The Gardens Between on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
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The Gardens Between is a surreal puzzle adventure that follows best friends, Arina and Frendt, as they fall into a mysterious world of beautiful garden islands. Manipulate time to solve puzzles and discover the secrets of each island.
The Gardens Between is a short, time manipulation and emotional game
developed and published by The Voxel Agents.
Released on September 19th 2018 is available on Windows, MacOS and Linux
in 13 languages: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Dutch, Portuguese - Portugal, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese.
It has received 2,689 reviews of which 2,521 were positive and 168 were negative resulting in a rating of 9.0 out of 10. 😎
The game is currently priced at 16.99€ on Steam, but you can find it for less on Gamivo.
The Steam community has classified The Gardens Between into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
Get an in-depth look at The Gardens Between through various videos and screenshots.
System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- OS: 7
- Processor: 1.8 GHz
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: Intel HD 4000 Series
- DirectX: Version 10
- Storage: 2 GB available space
MacOS
- OS: 10.11.6 (El Capitan)
- Processor: 1.8 GHz
- Graphics: Intel HD 4000 Series
- Storage: 2 GB available space
Linux
- Processor: 1.8 GHz
- Graphics: Intel HD 4000 Series
- Storage: 2 GB available space
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
The Gardens Between, developed and published by The Voxel Agents, is a poetic and deeply introspective puzzle game that transforms the simple mechanics of time manipulation into an emotional meditation on memory, friendship, and the bittersweet passage of growing up. At first glance, it presents itself as a minimalist puzzle adventure set within a series of floating islands. Yet beneath its calm surface lies a quietly profound narrative about two childhood friends—Arina and Frendt—whose shared moments and unspoken bond are explored through surreal landscapes built entirely from the fragments of their memories. The game’s beauty lies not only in how it looks or plays but in how it makes the player feel: nostalgic, reflective, and gently melancholic. Rather than controlling the characters directly, the player controls the flow of time itself. Arina and Frendt move along predetermined paths, interacting with the environment only when the player moves time forward or backward. This unusual design choice shifts focus away from character control and toward observation and discovery. Every movement feels deliberate—pressing forward might cause a bridge to rise or a memory to unfold, while rewinding might reveal new possibilities hidden in the past. The puzzles are built on this rhythm of time manipulation, requiring players to consider not only sequence but context. Objects such as lanterns, light orbs, and environmental switches become instruments of cause and effect, blending logic with intuition. It’s a system that feels natural and fluid, making each solved puzzle feel less like a triumph of intellect and more like an act of gentle understanding. The game’s visual presentation is breathtaking in its quiet restraint. Each island represents a memory, composed of familiar yet dreamlike objects: glowing lamps, rain-soaked swings, stacked books, VHS tapes, garden furniture, and other tokens of a shared past. These objects, often enormous in scale, turn mundane childhood artifacts into landscapes of imagination and nostalgia. The color palette transitions smoothly between warmth and coolness, reflecting the tone of each memory—some are bright and full of playful light, others muted and wistful. The art direction achieves a rare kind of elegance, managing to feel personal and universal at once. The way The Voxel Agents render scale—making ordinary things seem monumental—captures how children see their world: vast, mysterious, and filled with possibility. The soundtrack, composed by Tim Shiel, weaves seamlessly into the game’s emotional current. Its ambient melodies are understated but powerful, carrying the tone of each moment without dictating it. The sound design heightens this immersion: footsteps echo softly, distant waves hum beneath the score, and each chime of interaction feels crisp and deliberate. The absence of spoken dialogue reinforces the intimacy of the experience—Arina and Frendt communicate only through gestures, glances, and synchronized movements, yet their friendship feels genuine and deeply human. The silence between them speaks volumes, allowing players to project their own emotions and experiences into the story. Narratively, The Gardens Between is masterful in its simplicity. Without a single line of text, it conveys an entire arc of friendship, from the carefree days of play to the inevitable moment of parting. Each island serves as a chapter in their shared history, revealing through its objects a story that players assemble piece by piece. The act of solving puzzles becomes a metaphor for remembering—piecing together fragments of a relationship that exists now only in reflection. As the final sequences unfold, the emotional core of the