Mutazione is a relaxing, chill game in which you explore the island you’re staying on, talk to people, get to know the inhabitants and their interpersonal drama, and design gardens that play unique music depending on their plants.

Official Description:

A mutant soap opera where small-town gossip meets the supernatural. Explore the Mutazione community as Kai as she cares for her ailing grandfather. Discover magical gardens, new friends & old secrets. They can survive an apocalyptic meteor strike, but can they survive their small-town drama?

More Info:

You can get more info and buy the game here on Steam, here on itch.io, or here on the game’s website!

Long Review:

This game is so chill and pretty!

It’s kind of an exploratory, narrative-driven game. You explore the little island you’re on. You talk to people and mutants, with occasional dialogue choices. You collect plants and seeds. You design gardens and play music to help your gardens grow. (You don’t actually do anything to play the music, just click a button, but it’s cool because different plants make different sounds, so you can create your own sort of soundscape depending on the plants you choose.) You chase chickens. Ok that last one isn’t mandatory, I just thought it was fun and love that the birds actually run away if you get close!

You do have to follow the storyline and do specific things. There’s not a ton of actual gameplay, and you can’t change the outcome of anything as far as I can tell. But the game guides you with a very gentle hand, letting you go at your own pace. It’s a game where you can’t do anything wrong, and there are no time limits or stressful situations. You can just take your time and enjoy.

And there is a lot to enjoy! The characters, their backstory, and their interpersonal drama are interesting. The graphics are really pleasant and pretty. The music is calming. There’s lots of gorgeous nature to enjoy, including not just plants and water, but also little bugs and butterflies and lizards and birds moving about. Designing the gardens is relaxing and fun. There’s some diversity; the main character is Black and mentions having a crush on another girl.

This only took me about six hours to play, and for me there’s not any replay value, though there is a mode where you can just do some gardening and listen to the music your gardens make.

It’s all just very chill and a wonderful, relaxing distraction from real life.

Short Review:

– Narrative-driven with one outcome
– Gameplay is mostly dialogue options & designing gardens
– Gorgeous graphics with so much nature
– Juicy interpersonal drama
– Overall super chill and relaxing!

Accessibility:

(May not include everything)
– Not accessible for blind / visually impaired players or screen reader users.
– All dialogue is in text.
– Even though there’s a music element, you don’t need to hear it to play.
– Game can be played using a keyboard (asdf or arrows for movement), a mouse, or both. I believe you can also use a controller.