A stealth release outta nowhere by a small team working within Ubisoft to create good games (maybe a rebel group making non-buggy games without tons of DLC and giant day one patches?), Grow Home slipped under many people's radar, perhaps overshadowed by bigger games released around the same time. That's unfortunate, because Grow Home is a fantastic 3D platformer (a mostly-dead genre treading water with few and far between indie releases) that does basically everything right. I'd hesitate to call it a masterpiece, but the core mechanics, (simple) story, and charming aesthetic (not to mention the absurdly low price) easily bump it into the everyone-should-give-this-a-try tier. Let's break it down.

Gameplay
A smaller game like this, with no budget to craft twenty hours of cutscenes and grandiose sweeping plots full of twists and turns, lives and dies on gameplay alone. Fortunately, in this area, Grow Home excels. The game starts you off simply: left trigger to grab with your left hand, right trigger to grab with your right. After a few shaky climbs up cliffs, you start to get the hang of it, and soon you're flinging yourself from cliff to cliff like a robotic monkey, champion of your domain. This progresses slightly over the course of the game, with temporary slow hovering powerups giving way to crazy hang-glider-esque leaves that let you soar straight down at dizzying speeds then up into a triumphant crescendo, finally culminating in a rocket pack that lets you control your ascent and descent, but with small amounts of (thankfully automatically recharging) fuel. The climbing is fantastic, putting the likes of Nathan Drake and Lara Croft to shame, instead aiming for and reaching the lofty heights of Shadow of the Colossus's excellent system. Unlike SOTC, though, this game isn't too much of a challenge, and with no stamina meter to speak of you're rarely in *too* much danger.

The central progression mechanic involves growing stalks off of a large plant, riding them like missiles into glowing green energy rock in order to make the central plant grow larger. It doesn't sound fun, and indeed I had more fun with the collect-a-thon style crystal hunt, but it's serviceable and it's always frustrating (in a good way) when you have to grow more stalks off of a stalk that *just* didn't reach its target.

Graphics
Grow Home's artstyle is fantastic, a flat-textured, low-poly aesthetic full of whimsy and charm, with silly-looking creatures and exotic-looking plants everywhere you look. These flora and fauna are occasionally functional, but a lot of the scenery is just that. The lighting looks beautiful, and standing on an asteroid seventeen hundred meters in the air, staring up into the sky and then looking down at the ocean and all the vines below you is a breathtaking experience.

Sound
With little in the way of music to speak of, Grow Home's weakest area is this by far. The creature noises, ambient sounds, and occasional hint of music are fine, but nothing I would call outstanding by any means.

Other thoughts
With little in the way of replayability and a very short time to finish the game (though add a few hours on for getting every collectible, including (light ending spoiler) the eight star seeds after the credits roll , Grow Home might not be for everyone. If you want a fun, upbeat experience with no combat to worry about and little story to wrap your head around, give it a shot. It's a delightful little game in a rare genre, and it's absolutely worth your time - provided you don't mind that time being a little short. The price point is fair for the amount of game you get, I think, and I'd easily recommend it at full price -- but waiting for a sale might be smart if you're the type who prefers to get dozens of hours of gameplay for their money.

Bonus: If you hate uPlay and think that Ubisoft game = have to deal with secondary launcher, fret not. Grow Home doesn't use uPlay and operates like any other game on Steam.

Closing remarks
Grow Home is excellent, and I hope this team delivers even more exciting experiences, with or without Ubisoft. The central mechanic is so good I'd play similar games in other scenarios (EVA spaceship repair sim? Please? Co-op? Someone hire me to design that).

Highly recommended.

A stealth release outta nowhere by a small team working within Ubisoft to create good games [spoiler](maybe a rebel group making non-buggy games without tons of DLC and giant day one patches?)[/spoiler], [I]Grow Home[/I] slipped under many people's radar, perhaps overshadowed by bigger games released around the same time. That's unfortunate, because Grow Home is a fantastic 3D platformer (a mostly-dead genre treading water with few and far between indie releases) that does basically everything right. I'd hesitate to call it a masterpiece, but the core mechanics, (simple) story, and charming aesthetic (not to mention the absurdly low price) easily bump it into the everyone-should-give-this-a-try tier. Let's break it down. [B]Gameplay[/B] A smaller game like this, with no budget to craft twenty hours of cutscenes and grandiose sweeping plots full of twists and turns, lives and dies on gameplay alone. Fortunately, in this area, Grow Home [I]excels[/I]. The game starts you off simply: left trigger to grab with your left hand, right trigger to grab with your right. After a few shaky climbs up cliffs, you start to get the hang of it, and soon you're flinging yourself from cliff to cliff like a robotic monkey, champion of your domain. This progresses slightly over the course of the game, with temporary slow hovering powerups giving way to crazy hang-glider-esque leaves that let you soar straight down at dizzying speeds then up into a triumphant crescendo, finally culminating in a rocket pack that lets you control your ascent and descent, but with small amounts of (thankfully automatically recharging) fuel. The climbing is fantastic, putting the likes of Nathan Drake and Lara Croft to shame, instead aiming for and reaching the lofty heights of Shadow of the Colossus's excellent system. Unlike SOTC, though, this game isn't too much of a challenge, and with no stamina meter to speak of you're rarely in *too* much danger. The central progression mechanic involves growing stalks off of a large plant, riding them like missiles into glowing green energy rock in order to make the central plant grow larger. It doesn't sound fun, and indeed I had more fun with the collect-a-thon style crystal hunt, but it's serviceable and it's always frustrating (in a good way) when you have to grow more stalks off of a stalk that *just* didn't reach its target. [B]Graphics[/B] Grow Home's artstyle is fantastic, a flat-textured, low-poly aesthetic full of whimsy and charm, with silly-looking creatures and exotic-looking plants everywhere you look. These flora and fauna are occasionally functional, but a lot of the scenery is just that. The lighting looks beautiful, and standing on an asteroid seventeen hundred meters in the air, staring up into the sky and then looking down at the ocean and all the vines below you is a breathtaking experience. [B]Sound[/B] With little in the way of music to speak of, Grow Home's weakest area is this by far. The creature noises, ambient sounds, and occasional hint of music are fine, but nothing I would call outstanding by any means. [B]Other thoughts[/B] With little in the way of replayability and a very short time to finish the game (though add a few hours on for getting every collectible, including (light ending spoiler) [spoiler] the eight star seeds after the credits roll [/spoiler], Grow Home might not be for everyone. If you want a fun, upbeat experience with no combat to worry about and little story to wrap your head around, give it a shot. It's a delightful little game in a rare genre, and it's absolutely worth your time - provided you don't mind that time being a little short. The price point is fair for the amount of game you get, I think, and I'd easily recommend it at full price -- but waiting for a sale might be smart if you're the type who prefers to get dozens of hours of gameplay for their money. Bonus: If you hate uPlay and think that Ubisoft game = have to deal with secondary launcher, fret not. Grow Home doesn't use uPlay and operates like any other game on Steam. [B]Closing remarks[/B] Grow Home is excellent, and I hope this team delivers even more exciting experiences, with or without Ubisoft. The central mechanic is so good I'd play similar games in other scenarios (EVA spaceship repair sim? Please? Co-op? Someone hire me to design that). Highly recommended.