absolutely nothing about this game is "good" -- it's obtuse like most games of its kind and it invites you to softlock yourself. the last act is also hideously awful.
but i still replay it probably once a year. the tasteless gen x humor and cynical outlook on the world is just a car wreck i can't look away from. play this if you want to watch a schlocky horror movie with puzzles
but i still replay it probably once a year. the tasteless gen x humor and cynical outlook on the world is just a car wreck i can't look away from. play this if you want to watch a schlocky horror movie with puzzles
glitchy and cliche, but maybe i'm being a kidder idk
“You always were a kidder, Steve.”
Kino line.
Kino line.
Actual masterpiece nothing tops this it is the pinnacle of story telling
if you like twin peaks, but thought it needed more blood, play this game
Overall, WTF
I crawled from Dusseldorf to England to write this review.
This was insanely fun. It also has insane logic. It's a silly, surrealist B-horror.
This game fucking sucks in a hilariously bad way. Every attempt it has to be scary is undercut by the ms paint-tier edits. Story is stupid in a funny way. Combat is the absolute worst thing I have ever played. This game would fall under the "It's so bad its good" if not for the terrible combat that makes it just plain bad. You're better off watching a playthrough on youtube
Um tradicional subúrbio dos Estados Unidos nos anos 1950, dotado com os bons valores convencionais enaltecidos pela cultura estadunidense; desde o materialismo imposto por um capitalismo desenfreado, até a moralidade perpetuada pelas instituições mais conservadoras. Harvester pega todos esses valores e expõe as suas contradições das formas mais doentias e grotescas possíveis, o resultado disso? Uma perversão que é nutrida pelo prazer da dor e da carne. Em Harvester o amoral é o centro de tudo; é o que reina e move todos os personagens daquele mundo; é o que, acima de tudo, impele as suas ações como um jogador. Como um teste, Harvester parece questionar os princípios morais do jogador, brincando com a sua curiosidade e semeando uma simples reflexão: “e seu eu matar essa pessoa?”. A punição é um breve entretenimento para ser sucedido com um load em um save anterio. Um ciclo. Ao final apenas fica exposto o que está além desse tradicional subúrbio estadunidense: uma cultura que perpetua a violência como uma forma de prazer.
Aliás, COD Black Ops 2 é uma das melhores campanhas da série Call of Duty, recomendo bastante para quem busca uma boa dose de dopamina (deus abençoe a América)
Aliás, COD Black Ops 2 é uma das melhores campanhas da série Call of Duty, recomendo bastante para quem busca uma boa dose de dopamina (deus abençoe a América)
You always were a kiddie fiddler, weren't you Steve?
I actually can't believe this game got made. Some of the moments in the Lodge are disturbing enough to keep you up at night
I unironically love this game. It's so unapologetic in its schizophrenic and chaotic attitude.
dont google what happened to steves actor
awesome game that kills you in real life
I have a weird love hate relationship with games that pride themselves on being "subversive".
On the one hand I have no problem with media that wants to break social norms and taboos so long as what their making as an overall point to it and isn't just "lol isn't this fucked up, crazy right.". If done right you can get masterpieces of subversive media like A Clockwork Orange, Funny Games, Pink Flamingos and Freddy Got Fingered, unfortunately I can count on one hand the amount of video games I've personally seen that've tried and failed at tackling subversive media. When most games set out to tackle this level of writing and story tell it can either go two ways, It's either by a group of creative individuals who have a strong view of what their game is trying say along with having strong narrative themes that intertwine with the gameplay and narrative, games like Undertale, Cruelty Squad, Death Stranding, Hotline Miami 2, Spec Ops The Line, and Conker's Bad Fur Day. On the other side of the coin you have games that say they have a strong message and a subversive narrative but either fail from sheer incompetence of storytelling and thematic elements and tone deafness; even if they did try to incorporate the gameplay by tying it in with the game’s overall point it can still fail by not having a strong enough concrete vision of their game causing the rest of the game to fall apart in the process, game like Hatred, Twelve Minutes, Postal, Bioshock Infinite, Last of Us 2, Mafia 3, and Saints Row 3.
The real question here is what camp does Harvester fall into.
Harvester is a tough sell for me because while I really love the late 90’s early CG visuals and the use of crunchy FMV for their character sprites and cutscenes; and the acting is………camp, very……very camp. Unfortunately for all the elements of the game I really liked it’s weighed down by the biggest problem with the game being that it’s not a very good game to play plus I don’t respect what the game is trying to say.
As a point and click game it’s way to linear, almost railroading you down one single path with almost no diverging pathways for puzzles unlike other much more simpler point and click games, even better though during the last hour the game changes ganreas from point and click to dungeon crawler. And it has some of the absolute worst combat I've ever played, I’d respect the idea and change if it didn’t feel so half baked and poorly thought out. You also get a wide variety of dialogue options for NPCs even for ones that have no real use in the overall game, but besides a handful of character a lot of them just feel like flavor text and don’t add anything besides giving the town the game takes place feeling a lot more empty; it probably also doesn't help that a lot of the areas in the game only really matter to one puzzle and that’s it or other times some areas will have almost no point at all and are just there for a joke or “irreverence social commentary”, like the towns nuclear missile station run by a PTSD riddled commie heating Vietnam veteran who had entire torso blown and now stand guard and will blow you head off if you enter a conversation with him and mention anything that isn’t wholesome a-ok american pride, and if he does shot you he accidentally falls over and launches the nukes killing every in the town giving you a game over and sending you back to your last save. It’s funny ... .for like the first time but after awhile it just gets tiresome and that can be said for a lot of the games “irreverence social commentary”.
