Greenhearth Necromancer is now available on Steam! In place of countdown tickers and anxiety mechanics, it offers cozy, laid-back gameplay where there is truly no rush. Just an inherited garden, deliberate pace, and plenty of plants to keep alive or undead as the hours tick by — accompanied by a phenomenal lo-fi soundtrack and a heartwarming story to enjoy at the player’s pace.
Players are Echo, a freshly graduated non-binary necromancer who moves into their late grandmother's apartment at the Greenhearth co-op. While she was a green thumb and a pillar of the community, Echo is the opposite: an adept of black arts and a new arrival just finding their place in the community. As it turns out, both are an asset: animating the dead works just as well on plants as on animals, while the blank slate they start with allows them to define their relationships at the Greenhearth Community however they see fit.
Each of the dozens of plant species comes with its own preferences for sun exposure and temperature, and requires different amounts of water and fertilizer to keep happy — regardless of whether it's alive or revived. Additional wrinkles in gameplay are provided by the occasional pest and fungus invasion, which may be kept at bay with potions brewed in Echo's cauldron or magical charms obtained throughout the game.
There is no pressure or time limits. Plants are patient and will grow as they wait for the next visit , allowing players to pop in and check on their garden every now and then to catch a break as they keep it running in the background to let the lofi soundtrack provide good vibes for their daily routine.
The people Echo encounters at Greenhearth form the other side of gameplay. Encounters penned by Lindsay Ishihiro (I Was a Teenage Exocolonist) explore Echo's life after moving in: their interactions with neighbors, memories of school or their grandmother... Each vignette offers a peek into their inner life and explores themes of community, grief, adulthood, and the cycle of life — all explored at the players' pace when they want.
This respect for the players' time is built into the game's core design. Instead of ticking timers and anxiously collecting rewards, players are instead encouraged to step away and enjoy the ambience with the game running in the background. Checking in allows them to water their plants and add fertilizer — but whenever the player clicks away, plants heal quicker, and the game draws new encounter cards at a faster pace, encouraging treating it not as a job, but as a welcome break in the daily routine. And if a plant dies? That's OK, Echo has their revivify spell always on hand, bringing the plant back to undeath.
“Coming at a particular time in our lives, and after the onset of the pandemic, the themes of trying to grow a little, manageable balcony garden while dealing with the death of someone close to you really resonate with the whole team,” says Lucas J.W. Johnson, Studio Director of Silverstring Media. “Echo is an introvert with limited social battery, set out into a world that demands extracting value from your skills, but with skills many distrust. Community, queerness, housing, capitalism, and especially death and grief are major themes we explore throughout the narrative. And who hasn’t accidentally killed a plant and wished you could have a do-over?”
Ready for some supernatural gardening? Greenhearth Necromancer is now available on Steam for USD $10.99, with a limited time 20% launch discount, and can be found on the indie.io store.
