Botanicula

Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.

Overwhelmingly PositiveOverwhelmingly Positive · 95%2012

$14.99

US Steam price, checked 2 h ago

The verdict

A short, wordless, hand-drawn point-and-click with gorgeous art and music, but puzzles often boil down to clicking everything. Skip it if you want logical, Machinarium-style puzzles.

Great for

Players who enjoy relaxed, whimsical exploration, art and music over challenge, or playing with kids

Main risk

Puzzles rely on random clicking and obscure logic, leaving you stuck and reaching for a walkthrough

What players love

Beautiful, charming art style

Mentioned in ~1 in 3 positive reviews

“A beautiful game with some of the prettiest most whimsical visuals I've ever seen in my life.”
Steam review · 7.8 h played ↗

“this isnt a game, this is a playable art piece one of the best and funnest point and clicks you can get anywhere”
Steam review · 7.5 h played ↗

“The art style, despite its simplicity, has a very strong identity.”
Steam review · 5 h played ↗

Wonderful music and sound design

Mentioned in ~1 in 3 positive reviews

“the music is wonderful (i bought the soundtrack just to hear my favs)”
Steam review · 4.3 h played ↗

“I LOVE all the sounds and how alive the world feels.”
Steam review · 4.9 h played ↗

“Fun puzzle game with an awesome, vibey soundtrack”
Steam review · translated · 4.9 h played ↗

Cute, quirky creatures and interactions

Mentioned in ~1 in 4 positive reviews

“Interacting with the world was very fun! I felt like my younger self as I walked along a park and kept being curious of a worm on the ground, an ant or some weird plant.”
Steam review · 5.1 h played ↗

“Every screen is packed with tiny animations and hidden jokes.”
Steam review · 5.3 h played ↗

Cozy, relaxing and whimsical atmosphere

Mentioned in ~1 in 4 positive reviews

“I love lingering in spots with melodic forest sounds or watching the slow progress of a snail. It's a balm to my soul.”
Steam review · 0.3 h played ↗

“What a joy: clicking every sprout and leaf, the cute creatures, traveling through the magic tree, listening to funny sounds. Great stress relief”
Steam review · translated · 5 h played ↗

Wordless storytelling that works

Mentioned in ~1 in 9 positive reviews

“No dialogue and still conveys everything you need to know.”
Steam review · 3.9 h played ↗

“There are no spoken words, yet the game feels alive.”
Steam review · 11 h played ↗

Nostalgic, accessible and family-friendly

Mentioned in ~1 in 11 positive reviews

“I played it with my 2 kids (3 & 6) and they enjoyed it and laughed occasionally so mission accomplished :)”
Steam review · 3.6 h played ↗

“A childhood game; I've beaten it about 15 times before even buying it and can't stop.”
Steam review · translated · 1 h played ↗

What players complain about

Puzzles are random click-everything trial and error

Mentioned in ~1 in 3 negative reviews

“there is absolutly no logic to most of the puzzles, and it turns into a frustrating clickfest”
Steam review · 0.9 h played ↗

“In general, it consists of randomly clicking (or possibly dragging -- it's not obvious) on things on each screen a random number of times until a random and arbitrary thing results.”
Steam review · 3.9 h played ↗

“Awful. You walk around poking leaves, nothing is explained”
Steam review · translated · 0.4 h played ↗

Obscure puzzles force walkthroughs

Mentioned in ~1 in 7 negative reviews

“it has far too many places where you basically need to check internet for solution”
Steam review · 4.2 h played ↗

“I ended up having to search for walkthrough videos to get past the stuck parts, and then I found myself just following the videos so much that I wasn't even playing the game myself.”
Steam review · 4.2 h played ↗

Boring or too simple and childish

Mentioned in ~1 in 8 negative reviews

“Too simple, too childish.”
Steam review · 0.3 h played ↗

“All of what botanicula do is being a toy, most likely for young kids”
Steam review · 3.7 h played ↗

Confusing navigation and getting lost

Mentioned in ~1 in 14 negative reviews

“I just couldn't find my way around, and you end up going in loops.”
Steam review · 0.6 h played ↗

“the levels were too big and easy to get lost in”
Steam review · 3.6 h played ↗

Bugs, save problems and technical issues

Mentioned in ~1 in 17 negative reviews

“And important one being that it won't save.”
Steam review · 1.4 h played ↗

“there was a bug at the stag beetle part, and I couldn't move forward.”
Steam review · 2.6 h played ↗

Short and pricey for the content

Mentioned in ~1 in 21 negative reviews

“the entire game took less than four hours to complete, and I'm not sure it is worth its sticker price.”
Steam review · 4 h played ↗

System requirements

From the Steam store page

Steam Deck: Verified

Minimum

OSMicrosoft® Windows® XP/Vista/7/8/10

Processor1.6 Ghz Processor

Memory1 GB RAM

Storage550 MB HD space

OSMicrosoft® Windows® XP/Vista/7/8/10

Processor1.6 Ghz Processor

Memory1 GB RAM

Storage550 MB HD space

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