Developed by Yobob Games, Harvest Island is a story-driven, horror, farming simulator where you farm crops, collect tidepool critters, and catch fish for the gods. After watching the trailer, I was very excited to explore its’ mysterious world. It isn’t often where we get a spooky twist on the farming sim genre, with the only one coming to mind being Graveyard Keeper. Given how much of a massive hit that genre mash-up was, I was eager to take Harvest Island for a spin. Unfortunately, convoluted menus and a lack of clarity on their mechanics and systems have impeded an otherwise intriguing experience.
There are certain gameplay mechanics that I love about farming sims, like tending to my crops and harvesting resources. These aspects of Harvest Island are unfortunately either not explained well enough or bogged down by complicated menus that drag the process out. Take wood gathering for example. After being guided through a few tasks to collect your first bits of lumber, you are tasked to go out and collect some on your own, minus the handholding. I followed the process just as the game had guided me and suddenly that very same process no longer seemed to work. To make matters worse, I couldn’t even find trees that were harvestable. This wasn’t the only thing that frustrated me about Harvest Island though.
Most of Harvest Island’s quests, at least the ones I have completed, are Fetch Quests. Usually I wouldn’t mind, but the UI just makes things take longer than they should. Simple tasks that are commonly quick to do take double the amount of time. Let’s take something basic like interacting with your storage. For some reason you can’t view your bag when you’re taking things out of storage, and vice versa. There is also a maximum number of items you can stockpile, which makes it frustrating when you cannot view if you are getting close to hitting it. You would think having more chests would easily remedy this but unfortunately, you can’t even place more chests. Considering how often you are interacting with your bag and your storage as you complete your quests, it just slows the experience down. It’s a real shame because all of this gets in the way of the best part of Harvest Island: its’ story.
At every narrative turn, it feels like another shoe is about to drop in Harvest Island. It has a real knack for building suspense as you begin to unravel its mysteries. It isn’t long before you begin to catch your father, a man named Greyson, in little lies here and there. Slowly the questions begin scratching at the back of your mind: what isn’t my father telling me, why do things keep turning up dead, and what exactly is the secret to this island? These are all things I want to know but sadly I don’t think I ever will. The frustrations imbedded in Harvest Island’s design really took a toll on my patience, as I only wanted to play in tiny intervals, the exact opposite of what a farming sim should be aiming to accomplish.
Throughout the story, there is one other bit about Harvest Island that I thought was really neat. Across the island you will find shrines where gods will make certain requests. If you fulfill these requests, you will receive blessings, which are usually an additional resource or currency. This also grants you favor with the gods which can be used for fun stuff like weather manipulation or affecting the tides. If you take too long to fulfill a request however, the gods won’t be too pleased, and will ask for something even more difficult. This also brings in Bless Coins, the first of which you will receive from a raccoon. This is your very first introduction to the importance of wild animals in the game. After befriending them they reveal hidden areas, like where this vending machine is located, that have ways to increase your stats like stamina. It’s a nice addition to the genre and one I haven’t really experienced before.
Ultimately, Harvest Island falls short of its potential. It’s got a great seed of an idea and a charming world to plant it in, it just needs some fine tuning. Things I usually find enjoyable from this genre are instead tedious here. There are flashes of innovation, but it just isn’t enough. With the UI as it is and the vagueness of certain mechanics, Harvest Island is tough to recommend. If you do want to give it a shot, I would suggest sticking to Story Mode, so that your interaction with the game’s systems are as brief as possible.
*A Steam Key was provided for review. *
Harvest Island is now available on Steam.
