Botany Manor was inspired by Tomb Raider, says creative director

Botany Manor is making its way to Switch on April 9th, 2024, and it’s quite an interesting title. You’ll play as Arabella and explore a historic manor and its grounds to look for clues in her notes, books, posters, and items scattered around the residence to determine the correct set of circumstances to help the flora flourish. Not surprisingly, a unique game like this has equally unique inspirations.

In an interview with Nintendo Everything, creative director Laure de May shared the inspirations behind Botany Manor. Turns out a very big-name, action-packed franchise helped pave the way for some of what you see in this first-person puzzler.

…I don’t know if you’re familiar with the Croft Manor levels in Tomb Raider? Yeah, so I just love that. Specifically, I didn’t like to do the shooting and the going off into the dangerous world, so I always thought, how nice would it be to have a game that’s just a manor? And then I also like the idea of doing something in it, not just like a life simulator.

[Laure de May, creative director ]