Lily's Garden, from developer Tactile Games, is a relatively straightforward mobile game. Players are tasked with revamped an old garden through Bejeweled-like puzzles with a side of interacting with cartoon-y characters like Luke, the handsome neighbor. Nothing too outrageous or unexpected, right? Well, there's also a dark side to this, as the whole reason the game's story kicks off is, apparently, in part thanks to... an unwanted pregnancy.
The Internet recently became fascinated -- sharing their collective surprise across social media -- by an odd advertisement for the mobile game, which is all of 15 seconds, that shows the eponymous Lily reacting to a positive pregnancy test, showing her (ex-)boyfriend, and then there's an immediate jolt of reaction from same ex, and he rides off on a scooter, leaving Lily to cry in the rain. Then the title rolls. It is something else, and the emotional and tonal whiplash of the scene must be seen to be believed.
It would appear that this is the sort of ad that shows while playing other free-to-play mobile games, which is often a way these things monetize without requiring any payment from players. Some folks have also found it on Facebook. Sometimes, free-to-play mobile games like Lily's Garden will offer in-game currency of some kind to watch ads, and so folks are used to burning through a lot of these brief videos. The wild, unexpected twist for the Lily's Garden ad here is likely intentional to stick out in people's minds and draw in potential players.
Here's how Tactile Games describes Lily's Garden on its website:
"Get your hands dirty in Lily's Garden, our new FREE puzzle game! Help Lily restore her great-aunt's garden to its former glory and rediscover her roots. Dig into a story full of twists and turns as Lily interacts with a cast of colorful characters. Plant the seed of romance with her handsome neighbor Luke, and keep her rake of an ex-boyfriend Blaine off her turf. Match and collect flowers in hundreds of unique puzzle levels to earn stars and grow your garden!"
What do you think of the above ad? Does the sudden left turn make you more interested in the video game, or just more baffled about its existence? Let us know in the comments, or hit me up directly on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk all things gaming.
Lily's Garden is currently available as a free-to-play video game with in-app purchases for iOS, Android, and Amazon devices. You can check out all of our previous coverage of mobile games right here.
Keep reading to check out some of the Internet's reactions to the wild and unexpected ad!