Grow Home

**Grow Home** is a game developed by Ubisoft Reflections and published by Ubisoft. It was released on February 4, 2015. It is the first game in the *Grow Home* series. The objective of the game is to help B.U.D., a robot, grow a plant that will oxygenate its home planet. Players control B.U.D. and use each of its arms separately to climb and interact with items as they explore an open universe.

## Gameplay

The adventure game Grow Home is experienced in third person. The objective of the game is for players to take control of a robot called B.U.D. (Botanical Utility Droid) and oxygenate its homeworld by cultivating and scaling a massive beanstalk known as a Star Plant and gathering its seeds. In addition to being able to freely traverse an open world, players can independently control B.U.D.'s left and right hands by pressing a button on each hand. The player can push and climb items by reaching out a short distance and grabbing onto any part of the surroundings. M.O.M., B.U.D.'s ship computer, converses with the player during the game to advise them of the objectives.

Players can develop "Star Shoots" from the Star Plant in the game, and these shoots serve as the player's platforms. The player can control the growth course of Star Shoots, but their growth period is restricted. The player can use them to travel to other floating islands that are scattered over the game universe. To cause the Star Plant to develop along a predetermined path, certain islands known as "Energy Rocks" can be connected to Star Shoots. As the game goes on, these Energy Rocks get farther away from the Star Plant.

When the Star Plant reaches a particular height, it spreads through bigger floating islands. B.U.D. can be given more powers by gathering power-up crystals from these islands and the smaller ones that surround the Star Plant. The islands in the game are home to a variety of wildlife, including plants and animals, as well as natural elements like water currents and caverns. Certain elements of the environment can alter how the player moves around the globe, such as leaves that sprout from the Star Plant and Star Shoots, which enable the player to jump higher than is often feasible. Teleportation pads serve as save spots and let the player travel fast around the environment. Additionally, the player returns to the last teleportation they activated. Deaths can also be brought on by the player causing B.U.D. to self-destruct, falling an excessive amount of distance, or spending an excessive amount of time in the water. Players can also retrieve data from the teleporters by scanning different types of flora and fauna into them. One item at a time, such as flower parachutes that slow down the player's descent to the ground and leaf gliders that extend the player's airborne reach, can be picked up by the player and placed in B.U.D.'s backpack.

The primary goal is accomplished when the player grows the Star Plant to a height of 2000 meters and gives a seed back to M.O.M. At this point, the player can choose to gather eight additional seeds. By completing this last goal, the player ends the game and gains access to a special suit that doubles their jumping height. After the game is finished, players are free to explore the world.

## Premise

*Experience the freedom of unbounded climbing as you take control of BUD, a procedurally animated robot on a quest to save his planet. Create your own path through an alien world as you control and ride a giant plant on a vertical journey to the stars.*

## Development

Grow Home was started as an experimental project by an eight-person team at Ubisoft Reflections, and it was first introduced for staff use internally. Ubisoft management decided to formally launch the project after testing it. The game was developed into a full game with inspirations from Wall-E and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Grow Home features a low poly, minimalistic aesthetic. Its physics-based gameplay and procedural animation let objects and player movements adjust to fit any part of the surroundings.Because a gamepad provides "the deepest connection to the gameplay mechanics," the game's developers advise using one to play the game. Developed with the Unity engine, the game doesn't require Uplay to play, in contrast to other Ubisoft games. Grow Home was released on February 4, 2015 for Microsoft Windows via Valve's Steam service, and on September 1, 2015 for PlayStation 4, following its announcement on the official Ubisoft blog. If the PC version sold enough copies, an OS X version was supposed to be released. After the game's release, Ubisoft released several updates with new missions, skins, and bug fixes. Still, November 10, 2015 saw its release for Linux.

## Reception

Metacritic, a website that aggregates reviews, states that the PlayStation 4 version received above-average reviews, while the PC version received "generally favorable reviews".

Critics praised the open world of the PC version. According to Jordan Erica Webber of PC Gamer, the joy of the game lies in discovery. Reviewer Christian Donlan of Eurogamer praised the game's map as wonderfully generous and varied, while Ben Davis of Destructoid said he got "more than enough enjoyment out of exploring the world". The game's length was criticized by critics, though Webber claimed that the game moves at a great pace. Davis described the game as relatively short, and both Webber and Donlan said that the player should only need a few hours to finish the campaign. Additionally, Brandin Tyrrel of IGN stated that there's not much of a reason to play the game again after finishing the main campaign.

Tyrrel praised the game's graphics as well, describing the procedurally generated animation as a "fantastic example of how movement can speak volumes more than words" and the game's world as gorgeous and vivid. But he added that occasionally B.U.D.'s limbs would knot themselves into a "unnatural contortion" due to the animation system. John Walker of Rock Paper Shotgun described the main character's movement as "deeply involved in the world" and attributed the game's "so special" quality to its animation.

Regarding the game's control system, critics were split. Grow Home, according to Donlan, is the greatest rock-climbing game he has ever played, noting that the player can navigate the environment "with real skill" thanks to the "initially bewildering" controls. Although Davis acknowledged that it was the most enjoyable part of the game, he also mentioned that the walking controls occasionally felt strange. Webber claimed that while the walking controls were "cute until the first time you overshoot or go skidding off the edge," the climbing controls were too hard on her wrists.