By Jim Rossignol on September 15th, 2010 at 8:52 am.
Vitamin G and Atari have announced their intriguing puzzle-platformer, The Undergarden. Here’s what they say about it: “The UnderGarden is a casual zen-like game that challenges players to explore beautiful underground caverns filled with strange life forms, physics based puzzles and plenty of hidden secrets. The world comes alive and music evolves as players get deeper into the world of The UnderGarden.” There’s shades of Aquaria here, and even Blueberry Garden, but it looks to be very much its own game. The Undergarden will appear “this winter” at the handsome price of $9.99. Lovely trailer below. Ah.
Wasn’t that a gentle way to start the day?
15/09/2010 at 09:01 Sam A. says:
Reminiscent of a really excellent DS game called Soul Bubbles. I hope this one is more interesting than it first appears.
15/09/2010 at 09:23 tomeoftom says:
Ah! I remember that. Really great game, it was.
15/09/2010 at 11:06 John Peat says:
I liked Soul Bubbles too – tho IIRC it went from a fairly charming and ambient tutorial into a rather tougher/more spiky game??
16/09/2010 at 04:49 icupnimpn2 says:
I’m reminded quite heavily by Pixeljunk Eden.
15/09/2010 at 09:01 Baboonanza says:
That’s confusing. I already had a freeware game called Under the Garden on my ‘to play’ list.
This sounds very nice too.
15/09/2010 at 09:19 honolululu says:
“Neatly Trimmed Undergarden”…
wokka wokka
You guys are knotty.
15/09/2010 at 20:57 DJ Phantoon says:
The title thing instantly reminded me of Privates.
15/09/2010 at 09:56 AndrewC says:
…And Bob Came In Pieces and those Pixeljunk games, and the main character is a lot like a Teletubby crossed with the Pikmin dude. And on and on – it’s not exactly a trailblazer. But it is nice! I worry that the movement transitions are a bit sudden and digital, which undermines the floaty feel, because i like the floaty feel, because it is nice!
Also Jim did a smutty joke, and he should do more of those.
15/09/2010 at 10:00 Okami says:
Oh my god, what a creepy protagonist….
Quick, kill it with fire!
15/09/2010 at 11:02 Vanderdecken says:
Smutty RPS, ooh, you dirty little website.
*splork*
15/09/2010 at 11:25 Zanchito says:
This game is ruined by having an overtly sexy name and appealing to prepubescent male gamers. “Undergarden”…
Now, in a less jabby mood, I loved Aquaria and will definitely be trying the suggestions on the comments (and keeping an eye on this game too. Even if it’s too sexy!)
15/09/2010 at 11:41 rei says:
Vitamin G would make a good rapper name.
Anyway, looks pleasant, although I’m not a fan of the teletubby look. Animation could be smoother as well, but winter is still a ways off of course. Could be good for relaxation if there are no particularly frustrating elements in it.
15/09/2010 at 11:50 Lars Westergren says:
I’d call it “dream-like” rather than “zen-like”, as, from my understanding, zen has very little to do with being goal-driven and “beating” stuff.
This looks lovely, I’ll probably buy it. But I add my voices to those who think the Teletubby-like protagonists are more creepy than cute…
15/09/2010 at 11:54 Kast says:
Link seems borked.
15/09/2010 at 11:58 Berzee says:
If there’s anybody who is actually a Zen-ist (Zenite? Zenian?) they probably get annoyed at computer games for calling everything “soothing”, zen. And by annoying them we ruin their peaceful zentiments boo ha ha hah
15/09/2010 at 12:51 adonf says:
huh, this game looks reminds me of my worst nightmares: trapped underwater with seaweed everywhere. seaweed !
seaweeds are not zen, they’re the scaryest things. strage creatures live there that just wait for you to swim by and do horrible things to you. i’m so not playing this game…
15/09/2010 at 14:17 itsallcrap says:
I’d like to be the first to bypass the witty allusions and say:
Undergarden! That sounds like a vagina! Hahahahahahahahhahaaaa!
You can’t outwit me if I don’t try to be witty.
15/09/2010 at 15:53 MWoody says:
Is that a Euro-thing? I didn’t really get that reading on the US side. I mean, I can kind of see the etymology, there – pubic hair, I guess? – but it’s not a conclusion I’d jump to.
15/09/2010 at 16:35 adonf says:
nope. eurowomen have no pubic hair
15/09/2010 at 14:38 Radiant says:
This title and Die Bard are RPS top tier headlining.
15/09/2010 at 15:13 Eddy9000 says:
I’m a 32 year old clinical psychologist, and it made me snigger!
Although to be fair I then went and scribbled all over my walls with crayons.
15/09/2010 at 16:38 Nick says:
Undergardern! Wahey! Geddit? Sounds a bit like… BUM!
15/09/2010 at 18:06 Sagan says:
Oh I am going to like this.
15/09/2010 at 20:42 Joe says:
“shades of Aquaria”
Quite a few shades I’d say. I’m not calling it a rip off but damn if it don’t look similar in the main.
Aquaria is great, by the way, one of my favourite indie games. I think the new age stylee graphics put a lot of people off, which is a shame.
16/09/2010 at 11:01 JellyfishGreen says:
My first association to the screenshot was this: Alien Garden
Incendiaries clear those up nicely.