The game was released on 19 April 2012, for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

The player is able to interact with other creatures and find Easter eggs that are present in the lush environment.

[7] Botanicula follows the adventure of five botanical creatures (named Mr. Lantern, Mr. Twig, Mr. Poppy Head, Mr. Feather and Mrs. Mushroom) who are trying to save the last seed of their home tree from evil parasitic creatures that have infested their home.

PC Gamer lamented that the game could occasionally be "staggeringly vague", while praising the game's aesthetics, writing, "Avoid it like a parasitical spider if you're not willing to play on its own terms, but embrace it mightily if you're willing to give it a shot."

GameSpot praised the game's visuals, puzzles, characters, and soundtrack, writing, "To play Botanicula is to peer through a microscope at hidden world and feel like you've made the greatest of discoveries: one of a place that's so overflowing with imagination and so full of wonder that only a person with a heart of stone would fail to be taken in by its charms."