The Cozy Realm of Verdant and Growing Houseplants
Grow houseplants in cozy rooms with different lighting conditions and decorative items with Verdant.
Time to try out another new arrival! Verdant was an obvious choice after I enjoyed Calico and Cascadia so much. With a lot of similarities, I was interested to find out what would be new with this one. The cover artwork was absolutely lovely and I was excited to arrange some plants in a cheery set of rooms. Onward to another cozy solo game experience!
Game Overview
Game Name: Verdant
Publication Year: 2022
Designers: Many (5 Credited)
Artist: Beth Sobel
Publisher: Flatout Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Plants and rooms are chosen to create a 3×5 grid to represent a happy little home. Lighting conditions help add verdancy, and reaching the threshold allows a plant to be potted. Objects and tools also help improve scoring conditions, while scenarios add a fun challenge to the mix!
First Play
December 8, 2022
Complexity
2
Latest Play
December 9, 2023
Expansions
1
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
8
Play Time
20 Minutes
High Score
93
Game Area
30" x 18"
Low Score
64
The Value of Cozy
I have a wide variety of games in my collection, which can best be described as eclectic. There are plenty of themes that involve combat and battles, but not all of them.
It’s possible to get buried with similar games, which makes each of them feel a little less interesting. That’s why I have so many… Plenty of choices and diversity!
Cozy games don’t really feel like they overstay their welcome, though. Just look at this box artwork. Lovely!
There’s a lot to be said about a game that is just about feeling happy with lots of pretty artwork. Very calming.
Humble Beginnings
During setup, a random plant and room begin the grid that will ultimately turn into a total of 15 cards. So pretty!
Verdancy, or the green tokens, help complete a plant so that it can be potted. This snake plant needed 7 verdancy in order to score 7 victory points. Easy enough!
Matching lighting conditions provides a main way to add verdancy to plants. Rooms have sides either in full, partial, or low light. Not all plants like all lighting, though.
I felt like I knew enough to get started. There were a lot of things going on in a small space, though… Time to think!
Challenging Scenarios
Based on my experience with the previous titles in this series, I knew there would be scenarios to explore.
These set specific goals and scoring targets. Generally speaking, the first few are easy enough and offer a tutorial of sorts to learn the main rules and reinforce strategies.
Yet there comes a point when a win is far from easy, and strategies may even shift a bit! Some of these would even introduce limitations or restrictions on item usage.
As usual, I started at the very beginning to work my way up into the different challenges. Nothing easy here!
Perfectly Planted
The way the completed plants were potted was quite clever! Look closely, and you’ll notice that there are some cardboard tokens on top of these lovely plants. Nice!
I didn’t manage to complete all of my plants, as can be seen by the loose verdancy tokens. All in all, though, I managed a nice victory. I had those rules down!
Yet I wasn’t entirely convinced that I enjoyed gameplay. The choices seemed a little repetitive, as did the grid.
Of course, these games do best after exploring some of the scenarios that aren’t so easy to win. Onto the next goals!
First Impressions and Knowing There’s More
As I’m writing up this post, I’ve already played a few more times and have some wildly different feelings to report. Not too long to wait! Sometimes, I wonder if it’s better to consolidate everything so I have my final, balanced thoughts to share. Yet first impressions are quite important in a world where new solo games arrive regularly!
I hope that some of my less-than-stellar feelings can show the quick evolution of my opinion on this game, among others. Perhaps you’re also in the same boat after the first couple of scenarios. I won’t spoil too much here, yet things get much better as restrictions and challenges call for deeper decisions and more intriguing paths to victory.
Yet I think the main point is that the games in this series start off with tutorial-like scenarios, then progressively create even more enjoyable gaming moments. I’m guilty of only playing a game a few times before moving onto something else, but I usually get into the full experience where challenges abound. They’re here: Just need to get to scenario 4 or 5!
Session Overview
Play Number: 1 and 2
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Scenarios 1 and 2
Outcome: 82 and 83 (2 Wins)
Back-to-back victories! I didn’t feel entirely grabbed by gameplay, but these were akin to tutorial scenarios. The main idea was to understand the rules and see how all of the elements worked together to create a puzzle. Despite my rather lukewarm reaction, I didn’t feel ready to pack everything up just yet. It felt like there was a lot more to explore… I simply needed to lose a few times. Ha ha!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
7
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
9
Originality
Design & Theme
4
Quality
Components & Rules
8
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
8
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
4
+ Pros (Positives)
- Each plant is unique and features a bit of interesting flavor text to help make it feel realistic and alive.
- Verdancy tokens can be added in several different ways, and the visual act of potting a plant is very clever.
- There is a little bit of flexibility in the way a grid gets locked in over the first half of every play.
- All of the icons are easy to spot and understand, although the reference cards are excellent for action reminders.
- Multiple scoring opportunities help avoid being backed into a corner, and can lead to interesting moments.
- After playing a couple of times, it’s easy to adjust the solo setup to keep everything easily accessible.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The final grid will always look the same, and the last few decisions are a little lackluster with limited choices.
- Discarding the furthest right column of cards and tokens in the solo mode feels very mechanical with no strategy.
- None of the rooms are actually labeled, so gameplay can very much feel like a matter of matching icons or colors.
- A certain degree of luck is needed for the right assortment of cards and tokens to create an optimal grid.
Victory Conditions
Meet the Scenario Requirements
- Overall Goal Progress 100%
Goals and Milestones
Complete scenario 1.
Complete scenario 2.
Complete scenario 3.
Complete scenario 4.
Score at least 80 points.
Score at least 90 points.
Continue the Conversation
What do you think of Verdant? Do you have any other cozy solo games you absolutely love? This will likely improve as I dive into some of the next scenarios. As much as I might enjoy the other games in this series, I do have to say that it’s nice to see familiar mechanics being added to in different ways. I’ll be back for some more indoor gardening soon!
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