Puzzles

Puzzles are a frequent occurrence in Grow: Song of the Evertree. They can take many forms, and result in material rewards like Chests or even unlock certain doors and passageways. It will be necessary to solve certain puzzles in order to recover all eight Song Fragments, restore Harmony to the Evertree, and complete the game's Main Plotline.

Types of Puzzles

There are five basic puzzle types found throughout the game:

Button-Press Puzzles - These puzzles require the Apprentice to jump on or push buttons in a specific order. Usually there are four buttons arranged in a specific way, and somewhere nearby will be the clue to solving the puzzle, using lighted stones reminiscent of bioluminescent fungi to indicate the order.
Gong Puzzle - There is only one of these puzzles in all of Alaria, and it requires the Apprentice to play a "Simon"-like memory game, using their Mallet to strike the gongs in the order demonstrated.

Three of the Gong Puzzle gongs.
Aerial view of the Gong Puzzle at night.

Item-Matching Puzzles - In these types, the Apprentice must locate a specific item and place it into the matching receptacle. Most often, this calls for matching one or more Keystones of a particular colour and shape (cube, sphere, or hexagonal prism) which can be found nearby. However, some Item-Matching Puzzles just require any Rock, even one not from the World where the Puzzle is found. The receptacles for the Keystones or Rocks may be arranged in a variety of layouts. To complete either type of these Puzzles, the Place button (indicated at the lower-right corner of the User Interface), not the Throw button, must be used.
Keystone-Matching Puzzle in a Cave. The door will open when all four Keystones are placed.
Keystone-Matching Puzzle on a World. When all six Keystones are placed, a reward will appear.
A Rock-Matching Puzzle which needs three Rocks placed in the appropriate places.
A Rock-Matching Puzzle which only requires a single Rock.

Maze - There is only one purpose-built maze in all of Alaria (although both natural Caves and Vaults can seem labyrinthine), which combines confounding construction with an Item-Matching Puzzle.
A view from above the Maze.

Sliding-Block Puzzles - similar to Sokoban, but much easier, these puzzles involve smashing large blocks around a square area (using the Mallet), until they are aligned a specific way (usually marked by glowing squares). Most of these puzzles have a reset button, should the puzzle get into an unsolvable state.
A very simple Sliding-Block Puzzle with only two blocks.
A more challenging Puzzle with five blocks which must be moved onto the glowing spots.

There are also a couple of things that seem like puzzles that really aren't:

Battery-Powered Chest Dispensers / Door Openers - These simply require two to four Alchemy Batteries to make a Chest appear or open a door.
Withered Insect clearing - A few Caves require the Apprentice to free, or free and capture, a number of Withered Insects in order to push back enough of The Withering to proceed further into the Cave or receive a reward.

Animal Statue Altar

The full Animal Statue Altar view
The Bear Statue
The Rabbit Statue
The Owl Statue
The Fox Statue

Upon unlocking the Meadow Quarters, the apprentice may discover a peculiar structure to the northwest of town, an open ring of four animal statues arrayed around a central stone platform.

These statues each correspond to other altars scattered throughout Alaria. Each must be activated to provide the final prize -- a collection of four golden chests each packed with random rewards!

As the far-flung altars for each statue is activated through the use of four Alchemy Batteries, a chest will appear at the altar where the batteries were spent and the orb for the corresponding statue at the Animal Statue Altar will raise and begin spinning in kind.

Returning to the main Animal Statue Altar allows for a quick check ofwhich altars have been activated, should The Apprentice need a refresh of their memory.

NOTE: some altars cannot be accessed until nearly all districts have been freed of The Withering, so this puzzle will remain unsolved until Alaria is nearly restored in full.

Altar Locations


Name	District Required	Directions
Altar of the Bear	Forest Region	From the forest region's Town Square, head due east down the road and veer left as the path widens back out into the forested area.
Altar of the Rabbit	Island Locale	From the Island Locale Nature reserve, head south towards the ancient ruins, following a leftward path near the block puzzle up and around the hill. Continue curving left where possible until a clearing containing the Altar of the Rabbit is reached.
Altar of the Owl	Valley Province	From the Valley Province Town Square, head southwest and exit out the western end of the buildable area. Follow the dirt path and cross the bridge to the southern island, heading westward and crossing another bridge to a smaller island hosting a dock looking out the Vault and Lighthouse landmark of the River Precinct. Follow the path around the corner to arrive at the Altar of the Owl
Altar of the Fox	Valley Province	From the Valley Province Nature District, head east and follow the southward path flanked by ancient ruins Upon reaching the large puzzle structure holding three keystone pedestals, head right and follow the path around the massive tree/shrub to find the Altar of the fox.