The Garden Path is a new game set to release this year, and it is made by a single person by the name of Louis Durrant, founder of Carrotcake. Of course, while The Garden Path has a very distinct identity and strives to be its own game, there are influences like Stardew Valley and Terraria. Despite the influence in Durrant's work and the fact that the developer enjoys playing both Stardew Valley and Terraria, these games also convey something that does not exactly fit with The Garden Path's gameplay.
As a matter of fact, Durrant's experience while playing both Stardew Valley and Terraria was limited in a sense. Durrant couldn't find the motivation to delve deeper into these games, and despite the fact that many other players pour a lot of their time into them, The Garden Path's developer often wondered what it was that caused the initial interest to drop. That is the reason why Durrant wanted to build The Garden Path in a way that it could be played for a long time, which is both similar to Stardew Valley and Terraria and also different in its own way.
How The Garden Path Differs From Stardew Valley and Terraria
Over time, Durrant figured out which were the reasons why he would stop being interested in how those games work, and they have lots to do with the way progress is achieved and how important features like item management truly are. Stardew Valley and Terraria, while different from one another, share some similarities which are something that Durrant didn't want in The Garden Path, like a certain pressure in how the games are played or what there is to do and a limited time frame to do it. The Garden Path is a much more relaxed game in those regards, and players can log out and log back in whenever they want without having to worry they will lose progress or that they won't be able to get specific achievements completed.
[T]hese games are very much item management and there's a certain amount of pressure; in Don't Starve you need to stay alive, in Stardew Valley you need to water your plants every day, and in Terraria you're fending off from zombies, but I like something where there are not greater pressures.
In The Garden Path, players can take their time to explore and talk to each and every character they meet because there is no real sense of danger in the game. They can dedicate the amount of time that suits their needs to gardening or other activities alike, and there are multiple ways for The Garden Path not to lock players out of content thanks to possible alternatives. For example, fishing in The Garden Path can take gardening's place as the primary activity in the game because of how fish have powers that can be used to care for the garden without actually having to do that manually.
Stardew Valley and Terraria are also games where crafting is a very important piece of the puzzle, whereas Durrant didn't want The Garden Path to have that sort of complexity. Crafting in video games can often be quite a mechanical task that involves gathering lots of materials for players to actually be able to make anything, and in the long run that can become a bit overbearing. The Garden Path works differently, and players are encouraged to traverse the world and get lost in it.
I didn't want a game that felt too bogged down in crafting, either. [...]it didn't need like 500 copper tubes to build this ax, this ax should feel like it's existed for quite some time. I wish games were more like that, which I guess has maybe an RPG element to it.
By doing that, gamers will have the chance to stumble upon things and gradually find interesting items for them to use or trade with a merchant. Also, The Garden Path is very achievement-oriented in a way that is not really similar to other games. In fact, players know exactly what they need to make some progress towards their goal, and then achievements themselves can unlock stars, which can then be used to form constellations and obtain something more. Overall, there are similarities between The Garden Path, Stardew Valley and Terraria, but these games also shaped Durrant's work in a way that makes it depart from its original influences.
The Garden Path is in development and will release in 2021.