story emerges: the friends must part ways, their shared world dissolving into memory. It’s a poignant reminder that even as people grow apart, the memories they share remain timeless and unbroken. The Gardens Between’s brilliance also lies in its restraint. Its puzzles are never frustrating or overly complex, designed instead to maintain a meditative pace. Each challenge serves the emotional rhythm of the story, ensuring that the player’s engagement remains empathetic rather than purely cerebral. This design philosophy creates a rare harmony between gameplay and theme—time manipulation is not just a mechanic but a metaphor for nostalgia itself. The ability to rewind and replay moments mirrors the human desire to revisit the past, to linger in memories that have already slipped away. The satisfaction of solving a puzzle comes not from outsmarting the game but from understanding it, just as understanding a memory means accepting both its joy and its impermanence. While some may find its brevity surprising—most players complete it in under three hours—the game’s compact length feels intentional. It mirrors the fleeting nature of childhood and memory, delivering an experience that ends precisely when it should. To linger longer would risk dulling the emotional clarity it achieves. Instead, the game leaves behind a soft ache, a wistful emptiness that invites contemplation. Its lack of dialogue or exposition ensures that its message transcends language, making it accessible and meaningful to players across cultures and ages. The Gardens Between is not a game that demands mastery or endurance; it asks only for empathy and reflection. It succeeds in transforming simple interactions into moments of emotional depth, bridging the gap between mechanics and meaning in a way that few games accomplish. Every rewind, every island, every flicker of light carries an unspoken truth about the passage of time and the connections that shape us. For players willing to slow down and listen to what it has to say, it offers a uniquely beautiful experience—a quiet masterpiece that lingers in memory like the fading glow of a lantern in the dark. Rating: 9/10
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The puzzles are amazing, and the end credit music was great. But the game needs a 2× speed option.
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创意不错谜题尚可，原价偏贵。2-3小时流程。 The concept is creative and the puzzles are decent, though it's a bit pricey at its original price. The play through lasts about 2-3 hours.
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2 thumbs up ... Soothing, total chill. Difficulty is a good balance. Not so hard to be frustrating nor too easy to get boring. Lovely graphics and animation. Background SFX & music is calming. Levels can be replayed to get missed achievements. I played mouse & keyboard. Only need to use <-- --> and the space bar. Although it can be played quickly, I enjoyed not rushing through.
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The Gardens Between is a nice puzzle game where you control time to go through the levels. The puzzles are not too difficult, the designs are good and the ambiant is cozy. I recommend it!!! 💗💗💗
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Frequently Asked Questions
The Gardens Between is currently priced at 16.99€ on Steam.
The Gardens Between is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 16.99€ on Steam.
The Gardens Between received 2,521 positive votes out of a total of 2,689 achieving a rating of 8.97.
😎
The Gardens Between was developed and published by The Voxel Agents.
The Gardens Between is playable and fully supported on Windows.
The Gardens Between is playable and fully supported on MacOS.
The Gardens Between is playable and fully supported on Linux.
The Gardens Between is a single-player game.
There is a DLC available for The Gardens Between. Explore additional content available for The Gardens Between on Steam.
The Gardens Between does not support mods via Steam Workshop.
The Gardens Between supports Remote Play on TV. Discover more about Steam Remote Play.
The Gardens Between is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for The Gardens Between.
Data sources
The information presented on this page is sourced from reliable APIs to ensure accuracy and relevance. We utilize the Steam API to gather data on game details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and user reviews. This allows us to provide you with the most up-to-date information directly from the Steam platform.
Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.
Last Updates| Steam data | 29 October 2025 06:00 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 28 October 2025 10:11 |
| Steam price | 30 October 2025 12:42 |
| Steam reviews | 29 October 2025 22:06 |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about The Gardens Between, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about The Gardens Between
- SteamCharts - Analysis of The Gardens Between concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck The Gardens Between compatibility
Game modes
Features
Online players
0
Developer
The Voxel Agents
Publisher
The Voxel Agents
Release
19 Sep 2018
Platforms
Remote Play
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