Five years of the Gardens: a retrospective
The game that refused to fade — how a two-hour puzzle story kept selling, kept mattering, and quietly became one of Australia's most-loved exports.
September 2018: The Gardens Between ships on PC and console to warm reviews and modest expectations. The plan was simple — finish the mobile port, maybe a small update, then move on. The game had other plans.
Five years on, it keeps appearing on 'games that made me feel something' lists. It has outlived three storefront redesigns, two console generations and every prediction about its shelf life. Here's the honest retrospective.
Studio Editorial
Long-form writing from the Gardens Between World team — guides, essays and the occasional confession from development.
In this article
- The year it found its audience
- The updates that mattered
- The community that keeps it lit
- What comes next
The year it found its audience
The mobile launch changed everything. Designed for one-thumb sessions and priced as a premium one-off, the game fitted phones the way the islands fit shelves — completely, oddly, perfectly. Awards arrived in waves: Apple, then the Australian industry's own, then the international circuit.
The team still credits one review line for the longevity: 'the rare game you'd buy for someone you love'. It turned the purchase itself into part of the story.
We made a game about memory. It turned out the game wanted to be one.— Studio retrospective talk, 2023
The updates that mattered
v2.0 wasn't a content update — it was a restoration. The remastered lighting pass, photo mode and accessibility suite arrived years post-launch, the studio treating the game the way you treat a keepsake: polish it occasionally, never replace it.
The community that keeps it lit
Fan art still arrives weekly. Speedrunners hold tournaments for a game with no enemies. Teachers assign it. The hidden constellations are still argued about — the studio confirms two undiscovered triggers exist, and enjoys that deeply.
Five years, in numbers
- 2.4 million journeys completed across all platforms.
- 40+ awards and nominations, two console generations.
- Zero ads, zero IAP, zero regrets — the model held.
What comes next
The studio is working on what comes after the Gardens — quietly, in the same warehouse, near the same rain. Whatever it is, it will be small, it will be stubborn, and it will not have a battle pass.
Keep reading: See what's on offer now · The complete bundle
Join the five-year-old evening
Still A$7.99, still complete, still perfect.