The main games overall message and themes are…I think “violent media does not create violent individuals but rather the people around them create monsters through the act of allowing disgusting degenerate behavior influence their actions”. The game is very much a response to the violent games panic of the 90s and while I do think they did a decent job tying the game’s message and themes into the world of the game and the game itself it still left me with a bad taste in my mouth. It might be because of the really lame twist at the end but I think a large part of it mostly comes from how much of a strawman argument this game feels like at times. Pretty much every other character in the game are inherent violence sociopath with a lot of them either having vices of porn, murder, arson, being racist, incest, child kidnapping, child murder, grooming, being gay?, and since the game takes a page from Blue Velvet where it portrays quiet suburban middle america but under that thin vale it’s a seedy underbelly of degeneracy. But here it’s trying to do its message with the most tone deaf straw man character I’ve seen since Postal and overall it just kinda leaves me feeling like a big fat load of nothing. Don’t get me wrong I’m not trying to disagree with the game’s overall intent I just don’t like how they went about executing the set ideas in the most late 90’s way possible, lude, dumb and somehow racist.
I think my overall take away from Harvester is it’s a game I really wanted to like and still do like from a purely visual perspective, but on almost every other side I either just don’t vibe with parts of the game or actively dislike other parts that are very important parts of the game. I know this game had a really rushed development and as a result the late game feels very unfinished but I don’t know I feel like even if I lived in a timeline where it was fully released like the studio wanted I still don’t think I’d really vibe with it. Maybe I’m just getting older and find the absurdist and counter cultural way of telling a story and delivering a message frustrating and annoying………………………..naa I still like Freddy Got Fingered, it’s probably the games fault.
On the one hand I have no problem with media that wants to break social norms and taboos so long as what their making as an overall point to it and isn't just "lol isn't this fucked up, crazy right.". If done right you can get masterpieces of subversive media like A Clockwork Orange, Funny Games, Pink Flamingos and Freddy Got Fingered, unfortunately I can count on one hand the amount of video games I've personally seen that've tried and failed at tackling subversive media. When most games set out to tackle this level of writing and story tell it can either go two ways, It's either by a group of creative individuals who have a strong view of what their game is trying say along with having strong narrative themes that intertwine with the gameplay and narrative, games like Undertale, Cruelty Squad, Death Stranding, Hotline Miami 2, Spec Ops The Line, and Conker's Bad Fur Day. On the other side of the coin you have games that say they have a strong message and a subversive narrative but either fail from sheer incompetence of storytelling and thematic elements and tone deafness; even if they did try to incorporate the gameplay by tying it in with the game’s overall point it can still fail by not having a strong enough concrete vision of their game causing the rest of the game to fall apart in the process, game like Hatred, Twelve Minutes, Postal, Bioshock Infinite, Last of Us 2, Mafia 3, and Saints Row 3.
The real question here is what camp does Harvester fall into.
Harvester is a tough sell for me because while I really love the late 90’s early CG visuals and the use of crunchy FMV for their character sprites and cutscenes; and the acting is………camp, very……very camp. Unfortunately for all the elements of the game I really liked it’s weighed down by the biggest problem with the game being that it’s not a very good game to play plus I don’t respect what the game is trying to say.
As a point and click game it’s way to linear, almost railroading you down one single path with almost no diverging pathways for puzzles unlike other much more simpler point and click games, even better though during the last hour the game changes ganreas from point and click to dungeon crawler. And it has some of the absolute worst combat I've ever played, I’d respect the idea and change if it didn’t feel so half baked and poorly thought out. You also get a wide variety of dialogue options for NPCs even for ones that have no real use in the overall game, but besides a handful of character a lot of them just feel like flavor text and don’t add anything besides giving the town the game takes place feeling a lot more empty; it probably also doesn't help that a lot of the areas in the game only really matter to one puzzle and that’s it or other times some areas will have almost no point at all and are just there for a joke or “irreverence social commentary”, like the towns nuclear missile station run by a PTSD riddled commie heating Vietnam veteran who had entire torso blown and now stand guard and will blow you head off if you enter a conversation with him and mention anything that isn’t wholesome a-ok american pride, and if he does shot you he accidentally falls over and launches the nukes killing every in the town giving you a game over and sending you back to your last save. It’s funny ... .for like the first time but after awhile it just gets tiresome and that can be said for a lot of the games “irreverence social commentary”.
The main games overall message and themes are…I think “violent media does not create violent individuals but rather the people around them create monsters through the act of allowing disgusting degenerate behavior influence their actions”. The game is very much a response to the violent games panic of the 90s and while I do think they did a decent job tying the game’s message and themes into the world of the game and the game itself it still left me with a bad taste in my mouth. It might be because of the really lame twist at the end but I think a large part of it mostly comes from how much of a strawman argument this game feels like at times. Pretty much every other character in the game are inherent violence sociopath with a lot of them either having vices of porn, murder, arson, being racist, incest, child kidnapping, child murder, grooming, being gay?, and since the game takes a page from Blue Velvet where it portrays quiet suburban middle america but under that thin vale it’s a seedy underbelly of degeneracy. But here it’s trying to do its message with the most tone deaf straw man character I’ve seen since Postal and overall it just kinda leaves me feeling like a big fat load of nothing. Don’t get me wrong I’m not trying to disagree with the game’s overall intent I just don’t like how they went about executing the set ideas in the most late 90’s way possible, lude, dumb and somehow racist.
