Grow Home
Description official description
Grow Home is a vertically oriented platform game focused on exploration. The protagonist is a little robot called B.U.D. (Botanical Utility Droid). He is deployed from a space ship by the operating system M.O.M. to harvest star seeds on an alien planet to save his home planet. The main goal of the game is to grow a star plant of 2,000 metres and then harvest a star seed from it and return to the space ship that hovers at that height.
B.U.D. starts at the lowest part of the planet. He can be moved in any direction and is able to jump. The movement of his limbs is procedurally animated, bringing a ragdoll-like element to the physics that give his movement a clumsy look. He also cannot always be stopped instantly and often needs some space to regain his composure. The planet consists of multiple levels of platforms, but there is free exploration in any direction. The most important mechanic to reach higher areas is through climbing. Through two separate buttons or keys, his left and right hand can grab onto a surface and combined with minor swinging movement the player has to alternate between the two hands and motions to climb. If both are released, he falls down, but it is still possible to attach. When he crashes or drowns in water he respawns at a tele-router, a checkpoint and teleportation system that can be used to travel between parts of the planet when a new one has been discovered and activated.
The planet is divided in four large vertical layers each with their own environment theme. To reach a new layer B.U.D. has to grow a number of star shoots to attach them to energy rocks. When a set amount of connections has been made, the main star plant grows and the robot can access the new layer. Energy rocks are often far away and need to be reached using red shoots on the main star plant. B.U.D. can activate them and he rides them in the air as they grow, directing them towards an energy rock or any other surface where it is immediately attached. A single grow spurt is often insufficient, so B.U.D. has to work towards the energy rock in multiple steps, freely designing platforms in those levels through multiple shoots as they can be steered in any direction.
Another optional part of the game is discovering the plants and animals on the planet. They can be dragged into a tele-router to analyze them, to unlock all 20 types in the data bank. B.U.D. also can also drag rocks, explore caves and use plants or animals with each other to see how they interact. Certain plants or leaves launch him into the air or attempt to kill him. Fall flowers can be picked up and deployed to drop safely from large heights for a while and later on glider leaves are discovered. His abilities are expanded by locating up to 100 energy crystals. These are often on hard to reach places that require extensive climbing. For every main energy level (10%, 20%, 40%, 60% and 100%) B.U.D. becomes stronger, for instance through short bursts to stay in the air, a full rocket boost or a new camera option to zoom out. Many platforms can only be reached by growing star shoots to reach them. The game uses a day-and-night cycle.
When the game has been completed it is possible to continue to locate eight additional star seeds, complete the data bank, collect all crystals, or unlock all achievements.
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25 People (23 developers, 2 thanks)
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Created with Unity |
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Average score: 77% (based on 26 ratings)
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Game added by Sciere.
Linux added by jaXen.
Game added February 19, 2015. Last modified August 20, 2023.