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Grow Home |OT| Updated with New Content [18th Feb]

wouwie

Member
Looks interesting and fun. I'm wondering if this will come to consoles at some point. I would love to buy it. I might buy it on Steam eitherway to support this.
 
I am loving this game, it's cute and gorgeous and has unique fun gameplay

Runs like a dream too, running maxed out at 4K and getting close to 150fps
 

pakkit

Banned
my brief steam review:

wall-e and the beanstalk grow home in a physics-based exploration game that's as joyous any of mario's galaxies
 
This is always going through my head as the star plants grow
grow_home_star_plant_grow_by_digi_matrix-d8gwfri.gif

3330ba64bf06180997ebd15700fbe18c8cc888f4ec3a2846b4ac0da12ee14e24.jpg
 

Lijik

Member
This might be the most fun ive ever had aimlessly exploring in a platformer. I love climbing around the side of a floating island and discovering a small cave

The climbing just feels really good too. Its really tactile with the shoulder buttons
 

PaulloDEC

Member
Just finished this now. Only took me about two hours, but I feel like that's probably just the right length for a game like this. I imagine I could add another hour on if I wanted to 100% the gems (only ended up with about 65).

Anyway, fantastic little game. Gorgeous visuals (that draw distance!) and simple, intuitive controls. I'd definitely love to see this make the move to consoles and get a little more exposure.

Tell you what though, my hands freakin' ache. I have a real problem with gripping the controller too hard in games like this, and I'm paying the price now.
 

AngryMoth

Member
Bought this yesterday after seeing the trailer. Really neat little game, love the visuals. I get what they're going for with the controls but I do wish it handled a little better. Still I am getting the hang of moving around quickly now.
 
I beat the game and got all the star seeds but need 4 more crystals. I haven't unlocked the underground cave achievement so I guess the last crystals are in there. I'm not gonna bother though because there is an achievement for growing 50 stalks and I am not doing busywork like that.
 

Will F

Member
Played a couple hours so far, what a great little game.
I bought a living room PC recently so I could play a lot of the quirky games like this on my TV - so glad I did that.
 

Brydo0

Neo Member
Grow Home has been such a pleasant surprise, really glad Reflections was able to bring this out. I haven't been this intrigued by a game world in a while, definitely has something to do with the art design and creatures within it. Skydiving is also the perfect look back at the hours of success and failure while reaching the top.

I put together a Review of the game, hopefully Grow Home gets some publicity so more people can check it out! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGfavbVUOHA
 

Haunted

Member
Now this is actually freeclimbing.

No highlighted platforms, no button presses on prompt, no holding a direction and letting the program do the rest, no preforged pathways... just exploring your own path, at your own pace. Simple, but effective.
 

pakkit

Banned
So by the sounds of it, this is worth the $8?

Here's the question: Did you spend time aimlessly wandering in Shadow of the Colossus or in the Mario Galaxy games? If exploration isn't just a means to an end for you, you're going to love this game. If you're looking for 8 dollars worth of achievement based gameplay, I might suggest looking elsewhere. Personally, it's the most pure fun I've had in gaming in a while.

I'm 4 hours in, and a lot of that time has been spent climbing, floating, boosting, free-falling, and gliding to anywhere I can, or discovering the traits of the flora and fauna.
 

Yuterald

Member
This game is pretty cool. Glad there's a clear objective/end to the game. Love 3D platformers, but not a fan of games with "no end" where the appeal is to just dick around. Cool to see that there was some thought put into the design of the floating islands (warp points properly placed, islands appropriately spaced, cool secret areas scattered about, etc.). Digging the general vibe of the game too, love the whale-like ambient sounds of the tree stalk.
 
Just something as simple as it being a 3D platformer is a novel thing nowadays. The physicsy, momentumy movement is somewhat strange at first, you kind of feel both less and more in control. You get used to it. There are no glowy bits or auto-lock-on or grabbing, you really need to figure stuff out and then execute it on your own. That combined with the core growing home aspect is quite splendid. By growing these sprouts you're basically producing your own platforms as you're exploring upwards, which you at least partially figure out a path towards on your own. You just feel really participatory in this game. I would dare claim it's quite brilliant.
Now this is actually freeclimbing.

No highlighted platforms, no button presses on prompt, no holding a direction and letting the program do the rest, no preforged pathways... just exploring your own path, at your own pace. Simple, but effective.
The game does guide you as you run along the stalks, but that's just welcome and perhaps necessary considering the momentum-based movement.

But yup, you feel like John Woo's Ethan Hunt when you pull off a tricky jump.

The one thing I'd complain about is the glide leaf sometimes deploys in odd and unexpected ways and you have to fiddle around for some seconds to get moving in the direction you planned.
 

soultron

Banned
99 crystals.
7 star seeds.

