I might've avoided some frustration since I had a decent idea on what to level up and remembered how the game works for the most part. Didn't stop me from struggling with some of the early missions either way, and one mission with instakill moments was particularly annoying. Either way, it's an legitimately fun action game that from what I recall gets much better in co-op. The level select with multiple paths was also a nice little touch, but it's a real shame you can't revisit levels until after beating the game. I can imagine getting screwed over by making bad skill choices and being unable to level up further.

The interconnected world is neat especially for PS1, it's nice to have a variety of weapons and spells that don't just make each other obsolete and I like the way different in game maps have details in different areas.

But unfortunately just about everything else has aged like milk. The combat feels like being a tank that's trying to perform melee attacks with its turrent, the areas often lack any identifiable landmarks and consist of 1-2 textures making navigation awkward and visuals ugly, and making progress is usually a matter of random exploration that doesn't feel like progress as it's not clear what you were trying to accomplish in the first place. What finally made me quit was a boss near the end that was not only a ludicrous difficulty spike but also required clearing a boss rush just to try again.

Had Harvester come out today, it'd be another indie game trying to be weird for the sake of being weird and I'd ignore it without another thought, but having come out in the mid-90s adds another layer of weird that's probably the biggest curiosity the game has to offer.

As a game and not a relic from the 90s, Harvester is not very good. The puzzles aren't great, the things you do to advance the plot don't make sense even in the game's context and the last third just drags on unnecessarily. The individual characters, the voice acting and FMVs are entertaining, but that's about it.