I think my overall take away from Harvester is it’s a game I really wanted to like and still do like from a purely visual perspective, but on almost every other side I either just don’t vibe with parts of the game or actively dislike other parts that are very important parts of the game. I know this game had a really rushed development and as a result the late game feels very unfinished but I don’t know I feel like even if I lived in a timeline where it was fully released like the studio wanted I still don’t think I’d really vibe with it. Maybe I’m just getting older and find the absurdist and counter cultural way of telling a story and delivering a message frustrating and annoying………………………..naa I still like Freddy Got Fingered, it’s probably the games fault.
I will be uttering the phrase "You always were a kidder, Steve" well into the foreseeable future.
i wish there were more games like harvester. will be recommending this to every twin peaks fan i meet to the point it becomes obnoxious
Bob's Town
This review contains spoilers
What an odd, quirky little game this one is. With a FMV presentation, a plot straight out of a fever dream, hyper violence, surprisingly mature sexual themes, all atop a satirical pastiche of the American Dream, it’s like this game was made for me. I can’t decide what I like more, the game or the idea of it. Harvester came out in what I consider to be one of the first virtual Wild Wests of the gaming-sphere. When games were really starting to push the envelope, both in maturity and in complexity of themes.
And that definitely becomes apparent when you see what sticks here and what doesn’t. For anyone out of the loop, I’ll give a quick rundown so we’re up to date on the game’s story. You’re Steve Mason, an 18 year old teenager that has suddenly woken up in Harvest, a small rural town unfamiliar to him. Family, neighbors, and fellow residents are all as equally strange to him as the locale. Giving cryptic answers, seemingly coached responses, and having darkly twisted morals, all given as if perfectly normal. Courtesy of a nasty case of amnesia, you’re tasked with figuring out what’s going on in this strange place, and why everyone is acting so weird. More specifically, you need to enter the city’s “lodge”, a special exclusive group that claims to have answers to your questions. But first you have to perform increasingly immoral tasks around town before they let you in. Along the way you meet Stephanie, another amnesiac teenager who shared your confusion. For this part of the game you have an unlimited amount of freedom to walk around town and talk to the locals. And for that and others reasons, it is the best part of Harvester.
With a population of just 50 people you wouldn’t think claustrophobia would be the name of the game here, but you’d be wrong. Everyone is just so off, and there’s no off-ramp for the insanity. From a sexually depraved mother, to a hyper-violence obsessed brother, to a cannibalistic butcher, there’s all manners of degeneracy represented. What really sets it apart is how well it straddles the line of being genuinely disturbing but also intensely funny at points. The absurdity of characters acting like nuking characters at the drop of a hat is normal, or having a kid who opens fire on you with a piece with ruthless efficiency for not giving him the newspaper that day just hits that sweet spot that every absurdist satire hopes to reach.
Conversely, the underlying themes of torture, cannibalism, incest, and sexual assault are all thoroughly sickening. There were times where I sincerely felt like putting some of these animals down. Altogether I found the juxtaposition of a 50’s era small-town and a band of vile caricatures so damn intriguing. Like I said, free exploration is allowed, which is both a curse and a blessing. You can talk to, bribe, extort, or even fight just about anyone in the game. Be wary because they fight back, sometimes leaving you dead, arrested, or just plain traumatized. My only complaint with this design is how easy it is to make a mistake and have to start over, and how optional some interactions are. For example the wasp lady and nuke guy were entirely plotless interactions who were kill-y than killer. And the nuke guy especially is the embodiment of a hair trigger red scare fanatic. A fun archetype, just ultimately not one that has any bearing on anything.
At its heart Harvester is a deconstruction. Specifically of the increasing prevalence of violence and sexual imagery in media. Ironically enough in a way Harvester is even a commentary critical of itself, echoing worries now long familiar with gamers everywhere. The concept of games corrupting the youth and the moral foundation of society. It does make use of its setting and time period, critiquing a thinly veiled caricature of the Red Ryder mascot just as quickly as it critiques video games and TV shows. Granted that doesn't mean every attempt is seamlessly crafted. Particularly the latter half lays it on reeeeeal thick with the paranoia. Though to be fair it can be hard to tell at times when the game is making fun of the satanic panic or actively supplying arguments it’s advocates would use. Beyond that it’s a take on the very real culture shift that’s taken place over the years. It’s not nuanced, and it’s not complete, but the root point demands some deeper examination, just not here. I mean having to increasingly perform worse and worse tasks to court membership in the lodge and figure out what’s going on provides a good dilemma, even if the consequences are mostly incidental. And having Stephanie as a peer with a sane perspective is a good grounding device. I only wish she played a bigger part in the game, instead of the after-thought she often felt like.
