Astra's Garden
is a Ren'Py-based Idle Game made by NomnomNami.
The game takes place in Astra's Apothecary, where the witch Astragalus grows plants from which she prepares herbal remedies to sell to her customers. As you keep growing plants, you will unlock cutscenes where you learn about Astragalus, her customers, and her family.
The game acts as a Prequel to both First Kiss at a Spooky Soiree and Starry Flowers, as it goes over the early stages of Vinegar's illness and reveals how Astragalus and Periwinkle originally became business partners.
Tropes in Astra's Garden:
- Ascended Extra: Astragalus was a supporting character in Starry Flowers before starring in this game.
- Bandage Mummy: Cassava mentions how a doctor once tried to treat a patient with Undeath by just wrapping them in bandages and calling it a day. It kept their skin from falling off, but the smell was unbearable.
- Brutal Honesty: Astragalus does not pull any punches when explaining the effects of Undeath to Vinegar.
- Call-Forward: Vinegar considers soul extraction as an alternative treatment for her Undeath. The end result of that is shown in Spooky Soiree.
- Dead All Along: Cassava's fourth cutscene reveals that he suffered from Undeath long ago, and died after he stopped taking his medicine. He had been visiting Astra in ghost form this whole time.
- Death by Origin Story: Cassava's illness and eventual death are what inspired Astragalus to study medicine.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: The first time Periwinkle enters the shop, Astragalus briefly mistakes him for a girl.
- Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Vinegar's eyes are almost completely devoid of shine, to highlight how miserable her struggles with Undeath have left her.
- Exhausted Eye Bags: Periwinkle suffers from sleep deprivation and has visible eye bags for most of the game. After he becomes financially stable by quitting his crappy modeling job and working for Astra instead, his eye bags disappear.
- Foreshadowing: "Hahaha, what's wrong, little sister? You look like you've seen a ghost!" Said by Cassava, who is later revealed to be a ghost.
- How Dare You Die on Me!: Astragalus initially blames Cassava for abandoning his family by allowing his illness to claim his life. However, her interactions with Vinegar help her understand the situation from Cassava's point of view.
- Inspirationally Disadvantaged: Deconstructed. Vinegar makes it no secret that her illness is making her completely miserable, and constantly hearing people tell her to not give up only puts more pressure on her. Cassava tried to act strong and hide his pain in order to keep his family happy, but this only ended up making his inevitable death all the more painful, both for himself and his family.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Astragalus is irritable and lacking in customer service skills, but she still wants to help people with her medicine business.
- Living Is More than Surviving: Vinegar takes Lich's bane to prolong her life, but the side effects are so horrible that she can't do anything other than lie down and feel sick all the time, making her wonder if her life is even worth living anymore. This gives Astra a better understanding of why her own brother stopped taking his medicine.
- Parental Neglect: Vinegar's parent doesn't take their daughter's illness seriously, and doesn't bother helping her get more medicine when she runs out. This causes Vinegar to miss a week's worth of medication, which worsens her illness.
- Technically-Living Zombie: In Nami's universe, Undeath is a chronic illness that infects living witches and causes their body to rot and fall apart until they eventually die. Vinegar is a notable sufferer of Undeath, and Astra's brother Cassava was killed by it.
- Walking Spoiler: Cassava. His illness and death are a huge part of Astra's backstory, but is only revealed very late in the game.
