Epic Games Store is offering Strange Horticulture free to keep through August 28, and that matters because the game is widely praised as a top detective puzzler of the decade. Players can claim a compact narrative mystery built around plant identification, and a follow-up titled Strange Antiquities is due in September.
Strange Horticulture puts the player in the role of a plant shop owner who arrives in the alt-history Lake District town of Undermere. Each day, customers come with fragmentary descriptions of plants, and the player must identify specimens using a magnifying glass and a strange horticultural text. The system is simple on the surface and gradually reveals a darker, eerie story.
Gameplay rewards learning the properties of plants that range from remedial herbs to deadly mushrooms, and those choices can change the narrative’s direction.
The Epic promotion is live on the Epic Games Store; the giveaway page is available from the store entry and can be claimed through typical Epic account methods. The Steam store page for Strange Horticulture and deeper pieces on the game offer further context and purchasing history for those who want it.
Strange Horticulture is free to keep on Epic until August 28, and the sequel Strange Antiquities is scheduled for release in September. The follow-up moves the setting to the same town but swaps the plant shop for an antique store and promises more involved investigation mechanics.
