Help Austin the Butler restore his childhood home in this heartwarming puzzle game!

If you played Gardenscapes before then you might be familiarized with a very gentle chap called Austin, who helped you restore your inherited mansion a year before. This mustached butler had a starring role in that last game, though he mostly served you on that occasion. In Homescapes, however, you are the one helping him, which is a nice change of focus. Bad news is that you still won’t appear on-screen (character customization when, Playrix?)

The first thing to note is the incredibly beautiful intro cinematics which, not surprisingly, share the same aesthetics as those of the first game. In fact, both Homescapes and Gardenscapes don’t differ drastically from each other graphics-wise (Homescapes was released just a year later, after all.) In general, I think the art style of both games is probably their strongest point, which is more than I can say for other match-3 games.

The soundtrack follows a similar orchestral format to that of the earlier game and is one of the aspects I liked the most, apart from the visuals. It sorta helps you relax while you complete the puzzles. It also enables the story and characters to grow on you. 

In terms of characters, apart from our good ol’ friend Austin, you get to mingle with his parents William and Olivia who both have a relatively fleshed-out backstory. You also get to meet other main characters like Katherine Broom (one of Austin’s best friends and possible love interest), Patrick O’Leary (Austin’s cousin), Scotty (one of Austin’s neighbors), and Uncle Lao (William’s friend). In keeping with “Scapes” games’ tradition, you are introduced to an overwhelming number of secondary characters and pets to boot. 

Speaking of pets, you have Captain Flint (Austin’s parrot), Toby (Scotty’s dog), and the cat (whom you name as you wish). These pets add flavor to the experience, though they have little gameplay utility apart from some sporadic tasks. Flint actually has a small event dedicated to him, though, so there’s that.

Another thing that changed is the decoration options, which are a bit broader in Homescapes than they were in its predecessor. This might not be such a big change but it’s undoubtedly noticeable. 

However, as a trade-off, you won’t be able to unlock as many areas of the house as you could in Gardenscapes. In addition, in the latter game, you could buy unique designs in exchange for a special currency that you earned as you completed harder levels, something that is currently not possible in Homescapes.

The match-3 puzzles are not much different from what they were in Gardenscapes. As always, you must match three tiles of the same kind to progress and you are occasionally given boosters and power-ups to beat levels faster. Upon beating these levels, you earn coins to purchase items and stars to complete storyline tasks.

Homescapes introduces novel power-ups such as the Hammer (level 8) which can destroy individual tiles at a time. You are given bombs after matching five items, capable of blowing up surrounding tiles up to a two-square radius. You likewise have the Paper Plane, with which you can remove distant tiles. The Rainbow Ball removes all tiles of the same color and it’s granted after matching five tiles.

Another thing that caught my attention was the boost in difficulty. Back in the day, this game was mildly more balanced than Gardenscapes, though Playrix would later tweak it so as to make it harder for players to earn coins (which kinda sucks, to be honest). They managed to screw up what was otherwise a fairly balanced game, making for an almost unbearable difficulty spike once you reached the 300+ levels.

Regardless, some updates are praiseworthy and the developers constantly offer recurring or limited-time events such as Flying High or Cake o’clock. Delivering this kind of support is crucial for maintaining healthy engagement levels and is something I wholeheartedly appreciate.

Despite all its faults, Homescapes is a worthy successor to Gardenscapes. The scenery, the music, the story, and the characters are all a treat, while the puzzles and home-building features may be described as hit-and-miss (though I feel it’s a net positive on aggregate). If you liked Gardenscapes, then make sure you give Homescapes a deserved try!

You can also express your own thought about this wonderful game in the comments down below!