Botany Manor is a cosy floral adventure that's free this week on the Epic Games Store
Sitting in an English garden waiting for the sun
- Botany Manor is the Epic Games Store freebie of the week
- Take on a cosy adventure exploring an English manor, working to write a book on obscure flora
- Explore a fully 3D environment in the first person, solving puzzles as you go
While you can take issues with Tim Sweeney and Epic Games' business decisions, one of the few undoubted pluses to the storefront is their free game program. And this week's entry is just as interesting, as Botany Manor offers a cosy, floral mystery to explore.
This first-person adventure, available now to claim and keep on mobile, sees you take on the role of retired botanist Arabella Greene. Aiming to write a book about Forgotten Flora (of the same name), she heads to the 19th-century English countryside to pursue her passion.
In this case, the mystery isn't so much solving who murdered whom, or stole what, but something entirely more esoteric. Namely, how to grow and cultivate a number of obscure plants while gathering clues to further fill your journal as you explore the grounds of the manor that you find yourself in.
Two cups of flower
For my two cents, Botany Manor gives me the vibe of something like the extremely underrated Croft Manor level in Tomb Raider, although with a bit of point-and-click sprinkled in. It's a lot more about exploration and gradually piecing together the background of the location and your character than any high-octane adventure.Of course, for some of you, I'm sure this doesn't sit well. And the spectre of the walking simulator is surely rearing up in your minds. But herein lies the strength of the Epic Games Store, as it lets you experience different genres you might not otherwise try. So why not give it a go?
In the meantime, though, if you're dead-set against Botany Manor, or simply race through it surprisingly quick you won't be without stuff to do. Simply dig into our latest list of the five new mobile games to try this week for what we feel are the most interesting picks.