Now let’s skip to the latter half of the game’s narrative, after you’ve gained entry into the lodge. After Stephanie’s apparent murder just before you get accepted you’re all the more desperate to find answers to your questions. And it’s in the lodge where two major changes occur the the formula of the game. One, the game becomes much, much more combat focused. Whereas before you may have killed one or two people at most directly, during this part you’ll become a full-fledged killing machine. With insane humans, fleshly monsters, and eldritch creatures all forcing you to kill or be killed. This is where I’m less sure if I'd call it a good meta-commentary, as you’re not given much of a choice for most of these combat decisions, at least until you get to the trial rooms. And you can’t really make a good argument for sparing these demonic beasts and demons either. On top of that what was before small buildings and clearings has now been replaced by winding hallways, confusing corridors, and an utterly non-Euclidean architectural design pattern. It honestly felt a bit over designed and slightly tedious. Not to mention tough.
These beasts aren’t giving you an easy fight, and you’re far from a natural fighter. Picking up food items, secret weapons, and occasional restarts are all a natural consequence of this design. The trials near the end in the lodge were much more my speed. Short, succinct metaphors for life. Perhaps the most overt instances of parody in the game, these I could tell let the game designers go truly hog-wild with dialogue and horror. The most nonsensical commentaries mind you, but they gave us some cool, dreary vignettes. After all that, once you’ve cleaved and bargained your way to the final confrontation with the sergeant-at-arms, you’re finally given an answer for all the weirdness going on. Plus, you find out Stephanie is actually still alive! Turns out the spine from earlier was just a fake…..or somebody else's? Now, up until this point we understand clearly there’s something beyond a case of the crazies in this small town. Beyond your everyday case of moral degeneration, these FMV people are frequently seen portraying multiple characters. So what’s really going on? I had narrowed my suspicions down to three possibilities, with my prime theory being that the player character Steve was in some sort of coma, imagining people he knew in real life in a bizarre horror world that mirrored his anguish at being locked in his own body. So not too far from the truth.
You’re in a virtual world, created to test if a person can be driven to homicide by a matter of circumstances. Everything had been a test to get you closer and closer to shedding your own morality. The same is true for Stephanie. You two are the only real people in this simulation. And the sergeant-at-arms gives you a final choice. Kill Stephanie and return to the real world, or let yourself be killed with the consolation of experiencing a virtual simulation that makes you feel as though you’ve lived a full life with Stephanie before they pull the plug on you.
So what exactly are the choices here? Rise above your desire for freedom and temptation to shed the sanctity of life, or give in to a primal gratification of the body. This seems like a pretty easy choice, and it is in-game too unless you’re someone who likes to see the crazy endings in video games. It’s not like the player has actually been made deranged by the events in the story, however this does touch on an interesting choice that everyone must make in real life. Not a conscious choice, nor is it so grand and convoluted, but the idea that nurture reigns supreme over nature is still a hotly debated topic, and one that demands inspection. As hard as it is to quantity, it can’t be debated that upbringing and repeated traumatic events can permanently alter your behavior, values, and beliefs. In typical Harvester fashion it dials that up to 11. Good thing I’m not forming serious foundational beliefs from this silly game.
I know some people think the satire is tired and low-hanging fruit, but I can consume this stuff for days. I think the underlying mystery and creepiness is what makes it so captivating to me. On its own I might agree the game is a one-trick pony, and I’ll admit I have an unexplainable soft spot for Harvester, but the bizarre circumstances coupled with the active threats to your life give it a legitimately fun spin to your typical over-the-top fares. It lost me a bit on the tail-end with how it dragged, yet it’s still a fun romp highly accessible despite its age.
And that definitely becomes apparent when you see what sticks here and what doesn’t. For anyone out of the loop, I’ll give a quick rundown so we’re up to date on the game’s story. You’re Steve Mason, an 18 year old teenager that has suddenly woken up in Harvest, a small rural town unfamiliar to him. Family, neighbors, and fellow residents are all as equally strange to him as the locale. Giving cryptic answers, seemingly coached responses, and having darkly twisted morals, all given as if perfectly normal. Courtesy of a nasty case of amnesia, you’re tasked with figuring out what’s going on in this strange place, and why everyone is acting so weird. More specifically, you need to enter the city’s “lodge”, a special exclusive group that claims to have answers to your questions. But first you have to perform increasingly immoral tasks around town before they let you in. Along the way you meet Stephanie, another amnesiac teenager who shared your confusion. For this part of the game you have an unlimited amount of freedom to walk around town and talk to the locals. And for that and others reasons, it is the best part of Harvester.
With a population of just 50 people you wouldn’t think claustrophobia would be the name of the game here, but you’d be wrong. Everyone is just so off, and there’s no off-ramp for the insanity. From a sexually depraved mother, to a hyper-violence obsessed brother, to a cannibalistic butcher, there’s all manners of degeneracy represented. What really sets it apart is how well it straddles the line of being genuinely disturbing but also intensely funny at points. The absurdity of characters acting like nuking characters at the drop of a hat is normal, or having a kid who opens fire on you with a piece with ruthless efficiency for not giving him the newspaper that day just hits that sweet spot that every absurdist satire hopes to reach.
Conversely, the underlying themes of torture, cannibalism, incest, and sexual assault are all thoroughly sickening. There were times where I sincerely felt like putting some of these animals down. Altogether I found the juxtaposition of a 50’s era small-town and a band of vile caricatures so damn intriguing. Like I said, free exploration is allowed, which is both a curse and a blessing. You can talk to, bribe, extort, or even fight just about anyone in the game. Be wary because they fight back, sometimes leaving you dead, arrested, or just plain traumatized. My only complaint with this design is how easy it is to make a mistake and have to start over, and how optional some interactions are. For example the wasp lady and nuke guy were entirely plotless interactions who were kill-y than killer. And the nuke guy especially is the embodiment of a hair trigger red scare fanatic. A fun archetype, just ultimately not one that has any bearing on anything.
