Wylde Flowers has been in my Steam Library for quite some time now and after being sick last week, I’ve decided to give it a go after I really loved the demo they had out for one of the last Next Fests Steam hosted. As I’m writing this review, I am currently 45 hours in – and not done. But I’ve progressed enough to give someone who might want to look into the game a few insights.

Notable Impressions

• I was unsure about the graphics at first – as I feared the world might look a bit empty. It’s the opposite. You’ll love how much thought is being put into everything.
• Never seen a more intuitive, realistic and absolutely adorable chicken-petting-animation.
• Fully voiced. Yep. Fully.
• It’s less of a farming sim than it is a story game. It’s not the focus – but the balance they’ve found is amazing. You’ll be playing this for the story plot, not the garden plots.
• No inventory management. Magic backpack.

5 Tips for new starters

• There is no calendar: This game doesn’t follow your usual 28-day shebang; you control how long the seasons go, as things are being triggered by the storyline. That being said, I did take my sweet time before instead of rushing – which I think is a good way forward, but without spoiling anything, I also regretted not changing seasons sooner. It’s difficult to find a good balance, so let me just suggest to change to summer relatively quickly, for story as well as some quality of life reasons (e.g. more stamina), and to slow down after that.
• Making a lot of money real quick: As I really dragged out the first spring, I felt that stamina and money were really tight and the game quite stingy with it. So I looked up the best way to make money. Well. What can I say except fish sticks. Fish sticks break the economy, if you want it to (literally. There’s an option in the menu to turn it off). The profit margin with them are insane (75 moneys per dish) and you can buy all ingrediencies from the general store (flour) and the fish booth (tuna), before selling it to poor Sophia in the diner. The best days to do it are Tuesdays and Wednesdays, as all three establishments are opened.
• The world opens up as you play: That’s something I really enjoyed: things unlock the further you’re into the story line. So enjoy the tiny space to get to know everyone and everything, before things unfold a bit more and new characters join in.
• Forage as much as you can: Wild resources are a constant bottleneck, so make sure this is on your priority list high up – especially mandrakes and conch shells. Do not sell them, ever, if you can avoid it – and try to find Shelby daily to buy whatever you can off him. They are needed for two of the most commonly used potions/spells, so you want as many as you possibly can.
• Weeds: Oh my goodness you need so many weeds throughout the game, but they just don’t grow. Clever people on Reddit have figured out that, if you leave them, they’ll multiply faster – and they really do. Resist the urge to pick them up and let them grow; after a few days you’ll get a good 5-10 a day. Keep this up as long as you can to create as much soil as you can. I was able to keep three compost bins going nonstop by letting things grow and only picking weeds once I needed to refill them.

Feedback

I am genuinely enjoying this game more than I thought I would. I love the voice acting, which too few games still have. The romance system was a bit underwhelming – but that’s okay, as it’s not the focus of the game. It’s incredibly inclusive and I do enjoy that each character has been given a fantastic backstory. It picks up a lot of topics that you wouldn’t find in other similar games and it’s a joy to work through all of them. Definitely a recommendation!

Wylde Flowers released in September 2022. It has seen its final gameplay update in September 2024 and there’s since been a new game teased – a prologue called Wylde Society!