:'U Can't find the last of either.

This game is insanely satisfying, in my opinion. The jetpack feels great, climbing controls are awesome, and the skydiving + glideleaf gameplay is heavenly.

I fucking love it. It's a perfect game to play for a few hours with the regular music, and then switch over to your own music of choice.

Here's some freefall gameplay I recorded tonight. It contains endgame level design spoilers, so if you've not beaten the game, you might not want to watch it.
 

MattyG

Banned
Here's the question: Did you spend time aimlessly wandering in Shadow of the Colossus or in the Mario Galaxy games? If exploration isn't just a means to an end for you, you're going to love this game. If you're looking for 8 dollars worth of achievement based gameplay, I might suggest looking elsewhere. Personally, it's the most pure fun I've had in gaming in a while.

I'm 4 hours in, and a lot of that time has been spent climbing, floating, boosting, free-falling, and gliding to anywhere I can, or discovering the traits of the flora and fauna.
Yes. Now I'm really excited. I love exploring just for the hell of it. Can't wait to pick this up now.
 
I just finished this game, and I'm really sad that it's over. I just wanted to keep playing and exploring more. I would seriously play this all over again on a different planet. Maybe give the robot a few different upgrades to keep it interesting. But the core gameplay is just so fun and satisfying. The aesthetic is beautiful. Everything is just perfect.

I want moooooooooooore.

So by the sounds of it, this is worth the $8?

Yes, easily.
 

Dario ff

Banned
Haven't seen this anywhere but there's a little infinite flying trick to go higher with at least the 2nd robot booster upgrade along with a gliding leaf. Basically you start it by running and boosting off, and switching to the leaf right after the peak of the jump. Try to keep the leaf aligned horizontally until the booster recharges, aim the leaf as vertically as possible (so you face up), switch it off and boost again. Repeat without changing the steering angle too much on the process and you can go as high as you want. Saved me a lot of times that I accidentally fell down and recovered quickly to where I was.

It's a bit hard to get the timing right first but it makes exploring around the planets searching for stuff super easy.
 

DogMeat77

Member
Picked this up over the weekend. I didn't get to play too much but what I did play I had a lot of fun with. Very easy to relax and kind of zone out. Took a little bit to get used to the movement and I was falling off of everything - now I'm comfortable leaping off of stuff and hitting the leaves to bounce around.

Worth the $7 admission for sure.
 

Blizzard

Banned
I might have seen a screenshot somewhere else, but after seeing screenshots in the high-resolution thread I went and watched a trailer on Steam...and decided this game looks AWESOME. I don't normally buy Ubisoft games either, but with no uPlay and no always-online requirement I threw it on the wishlist. Definitely for a sale, maybe even earlier if I get in the mood to try it.

I am happy this sort of thing exists.
 

Kritz

Banned
Grow Home is a really fantastic, surprising little game. You're a little robot, and you carry around flowers, and you glide about, and you have a wicked sick jetpack, and you can kinda carry around sheep if you want to, and there's gems and little green things, and a weird bird, and you grow a big flower to a spaceship. What a game.

All the upgrades are really empowering, and it's just a joy to move about with the 3-4 types of traversal types, and you can just book it really fast and skydive and oh it's just so much fun.
 
Two more crystals to go... I think I might give up. I've scoured the entire area from above and below, day and night and I just can't see any more crystals. I've got the cave achievement too, so those have all been thoroughly explored.
 

pakkit

Banned
Two more crystals to go... I think I might give up. I've scoured the entire area from above and below, day and night and I just can't see any more crystals. I've got the cave achievement too, so those have all been thoroughly explored.

I found the last ten by playing with headphones. It really helps with echo location. The sound design in Grow Home is excellent, too.
 
I know it's really early but this is my favorite game released in 2015 so far. I plan on going through it again to get all of the achievements.
 
Finished it [video], was quite a lovely journey. Basically, BUD and the Beanstalk goes to SPACE! :p The spaceship itself is interesting, seems to have
concept art or stages of how the game looked in early development, like how plant dinosaurs were a thing.

A couple of gripes, didn't find the catapult leaves particularly useful and felt the glider leaf should have given me more lift like how Batman Arkham City's gliding works.

Will try to find the star seeds now. Have they been scattered like Dragonballs?
 

Lijik

Member
tbh i only started using catapult leaves when i learned there would be an achievement for them. figured id earn it sooner or later. much more satisfying to use the climb, i hope future ubisoft titles learn from this
 

Monooboe

Member
Anyone had any luck getting the Triple Corkscrew achievement? Where you have to have 3 star shoots growing at the same time. Quite frustrating.^^;
 

MattyG

Banned
Is there an easy way to get the Climby climby Robot achievement? 10000m seems like... A LOT. Can I check how close I am anywhere either?