At its heart Harvester is a deconstruction. Specifically of the increasing prevalence of violence and sexual imagery in media. Ironically enough in a way Harvester is even a commentary critical of itself, echoing worries now long familiar with gamers everywhere. The concept of games corrupting the youth and the moral foundation of society. It does make use of its setting and time period, critiquing a thinly veiled caricature of the Red Ryder mascot just as quickly as it critiques video games and TV shows. Granted that doesn't mean every attempt is seamlessly crafted. Particularly the latter half lays it on reeeeeal thick with the paranoia. Though to be fair it can be hard to tell at times when the game is making fun of the satanic panic or actively supplying arguments it’s advocates would use. Beyond that it’s a take on the very real culture shift that’s taken place over the years. It’s not nuanced, and it’s not complete, but the root point demands some deeper examination, just not here. I mean having to increasingly perform worse and worse tasks to court membership in the lodge and figure out what’s going on provides a good dilemma, even if the consequences are mostly incidental. And having Stephanie as a peer with a sane perspective is a good grounding device. I only wish she played a bigger part in the game, instead of the after-thought she often felt like.
Now let’s skip to the latter half of the game’s narrative, after you’ve gained entry into the lodge. After Stephanie’s apparent murder just before you get accepted you’re all the more desperate to find answers to your questions. And it’s in the lodge where two major changes occur the the formula of the game. One, the game becomes much, much more combat focused. Whereas before you may have killed one or two people at most directly, during this part you’ll become a full-fledged killing machine. With insane humans, fleshly monsters, and eldritch creatures all forcing you to kill or be killed. This is where I’m less sure if I'd call it a good meta-commentary, as you’re not given much of a choice for most of these combat decisions, at least until you get to the trial rooms. And you can’t really make a good argument for sparing these demonic beasts and demons either. On top of that what was before small buildings and clearings has now been replaced by winding hallways, confusing corridors, and an utterly non-Euclidean architectural design pattern. It honestly felt a bit over designed and slightly tedious. Not to mention tough.
These beasts aren’t giving you an easy fight, and you’re far from a natural fighter. Picking up food items, secret weapons, and occasional restarts are all a natural consequence of this design. The trials near the end in the lodge were much more my speed. Short, succinct metaphors for life. Perhaps the most overt instances of parody in the game, these I could tell let the game designers go truly hog-wild with dialogue and horror. The most nonsensical commentaries mind you, but they gave us some cool, dreary vignettes. After all that, once you’ve cleaved and bargained your way to the final confrontation with the sergeant-at-arms, you’re finally given an answer for all the weirdness going on. Plus, you find out Stephanie is actually still alive! Turns out the spine from earlier was just a fake…..or somebody else's? Now, up until this point we understand clearly there’s something beyond a case of the crazies in this small town. Beyond your everyday case of moral degeneration, these FMV people are frequently seen portraying multiple characters. So what’s really going on? I had narrowed my suspicions down to three possibilities, with my prime theory being that the player character Steve was in some sort of coma, imagining people he knew in real life in a bizarre horror world that mirrored his anguish at being locked in his own body. So not too far from the truth.
You’re in a virtual world, created to test if a person can be driven to homicide by a matter of circumstances. Everything had been a test to get you closer and closer to shedding your own morality. The same is true for Stephanie. You two are the only real people in this simulation. And the sergeant-at-arms gives you a final choice. Kill Stephanie and return to the real world, or let yourself be killed with the consolation of experiencing a virtual simulation that makes you feel as though you’ve lived a full life with Stephanie before they pull the plug on you.
So what exactly are the choices here? Rise above your desire for freedom and temptation to shed the sanctity of life, or give in to a primal gratification of the body. This seems like a pretty easy choice, and it is in-game too unless you’re someone who likes to see the crazy endings in video games. It’s not like the player has actually been made deranged by the events in the story, however this does touch on an interesting choice that everyone must make in real life. Not a conscious choice, nor is it so grand and convoluted, but the idea that nurture reigns supreme over nature is still a hotly debated topic, and one that demands inspection. As hard as it is to quantity, it can’t be debated that upbringing and repeated traumatic events can permanently alter your behavior, values, and beliefs. In typical Harvester fashion it dials that up to 11. Good thing I’m not forming serious foundational beliefs from this silly game.
I know some people think the satire is tired and low-hanging fruit, but I can consume this stuff for days. I think the underlying mystery and creepiness is what makes it so captivating to me. On its own I might agree the game is a one-trick pony, and I’ll admit I have an unexplainable soft spot for Harvester, but the bizarre circumstances coupled with the active threats to your life give it a legitimately fun spin to your typical over-the-top fares. It lost me a bit on the tail-end with how it dragged, yet it’s still a fun romp highly accessible despite its age.
zmall town zpiritual warfare in the zame vein az twin peakz
camp
Disclaimer: I streamed the GOG version of this so if you see this review on other sites, assume that is the one I'm talking about.
