The first one, from 2018. A top-down hidden-object game in the Dutch countryside, where the garden gnomes have gone haywire and it's on you to work out which ones.
Which one should you play? If you're new here, start with Find the Gnome 2 — it's the bigger, better-looking one, and it has a free demo so you can check before paying anything. This first game is smaller and simpler. Buy it if you liked the sequel and want more, or if $1.99 for a couple of hours is exactly the deal you're after.
Bought Find the Gnome years ago expecting the big rework? That rework became Find the Gnome 2. Mail me at contact@gamefeelings.com and I'll send you a key for it.
You watch the gnomes and catch the odd ones out. In story mode you pick the weird gnome from a crowd of well-behaved ones, with a background story and an introduction to each type of gnome. In hide-and-seek mode they're properly hidden and properly quick, and you have to find them before you can catch them. There's a time trial mode too, if you want to race the clock or a friend's score.
Not much — that's rather the point. Thirteen levels of increasing difficulty across two scenes, four of them story levels. Most people finish it in one or two sittings. Steam tags it as “Short”, and I have no argument with that.
Players who want a puzzle game that's a bit out of the ordinary, and who don't mind that this one shows its age next to the sequel. The content is child-friendly, so it works to play alongside a son, daughter, grandson or granddaughter.
Buy Find the Gnome on Steam Or try the Find the Gnome 2 demo