Botany Manor review – a peaceful period drama of a puzzle game

PC, Xbox, Nintendo Switch; Balloon Studios/Whitethorn Games
Potter around a stately home as a Victorian botanist, figuring out how to get eccentric plants to grow

From the gatehouse, through the bright gardens and terrace, the winding orchard, the smoggy greenhouse, the warmth of the kitchen and smokehouse and beyond, Botany Manor unfolds like a labyrinth. This is our protagonist's family home. She is the highly travelled and skilled botanist Arabella Greene, and we walk in her footsteps around the great house and grounds.

We know she is older - her walking sticks stand upright in the corners of rooms, there are plenty of chairs to rest on. We stumble upon letters from friends that drip with nostalgia for their shared youth, long gone. We never get too close to Arabella, but the game isn't really about her: it is about the plants that she loves so much, and the manor itself.

Botany Manor is out now; 22.49