My first part of the stream here
Entering this game with as little knowledge as possible, (which is generally how I try to enter all games before playing them on stream) I only knew that this game has a history of being disturbing and even controversial, but luckily for me, I don't have any triggers so I was able to play it without taking a lot of mental harm. That said, this certainly isn't a game for everyone and is not for those with a weak stomach or are easily offended since the time-period being depicted people have choice opinions of others from different marginalised groups.
That said, the story itself is one that starts with intrigue where you play as Steve, who wakes up with amnesia and is surrounded by his "family" and has memories of things that don't exist like such as a remote control, but when he tried to conjure that memory up it was a struggle. Ontop of the amnesia, he is also meant to be getting married and as you investigate the town you find that the people in this town are a either strange, twisted, psychopaths, outrageous or any mixture of the above.
At times this game felt like it has content in this to just be a shocking game, however there is some real substance in this in regard to the mystery, the secret society inside the lodge, plot-twists and the ending which allows everything to make sense! I have more to discuss in regards to my own theories of the ending and the world, however, I do not wish to drop off any spoilers.
It's one of those games that if you are curious, you should most certainly experience it as it should certainly belong in video game history as one of those missing gems. Especially with the acting in regards to the FMV footage in game.
My first part of the stream here
Entering this game with as little knowledge as possible, (which is generally how I try to enter all games before playing them on stream) I only knew that this game has a history of being disturbing and even controversial, but luckily for me, I don't have any triggers so I was able to play it without taking a lot of mental harm. That said, this certainly isn't a game for everyone and is not for those with a weak stomach or are easily offended since the time-period being depicted people have choice opinions of others from different marginalised groups.
That said, the story itself is one that starts with intrigue where you play as Steve, who wakes up with amnesia and is surrounded by his "family" and has memories of things that don't exist like such as a remote control, but when he tried to conjure that memory up it was a struggle. Ontop of the amnesia, he is also meant to be getting married and as you investigate the town you find that the people in this town are a either strange, twisted, psychopaths, outrageous or any mixture of the above.
At times this game felt like it has content in this to just be a shocking game, however there is some real substance in this in regard to the mystery, the secret society inside the lodge, plot-twists and the ending which allows everything to make sense! I have more to discuss in regards to my own theories of the ending and the world, however, I do not wish to drop off any spoilers.
It's one of those games that if you are curious, you should most certainly experience it as it should certainly belong in video game history as one of those missing gems. Especially with the acting in regards to the FMV footage in game.
[ Story: 7/10 | Gameplay: 6/10 | OST: 8/10 ]
"ViDeO GaMeS ArE ViOlEnT AnD pRoMoTe My cHiLd To KILL!!!" Looking back on that old ass ideology is real damn goofy in hindsight. This game's really fucking weird and janky as shit, but there's also a lot of charm and DAMN good writing at times too.
"ViDeO GaMeS ArE ViOlEnT AnD pRoMoTe My cHiLd To KILL!!!" Looking back on that old ass ideology is real damn goofy in hindsight. This game's really fucking weird and janky as shit, but there's also a lot of charm and DAMN good writing at times too.
Harvester is Insane. Genuinely a work of punk art that wants to break every societal taboo that exists and than does. Does it succed: Kinda of not really, maybe 50% of the time. I do think the first half is a good adventure game. I love exploring the weirdness of Harvest and its insane citizens. The puzzles arent too bad, possing not much of a challenge if you pay attention. The backhalf is where Harvester starts to collaps and there no way around it: Break out a guide. Youll still experience the most insane stuff in any Video Game, but it will keep you from wanting to punch through a wall.
Kino.
Almost impossible to complete without a guide, the puzzles are meaningless. And at the end for some reason it has a very long combat sequence without healing items, but it's really worth playing. Lasts about 4h.
Laughed out loud several times. Shitposting in game form.
Laughed out loud several times. Shitposting in game form.
I love this game so much but also I absolutely hate this game, everyone should play it so it'll spread like an STI.
This review contains spoilers
Harvester is a point and click game developed by DigiFX Interactive and published on Steam by Nightdive Studios. DigiFX was originally known as FutureVision, Inc. and developed games The Fortress of Dr. Radiaki and Command Adventures: Starship before development began on this game. I don’t know much about its history other than writer Gilbert P. Austin pitched this to the company in an attempt to be able to “compete” with the giants. I’ll throw a couple links down at the bottom if I can about the dev history but I wanna go into my personal history. I wasn’t really familiar with this game before reviewer Grimbeard made a vid on this but I remember looking into it and buying it on a whim because I enjoy old point and clicks even if I don’t play them because I suck at puzzles, then watching his vid and realizing “wow, I DO have this game.” and not playing it until streaming it for a friend recently.
