Video Game / Wylde Flowers

Farming and witches and secrets, oh my!

Welcome to the life of Tara Wylde in the game Wylde Flowers, developed by Studio Drylock, based in Australia.

The game begins with you moving to a rural island to be closer to your grandma who has recently become sick. At first, it seems as if you're just trying to repair your estranged relationship with her and help out on her family farm, but you quickly learn that everything on the island is not as it seems...

Turns out, you're from a line of witches! Now, it's up to you to develop your powers, learn how to farm and even save the island from a threat that's much closer to home than you realize.

Wylde Flowers was released on September 20, 2022 and is playable on the Nintendo Switch, iOS and Steam.

The official website for the game can be found here.

This game contains examples of:

#-F

• Aerith and Bob: We have characters named Cameron and Vanessa, then we have characters named Zephyr and Aryel.
• Affectionate Nickname: Tara's grandmother calls her Honeybee quite often.
• The Alcoholic: Implied with Westley and Bruno and pretty much confirmed with Giva and Cameron, who both attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings at the Consciousness Center and talk about their sobriety in a Winter 1 cutscene.
• Anti-Frustration Features: The game has one main save file and autosaves more constantly, allowing a player to go back to earlier in the day or even a day or two back if necessary.
• Battle Couple: If you marry Amira or Damon before you battle Vanessa, you two are technically this.
• Banishing Ritual: What can be used by Tara to get rid of all the wraiths during each of the witch trials and Vanessa's at the end of the game.
• Beast and Beauty: Though the in-game description describes him otherwise, Westley considers this to be the case if you pursue a relationship with him. He even alludes to this in a relationship cutscene.
• The Big Damn Kiss: Happens between Francis and Angus in Fall 1, after quite a few quests to help out for it.
• Big Fancy House: The Mayor's Mansion.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: Francis hints that he comes from this. He had a falling out with his brother who is a witch and the falling out caused a split in his family. Kim has also mentioned issued with their family accepting their identity.
• Bilingual Bonus: Knowing Persian makes understanding Amira's pet names easier and cuter. Also helps you understand the dishes Giva name drops before she describes them.
• But Thou Must!: Tara has to meet every single islander, but after that, she can do whatever she wants. It'll be a pretty short game though.
• Cast Full of Gay: Tara's queer (per Word of God), Francis and Angus are gay, and Giva and Amira are lesbians. Shelby hints at being gay during Angus' wedding and Kim's sexuality is not outright stated, but they do get into a relationship with Amira if Tara is not romancing either one of them by the end of the main game.
• Child Marriage Veto: Part of Giva's backstory. In fact, she says that her parents were more upset about this than finding out she was a lesbian.
• The City: Milkwater to most of Fairhaven's citizens. Cameron himself was in Los Angeles before moving to the island.
• City Mouse: How the game begins for Tara. Some of her new neighbors are welcoming, others are skeptical about her due to her city ties.
• Clear My Name: What Tara has to help do for Sophia, Giva, Marty and others when they're accused of being witches by other town members.
• Crystal Dragon Jesus: The League of the Conscious Mind, spearheaded by Cameron, who is called Messenger Conner by many of the islanders. They meet from 10-12 on Sundays and the center is right across from the town graveyard.
