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About The Round-about Orchard
The Round-about Orchard is a 15-minute point-and-click adventure crafted by Julia Minamata as a fan project. Released November 10, 2025, it’s a nostalgic detour for fans of Over the Garden Wall, featuring creator Patrick McHale, background artist Levon Jihanian, and Elijah Wood reprising his role as Wirt. The game blends surreal storytelling with looping environments and cryptic dialogue, set in a dreamlike orchard that defies logic. It’s a brief but densely packed experience, prioritizing mood over structure, with music by The Blasting Company echoing the eerie charm of its spiritual predecessor. Think of it as a short story in game form, quirky, cryptic, and deliberately minimal.
Gameplay
You control a nameless character navigating a circular orchard that resets and shifts with each decision. Clicking objects and dialogue choices drive the narrative, but the game resists linear progression. Puzzles are abstract, often requiring repeated interactions to trigger subtle changes. The camera orbits the scene in slow, disorienting circles, mirroring the title’s “round-about” theme. Sessions feel more like wandering than solving, each action ripples into abstract consequences, like triggering a melody or shifting the sky’s color. Controls are basic: left-click to interact, right-click to examine. The lack of tutorials or clear goals means players either embrace the ambiguity or grow frustrated by its opacity.
What Players Think
PlayPile community rating: 4.7/5 (89% critics). 92% of players finish it, with average playtime at 14.5 minutes. Moods are split: 68% “happiness” and 32% “nostalgia,” alongside 22% “confusion.” Fans praise its “deliberate weirdness” and “hauntingly familiar” art style, while critics call it “a half-baked experiment.” Achievement data shows 87% unlock the “Loop Completed” trophy, requiring three full cycles through the orchard. Price isn’t listed, but the game’s brevity makes it a low-risk buy. Most agree: it’s less a game than a mood, best approached with patience for its meandering design.
PlayPile's Take
This is a niche charm for Over the Garden Wall devotees and point-and-click purists who enjoy cryptic storytelling. At under 15 minutes, it’s a quick curiosity, not a deep experience. The looping structure and sparse interactivity may test patience, but the music and art evoke strong nostalgia. Achievements add minor replay value, but the game feels more like a demo than a finished product. If you’re okay with ambiguity and have $5 to spare, it’s a quirky time capsule. Otherwise, its short length and vague rewards make it a situational pick.
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