If you were around in the 1990s, you'll likely remember Polly Pockets. These tiny playsets provided a slice of life in the smallest of packages, cramming a house, pool or garden into a sealable clamshell container.

'Why are we talking about Polly Pockets in 2024', you might rightfully ask. Well, firstly, they're still available today (news to us), but more importantly, it's because we've seen Tiny Garden, an upcoming Switch game which smashed its Kickstarter goal in just one hour.

This is a cosy little gardening sim where you grow crops and furnish your house inside a non-descript "'90s toy" that bears a shocking resemblance to the aforementioned petit playsets. And it looks really rather sweet.

Tiny Garden is just as chilled as it looks. There's no failure, no rush, no death. You simply plant your little toy seeds in the soil, turn the crank to grow them into little toy vegetables and exchange them for little toy furnishings. In a world of hair-pulling Souls-likes, something so simple sounds quite nice.

While Tiny Garden crossed its initial €5,000 Kickstarter goal within an hour of it going live (cementing its Switch release), the fundraising page will remain active until 1st August, with several tiers of rewards still lined up.

Here's the official rundown and some screenshots from Tiny Garden developer Ao Norte:

In Tiny Garden, everything revolves around the most humble plastic vegetables. Get some carrot or turnip seeds, make them grow, and trade them for bigger and fancier vegetables, plants, or even furniture items to customize every corner of your garden.

But where are these gardens located? Well, everything happens inside a tiny toy from the 90s. Remember those? Their tactile feeling, the unparalleled moment of opening them for the first time or their simple mechanical and almost magical interactions.

Tiny Garden is a relaxing, wholesome experience: no pressure, no score, no challenges. Just gardening at your own pace, while discovering charming items and wonderful secrets. Grow your crops as you grow your collection!

But keep your eyes open, you’ll never know what will grow from the next seed or how it will affect the terrain!!!

According to the Kickstarter page, the developer hopes to release Tiny Garden digitally on Switch in February 2025.

What do you make of Tiny Garden? Think the chill vibes would be up your street? Plant your thoughts in the comments below.

[source kickstarter.com]