Leafy Corner review – A cosy and relaxing sim for plant lovers

Maybe you have no idea what a cheese plant is, or perhaps you’re a plant expert, knowing exactly what a ceropegia woodii looks like or what growing conditions a hoya carnosa needs. Wherever you’d place yourself on the plant lover’s scale, though, if you’re looking for a cosy new game to play, Leafy Corner from Fireline Games might be just what you need.

As a cosy game lover, I’ve been lapping up Leafy Corner, enjoying building and decorating my own plant shop. This relaxing sim allows you to fill your shop with over 100 different plants, along with undertaking tasks to earn money and build your shop’s reputation.

In your first hour or two of playing, you’ll be creating your character and setting up your shop. To start with, you’ll have a limited selection of shelves, pots and small plants to choose from in order to get yourself started. The more plants you sell, the more money and ‘leafy corner tokens’ you earn, which can be spent on unlocking extras.

You’ll also earn tokens as you complete certain tasks, which can all be tracked in the task booklet at the bottom of the screen. As you progress through Leafy Corner, you’ll always be working towards reaching the next level – and each time you level up, you’ll unlock bigger plants and pots. The downside is there are only six levels altogether, so completing the game might not take long if you get hooked on it the way I have!

With your hard-earned money and tokens, you’ll have access to a range of furniture. From bigger, funkier shelving options to standing pots, pots with faces, large plants, wall hangings and so much more, you can decorate your shop however you see fit, showing off your own personality.

The great thing is you can change your shop in Leafy Corner as often as you like. You can make changes as you play, either with the shop open or closed, or you can hit pause and completely overhaul the shop at your leisure, without having to worry about watering the plants or dealing with customers.

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As you play the game in real-time, you’ll spend your time serving customers and providing them with recommendations. You’ll also be required to water and repot your plants to keep them healthy, and you can also propagate the plants into smaller pots (which can then be sold to customers).

You might find it easier or more appealing to group your plants together when arranging your store, especially if you’re a novice when it comes to plant care. Some plants are suitable for pets, some need high humidity and others are perfect for dark rooms. You can also buy signs to place on shelves around your shop in case you need a little reminder.

In my Leafy Corner store, I’ve created a ‘pet friendly’ corner, a Monstera corner and a set of plant stands in the middle of the shop for the many varieties of Alocasias that I love. I’ve also added a shelf just for hanging plants – although I have to be careful when recommending them as they all have different requirements, but they look seriously good all bundled up together.

As much fun as I’ve had decorating and managing my little plant store, though, there are a few drawbacks to Leafy Corner. The character customisation here is very limited, which means your character might not fully represent you. There also isn’t a way to interact with your customers other than recommending a plant, which I feel is a missed opportunity to inject a bit of personality and storytelling to the experience. I’d love to see customers interacting with each other, or with my character, even if it’s just to ask “what’s your favourite plant?” or “would you like to grab a coffee?”.

Still, none of this stops Leafy Corner being a joy to play. It took a little while to get used to the controller options as there’s a lot going on, but once I’d learned the ropes, my time with this cosy little game flowed by smoothly. Choosing plants you love, recommending them to customers, and watching everything grow is a lovely way to spend an evening on the sofa.