[PC; 2009]
Developed by DigiFX Interactive [full credits]
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfbHJWpKfyk 640×505]
While we have virtual console, XBLA, and PSN to re-spark peoples’ interest in old console games, many 90s PC titles are forever lost. In many cases, it’s better that the budget titles, FMV disasters, and quick cash-ins are forgotten. Then there are exceptions like Harvester. Harvester came out at the wrong time, as many critics saw it as nothing more than a late FMV adventure release complimented by a disturbing story. I guess that’s not far from the truth, but the fact that there hasn’t been a game released like it in 13 years is telling of the game’s originality. Like all adventure games, you play Harvester for the story and the little interaction between the long dialog scenes. Thankfully, these breaks don’t feel like empty item searching but a chance to regain your sanity for a brief moment.
As the story begins, you play the role of Steve who awakes in the town of Harvester in 1952. Everyone acts as if they’ve known him for years, but it doesn’t take long until he starts to notice the creepy, Stepford-esque nature of the town. Harvester, with a meager population of 51, revolves around an exclusive club called the Lodge which is located in a giant, esoteric temple in the center of town. As the player, you are given little hints as to who you are but the real truth lies in the Lodge, so Steve must gain entry into the building at all cost. For the first 2/3rds of the game, you’ll be solving local mysteries in the day time and passing the Lodge entry trials at night (which are of a much more sinister nature).
The story doesn’t really pick up until the game’s final half, but it’s the characters and script that hold the player’s interest throughout the entirety of the adventure. The game will recall Silent Hill for many players, but that game’s characters seem almost PG friendly when compared to the unsavory, perverted residents of Harvester. You can stop by the high school where the teachers say “discipline” but mean molesting and beating kids with a bat, or visit the police department where Deputy Loomis jerks-off every hour the sheriff is away. Every character has their own dirty secret, and the ones that seem the most harmless often are holding back the worst.
Harvester is a classic point-and-click adventure and one of the easier ones at that. Unlike other adventure games where you need to cycle through touching, seeing, and talking pointers, Harvester only gives you one which will changes depending on the context of the object you are pointing at. Harvester is of a much more logical nature then many other adventure games of its time. Still, you’ll run into a couple of badly designed portions. For example, I ran into a snag halfway through the game with no indication of where to go next. After turning to a FAQ, it turns out I needed to pick up a dolly in the background of a garage that is barely visible, use it on a shelf at my house, and disable an alarm system so I can break into a window of my own house. I could have spent an hour clicking on everything and not have come to that conclusion. This isn’t unexpected for a 90s adventure game but it certainly holds the game back.
Harvester is at its best when it breaks from the genre’s norms, which it often does. The freedom Harvester gives you to explore is refreshing and will leave players with some moderately different experiences. There are optional characters you can meet, optional side-plots you can explore, alternate dialog choices, extra weapons you can find, and you can even get arrested and have an “escape from jail” sequence. If this sounds like a lot of ground for a 1996 adventure title to cover, it is. There are some quirks, like when I talked to my mom after 4 days and she went on a long illogical rant, citing things that already happened as if they were upcoming events. Also, the combat is far from exceptional. You just click up, front, or down to melee your enemies to death or shoot them with a shotgun or nail gun. It works well enough and it’s a fun diversion, so I thought it was a good addition even if it wouldn’t hold up on its own. It’s especially fun to kill the townsfolk and see just how much you can get away with.
Many people are watching this video and thinking “this game looks like shit” to which I say, play it! You need to play Harvester to get the deep rooted sense of dark comedy that turns Harvester from another dated FMV disaster like Phantasmagoria into a timeless PC classic. The game has a strong identity and plays to all its cheesiness in the same way The Evil Dead film series did. In effect, this makes everything lacking in its design and all the glitches into rather amusing quirks that only make the experience more enjoyable. While Silent Hill shares a similar take on psychological horror, Harvester is much more comedic and all the better for it.
If you haven’t been able to tell yet, Harvester is a very violent and disturbing title. You’d think a 13 year old game would be tame by today’s standards, but the imagery of Harvester is still unsettling, and thanks to the FMV incorporation, all too real. I can’t think of another game that has you killing 3 kids with a scythe as their intestines cover the screen—it’s some real ugly stuff. If you play until the game’s end, it will all make sense why the game is this way but that doesn’t make any of these scenes tasteful. As long as you can stomach it all, playing until the game’s finale is a must. The ending Lodge portion of the game is just some of the most twisted, poignant, disturbing, and violent stuff to ever make it into a video game. I remember lending this game to a friend in 5th grade and his parents banned me from their house for the rest of the year. When judging by the content that fills the game, I can’t really accuse them of overreacting.
The biggest problem with Harvester in 2009 has less to do with the game and more to do with getting it to run. Like many old PC titles, you’ll need to run it through Dosbox which is a task unto itself. On top of that, there is a myriad of problems you’ll face like background music cutting off and occasional crashes. Nevertheless, once you know how to run the game you, you’re in for one of the sickest and hilarious games to ever be released. I still have yet to play a game with a script as bold and original as Harvester, and it’s a shame we never saw another game from its developers. It might seem like a hassle to get the game to run, but this is a game that deserves to be reevaluated by the “games as art”-obsessed media of the past decade.
And here is a video I made of the game that will scar you for life…
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcmycWp6O-Q 853×505]