The Lost Garden

Scott Smallwood, with contributions by Sean Caulfield, Peter Rockwell, Nicolás Arnáez, Jessa Gillespie, Stephan Moore, Chenoa Anderson, and the Audio Games Lab.

The Lost Garden is a first-person audio puzzle game that features sonic exploration in an abandoned underground urban environment. As a stranger here, the player explores the soundscape of a world cut off from nature, perhaps a future us, by interacting with sonic puzzles that open doors to new areas, and, ultimately, the lost garden. Through listening and interacting with sounds, players are encouraged to consider the fragile nature of our natural soundscapes, and to speculate on what the story might be for the abandoned game world. As puzzles are solved, clues are revealed, and doors to new areas are opened, ultimately leading the perceptive player outdoors, to the lost (last?) garden.

Game Original Soundtrack