Famous for its absurd story and FMV sequences, Harvester is another one of those cult classic mid-1990s point-and-click adventure games.

It launched on the PC in September 1996 and was developed by American studio DigiFX Interactive. It went defunct in November 1997.

On the original box art it claims, “The most violent adventure game of all time“. Something it set out rather aggressively to achieve (for notoriety sake). Is it any good? Kind of, in a… gruesome sort of way.

Ultra-Violence and Publicity Seeking in Cult Classic Harvester

Now, if you want to play the game it was re-released on GOG (Good Old Games) in 2014. The update was the work of Lee Jacobson.

And then Nightdive Studios launched Harvester on Steam and Linux (also in 2014). This studio is famous for taking old titles not running on anything, giving them a makeover, and re-releasing them.

In other words, it’s notable for the preservation of retro games and helped bring the likes of the very underrated Doom 64 (1997) to Steam and consoles.

Did Harvester deserve the treatment? Clearly, there’s a fanbase for it. But it’s a very odd game. This is the plot summary from GOG.

“Welcome to Harvest. It’s a quiet little town with eccentric locals and traditional family values. Life moves at a slower pace in quiet Harvest without the hustle and bustle like you’d get in the big city. Don’t forget to attend the annual PTA Bake Sale and keep in mind that the blood drive is mandatory.”

The GOG page also makes a reference to Jim Morrison’s song People Are Strange. Which… okay, why not? We love that song, we just also weren’t expecting to find it associated with a random ’90s adventure game.

To cover the plot a bit more, you star as Steve Mason.

He has amnesia and wakes up in a very strange town called Harvest. It seems to be stuck in 1953, but all sorts of spooky shenanigans are going on. Especially as the locals are preparing for the annual Festival of Blood.

Steve’s fiancée goes missing, too, which is a bummer.

In classic amnesiac fashion, Steve goes around Harvest trying to restore his memory (and find his impending wife). Along the way, he meets oddball characters such as this legless, gun sporting cop.

Right, that’ll explain to you why Harvester is so popular. That’s one of the more normal bits, as the game really does reach some quite revolting peaks.

But even if you like weird stuff, Harvester is unlike 99% of other games.

It’s deliberately very confusing and follows a disjointed structure. Upon its 1996 release reviews were quite positive, but its relaunched version met with mixed responses.

Harvester is very dated. Its general gameplay mechanics aren’t very good, conversations with characters (a major part of any adventure game) are frustrating, and it’s often meandering.

But then it gives way to some of the most absurd violence we’ve ever seen. That does include various gratuitous scenes of violence against kids (the comical effect does, to some extent, dampen that).

For some gamers, that may well make the whole experience worthwhile—if not positively riveting! And if you love terrible B movies from the ’80s and ’90s (see the Bad Movie Bible for more of that), then you’ll love Harvester.

If you like coherence, structure, and a normal game… this isn’t for you!

Harvester is a so-bad-it’s-good type of video game.

The term is usually associated with films. But if you think you can lower your standards to the level of a putrid sinner for about six hours, you can give it a go. Just expect some very odd occurrences along the way.

The Many Death Scenes of Harvester (WARNING! Gory Content Ahead)

To reiterate, Harvester is famous for its particularly OTT violence. A lot of video games are violent, but this one had a berserk take on it and reaches the point of dark comedy pretty fast.

Most of the time, anyway, and it’s that element that takes the edge off things. It’s like that bit in Monty Python and the Holy Grail with the killer rabbit.

The game is so ridiculous, and the B movie type acting so awful, it’s difficult to take it too seriously. Although it did gain notoriety, it wasn’t to the extent the developers were clearly aiming for.

The Controversy Seeking Failure of Harvester

In the early 1990s, the director and writer for the game, Gilbert P. Austin, decided to take a high concept route with the title. This being so it’d gain a lot of attention upon launch and be successful.

On a tangent, but that’s exactly what Iain M. Banks did with his 1984 debut novel The Wasp Factory. The difference here is Banks’ plan worked.

It’s an FMV game, which were popular in the mid-1990s.

The likes of Night Trap (1992) and Phantasmagoria (1995) are the stuff of legend. But this did mean actors were genuinely on a set to “film” the game, which was later digitised to be a point-and-click adventure.

And, once again, the big difference was Harvester’s focus on extreme violence.

It was shown to the public for the first time in 1994 and then launched in late 1996. It was a commercial failure.

However, in December 1996 the American psychologist Dr. David Walsh created a list of excessively violent games. Seeking publicity, some of the team attempted to get Harvester added to the list.

To some extent the focus on ultra-violence did work, as the game was banned in Germany. But not enough to boost the sales of the title to save the business. But the whole approach does come across as a little bit desperate and tacky.

Why not just focus on making a really good game, instead of this lunacy?

It’s like those stupid films Birdemic and The Human Centipede. Both set out to shock and appal with a grim high concept, but have largely been forgotten since their launches over 10 years ago.

On another note, in Harvester the violence against kids scenes caused some issues. As did some of the strange sexual content. And it later emerged the main actor is a sexual deviant (and a convicted one, at that).

That stuff does take the edge off the game, we must say.

But if you feel like you can look beyond the issues then the game is there, online, ready and waiting for you to play. Or… you can just watch the walkthrough on YouTube (which’ll likely make a great deal more sense, all whilst skipping the many in-game frustrations).

Yes, we guess this is a video nasty. One in gaming form. And one that didn’t coerce the negative press attention it set out to. Game over.