Continuing my delving into the available free games advertised on Steam I encountered Viridi a small simulation game created by Ice Water Games and released August 2015. This is Ice Water Games second game on Steam, the other been Eidolon which has mixed reviews and was released the previous year.

Using the term loosely the goal of Viridi is to grow a number of succulents plants  however the true aim of the game seems to as a relaxation aid with calming music and cute cell shaded visuals.
Thinking this might be a fun little distraction I decided to give it a try and recorded my first impressions which you watch below: 

Once again I feel like I require a mixed recommendation, because while I feel that this is a really quaint little thing, certain details just make it a mild annoyance for me personally. Viridi is also quite difficult to write about due to the very little content it possesses.

Basic Overview: There isn't much to the core of the game, it's basically just a plant simulator where you nurture a small pot of succulents that grow in real time. You water them, sing to them (also the snail) and watch them grow. Released by Ice Water games as their latest creation.

You're launched into the game with nothing more than a start button, you then choose the decorative pot, the first few starting succulents and name it whatever you wish, after this.. You simply watch plants grow.

Pros: Cute,, minimalistic, relaxing, quaint, easy to have in the background and to just check on it every so often, cute snail. It's nice to de-stress for a brief period of time
 

Cons: There's not tutorial, no restart if you do something wrong, any additional seeds are micro-transactions within the game (Or you wait a week to get a free seedling from the nursery), the click box for selection of the plants is right next to a delete button which in turn leads to many accidental killing of plants - Even plants brought with real money and finally the erratic camera controls that flick you from one side of the pot to the other when something is selected.

Final conclusion: Honestly, you have nothing to lose by trying it except a few minutes of your time and very minimal hard drive space. I praise the effort and ideas that have obviously gone into it and have a mild whine about the little things that could easily be improved to make this far more enjoyable. It is however exactly what it claims to be; A relaxing oasis to run in the background or a quiet space when you need something simple to get your mind off things.