I feel like a tiny wilderness expert, all thanks to the incredible sound design. Visibility is low when you're surrounded by tree-sized grass, but after living in the garden for so long, now I can paint a picture of it using my ears. The garden is never at rest, and every step you take is accompanied by a cacophony of bug noises-at first seemingly discordant, but eventually reassuring and familiar. There are few sandboxes that feel this alive. Rather than an issue that needs to be fixed, however, the ability to win fights through cheesy tactics just feels like another legitimate survival strategy, and even in a state of befuddlement the garden's biggest predators are still intimidating menaces. So while the critter AI seems troublingly effective at times, it's also easily baffled or broken. Or maybe you'll be even more cunning, drawing them towards a place where you know they'll get stuck. Maybe you'll climb up somewhere you can't be reached, peppering your enemies with arrows. Sometimes the best path to victory is cheating a little bit. The bugs have all the physical advantages, but you've got that clever human brain. I killed my first stinkbug-a poison-spewing devil-beast-by creating a three-way brawl between it, a ladybug and a group of ants. The world is just so tantalisingly reactive, and it's a reactivity you're encouraged to exploit.
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