Tom's Verdict
🌱 I had a feeling The Regreening was going to appeal to me before I'd even started playing. Give me a damaged, lifeless world and tell me I can slowly bring nature back to it, and you've already got my attention. What I wasn't expecting was quite how quickly I'd become invested in watching this dusty little planet begin changing around me.
🌸 I loved how visible my progress was. Planting one flower or bringing back a small patch of grass doesn't sound particularly dramatic, but those little changes gradually add up. Trees begin appearing, butterflies arrive, rabbits start hopping around and places that were previously little more than dust slowly become colourful and alive. I wasn't simply filling up a restoration meter somewhere; I could actually look around and see what I'd achieved.
🐇 There was also much more here than I expected from a demo. I spent around two hours playing and eventually stopped partly because it was getting late and apparently I need to occasionally sleep. Even then, I hadn't exhausted everything I could do. There were still places to explore, things to discover and more of the world that I wanted to restore.
🎮 My biggest problem was the controls. I use my mouse with my left hand and normally use the arrow keys for movement, but during my playthrough movement was locked to WASD with no option to remap it. Using WASD with my right hand while also needing the spacebar was uncomfortable, so I tried switching to a controller instead. Unfortunately, I found some actions rather clunky there too. Proper key remapping would make a considerable difference to me and is probably the single thing I'd most like to see added as development continues.
💚 Thankfully, that control issue didn't stop me enjoying everything else. I loved the scenery, enjoyed meeting the characters and found myself increasingly interested in the story behind this world. Most importantly, restoring the
Game Screenshots
Watch My Gameplay
Prefer to see The Regreening in action? Watch my gameplay video to see how the game plays before reading my full verdict.
Why I Liked This Game
- ✅ 🌱 Beautiful restoration — I loved watching dusty, lifeless areas gradually become green and colourful because of the things I'd done.
- ✅ 🌸 Visible progress — Every flower, patch of grass and tree contributes to a world that genuinely changes around me rather than simply filling a progress bar.
- ✅ 🐇 Nature returns — Seeing butterflies, rabbits and other creatures begin appearing made restoring the ecosystem feel particularly rewarding.
- ✅ 🌍 Plenty to explore — Even after around two hours with the demo, I still had places I wanted to visit and things I wanted to discover.
- ✅ 📖 Lovely world and characters — The scenery, story and people I encountered gave me plenty of reasons to become invested in the planet beyond simply restoring its greenery.
- ✅ 🧘 Relaxed pace — With no timers constantly pushing me along, I could explore and restore the world at the pace I wanted.
What I Didn't Like In This Game
- ❌ ⌨️ No key remapping — Movement was locked to WASD during my playthrough, which was awkward for me as a left-handed mouse user who normally uses the arrow keys.
- ❌ 🎮 Controller felt clunky — I tried using a controller as an alternative, but found some actions uncomfortable enough that it didn't completely solve my control problems.