The gameplay is as said, a point and click game, and it has logic puzzles if that’s your thing. Now I can’t pretend like I completed it all by myself with my thinking and brain power because one, I was streaming for someone so I wanted to keep the pace going well and two I would get stuck anyways because I suck so I used a guide. However with that in mind, I can’t necessarily talk about that as much as I can talk about other things I’ve noticed. Everything in the town of Harvester is warped with its own sort of bridge logic, and as such so are the people; the first ½ to ¾ of the game you’ll be walking around, picking up items, talking to the townsfolk, and using these tools to solve certain steps just to get into “The Lodge”. There’s a lot more depth to the game than you think so I’d recommend not just using the guide but also going out of your way and exploring more. You can get extra flavor by showing people certain objects; for example if you steal the sheriff’s checkbook he uses for a blackmail scheme, photocopy it and show it to people around the town, they all have their own reactions; and you can even bring it to the sheriff himself for an extra “Get out of Jail Free” card later. This is useful if you want to do some murdering or you get caught doing something by accident as if you get arrested three times then you fail and have to reload a save, and this will give you another chance. Do certain things then come back later and talk to people to get their thoughts on it and if you type out certain text phrases to certain people, you’ll get certain dialogue trees that wouldn’t be accessible otherwise. From here I’m gonna combine the atmosphere and other stuff categories because these dialogue options are warped and morbid (for example, type F u c k to your mother for…results). Certain places aren’t even relevant but lead to fun moments, like talking to the guy at the nuke base leads to a bit of cold war paranoia. Other notables include Mr. Pottsdam’s creepy obsession with his daughter and meat, as well as the TV host who goes on a diatribe about TV violence, and the Sheriff is a comedic genius with his timing. There’s a lot of funny moments and truth be told if I wasn’t streaming I would’ve spent half the time trying to find all the dialogue.
Once you get into the Lodge though, that's when things go downhill; it has its interesting moments and baffling humor but this is when it forces you into combat. I’ll start by saying rotate your saves as the combat is shoddy and there isn’t really a way to “master” it persay as it’s kind of just a matter of luck and a bit of timing. In order to equip/fight, right click on your persons and then right click again on certain weapons to pull them out, then hold the arrow keys and press Ctrl to swing/shoot. Also a pro-tip, definitely use the guide here. I don’t know if you can skip the shotgun but you will NEED it later, scrounge all the shells you can and then try not to use any of it because you will need it for certain encounters with projectile wielders. Herein lies a problem; you’re not really used to doing this stuff except if you decided to experiment a bit with murder in town so doing this is just jarring as hell, mixed with the limited ammo and health pickups there’s a good chance that you might screw yourself over here. I understand that in a game like this, combat feels like a thematic necessity with the violence but it moreso just feels annoying with how it pans out and you WILL get damaged fighting. If I were to give any other tips I would say when you’re in the third level, don’t have s e x with the prostitute or you’ll get an STD and have to find an antidote or you will die, just trust me.
As for the plot, there’s so much here that I’m not even sure where to begin but I know I won’t go through a beat for beat basis as I’ll violate the review limits. Instead I’m going to throw out that this game is a painfully obvious satire on violence as it’s portrayed in the media as well as the hypocrisy behind people outcrying against violence. Everyone one way or another contributes in some way to this satire, especially in the Lodge portion but ultimately the plot is this: Steve wakes up to learn he’s about to get married, remembers nothing and is told to “join the lodge”, run by the Order of the Harvest Moon. You’ll get some flavor as you play but you’ll eventually run through five different trials of different scales, a lot of which leads to death before your fiance, Steph, disappears and you enter the lodge to rescue. When you finally beat the game you’re left with the twist: You are in a simulation meant to desensitize you to violence and breed serial killers before you’re left with two endings: Live in Harvest and marry Steph, which leads to you dying in the real world or kill her and live on, becoming a killer before it cuts to the final scene of you playing Harvester while Steve’s mom gives him hell on how “Playing violent video games will turn you violent”. I don’t usually care for “it was all a dream” twists, neither did my friend who I streamed it to but I actually didn’t hate it and felt that it made sense considering the warped tone this game has; with even the Lodge having different trials based on religious parody, gladiator fights, BDSM dungeons, a really warped one involving childbirth and how parasitic it can feel; like it certain tries to hit all the nails in the head even if it's not the most highbrow and intellectual but then again I like Postal 2 so I don't care lol.
So what happened after the game was made? Nothing. All I know about it was that it was shut down and everyone moved on. All I know personally is that in an ironic twist I didn’t see coming, the actor who plays Steve, Kurt Kistler, was arrested for CP (in flannel no less) which…ewww. The actress who plays Karin, Rheagan Wallace, was in stuff like Agents of SHIELD and Hellraiser: Judgment. So is it worth playing? I would say yes, but play this game with a lot of patience, and both a guide at hand and a willingness to deviate a bit; definitely have an open sense of humor and a fondness for point and click logic is definitely recommended. I wish I could go into it more but there's so much I want to say that I'd need a whole essay to cover everything; it's a lowbrow yet hilarious romp on modern day morality that's better explained by professionals, though if you want to stop once you get into the Lodge it's understandable, and according to one person you can input the code BRUCE for invincibility though I'm unsure of even how to do that. Also Alt+Enter is how to fullscreen in case you window it by mistake.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRYu7_wzuKk&ab_channel=GrimBeard (Good Vid)
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/Harvester
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=248246741 (Guide)
https://www.gog.com/forum/harvester/harvester_secrets_easter_eggs_etc_spoilers
https://archive.org/details/harvester-the-script/mode/2up
From Steam Reviews: https://steamcommunity.com/id/gamemast15r/recommended/
The gameplay is as said, a point and click game, and it has logic puzzles if that’s your thing. Now I can’t pretend like I completed it all by myself with my thinking and brain power because one, I was streaming for someone so I wanted to keep the pace going well and two I would get stuck anyways because I suck so I used a guide. However with that in mind, I can’t necessarily talk about that as much as I can talk about other things I’ve noticed. Everything in the town of Harvester is warped with its own sort of bridge logic, and as such so are the people; the first ½ to ¾ of the game you’ll be walking around, picking up items, talking to the townsfolk, and using these tools to solve certain steps just to get into “The Lodge”. There’s a lot more depth to the game than you think so I’d recommend not just using the guide but also going out of your way and exploring more. You can get extra flavor by showing people certain objects; for example if you steal the sheriff’s checkbook he uses for a blackmail scheme, photocopy it and show it to people around the town, they all have their own reactions; and you can even bring it to the sheriff himself for an extra “Get out of Jail Free” card later. This is useful if you want to do some murdering or you get caught doing something by accident as if you get arrested three times then you fail and have to reload a save, and this will give you another chance. Do certain things then come back later and talk to people to get their thoughts on it and if you type out certain text phrases to certain people, you’ll get certain dialogue trees that wouldn’t be accessible otherwise. From here I’m gonna combine the atmosphere and other stuff categories because these dialogue options are warped and morbid (for example, type F u c k to your mother for…results). Certain places aren’t even relevant but lead to fun moments, like talking to the guy at the nuke base leads to a bit of cold war paranoia. Other notables include Mr. Pottsdam’s creepy obsession with his daughter and meat, as well as the TV host who goes on a diatribe about TV violence, and the Sheriff is a comedic genius with his timing. There’s a lot of funny moments and truth be told if I wasn’t streaming I would’ve spent half the time trying to find all the dialogue.
