Summary

My Money Grows on Trees is a farming simulation-slash-clicker where you plant and grow trees, and subsequently, harvest the “fruits” – cold hard cash – on a seemingly remote island. Here, you’ll need to gather enough cash and gold bars to set up your first tree farm, planting, watering, growing, and harvesting increasingly more profitable trees, and even eventually setting up greenhouses and sprinklers to manage your burgeoning farm. How much money will you make?

Gameplay

The gameplay loop here is surprisingly simple. The game starts you off with nothing but your bare hands. However, after smashing some trees and rocks, and even a couple of gold bar deposits, and of course, opening up chests to unlock new growing plots and trees, you’ll earn enough cash, gold bars, and seeds to set up your first tree farm.

Placing plots and planting seeds are super intuitive and easy here. By pressing Tab, you’ll bring up the build mode, complete with a wheel of everything you’ve unlocked so far. As you progress, you’ll realize that there are multiple wheels in the game that you can fill up, allowing you access to a whole lot more types of trees and game features.

The trees you start off with typically don’t take too long to mature, allowing you to harvest literal cash from their branches. However, once you unlock higher-grade seeds, you’ll want to make full use of the watering can you have to speed up the growing process. Interestingly enough, your trees will go through the cycle of growing and maturing endlessly, and well, the watering can you have must be magic because you don’t ever need to fill it up. These little features do make the grind a bit more bearable.

At this point, you may be wondering, "Why do you need so much money?" Well, you’ll need it not just to buy new seeds, plots, and other items, but you’ll also need a lot of it to upgrade the tools you have. This includes your harvesting tool, the magical watering can, boots (which control movement speed), and the best one yet – the glider. The upgrades for the harvesting tool are more critical than the rest in this game, mainly because it’s the only thing standing between you and opening more chests to unlock the next tier of seeds and farming technologies. So, it stands to reason that the harvesting tool upgrade is the costliest of them all.

In a way, the mechanisms here resemble that of incremental clickers, albeit in a 3D simulator format. It’s fun; it’s grindy; and it’s surprisingly relaxing to play. Personally, I also really liked the gliding (and eventually, flying with a jetpack) feature in the game. Although there isn’t a whole lot of high ground to jump off from, the gliding is a cool touch and adds an alternative way to travel.

That said, as addictive and fun as the gameplay loop is, the content in this game is sorely lacking. As mentioned, there are only four upgrades, and the trees you grow end up looking the same even as you unlock better seeds. The island is as barren as you’d think, with, for instance, no secret hideouts or caves to explore. There’s no real reward for exploring every nook and cranny of it – you just need to venture about enough to open chests and mine enough gold bars to progress. The day and night cycle here also seems like a missed opportunity to introduce some interesting trees, such as unique trees that only grow under the moonlight.

Of course, the nail in the coffin – as some players may say – comes in the form of “zero achievements”. Yes, the developer has pointedly said that he will not add any achievements to the game which is a major bummer for a hypercasual title like this one. Other games within the subgenre tend to have achievements to make playing the game feel more rewarding, especially considering that the game can get rather repetitive and grindy after awhile. Plus, the achievements can give the game longevity even beyond reaching the endgame, where you’ve unlocked everything there is to unlock. It just feels like such a missed opportunity to not even consider adding achievements… and this is coming from someone who’s not an achievement hunter.

Community

You don’t have to grind for money alone in My Money Grows on Trees! The game allows you to host a game and invite your friends to join you in your quest to earn even more money. All your friends need to do is to purchase a copy of the game and hop into your hosted session – it’s that easy!

Graphics/ Sound

My Money Grows on Trees features bright, lively visuals which are set against a clear blue sky that really brings the natural world on the island to life. The art here focuses on providing cozy, wholesome vibes by creating inviting and relaxing atmosphere for players to enjoy while they are farming their trees.

In terms of sound, the game features a playlist of some pretty relaxing tunes, which complements the game’s chillax pace. There’s an option to skip a soundtrack too, if you don’t like the current music.

Conclusion

All in all, My Money Grows on Trees delivers a relaxing farming experience in the style of an incremental clicker, albeit in 3D. Its content may be a bit lacking for a game of its subgenre, but what’s there makes for a fun hour or two before you’ve unlocked and seen everything the game has to offer. There are just so many ways the game could provide more value to its players, either by simply adding achievements, interesting Easter eggs, or secrets for players to find, ensuring the game’s replayability and longevity.

So, if you’re willing to drop $5 or so for a 2-hour (at most) clicker-style farming simulator, then My Money Grows on Trees is perfect for you. However, if you’re not, maybe put it in your wishlist for now and see if the game gets any content updates to justify the price tag.