• Dating Sim: A feature of the game. Tara can romance two women, one non-binary person and four men.
• Demonic Possession: Happens to Natalia, Parker, Angus and a few other characters throughout the game. There are quests revolving around trying to free them from the possession is Tara chooses.
• Dialogue Tree: Occurs frequently throughout main gameplay and happens every time Tara triggers a relationship cutscene.
• Difficulty Levels: The time setting is on Normal by default and can be changed to Challenging, where time will move 10 minutes about every five seconds, or Relaxed, where time will move the slowest.
• Disappeared Dad: Juliet's father and Sophia's husband, Giacamo, died before the game begins. Violet and Sebastian's father moved off the island once their mother, Gloria, disappeared. Tara's father is alluded to throughout much of Spring 1, but is never seen in the game proper. Bruno, Otto's father, is probably the only dad physically present in the entire gameplay.
• Eating Optional: You technically don't have to eat in this game. Doing so will replenish Tara's energy, but you can also go to sleep and wake up with a full energy bar, no food required.
• Easily Embarrassed Youngster: Juliet.
• Easily Forgiven: Can be how Tara reacts after learning that Westley worked with Vanessa and was one of the reasons why the Wellspring became so unbalanced.
• Elemental Crafting: When the game begins, Tara is given very basic and rusty tools. Once she has access to the mines, she can upgrade them with iron, copper, etc. so she loses less energy when using them.
• Endless Game: Thanks to a late 2022 update, you can now change the seasons whenever you wish, allowing you to mine, farm and sell, among other things, indefinitely.
• Exposed to the Elements: All the characters wear their default outfits throughout every season. Tara's is a red dress, black jacket and brown boots. Kai's is a tank top, shorts and flip-flops. It's particularly humorous in Winter 1, when all of them complain about how cold it is, but never change their clothing.
• The Faceless: All the members of the Fairhaven Coven, until Tara goes through a series of quests to find out their identity. Also, the Rude Raven, until they're revealed to be Vanessa.
• Fantastic Nirvana: The point of The League of the Conscious Mind, which, according to Cameron, alludes to reaching the "Pinnacle" and the "Peak" in ones community.
• Fantastic Racism: Between the humans of Fairhaven and the witches of Fairhaven. So much so, a decent chunk of the game is dedicated to having witch trials in Town Hall. Is resolved when everybody in the coven reveals their identities in order to come together to defeat Vanessa.
• Farm Life Sim: With magic and romance on the side.
• Fetch Quest: Quite a few in the game and one of the first quests is the mayor telling Tara to go around and introduce herself to everybody in town. Yes. Everybody. And when Giva moves in later on in the game, the mayor tells her the same thing. According to other residents in town, it's standard.
• Fishing Minigame: Used to, well, get fish in the game. Fish can be sold to Bruno or used in recipes.
• Former Bigot: Pretty much anybody who disliked witches eventually comes to like them, since half of town are them or will eventually become them and are their children, partners, family members or friends.
• From Stray to Pet: Tara can adopt the black cat that hangs around in various spots in town. Though initially named Cat by the game, eventually she finds out that the cat's actual name is Cleocatra.

