Plantera

A click and forget farming simulator

"Plantera" is an idle clicker game that is worth about what it costs.  This game is easy to learn and simple to play.  The majority of the game consists of waiting for your funds to grow.  As many idle clicker games, this game is just as productive offline as it is online.  There is little to do while online other than micro-managing your farm.  There are minor bonuses that arise from playing actively, but not many.

Hands Free Farming

The game is simple to get started.  Plant the basic crops and level up.  Gain access to new plants, animals, and trees and level up.  The more that you level up, the more crops, trees, and animals you unlock.  At a certain point, once everything has been opened, the items become more profitable, starting in the same progression in which they were made available.  There is an interesting mechanic that makes the items more expensive the more there are in the garden.  The larger the farm or the higher the level the more assistants you have.  The assistants will harvest any items that are ready to be harvested.  Then pick pumpkins, turnips, and carrots, as well as gather fallen apples, peppers, and lemons.  They are what keeps your farm profitable, as it is impossible to harvest each and every item by yourself.

Expand your farm

The more money you earn the more crops you can plant.  But the main issue from there is where to plant your crops.  You can plant as many crops as you want as long as you have money to purchase them.  The central challenge is to earn money to expand your growing area.  Expanding your fields is never cheap, but when you invest your money in more land it can pay off quickly.  As with any typical clicker game the main issue is waiting for enough time to pass in order to earn enough money to progress.

Hostile Animals

Not everything is all fun and games.  There are hostile animals that want to steal your crops and your animals.  Foxes will steal the chickens, wolves will hunt sheep and pigs, birds will steal food, and the rabbits will steal the crops.  At first you will spend a lot of time deterring the hostile animals.  At certain points I found that it was worth while to invest in scarecrows and dogs.  There is a certain number of scarecrows that you can have depending on the size of your fields.  They are very useful to keep birds away from the crops, which in turn increase the money you make.  Dogs keep away the rabbits, wolves, and foxes, which makes it so you make more money.  Protecting your field is partially about deciding when it is best to invest in a new dog or new scarecrows, and partially about deterring the pests by hand.  It is possible to knock the animals away by hand, but over time it becomes cumbersome.  I found that it was more worth my time to invest in deterrents rather than do the work myself.

Protect your farm

Overall I would say that this game is worth its cost.  It's a decent game that helps pass the time.  It's fun to play over time, whether it's dedicated game-play or checking in every few hours.  It is quite repetitive but that is the genre it comes from, as it is an idle clicker game.  For the cost it has good graphics and decent music.  The game-play can get monotonous after a while, but if you are looking to reach each goal it shouldn't take more than a few days of off and on play to get most, if not all of them.  I give this game a solid 7/10, purchase on a sale if possible.

Score 7 out of 10

The game-play is very simple and easy to learn. Once you learn to play the game it is all about repetition and expansion, which after a time gets quite repetitive after a while.

It is a good game for its cost. Its a good game to waste time with, but one to definitely pick up on sale.

After learning the controls it is very easy to play this game. There is little learning curve to pick this game up.

For an inexpensive and simple game the graphics are quite well done.

There is no story to this game. It is strictly a grow and expand game.

PROS / CONS

  • Easy to learn
  • Variation of crops
  • Scales with time spent in game
  • Earn coin while offline
  • Fun music
  • Repetitive
  • Grindy
  • Learn as you play
  • No guide
  • Little replay value

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