresholds, you get various new abilities, from the option to zoom out the camera, to a jetpack that makes traveling a bit easier. You can also use flowers as parachutes or leaves as gliders.

Grow Home is a bit hard to recommend to those who have a fear of heights, as you'll quickly take the Star Plant through the planet's atmosphere, and in case you're not careful, you'll fall and crash onto the surface or onto the ocean that covers most of the planet.

This is where Grow Home becomes a bit frustrating, as while the animation system is certainly innovative, it does have a few bugs, especially when you're crawling through tighter spaces. Several times, BUD's body would keep climbing, even if his head remained stuck. You have an option to self-destruct the bot but this forces you to go back to the previous teleporter checkpoint and then start climbing once more to where you were.

Growing the branches is also a bit frustrating, as they seem to have a mind of their own and become rather hard to steer into the energy rocks. The bouncy leaves also don't work all the time, so you'll have to keep trying until you have liftoff. Last but not least, the camera isn't that easy to use, even when you zoom out completely, and makes climbing even tougher in some situations.

The game can be completed in around 2-3 hours, depending on how much time you spend exploring, but at the end of the main mission, you get an optional one that promotes another bout of exploration throughout the environment.

Visuals and sound

Grow Home is an absolutely gorgeous game that manages to use the Unity engine to provide a simple yet impressive visual experience. It doesn't opt to go the realistic route and that's quite all right, as the vibrant colors and fluid framerate make it a blast to admire.

The soundtrack, on the other hand, is decent but becomes rather irritating, particularly BUD's audio effects, even if you'll spend 2 to 3 hours with the game. After about 30 minutes I was already pulling off my headphones as the repetitive nature was affecting my concentration.


The Good

  • Innovative climbing system
  • Interesting design
  • Impressive visuals

The Bad

  • Quite a few climbing bugs
  • Climbing back up after a fall is tedious
  • Erratic camera
  • Annoying audio effects

Conclusion

Grow Home is fun and innovative experience that, unfortunately, gets weighed down by bugs with the climbing system, the iffy camera, and the repetitive audio effects. It's still a blast to play but it could've been much more.

story 7
gameplay 7
concept 8
graphics 8
audio 6
multiplayer 0
final rating 7
Editor's review
good
 
NEXT REVIEW: Hand of Fate

Grow Home screenshots (16 Images)

Grow Home review on PCUse the climbing system in Grow HomeExplore the world in Grow HomeUse a flower parachute in Grow HomePlay as BUD in Grow Home
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