Jesus Christ this mushroom bouncing one.

Yeah I'm done. I'm not going to ruin the fun I had with the game by pissing myself off trying to get these two acheivements.

Anyone had any luck getting the Triple Corkscrew achievement? Where you have to have 3 star shoots growing at the same time. Quite frustrating.^^;
Just find 3 close together, start one growing, jump the the next and do the same thing. It'll be easier once you get certain powerups.
 

Megasoum

Banned
Any tricks for making the game look better?

I'm adding AA via the Nvidia panel but other than that? Especialy the self shadowing (on his neck) looks really bad.
 
Picked this up after seeing Jim Sterling play it a bit. It's pretty whimsy. I'm having the same fatigue as in Crackdown. I played that game literally just to collect orbs but once I got down to the last few I gave up. I think it was a poor choice to have the warp menu controlled by the same button as the player movement.

The thing I respect most about the game is that it allows you to work things out on your own. I thought Ubisoft was unable or unwilling to let the play do this. Also nice to see a game without any UPlay trash. Hope to see them update it some more or release another one with more types of plants to morph the play space.

I didn't really care for the final region of the game. They could have done a lot more than brown planetoids imo.
 
I'm scared that'll happen to me. >_>

I still have a couple to go for either and I already have no clue where to find them. ;_;

I had no trouble finding the star seeds. It's the last few crystals that give me trouble. I mean.... 100 is a lot. And the hide some of them REALLY well.
 

senahorse

Member
Played through on the weekend, fantastic little game (my favourite so far this year). Also I managed to collect the 100 crystals first run, the last one at the top was my 100th :). Would love to see another.
 

Ramenman

Member
Daaaammmit, on the second Island at the moment, I love that for each of those there's a new animal(s) or plant(s) to be discovered, with always the stupid joy of discovering how to interact with those (when applicable).

It's really the joy of discovery/exploration + the tension when you're up on your own branches trying to reach small islands or catch crystals with only very small spaces to stand on, clinging to those triggers like your life depends on it :D

I love so many things about this, I'm just too lazy to type them all out :D


Also, putting stuff in teleporters is fun, especially sheep and other animals, sadly they don't actually teleport with you :D
 
Update 1: Fixes
The character's backpack disappears when he uses a Glider or a Daisy Parachute.
Game crashes when Quit option is selected with the Mouse after ALT+TAB action was made during the loading screen towards Main Menu.
Incorrect camera movement will be noticed when the Daisy parachute is used.
The sound played when the seed is teleported at the end of the first objective is very low.
User is informed that a new skin is available even though he already has it from a previous save.
The Ninja skin message appears for a second before the end cutcene is triggered.
Missing camera collision with the ground when the character holds a daisy parachute.
The user cannot choose a location to teleport B.U.D. when the save is continued after finishing the game.
Controller will lose its functionality if the height markers for BUD or Star Plant are clicked with the mouse.
Disable VSynch to solve players stuttering issues.
The waterfall sound gets interrupted.
Missing jetpack sound when turning the SFX volume to maximum after it was muted and the game restarted.
Plants do not have drag sounds.
The camera will go through the rock texture while trying to collect the crystals located under the waterfall island.
Glitch sound will overlap the cutscene where the waterfall island is presented if the user triggers it while using the jet pack.
The Snarkgrass doesn't count for the Five a day achievement.
Sheep can get stuck in telerouter beams.
The user is able to teleport a telerouter.
The indicator for the Star Plant isn't displayed correctly when the plant reached 2000m.
BUD and Beanstalk heights can be manually dragged on the pause menu.
No seed UI appears if NG+ has not been accepted.
Day & night cycle appears to be random.
Telerouter UI overlaps credits.
The seed won't teleport and the Pause Menu will lose functionality if the user tries to teleport a second seed from the same telerouter.
The bouncy leaves may fall when the character approaches them.
Growth hit UI audio plays multiple times at the start of first hit cutscene.
Crystal % is misplaced when 0 are collected.
Parsnip does not scan.
No audio for seed collection UI.
Height markers do not appear on the pause menu.
Cactus is too large for easy scanning.
Plants do not have pluck sounds.
The game cannot be completed if a branch located below Cave Island is connected to a nutrient rock placed above the Island.
Misplaced UI in Audio / Video menu.

6 new achievements. Gonna play some more today.
 

Nzyme32

Member
Along with the bug fixes, the update also adds some new things to the game that extends the game too -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO9c5XoeVpM

- Some rare flora and fauna has been recently detected on the alien planet.
- M.O.M has a new side quest for B.U.D to investigate these new additions.
- Success will unlock an advanced galactic gardening skin.
 
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