Garden Ink: a coloring book that grows creatures

Garden Ink starts you off with a blank page and a simple idea: merge things, see what happens. Combine decorations to discover more than 150 combinations, many hiding cute little creatures or secrets, then grab your palette and paint the whole garden however you like. Tiny minigames and puzzles pop up along the way to unlock new colors and decorations.

It's absurdly charming. The hand-painted art, the playful sounds and the gentle soundtrack all work together to make 'just one quick session' turn into two hours without you noticing. The whole world is basically your personal coloring book, and it runs on Windows, Mac and Linux.

To be clear, there's no real challenge or story here, so if you need goals, look elsewhere. The start can feel a bit overwhelming until it clicks, the tutorial pop-up can cover part of the screen, and click too fast while merging and your items just plop down side by side. Minor stuff for a game this relaxing.