Flower offers a bouquet of joy
Live the dreams of a potted plant in a dreary world.
After the success of its underwater evolution simulator, fl0w, thatgamecompany is back with another sensory massage on PlayStation Store.
In Flower, you control the most unusual of protagonists - a gust of wind. The game begins on the window sill of a dull room on a rainy day. As you focus on a single potted flower, wilting from the boredom, you are transported into its dream - a wide open field of lush grass and blossoming flora.
Tilting the Wireless Controller directs your breeze, which begins with a single petal floating on it, and pressing any button blows it in the direction you are facing. From there, you are free to explore the gorgeous world and interact with it. Blowing past flowers releases their petals and adds them to the colourful collection that follows you, snaking around your movements like a ribbon while you soar across the landscape.
Certain flowers give off an aura and collecting these provokes reactions in the environment. Sometimes this opens a new path, while at other times it triggers an explosion of colour and fertility in an area previously consigned to darkness.
Graphically, Flower is stunning and the stylised visuals, combined with an ethereal soundtrack of strings and delicate chimes whenever you collect a flower, create a hypnotic experience. Up to 200,000 blades of grass are simulated on-screen at any given time, and soaring through them at great speed, seeing them sway and part realistically, is a joy to behold.
Flower's instructions are simple: tilt the controller to soar, press any button to blow wind... relax, enjoy. It's the antithesis to a high octane shooting or racing game and, like fl0w, the central idea is for the player to enjoy their own experience, at their own pace.
Soothing, intriguing and gorgeous on the eyes and ears, Flower is one of the most original titles available from PlayStation Store.