Harvester

I have to agree with Gregsylvanias comment - for the most time it's not a game but a pain in the a**: - The puzzles are ridiculous, consisting of pixel hunting, try-and-error, flavored with time limits later on. - Not enough, there are dead ends where you simply lack the health or the items (!) to continue. - The controls, especially for the inventory and the fights, are terribly clunky. This makes the try-and-error sessions mentioned above even more annoying. - The special effects resemble a b-movie from the 60ies. It's an old game, alright, but even with pixel-art from this time it would look more believable and not as awkward as it actually does. - The story is stupid, forced and illocial for the most part. Okay, here's the good part: - When you discover Harvest the first time or watch the very last scenes, the story has it's moments. So, after you've been warned, you still might consider to get a walkthrough and give this game a try - but you should be willing to deal with lot's of clumsiness and frustration.

I was 15 years old when a friend of my dad's came to my house. He brought a 7-CD video game called Phantasmagoria. Ever since that day, FMV (Full Motion Video) games have held a special place in my heart! I played all of them with the same fascination a child might have while secretly watching porn, experiencing a mix of pleasure and guilt. But there was one FMV game that entered my life in a completely illicit manner: Harvester. Back then, nobody cared about it. I stumbled upon it at a videogame convention, sitting alone in a dusty box alongside numerous cheap CDs that nobody seemed interested in. It was priced at $10 or so, but the box's artwork, featuring Mr. Death himself with a bloody title, captured my attention. I couldn't resist the temptation. Bad Mojo was there two...like $5 cheaper! I knew it was cheesy, but I had to have it, so I bought it. Today, that very same game is valued at around $200 and is difficult to find. It's fascinating how things have turned out for one of the weirdest and most savage games you can find out there, something we couldn't even imagine back then and even less today. 25 years later, it remains playable, and its message is more relevant than ever. It's a brutal and politically charged game, and by today's standards, it's shockingly violent and impossible. I've never managed to complete it, and I sold it for a meager price, but today, it has become a legend, reflecting the world we live in. If you can find it, buy it, play it, and understand its message. That's all I can say. I believe today it is even more pertinent than ever, and here's the message it conveys: "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." I hope some day, somebody remaster it in HD, it well deserves it!

I've played this several times, both on Steam and GOG. It's pretty good when you know what you're doing, but there are a number of parts that are aggravating and unfair, so having a guide open alongside a list of cheats is not the worst plan of action. I think as a game it's not exactly something I'd recommend. The combat is ungodly amounts of irritating since you're mostly relying on melee combat and it's often unclear or difficult to parse where the protagonist will swing. Ammunition is difficult to find and rare when you do, plus the enemies also have bizarre hitboxes, sometimes characters will completely ignore damage and you'll have to tank several unfair hits. As a story, however, this is really funny. The whole tone is off-setting and dark, but the actors and writing are both intentionally and unintentionally hilarious. Sometimes you'll see clips of things that happen some distance away and are either totally nonsensical or just laughably stupid. Most of the story kind of makes sense up until you get into a particular area, and after that it's just completely indecipherable to me. Overall, I'd suggest either using a walkthrough (preferably a full gameplay on Youtube) or watching someone else play this, like Jerma985 or Vinesauce Joel, because they both capture my general feeling pretty well and add on to the whole experience while not shying away from critiquing some of the tedious and illogical parts to it. I'd say this is probably a 7/10 - I had a good time with it, but some of the puzzles and things I had to do were UNBEARABLY annoying and really dragged it down as a result. (I did enjoy it, however.)

Its like a weird B movie, but itsa point-and-click. :o

I have watched streamers play this four or five times and I can confidently say this is a game to enjoy with a group of friends on the couch or with a community on Twitch or YouTube. Playing through it by myself just gave me the urge to invite people over to have a laugh for a bit but I don't have any friend's so, I had to compromise and find someone who was either playing live or uploaded to YouTube which wasn't hard. It was like a 9 hour b-movie and that is where it really shines as a game but also as entertainment. Simply a masterpiece in this perspective.