Once you get into the Lodge though, that's when things go downhill; it has its interesting moments and baffling humor but this is when it forces you into combat. I’ll start by saying rotate your saves as the combat is shoddy and there isn’t really a way to “master” it persay as it’s kind of just a matter of luck and a bit of timing. In order to equip/fight, right click on your persons and then right click again on certain weapons to pull them out, then hold the arrow keys and press Ctrl to swing/shoot. Also a pro-tip, definitely use the guide here. I don’t know if you can skip the shotgun but you will NEED it later, scrounge all the shells you can and then try not to use any of it because you will need it for certain encounters with projectile wielders. Herein lies a problem; you’re not really used to doing this stuff except if you decided to experiment a bit with murder in town so doing this is just jarring as hell, mixed with the limited ammo and health pickups there’s a good chance that you might screw yourself over here. I understand that in a game like this, combat feels like a thematic necessity with the violence but it moreso just feels annoying with how it pans out and you WILL get damaged fighting. If I were to give any other tips I would say when you’re in the third level, don’t have s e x with the prostitute or you’ll get an STD and have to find an antidote or you will die, just trust me.
As for the plot, there’s so much here that I’m not even sure where to begin but I know I won’t go through a beat for beat basis as I’ll violate the review limits. Instead I’m going to throw out that this game is a painfully obvious satire on violence as it’s portrayed in the media as well as the hypocrisy behind people outcrying against violence. Everyone one way or another contributes in some way to this satire, especially in the Lodge portion but ultimately the plot is this: Steve wakes up to learn he’s about to get married, remembers nothing and is told to “join the lodge”, run by the Order of the Harvest Moon. You’ll get some flavor as you play but you’ll eventually run through five different trials of different scales, a lot of which leads to death before your fiance, Steph, disappears and you enter the lodge to rescue. When you finally beat the game you’re left with the twist: You are in a simulation meant to desensitize you to violence and breed serial killers before you’re left with two endings: Live in Harvest and marry Steph, which leads to you dying in the real world or kill her and live on, becoming a killer before it cuts to the final scene of you playing Harvester while Steve’s mom gives him hell on how “Playing violent video games will turn you violent”. I don’t usually care for “it was all a dream” twists, neither did my friend who I streamed it to but I actually didn’t hate it and felt that it made sense considering the warped tone this game has; with even the Lodge having different trials based on religious parody, gladiator fights, BDSM dungeons, a really warped one involving childbirth and how parasitic it can feel; like it certain tries to hit all the nails in the head even if it's not the most highbrow and intellectual but then again I like Postal 2 so I don't care lol.
So what happened after the game was made? Nothing. All I know about it was that it was shut down and everyone moved on. All I know personally is that in an ironic twist I didn’t see coming, the actor who plays Steve, Kurt Kistler, was arrested for CP (in flannel no less) which…ewww. The actress who plays Karin, Rheagan Wallace, was in stuff like Agents of SHIELD and Hellraiser: Judgment. So is it worth playing? I would say yes, but play this game with a lot of patience, and both a guide at hand and a willingness to deviate a bit; definitely have an open sense of humor and a fondness for point and click logic is definitely recommended. I wish I could go into it more but there's so much I want to say that I'd need a whole essay to cover everything; it's a lowbrow yet hilarious romp on modern day morality that's better explained by professionals, though if you want to stop once you get into the Lodge it's understandable, and according to one person you can input the code BRUCE for invincibility though I'm unsure of even how to do that. Also Alt+Enter is how to fullscreen in case you window it by mistake.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRYu7_wzuKk&ab_channel=GrimBeard (Good Vid)
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/Harvester
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=248246741 (Guide)
https://www.gog.com/forum/harvester/harvester_secrets_easter_eggs_etc_spoilers
https://archive.org/details/harvester-the-script/mode/2up
From Steam Reviews: https://steamcommunity.com/id/gamemast15r/recommended/
Such a wild game. I played it when I was 16-17 years old so a lot of the satire got lost on me. Unfortunately you should expect insane amounts of moon logic puzzles and one of the worst combat systems in existence.