IMHO.

Games like The Gardener

Below are 16 hand-picked alternatives to The Gardener for fans of strategy, indie, adventure, ranked by imho.run's hybrid recommender. Each pick is scored on three signals: collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries (which players who logged hours in The Gardener also play), content overlap on genres, categories, and storefront tags, and review-mined "vibe" embeddings that catch tonal similarity even when the genre label differs. Sections below cover closest matches, reviewer cross-mentions, free-to-play picks. No login required — these picks work anchor-only.

About The Gardener: Solve tile based lawn puzzles. Explore the grounds of a forgotten manor. Discover mysterious flora and figure out their rules. Cut grass and have fun!

2026StrategyIndieAdventureCasualWindows · macOS · Linuxby Adam C-W
The Gardener — Steam game cover

Players who liked The Gardener also play

Ranked by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries plus content overlap on genres, tags, and developers.

  1. 1
    Chomp Garden — Steam game cover

    Chomp Garden

    Top pick for The Gardener fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Strategy and Indie with The Gardener.

    A puzzle game about guiding plants with light. Venture into a garden full of strange plants, solve puzzles, and find your pup.

    2026StrategyIndieCasualSteam ↗
  2. 2
    E9uations — Steam game cover

    E9uations

    Second-strongest match for The Gardener fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Indie with The Gardener.

    You are the equal sign(=). Rearrange the numbers and operators to form equation and solve the puzzle.

    2026Indie13.49 USDSteam ↗
  3. 3
    Shrink Rooms — Steam game cover

    Shrink Rooms

    Third-strongest match for The Gardener fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Strategy and Indie with The Gardener.

    Run! The walls are shrinking! This is about solving puzzles by pushing boxes from collapsing secret room. Accurately plan your steps, avoid deep pits and traps, use polymer and portal wall in the room, and escape from the secret room to avoid being crushed into a puddle of flesh by the walls.

    2025StrategyIndieCasual14.99 USDDeck PlayableSteam ↗
  4. 4
    The Court Of Wanderers — Steam game cover

    The Court Of Wanderers

    Ranked #4 for The Gardener fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Indie and Adventure with The Gardener.

    Enter a world where you never know what you will find behind the next door. Wander, think, solve, and be amazed as the impossible becomes possible.

    2024IndieAdventure11.99 USDDeck PlayableSteam ↗
  5. 5
    A Directionless Cycle — Steam game cover

    A Directionless Cycle

    Ranked #5 for The Gardener fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Strategy and Indie with The Gardener.

    2D Sokoban game where you explore a game that's slowly degrading, while you control multiple tiles with different directions at the same time.

    2025StrategyIndieAdventure4.99 USDSteam ↗
  6. 6
    Snakeloop — Steam game cover

    Snakeloop

    Ranked #6 for The Gardener fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Strategy and Indie with The Gardener.

    Snakeloop is a challenging puzzle game based on a simple idea: What if you took classic Snake but inverted the goal and made it so you have to form a loop by eating your own tail.

    2025StrategyIndieCasual4.99 USDSteam ↗
  7. 7
    Block Buster Billy — Steam game cover

    Block Buster Billy

    Ranked #7 for The Gardener fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Strategy and Indie with The Gardener.

    An alien family had a picnic on Billy's island. They had to leave in a hurry, causing Junior to forget his cubes. Can you help Billy figure out the mind-boggling alien puzzles?

    2023StrategyIndieCasual9.99 USDDeck VerifiedSteam ↗
  8. 8
    Paquerette Down the Bunburrows — Steam game cover

    Paquerette Down the Bunburrows

    Ranked #8 for The Gardener fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Indie and Adventure with The Gardener.

    The buns... you HAVE to capture them!! Think outside the bunburrow or get outsmarted by bunnies in this cute pathfinding-based puzzle game!

    2023IndieAdventureCasual11.99 USDDeck VerifiedSteam ↗

Free alternatives

Free-to-play games that recommended players of this title also tend to enjoy.

  1. 1
    Doki Doki Literature Club! — Steam game cover

    Doki Doki Literature Club!

    Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie and Casual with The Gardener.

    The Literature Club is full of cute girls! Will you write the way into their heart? This game is not suitable for children or those who are easily disturbed.

    2017IndieFree To PlayCasualFreeDeck PlayableSteam ↗
  2. 2
    Life is Strange - Episode 1 — Steam game cover

    Life is Strange - Episode 1

    Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Adventure with The Gardener.

    Episode 1 now FREE! Life is Strange is an award-winning and critically acclaimed episodic adventure game that allows the player to rewind time and affect the past, present and future.

    2015ActionAdventureFreeDeck PlayableSteam ↗
  3. 3
    Helltaker — Steam game cover

    Helltaker

    Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie and Adventure with The Gardener.

    Helltaker is a short game about sharply dressed demon girls.

    2020IndieAdventureFree To PlayFreeDeck PlayableSteam ↗
  4. 4
    Ultimate Custom Night — Steam game cover

    Ultimate Custom Night

    Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie with The Gardener.

    Welcome to the ultimate FNAF mashup, featuring 50 selectable characters and custom difficulties!

    2018ActionIndieFree To PlayFreeSteam ↗
  5. 5
    Bongo Cat — Steam game cover

    Bongo Cat

    Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie with The Gardener.

    Bongo cat needs your help. Bongo cat needz more hatz!!! Every time you press a key, Bongo cat will punch your taskbar. Type, click, play, work to collect more points. Which hats will you find?

    2025IndieSimulationMassively MultiplayerFreeDeck PlayableSteam ↗
  6. 6
    ENA: Dream BBQ — Steam game cover

    ENA: Dream BBQ

    Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie and Adventure with The Gardener.

    Experience surreal environments and inexplicable characters as ENA in a new wild world.

    2025IndieAdventureFreeDeck VerifiedSteam ↗
  7. 7
    The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog — Steam game cover

    The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog

    Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie and Casual with The Gardener.

    Sonic the Hedgehog...was murdered!? Get to the bottom of the mystery in this brand-new adventure!

    2023IndieSimulationFree To PlayFreeDeck PlayableSteam ↗
  8. 8
    Indigo Park: Chapter 1 — Steam game cover

    Indigo Park: Chapter 1

    Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie and Adventure with The Gardener.

    Explore the abandoned childhood wonder of Indigo Park! Guided by Rambley the Raccoon, help restore power to the destroyed amusement park while you run from the reason it shut down.

    2024ActionIndieAdventureFreeDeck PlayableSteam ↗

Frequently asked about The Gardener

What games are most similar to The Gardener?
Based on Steam play patterns and shared genres/tags, the games most often recommended alongside The Gardener are Chomp Garden, E9uations, Shrink Rooms.
Who developed The Gardener?
The Gardener was developed by Adam C-W.

imho.run ranks Steam game alternatives using a mix of collaborative filtering (ALS / iALS / EASE / LightGCN), content scoring over genres, categories, Steam tags, developers, and publishers, plus AI-extracted vibes mined from review text. The page above is generated in seed mode anchored on The Gardener.

For library-aware picks tuned to your specific taste, sign in with Steam on the home page.

16 Games Like The Gardener — Ranked for 2026 · imho.run