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Game: BunHouse
Genre: Simulation, Strategy, Management
System: Steam Deck (also on Steam (Windows), soon on Switch, PS and Xbox)
Developer|Publisher: Reky Studios | Digerati
Controller Support: Desktop: Mouse & Keyboard | Steam Deck verified
Age Rating: EU 3+| US Everyone
Price: US $19.99 | UK £15.49 | EU € 16,79
Release Date: October 19th, 2021
No review code was provided, bought the game myself
When I got my Steam Deck, the first game I bought on it was BunHouse. It had the sign that it would work well on the Steam Deck. Because the Deck was still full of secrets, I felt a simple game would ease me in nicely. Aside from all that, at times playing a simple game is just a way to relax from a stressful life. And what better way than to put on your bunny ears and grow some plants.
When I was younger, I had a bunny as I’m sure many youngsters did. I’ve always loved to have many animals around me, and who can resist fluffy ears and sweet eyes? In retrospect, I think it’s a bit sad that my bunnies Fiver and Odie spent their life in a cage, no matter that it was large. Anyway, BunHouse is enamoured with bunnies too it seems, as they take centre stage in the game. As you start up the game, there are short educational tips about rabbit care. One thing is certain, the bunnies in this game have the time of their life: growing plants, ordering seeds, fishing and even doing yoga!
The idea behind this former Kickstarter project is a nice one: your rabbit runs a greenhouse, and it grows plants that are sold when fully grown for carrots. The rabbit doesn’t eat the carrots…no, it uses them to buy more seeds, pots, sprinklers and other stuff to run the greenhouse successfully. Let’s see if it all works out in BunHouse.
When I was younger, before I had my daughter, I was very much into reading and gardening. Had my own little greenhouse and watched every episode of Gardeners World on the BBC. The gardening centre was my favourite place to be. Finding new plants, growing my own from seed, and making arrangements in hanging baskets. I gave all of that up when my daughter was born, didn’t have enough time to maintain it anymore. Soon, my gaming hobby found its way into my heart, and from the start, I wished for a game that had the idea of real gardening in it.
Real gardening is at the heart of BunHouse. Gardening and managing it all, with some amusement on the side. That’s what you should realize before you get the game, for if you expect excitement and discovery in a vast sprawling world, you will be disappointed. No, there’s the Greenhouse, a meadow with the nameplates of the Kickstarter pledgers, and a lake.
You start pretty bare, with a huge Greenhouse, four small tables some pots and a couple of seeds. And, very important, you have a watering can and soil. Both are in unlimited quantities, so no need to fill your watering can all the time. Fill the pots with the soil and put the see into the pot. The encyclopaedia shows how much water or sunlight the plant needs to grow well. The seeds you get at the start are of the medium variety: a medium amount of water needed and a medium amount of sunlight. Watch the water level while your plants grow and make sure it is in a big enough pot.
After a while, when you check the status of the plant, it shows it has achieved its maximum growth. The time has come to sell it: pluck it out of the pot and sell it with one click of a button at your station. The reward in carrots can then be used to buy new seeds, pots and eventually, things that help you in managing it all.
This is the cycle that repeats itself constantly. The challenge lies in sowing more and more seeds, even ones that need extra sunlight or shade. Buy a Sun Magnifier for more light, or a Shade Unit to create shadows. Take care not to plant seeds that don’t need moist ground into a pot that hosted a plant that loved wet feet. For when that happens, your drought-loving seed won’t be happy.
Pretty soon you will feel as if it’s not enough for your bunny to have green paws. You will constantly be busy tweaking, making the process more efficient. Adding sprinklers when your carrot hoard allows it. Using better soil and keeping an eye on the soil quality in the pots, as when you grow plants in them, the nutrients will disappear. Buying a blow dryer so you can quickly make the soil in a pot dryer to keep your plant happy. And best of all, buy a Plantalyzer to alert you to dying plants.
More and more plants unlock, all with specific needs. Hanging plants are added and eventually even water plants. And as you’re not running a plant factory, you want your greenhouse to look good too. Time to invest in tables and other things to make it all look pleasing, like painting your greenhouse and changing the floor. and only sell plants when you need the currency.
Had enough of constantly making the plants happy? Unlock different hats for your bunny and buy a yoga mat so that it can work on its inner zen. Or you can take the rowboat out in the lake and catch fish. The only goal is to catch bigger fish though: a rabbit won’t eat fish, so it throws them right back into the lake.
Personally, I haven’t been able to try it out, playing BunHouse on the Steam Deck but it includes couch co-op while hooking up more than one controller to your game. Should be fun, hopping around together.
BunHouse looks great, and the bunny operates everything flawlessly. You have to remember that this is the first serious game I’ve played on Steam. I’m very impressed at how it runs, and I’m impressed with the images it produces, as you can see in this review.
I can’t help but smile when I’m seeing it walking with the wheelbarrow with a hat under its ears. Everything works flawlessly, with no bugs or jitters. On the PC you could work it with a mouse and keypad as well, but I can testify too that it works perfectly on the Steam Deck.
Reky Studios is a one-man studio: Patrick Gauthier is the guy behind BunHouse. Quite the accomplishment as the game also has its soundtrack ready for download on Steam. Plus, it’s set to release on the Switch and the other consoles at the beginning of 2023.
When you start with BunHouse, I can imagine someone looking for action and entertainment being disappointed. However, this is just my cup of tea: a management game about a topic that I love. This is the first game I ever played that actually feels as if you’re really gardening. When I have the bunny sell the plants, you see the root system and it fits with the actual way a plant’s root system looks. For example, one of the Forget-me-not is an actual clump, straining for a bigger pot. This tells me that Patrick Gauthier really paid attention to his plant knowledge.
BunHouse is a great management strategy game, that is cute at the same time. It’s coming to the Switch as well which is great news, as it works well in handheld. For how it performs on the Steam Deck, and the game itself, I can only give it one verdict.
Final Verdict: Two Thumbs Up 
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