Last year saw the release of A Game About Digging A Hole, a self-explanatory minimalist experience that became a surprise hit, spawning countless clones. Berry Bury Berry presents a similar concept – you’re tasked with throwing berries into an ominous, growing hole in return for a shower of coins – but its presentation and means of progression are so ‘out there’ that anyone looking to create a clone would doubtlessly be called out instantly.
While the concept of filling a hole may not sound too peculiar, the means of doing so certainly are. This increasingly warped experience begins in a tiny rectangular garden with just a small hole and a berry-spewing bush. You grab the berries, drop them down the hole, and receive coins for your trouble. When nightfall occurs, the world is cast into darkness and everything remains motionless, caught in suspended animation. This is your cue to head to bed and bank your cash, with the choice also given to splurge on upgrades and new items.
These are, of course, the means of becoming more efficient, earning more money more quickly while feeding the hole as it slowly increases in size. Coins can be collected automatically, a vacuum allows you to inhale berries and fire them into the hole, the berry bush can be sent into overdrive, and the length of the day can be extended. Moreover, delightfully dim berry folk can be purchased, who then randomly stroll around the garden while popping out berries. They can be upgraded several times over, going from producing blueberries to strawberries, bananas, pumpkins, and more – each worth more than the last.
At some point, two revelations come to light, each fuelling intrigue and expanding what’s possible. The first of these is that the hole can be moved around, swallowing anything in its path in return for berry upgrade tokens. The bigger it gets, the further it can travel. Secondly, the walls of the garden can be broken down, revealing even more stuff to find and swallow. It’s also around this point – which you’ll likely reach less than an hour in – that you’ll start to notice a few set-pieces with puzzles to solve, none of which have hints. Some are easier than others, such as a memory-matching game, while later examples require thorough searching of the environment. Cassette tapes can be found too, gradually expanding the backstory.
If you’re wondering if there’s a point to all this, you may be surprised to learn that there are multiple endings to unlock. Again, there’s little in the way of information – it’s up to you to figure out how to trigger them. The only immediately obvious way is to earn $5m and purchase ‘The Key of Happiness’ – something that’ll take several hours, investing in multipliers, golden fruit chances, and cooldowns for the ‘berry fountain’ events that occur every ten minutes. I’d even say that reaching any ending requires a degree of commitment; it took me five hours to see the credits roll, with a bit of aimless wandering around midway through due to a lack of guidance.
I should note, though, that it only takes an hour or so to remove much of Berry Bury Berry’s mundanity; you’re able to focus attention elsewhere while berries bloom and roll into the hole, leaving countless coins to collect before hitting the hay. The sense of progression here is pretty neat, going from a small garden to a colossal one, eventually able to swallow up cars, houses, buses, and more. There’s smart tech on display too, as the game engine is able to cope with countless coins and berries flooding the garden, all of which can be vacuumed up and spat out.
The presentation is themed around a VHS player, complete with a removable fuzz effect. Music, meanwhile, is provided by an interactive tape deck, with a range of chilled beats to choose from.
Like most incremental games, Berry Bury Berry proves to be quite addictive. The swift day-to-night cycle, the super-sized upgrade tree, and the sight of coins bellowing out around you make for an engaging loop of collecting, expanding, and improving. If there is a problem, it’s the need to find something to focus on. The $5m goal is a herculean task, so you’re either going to need to knuckle down or figure out how to trigger one of the other endings, or else you’ll end up in gardening purgatory. It’s a unique proposition in the sense that you must find your own motivation to keep playing, whether it’s the means of triggering an ending not yet seen or discovering the backstory in its entirety. Reap what you sow, and you’ll be rewarded – in the most bonkers way possible.
Get(Color) Games’ Berry Bury Berry is out now on PS5, Xbox Series and Switch. It originally released on PC earlier this year. Published by Black Lantern Collective.