G-M

• Game-Breaking Bug: Towards the end of 2022, the game received an update that added in endless seasons and romance. However, it also prevented players who hadn't gotten Francis and Angus married yet from turning the seasons into Winter. This was eventually fixed in early 2023.
• Gameplay Automation: The point of the Whirlygigs Tara can have Zephyr build. You can build four of them and they will fish for her, water her plants/crops, milk her cows/sheer her sheep/collect eggs from her chickens or mine.
• Guilty Until Someone Else Is Guilty: Basically how the witch trials go in Fairhaven.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Tara and her grandmother, as well as Lina, as well as her two children, Emmi and Finn, Amira, Violet's entire family, including her mother, father and brother, Vanessa, Shelby, Francis... it's probably easier to say who ISN'T half human in Fairhaven.
• Happily Married: Tara and whomever you marry, as long as you keep up their relationship points. Story-wise, Giacamo and Sophia, as well as Francis and Angus are considered to be this. Tara's grandmother and grandfather were this as well.
• Hidden Depths: Just about all of Fairhaven and Ravenwood Hollow. It can be discovered through relationship cutscenes.
• Hidden Elf Village: Ravenwood Hollow.
• Hiding Your Heritage: All of the witches in the Coven hide their identities from the town. Some call it a necessity, but others wish they didn't have to hide. This eventually becomes a plot point between Lina and Parker specifically and the latter doesn't take it well when she eventually tells him about her identity.
• Hybrid All Along: A major plot point for Tara, who learns from her grandmother that she is from a long line of witches. Smaller examples are Juliet, whose father was a witch and Sebastian, whose entire family are witches.
• I Miss Mom: Said word for word quite a bit by Violet and Sebastian to a lesser degree.
• Injured Player Character Stage: If Tara fails to go to sleep before 2 a.m. too many times, she'll have to go to Amira for treatment and her energy bar is shortened severely. If she wakes up on a day where Amira is closed, there's not much to do but immediately go back to sleep to go to the next day, or try and power through the day by eating many things to get through small tasks with your limited energy bar.
• Initiation Ceremony: Shown when Tara joins the Coven and later Francis.
• Innocent Bigot: Is the case prior to the last battle between the Coven and Vanessa. The island residents will often talk about how much they dislike witches or the residents that have been accused of being witches to Tara, who is, well, a witch. Happens early on too after the main game is over, as non-magic residents are still trying to get used to the idea of their loved ones being witches. Eventually, though, they become understanding, or at least don't say that they're uncomfortable out loud any more.
• Insecure Love Interest: Westley feels this way about his relationship with Tara, due to his lycanthropy. There are plenty of choices you can choose throughout the game to ease his concerns.
• Interspecies Friendship: Can be the case if you become friends with Westley, Aryel, Peri and Zephyr, but also technically true with anybody you befriend since you're a witch.
• Interspecies Romance: With Tara (half-human and half-witch) and Westley, who is a half-human and half-werewolf, or Kai, Kim, Giva or Cameron, since they're human.
• Item Crafting: A big mechanic in the game.
• Judge, Jury, and Executioner: Mayor Otto's role in the witch trials. A few residents even ask if it's legal for him to do so during one of the trials.
• Lighthouse Point: There's a ruined lighthouse in the beach area of Fairhaven. As of January 2023, there's no word on if it will become a quest or involve a new character in the future.
• Local Hangout: Damon's bar named...the Bar. Even Vanessa hangs out there. For a non-alcoholic example, many of the residents hangout in the town square on the weekends. For the Coven, their meeting place in the woods.
• Love Confession: What happens in the six heart cutscene for all romance options.
• Marry for Love: What Tara can do with seven characters in the game and what Francis and Angus do in Fall 1.
• Missing Mom: A huge part of Violet and Sebastian's backstory is about what happened to their missing mother, Gloria.
• Money for Nothing: A fairly well-known balance issue involves fish sticks, such that there's even an optional setting to literally "Embargo Fish Sticks". After selling a few fish to Bruno, it's possible to buy Tuna at 20 apiece. Flour can be purchased from the General Store at 15 a pop — and then the selling price of fish sticks, which are one flour and one fish, is 100g. A few loops back and forth between home and the center of town on a Tuesday (preferably with a speed spell and the clock turned to casual mode), and anyone who wants to completely cheese things can readily have a million in the first week or two. Thankfully, money is a comparatively small part of what's necessary to progress.
• Multinational Team: When it comes to the Coven, Amira, is from Persia and Damon is from South Africa.
• Must Make Amends: Westley, who who betrayed the Coven in a deal with Vanessa, comes to the clearing where they gather one night after the main game ends and offers up a potion that helps him suppress his lycanthropy during the day in order to help balance the Wellspring. Before giving it up as an offering, he says that he hopes it can be the first fix of many for what he has done.

