It’s not very often that a brand new game is unveiled to the world less than two weeks before it is due to release, but that is the case with Grow Home.

Originating as an experimental tool to test ideas with procedural animation made by a small team of eight developers from Ubisoft Reflections, Grow Home became a hit internally with Ubisoft staff members and eventually drew the attention of the powers that be in management, which gave the project the green light it needed to blossom into a full release currently planned for Windows PC via Steam. The launch date is already set for February 4th, and the game will sell for $9.99.

Grow Home is an open world adventure game built around the central concept of vertical climbing and exploration. The game stars BUD (acronym for Botanical Utility Droid), a robot inspired by the loveable Wall-E, who is procedurally animated, meaning his hands are controlled independently from one another, thus allowing players to climb, grab, push, and pull things without the confines of scripted gameplay or level design.

The game promises a true sandbox of adventure, containing all climbable surfaces and no set paths. The main objective will be to steadily grow the Star Plant into a botanical tower stretching upwards of 2km high, starting from sea level and eventually reaching an orbiting space ship. While doing so, the 3D world consisting of a series of floating islands will serve as a playground of discovery as different types of animals and plant life are encountered, new environments are explored, and hidden crystals are collected to expand BUD’s powers.

In a nutshell, Grow Home has all the trappings of an indie game, but it’s coming from a developer and publisher of AAA productions. It’s really great to see more and more small, experimental projects like this make it into the hands of the gaming public.