Absolute delight!
I finished one of numerous varied play-throughs in about ten hours. Don't let this put you off; if this was a book we'd call it 'un-put-downable'. My shortened play time is the result of heavy binge.

GEMS:

*The ambiance. This game has 3-4 screens, the main screen being your plant shop. In Help Will Come Tomorrow, this bored me something fierce. The charm here is that you can rearrange your plants, pet your sassy cat, and there are weather effects outside your greenhouse windows, with soothing rain and thunder sounds on occasion. Regular visitors and customers break potential monotony. The color palette is 10/10 for beautiful and chill.

*Working through each 'day' takes effort but is never a grind- something I struggled with in Graveyard Keeper where simple tasks involved tedium. Solving puzzles and identifying plants involves real deduction and you feel rewarded for your time. The game understands how to balance challenges so that you never lose that immersion.

*Your desk! The drawer in your desk is organized with occult and deductive tools, slots for letters and clues, and LABELS. You can make labels for the plants you identify. I know this sounds 10/10 micromanager but the process is satisfying. Drag and drop organizes your items, no fuss required. The interface makes them available on the map and laboratory screens.

*The art style. Along with the color palette and ambiance, the overall style has a wonderful hemlock-y Series of Unfortunate Events feel. The tarot card clues between levels add a bit of occult. The error meter is illustrated with a sick/dying plant, which leads me to...

*The error meter. Occasionally you make mistakes in crafting elixirs and identifying plants (some are very similar). When your worrisome, sad dead-weeds meter fills, you've failed one too many times. Rather than force you to repeat the day or penalize you, the game offers one of several genuinely satisfying puzzles (solve the pattern/arrange the pieces). The secondary delight of this is that I didn't dread failing a task, making challenging portions fun and stress free.

*Story telling. The dialogue of the characters who enter your shop, the letters from acquaintances out traveling the world, and the stories from people you travel to meet with are all short, punchy, and immersive. The use of language to convey a lot with a little while keeping it evocative is great. All of this contributes to a overarching plot that's tropey in the best sense.

*Pleasing soundscape! There is no talking but the sounds for discovering a plant or unlocking a page in your horticulture manual are as dopamine-inducing as Mario collecting coins or picking up stacks of things in Stardew Valley. The music is lovely and understated. And again, the sound effects are so atmospheric; thunder with lightning outside the window; rain tapping against the glass; a terrible hiss when you mis-mix an elixir. Your black kitty Hellebore! Which leads to...

*Hellebore gets her own bullet-point. You can pet her, she reacts, and she purrs. Not a cat person but her little personality is great and her purring is warm and happy.

*The travel system is fantastic and streamlined. Your world map is beautifully-drawn with some points and landmarks that never play into the game but add depth to your sense of the world. There's no point in going to the map unless you have a clue or letter involving travel, and once you solve the clue you know exactly where you're headed. There's no tedious wandering and feeling overwhelmed by the world at large. Plus, extra travel points from watering your plants! If you do wind up in the wrong spot, or fat-finger click outside your destination, watering offers a brilliant secondary means of recovering travel stamina.

*Puzzles. Outside the penalty puzzles, main game puzzles are clever and satisfying. Some plants have actions that can be used in a number of ways. You feel extra smart when you sort out a plant's properties and overcome a challenge.

*Coven of witches. 11/10

This game was an absolute joy in every way. While I got what I consider the best of all 'good' endings I can't wait to try others just for the pleasure of playing again. And you'll discover an incentive that makes it worth playing for at least one of the 'evil' endings :p
Happy horticulture,
Hunter of Hunters