N-Z

• New Powers as the Plot Demands: For Tara, who learns how to make new potions and incantations as the story progresses.
• NPC Scheduling: Every single character in Wylde Flowers has their own schedule. Luckily, if they own a shop or run something that requires office hours, it's viewable in game by selecting the diary. At least one shop a day will be open to sell items to, though Damon's bar is the only place that is open after 6 p.m. Every other place tends to have an 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. schedule. When characters are working, they can sometimes be found in other open shops, in the town square, or in the forest. Later in the game, there's an item that can be crafted and when filled with a potion, find any character you wish, making it easy to locate them for quests.
• Offerings to the Gods: Subverted as it's not a God, but the main way to get Tara's magic replenished in the game is to give offerings to the Wellspring. These can be anything from flowers to food and drinks.
• Point-and-Click Map: Once you receive your broomstick, if you have at least one Levitation Potion on you, you're able to pick any point on the map and fly there. Does not work in Ravenwood Hollow.
• Power-Up Food: Eating any type of food replenishes varying amounts of energy. Alternatively, drinking an alcoholic beverage increases your magic bar, but decreases your energy.
• Present Absence: Giacamo, who is dead before the game begins, Markus, Lina's father who is in a nursing home in Milkwater and Gloria, who disappeared before the game begins. Tara's grandmother also qualifies as this once she dies.
• Purple Is Powerful: Violet, whose name is another word for purple and has purple hair, is the Coven's best potion maker. She's so good, she eventually gets the Herbalist title. Gloria, her mother, is one of the most powerful witches and wears a purple dress.
• Really Gets Around: Tara can technically be this if she dates and breaks up with all of the romance options.
• Relationship Upgrade: Once Tara reaches Intimate Friend status with one of the seven romance options, a cut scene will happen between the two of them if she shows up at the right place at the right time. There, the romance option will ask if she wants to go on a date with them and if she accepts, they'll be considered Dating. This can eventually progress to Husband/Wife/Partner.
• Relationship Values: Available for all 30 characters. You begin with a Villager relationship with all of them and can progress to other tiers if you choose so.
• Renovating the Player Headquarters: The farm starts out with small plot at the left of the home for crops and flowers, as well as a small shed to the right of it. Eventually, a barn, chicken coop, greenhouse and a bigger field and shed can be built to help with productivity and getting more money.
• Resigned in Disgrace: Mayor Otto does this towards the end of the main game.
• The Reveal: In game for Tara is finding out that her grandmother Hazel is a witch. For the player, however, there's quite a few, including the identity of all the Coven members, the existence of Ravenwood Hollow and the news that Vanessa is a rogue witch who was barred from joining Fairhaven's Coven by Lina's father, Markus.
• Ridiculously Fast Construction: Parker can build most of your farm upgrades, repair the mine and fix the bridge leading to the mountains in less than three days. Subverted in the case of the broken ferry in Winter 1, which takes the entire season and a bit of magic to fix.
• Romance Sidequest: There are seven non player characters Tara can romance if you chose so, but the game can be played fully without starting a romance with anybody.
• Scripted Event: There are several events that will always happen, no matter the playthrough. Some of these examples include the death of Tara's grandmother, Tara's witch initiation and Francis and Angus marrying in Fall 1.
• Second Love: Parker for Lina, who dated Thomas in high school. Sophia can be this for Thomas, if you choose to help him pursue her. Also, any character that Tara pursues after her first one, should she ever break up with them.
• Shipper on Deck: Sophia is this for anybody Tara says she's interested in. Tara herself can be this for Sophia and Thomas if you wish.
• Sidequest: There are plenty of sidequests to do each season before the credits roll, but not all of them have to be completed within a season and some can carry over to other seasons. Quests that occur after the credits roll falls under this trope as well, unless you're going for 100% Completion.
• Small Town Boredom: Sebastian says he can't wait to move away from Fairhaven from time to time if Tara talks to him.
• Summoning Ritual: Can be crafted by Tara to summon storms, people and more.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: The initial reaction of Francis, who works together with the Coven in order to save his husband Angus from a wraith. He eventually begins to love the Coven and is happy to work with them.
• That One Sidequest: Otto tells Tara that she has to go around town and introduce herself to everybody. She really has to do it too.
• The One That Got Away: Lina for Thomas, whom he dated in high school, but later got married to Parker. Thomas can later pursue a relationship with Sophia, with urging from you, if you wish.
• Timed Mission: While there's no rush to change the seasons (repeating dialogue by characters and being unable to grow different plants, assuming you haven't built the greenhouse yet, are the only downsides), if you don't go from Summer 1 to Fall 1 in time, your well will run dry and you'll have to purchase jugs of water to continue to water your plants.
• Time Travel: Tara has the option to do this one day after fixing a pocket watch that Shelby owned. She goes back to right before her grandmother's death and tells her everything that she's managed to accomplish since.
• Underground Level: Levels 1-20 of the mine located in the northwest part of Tara's farm.
• You Are What You Hate: Francis, who learns that he's a witch when he's suddenly called to the Coven circle out of desperation from Lina. Initially, he stays just because he wants to help out Angus, but eventually comes into his own and stays because he likes it.

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