3. Botany Manor Story walkthrough - Ch 1 A Fresh Start

The first section acts as a basic tutorial and gives you an idea of the (fairly standard) movement controls, the aim of the game, and how the puzzles work. I'll go into a fair bit of detail here about the game mechanics and keep things more brief from Chapter 2 onwards.

Walk forwards / left where you will see something shining. Read the Letter From Groundskeeper , and then pick up and open the parcel to reveal the Herbarium. You can use the right bumper to skim through it, mess with the index, and so on to get a feel for it. We'll be aiming to fill this completely by the end of the game. Close it , look to your right and interact with the doors to move into the conservatory.

Look to your left and you will find what I'll refer to as a Planting Station. These are scattered around the game in useful locations, and will always contain all the seeds you've collected so far (Seed Inventory), basic pots, soil, a watering can and a compost bin. This one is also home to your first packet of seeds: Windmill Wort. Pick these up and the Herbarium will flick to its page. You'll see there are three clues to collect. Close the Herbarium and read the Potting Instructions next to where the seeds were. It's not a clue, but it tells you how to plant a seed. So let's do that.

In this case, a pot is already in the saucer. At other stations, you may need to grab a pot from underneath and put it there. Interact with the soil to scoop some into the pot. Interact with the top left seed tray and then the watering can to have your first seedling appear. Now let's grab the clues.

Interact with your seedling to pick it up. Now walk around to the right until you find the heat vent on the opposite side of the conservatory. Drop the seedling into the saucer in front of it. To the far left is a newspaper you can read, though you don't need to. Next to it is a Postcard from Marianne, your first clue. Interact with it and read it. It tells you that the Windmill Wort only grows in Sicily. The game then makes you open the Herbarium and tells you a little more about how clues work. Just close the Herbarium at this point, turn right and move to the pinboard.

On the right is a poster of Wildflowers, clue two. Interact with it to register it in the Herbarium; note that Windmill Wort is a Volcanic Flower. Close it and then look at the Temperature Chart for your third clue. Cross-reference Sicily with Volcanic Flowers to find the ideal temperature for your new plant - 60 degrees Celsius.

Close the chart and open your Herbarium. If you flick to the end of Chapter 1 you will see all three clues. As mentioned in the introduction, the contents of the clues aren't included and you can't view anything other than their name and location. Use to return to the plant page and click on "Add Clue." Select any of the three and repeat until all three are in place. You'll get a little tune and the page will change to reflect that you've added the correct ones. Later in the game, you'll gather clues relating to several plants at once. The full list of clues for the Windmill Wort is:

• Postcard from Marianne (Conservatory)
• Wildflowers poster (Conservatory)
• Temperature Chart (Conservatory)

Walk around the conservatory until you find the boiler. Interact with the big red wheel until the temperature reads 60. Head back to the heat vent and press the red button to open it. Your Windmill Wort will blossom.

Windmill Wort

Grow the Windmill Wort

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Close the Herbarium and pick up the plant. We're going to grab an extra achievement now. Walk back around to the Planting Station and interact with the compost bin on the front to throw the flower away.

In The Bin

Throw a flower in the bin

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You can just pop the pot back on the bench. Turn around and head for the newly-revealed double doors, which will take you outside. Follow the path through the wooden gate and to the driveway. Turn right to get to the Gatehouse. You can read the plaque and the note if you wish, and ring the bell for fun, but what we're here for is to collect the key that's in the bowl.

Once you have it, double back along the driveway to the large metal gates (remember you can use to sprint), and unlock the gates. Go through them, then walk left and left again into the small garden before the Orchard (marked as 5 on the map). There are another couple of quick achievements here. You can read the note and examine the cane, but what we want to do is interact with the bench.

Take a break

Sit down on a seat

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Don't get up yet! Wait sixty seconds for another one to pop (you don't get this one on the PC version):

Take A Nap

Sit on a garden bench for one minute or more

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Now you can get up and walk into the house. There's not much to do here yet, other than spin around once you're on the porch to locate your first duck. Interact with it for another easy achievement. We need to grab the other three throughout the game for another one.

Quack Quack

Inspect a duck

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Note the room off to the side (Flower Room, 2 on the map) for later. There is a letter in here you can read if you wish. Otherwise, open the main door and head into the house to start Chapter 2.