The Gardens Between already had a reputation for quiet impact an indie puzzle title that blurred the line between memory and dream. Now it’s getting a VR adaptation called Hidden Memories: The Gardens Between, set to launch for Meta Quest on July 25.
The core premise remains: a story about two childhood friends navigating surreal, miniature islands built from fragments of their shared past. But this version shifts the perspective into first-person, inviting players to physically explore the layered environments that were once viewed from a distance.
Designed for room-scale interaction
Unlike the original, where players guided characters from a fixed camera angle, Hidden Memories centers the action around direct environmental interaction. In VR, you’re not moving the characters you’re manipulating the world itself.
You explore each island by adjusting time, rotating objects, and solving light-based puzzles. It’s a spatial experience more than a narrative one, though the emotional thread still runs quietly through each level. Objects like VHS tapes, garden tools, and old toys aren’t just props—they’re the building blocks of the game’s logic and its memoryscape.
Visually minimalist, emotionally dense
The art style translates well to VR. The islands are compact but detailed, with soft lighting and ambient sound creating a meditative rhythm. There’s no dialogue, just movement, objects, and time loops that slowly reveal the connections between the characters and the spaces they inhabit.
This isn’t a game about complex systems or branching paths. It’s linear, intentional, and built around atmosphere. In VR, the slowed-down pacing feels even more intimate, making each puzzle feel like a personal ritual rather than a mechanical task.
A fresh way to revisit an existing world
For those familiar with The Gardens Between, this release is more of a reinterpretation than a straight port. The perspective shift creates a new relationship with the environments, one that feels more tactile and present. It’s less about replaying old levels and more about experiencing them from the inside out.This also fits a broader trend in VR: using the medium to deepen rather than complicate gameplay. Hidden Memories doesn’t add new mechanics just for the sake of novelty. It focuses on translating mood and space into a more immersive format.
Virtual Reality Explorer & Game Reviewer
Always the first to plug in. VRSCOUT dives head-first into the most immersive VR worlds, analyzing mechanics, comfort, innovation, and that elusive “presence” factor. If he says it’s worth it, it probably is.
