I’m an absolute sucker for a succulent and I know I’m not the only one. Developer Fireline Games certainly knows it, too. Their latest creation is Leafy Corner, a cosy sim focused on letting you set up a little shop, selling plants and fulfilling customers’ wildest and greenest dreams.
It immediately reminds me of two other hobbies I partake in; cute and cosy sticker books and colouring pages. Yet, in Leafy Corner, you’re offered the opportunity to live inside one of these creations and run it. And it’s every bit as peaceful as you might imagine. From the outset, the vibes are immaculately chill, the art style is soft and aesthetically pleasing and the shop-building follows the same satisfying ticking of boxes.
You’ve got full control over the way your shop looks and you’re also handed the ability to change it up on a whim. This same freedom is shared with your character creation, swiftly swapping up hairstyles mid-shift or changing into overalls at the push of a couple of buttons. No menus required.
I’m not the only trendy one in my shop though. After I open up the doors for the first time with carefully chosen wallpaper and a wooden parquet flooring any interior designer would go nuts for, my customers start to arrive. And they’ve got more style than I could ever dream of, which only inspires me to make a plant shop that mirrors their Camden Lock levels of trend.
And while it’s suitably relaxing setting up my shelves and filling them with cute little plant pots implanted with flora and fauna, it’s not a game that lacks pace. As I found myself working through the game, my plant stock was building up to enviable levels and I was opening doors to new parts of the game, like customer orders, unlocking plant varieties, decorations and more. All of which needed my attention.
Fortunately, you’ve got a compendium by your side to detail the features of each plant when someone’s looking for something in particular. You’ve got different sizes of plants that unlock as you progress. And yes, this is beginning to sound sort of stressful, but fear not. Leafy Corner knows what it is and that’s a calm retreat situated in a little nook of gaming titles that want you to kick back and relax.
Yes, you have to keep stocking your shelves and watering your plants, but you can also shut up shop whenever you fancy to get on top of things. Watering is a much easier mechanic than I anticipated, not requiring you to fill up a watering can and walk around the shop visiting each plant that needs your help. And it’s clever, too, changing the flow based on each plant’s water requirements. If it needs a lot, it’ll fill up slowly and vice versa.
I already mentioned I’m a big fan of succulents and that love permeates into any easy-care plant with vibrant green leaves. But, while I opt for Thirsty Thursdays as the day I water my plant, these Leafy Corner plants really get their tendrils around me as I find myself running a shop with over 150 plants in stock.
Over-water your plants though and you’ve got your first and only snippet of tension. In real-life, I’d sigh heavily and hope that I hadn’t completely swamped my shrubbery. In Leafy Corner, you need to re-pot that plant ASAP. A little bit of leafy drama never caused any harm now, did it?
I don’t think I’m alone when I say that as a cosy gamer, there’s equal levels of enjoyment in nailing repetitive tasks and also facing challenges as these tasks get a little harder. It’s why when I play The Sims 4 I make them have so many kids because it’s like playing on a hard difficulty while still being in control. Running a plant shop, for all intents and purposes, sounds like a simplistic vision, but Fireline Games adds layers that keeps it interesting and busy for hours on end.
There are a few things I really liked about my time with Leafy Corner though that I almost feel a little spoiled for choice to talk about them. Firstly, you can set your plants as ‘Not For Sale’ and that’s particularly cool for a couple of reasons; you might want to keep the plant, you might want to let it grow to its full potential (and sale price) before it flies off your shelf, and you might want to reserve it for a customer order.
Secondly, you reach a point where you can propagate your plants. This is especially handy when you’ve managed to unlock a variegated version of a plant. And I don’t want to brag, but I did manage to unlock them all. Variegation is another added feature, encouraging you to sell particular plants in the hopes that one will grow as a special variety. Then, you can propagate it, like a real greenfinger, to keep the good times coming.
And then there’s the customisation of your shop. It’s so intently clever, allowing you to move entire shelving units, plants and all, around your shop whenever you fancy. You can duplicate shelves, colour them, reorganise, and unlock a whole range of different ways to display your plants. This level of freedom was an unexpected, but deeply appreciated, touch.
The customisation is also on another cosy level. There are fairy lights and leaf garlands, Oliver Bonas-coded pottery pieces, stacks of books and an overwhelming amount of pots for your plants that it’s almost like Fireline Games has peered into the mind of a cosy gamer and said, we see you.
My critique for Leafy Corner would be to give me more. I worked my way through the reputation levels in a number of hours and I could’ve easily gone through more given the chance. I unlocked every single plant, including variegated ones, and I even began to notice a pattern in what the customers were asking for when they needed help. It meant I could stock the same sort of plants that I knew they’d want, but it also ruined my fun a little bit.
A few customers asked me for an Epipremnum (say that three times in a row) and I couldn’t find it in my trusty compendium. Turning to an online search, I found out it was a Pothos, only it wasn’t when I gave the customer one. Perhaps it was the wrong kind of Pothos.
I also wouldn’t have hated a bit more freedom of camera movement to really get a good view of the plants I had in stock. As my shop got busier, plants started to get buried. And while it was pretty neat that it didn’t matter how tall a plant grew in comparison to its shelf space, it did mean that the plants converged at times making it hard to figure out which was which.
Ultimately, as I sit back and admire my own Leafy Corner creation, a thriving paradise with splashes of green that I could only dream of having in my own home, I only wish I could find reason to keep playing more. While you unlock two expansions of the shop, I’d like a Theme Hospital-esque move to a bigger plot of land, a bigger store in a new location. Though maybe being tucked away in a tiny corner is exactly why it’s as charming as it is. In a world of cosy games battling for players’ attention, Leafy Corner feels like a standout title that has everything you could want from a relaxing sim.
