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.