Bunhouse Review (Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4 & PlayStation 5)

Beatrix Potter once had it in her mind that, while the world revolving around her had a rather opaque and complex tint to it, talking animals and whimsical things could still exist from within the margins of a piece of illustrated fiction. In 2024, too, these values still remain as fixated as they once were, as proven in Reky Studios’ Bunhouse—a cutesy greenhouse-centric vessel in which players can not only cultivate their own imagination, but also feed directly from the source of Potter’s tapestry of creative ideas. And yes, there are talking bunnies; eat your heart out, Peter Rabbit.

Given the fact that you’ve landed here, it wouldn’t make a lick of sense to state the obvious, but for the sake of lathering a bit of context over it, we’ll settle for this: Bunhouse is not—I repeat, not—a demanding game; it’s a couch “co-hop” gardening sim in which you water plants, tug on weeds, and meander around a jolly-green garden either on your own, or with a bunch of hop-aholic friends. Naturally, you can expect to find a wholesome amount of content to shovel through, most of which takes place from within the confines of the greenhouse and its surrounding wild habitats. In other words, it’s the polar opposite of Squirrel With a Gun — and that’s, you know, passable.

So, is the so-called Bunhouse actually worth playing, more so now that it has managed to plant its roots on Xbox and PlayStation? Well, if you are keen to get your hands dirty and into the paw prints of an aspiring botanist, then be sure to read on for a few quick pointers.

Hop to It

Bunhouse is all about one thing: tending to a greenhouse—a task that requires little more than two willing paws and a toolbox, to boot. Either alone, or with the aid of up to three other, well, rabbits, you’ll need to transform the outer shell of a picturesque plot, and essentially fill it to the brim with plants and other natural rarities, assuring that there’s a place for each seed to thrive and flourish. As one of these adorable and fairly robust bunnies, you must also obtain a variation of customizable cosmetics, with which you can apply to a slew of different structural designs and what have you. It’s a simple gameplay loop that we’ve seen numerous times before, with the only exception being its chosen avatars. But, seeing as there’s a relatively large market for botany-loving bunnies (apparently), it’s easy to see why two and two were put together.

A typical routine in Bunhouse goes like this: you plant a few seeds around your greenhouse, and then water them until they’ve reached peak maturity, after which you exchange them for Carrots—the in-game currency—and purchase more tools, seeds, and other visual improvements for your habitat. Typically, you’ll be spending more credits on better seeds, as a higher quality of plant tends to produce a larger quantity of Carrots on completion; it’s merely the case of earning enough of said Carrots to keep the greenhouse ticking over year-round, and not to mention having a surplus of Carrots for additional novelties in later stages of the greenhouse’s ongoing development. Again, nothing particularly fancy here, minus the fact that such duties can become a little monotonous — especially after several hours of watering the same plants.

Robotic Bunny

I’m not saying that the gameplay loop is bad, but given the fact that several of the key mechanics are a little worse for wear—movements, for example, are often marred by fairly janky controls and robotic gestures that are often too half-baked to gloss over—does dampen the overall experience. It isn’t too much of an issue, though, given that one of your primary objectives is to, you know, hop around and move between bouquets and what have you, it can be a little frustrating to watch unfold. With that said, it didn’t take long for me to familiarize myself with the clunkiness of it all and just crack on with the tasks at hand; the whimsical nature of the concept might’ve had something to do with that, to be fair.

Of course, as a solid portion of the journey takes place within the confines of a greenhouse, there aren’t too many spots to flex your creative wisdom. Thankfully, though, there are several mini-games and quirky tidbits that allow you to take a breather every so often, if only to break up the monotony of watering the same seeds every eight seconds. For example, there’s fishing—a short but surprisingly enjoyable pastime that can serve you with an additional purpose that doesn’t quite involve sweeping through the same motions thrice over.

In addition to the above, there are also several upgrades that you can make to your surroundings: you can add new colors to your greenhouse, or fashion a stylish hat for your fluffy companion, for example. So again, whilst the lion’s share of the gameplay does revolve around the one job, Bunhouse does at least make an effort to generate enough extracurricular activities for you to chew through on the sidelines.

Just Keep Fertilizing

What’s good about Bunhouse is that it often rewards you for persevering and grinding out a lot of the same tasks. As with any rags-to-riches tale, it takes a sufficient amount of time to unlock a good portion of the finer ingredients and effectively make headway on some of the more complicated milestones. For example, you begin your journey with just a few small pots and a watering can—two items that can ultimately be transformed into two-for-one sprinklers and an entire woodland garden, to list just a couple of its upgrades. To this end, the game does allow you to bathe in your successes, regardless of how significant or beneficial they are to the general infrastructure of the habitat. It’s a slow burner, for sure, but one that provides just enough of an incentive to keep you forever topping up on water and relaying the same objectives.

On one hand, Bunhouse does have a lot of clean and palatable settings to marvel over; it’s an indie game, though, so it doesn’t quite stack up as well as other games of its kind. Sure enough, I wasn’t quite expecting to sink into the next chapter of a Beatrix Potter novel, but I was expecting to see a hearty amount of thematic elements and character designs. Fortunately for me, all of these requests found themselves on the docket, and to my surprise, had managed to surpass my expectations, despite being oddly high for an independent game about bunnies, carrots, and plant fertilizer.

Verdict

Given the fact that Bunhouse is the brainchild of a single developer, I’m willing to give credit where it’s due and say that, while it certainly isn’t the best choice for fledgling farmhands and fellow green thumbs out there, it is a worthy substitute for those in need of a cozy place to lay their feet, nonetheless. Granted, it doesn’t idle in receipt of any game-changing content, nor does it tout a sturdy interface with an enormous array of features, either, but where it lacks in technical complexity, it oddly makes up for in several other ways — its simple yet elegant gameplay loop, being the standout feature of the bunch. For this reason alone, it’s worth referring to as an easy peeler; it’s without a thick skin, and it’s relatively easy to sink your teeth into, despite several of its flaws being tied into its technical performance.

When all’s said and done, you could certainly do a lot worse than Bunhouse. Conceptually, it isn’t half bad, and it does manage to give the likes of Peter Rabbit something to write home about, but on the other hand, it doesn’t quite amount to another chapter in Beatrix Potter’s universally adored anthology. With that said, if you’re looking to fool around with a pot of soil and a good old-fashioned watering can for a few short hours, then consider this the plot of land that’s most in dire need of cultivating. It’s a simple game, and one that probably won’t tick a lot of die-hard gamers’ boxes, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s not worth playing. However, if it’s animalistic pandemonium on a silver platter that you’re hungry for, then refer back to our previous comment about Squirrel With a Gun.