Product Info

Platform

Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

Publisher

Merge Games

Developer

Maple Powered Games

Genre

Action, Adventure, RPG, Simulation

Players

1

File Size (Minimum)

1.6 GB

Release Date (NA)

Aug 31, 2021

Purchase From

Amazon

eShop

PSN Store

Microsoft Store

Steam

Monster Harvest is a single-player, Stardew-Valley-meets-Pokémon farming simulator developed by Canadian indie developer Maple Power Games and distributed by Merge Games. It is the first commercial title for the developer, having faced several delays during the development process. The game takes the bright, vibrant, pixel art farming world of Stardew Valley and adds a twist – crops can mutate into monsters that can battle through dungeons, similar to Pokémon. Tend to the farm, grow crops, fish, raise monsters, and battle other monsters, as well as the game mechanics themselves, in this unique and sometimes frustrating title.

Quick and to the Point

The story is relatively simple in nature. The main character is brought to their uncle’s farm because he showed interest in it from a young age. The uncle, who looks like a deranged Rick and Morty character, apparently needs help because he is too busy with the slime he invented that converts crops to animals called “planimals.”

In addition to tending to the farm, the main character is tasked with seeking out the true nature of an evil corporation by the name of SlimeCo. By harvesting crops into planimals, the main character must make their way to the bottom of a dungeon and battle monsters along the way.  

Limited Harvest

Farming is full of tasks similar to other games in the genre but with one little twist. Crops can be infused with red-colored slime to change them into loyal monsters for battle. Green slime can complete the harvest process immediately, and blue slime can produce monsters used as mounts and livestock. Crops require prepping the soil, planting seeds, and a water/irrigation method to ensure adequate growth (4-6 days in the game). Crops can only be grown in their respective season (wet, dry, or dark), cannot be grown early, and will die if not harvested.

While it seems self-explanatory, it tends to be a bumpy early journey due to the lack of any direction or guidance. Creating ‘planimals’ at the start tends to be a trial-and-error process using tools such as a water can, axe, and mining pick. Crops do not have any notification other than visually, so you’ll just have to learn when they look fully matured. Moreover, it is quite easy to use the wrong tool harvesting, which can result in removing your crop too early (nothing harvested) or even in clearing the entire plot, which requires using the hoe to prep again (harvested but extra work later). In addition, there are no safety locks or prompts when using incorrect tools, which makes the game less friendly for casual play. It is a frustrating process, since funds tend to be limited early on and are needed to purchase seeds and other supplies such as slimes (also with limited availability early on). Later on, there is a monster that preys on your crops, but it can be easily dealt with via a few scarecrows around the crops and one swing of the sword.

Plain ‘Planimals’

While it is a creative spin on the usual farming sim gameplay, the planimal aspect tends to be lacking in several areas, in addition to the unoriginal name. These loyal monsters are generated once the crop infused with a red slime is harvested. The monster will automatically join the main character’s party unless the same type is on the team already. Any duplicate harvested monsters can be stored up to the limited amount of five in a pen on the farm. While unspoken, it becomes evident to harvest a variety of monsters to reach the max party size of 6 (only 12 different crop options are available). It would be great to have a larger variety of monsters or more customization of the monsters produced.

Initially, your monsters start at level 1, and they can be leveled by battling other monsters in the dungeon for XP. Your monsters cannot be revived upon death. However, upon being defeated, they will reward you with a certain number of hearts based upon their current level. For example, a level 5 planimal will produce five of these hearts. These hearts can be used to level up the farm soil, which increases the base level of all harvested monsters by one. Each subsequent soil leveling requires a higher amount of hearts than before. Unfortunately, it is not clear what to do with the hearts at first, since it may not be intuitive to read a heart sign on the farm to level up the soil.

As noted earlier, utilizing blue-colored slime can produce livestock monsters which can be stored at the barn (once the required resources and money are acquired to build one). The livestock takes several days to become fully mature, and they produce one resource every 3-4 days (for example, a cow-like monster produces milk). This is a good source of income early in the game when money is scarce. There are also super slime potions which can be applied to crops, such as super blue slime flasks that can change crops into a mount (only once the required stable is built). The mounts are much more impressive than monsters for battle, such as a chocobo-like bird to ride around in style. Unfortunately, the mount comes a little too late in the game—after too many long, slow walks around the area for dungeon trips or foraging for items to sell.

Losing Steam

Farming, of course, takes a lot of work. Each swing of a tool (even if it does not perform the desired action) consumes the stamina bar. For example, by blindly swinging the mining pick, the main character can easily deplete the stamina bar for the day in 15-20 seconds. Once the stamina bar is exhausted, the character can no longer perform many actions, such as preparing land with a hoe, watering crops, chopping wood, or mining stone or metals. Some actions can still be performed, though, such as swinging a sword to gather slime materials and foraging for flowers and fruits around the community. Early on, the stamina bar is quite limited, which requires exhausting two-thirds of the dry season (the first one) to begin gaining some traction. It is not until mid-to-late wet season (the second one) that upgrades to tools or crafting devices, such as irrigation piping to water plants, help reduce stamina demands.

Upon resting until evening, the character will gain a small amount of stamina. However, resting until the next day will completely refill the stamina bar. In addition to recovering stamina bars, resting until the next day is the only way to save in the game. The character can eat food and crops for extra stamina, which can be helpful in a pinch, but that impacts your profits for the day. Unfortunately, this cycle of low stamina is vicious.

Exploring the Dungeon

There is a dungeon that can be explored once per day (resetting each time) if the main character has rested for the evening and the player has at least one planimal in the party. The dungeon consists of a series of floors, each with numerous rooms to explore. Rooms may contain various resources that can be harvested, such as gold, wood, stone, or slime. The resources increase in rarity in later levels, like the mystic ore which helps in upgrading tools to their final form. Also, once the mount is unlocked, your character can “discover” it somewhere within the dungeon to help with traveling. However, the character has to dismount to perform an action with a tool.

Of course, the dungeon also has its dangers. Rooms either have one monster in them or none at all. Some of the monsters you encounter are similar to the ones you can grow on the farm, but several are different. Moreover, at the end of each floor is a boss monster protecting a chest. The boss is similar to the others found thus far but at a higher level. Monsters tend to chase your character and battles initiate upon contact. They can be tough to evade many times (e.g., being ambushed upon entering a room or while waiting for the loading screen to finish). If your character uses the sword on the monster before contact, then your character’s monster can act first in battle.

Planimal Fights

Battling is turn-based and each monster only has three skills available (the second and third slots unlock at certain levels). Battling is rather rudimentary with little strategy involved. Just spam attacks until your foe is defeated, for the most part. On rare occasions, special skills like poison or rally come in handy. However, in general, they do not make battles end any faster or more interesting. Leveling up your monsters will restore their health points and allow them to deal more damage. Unfortunately, the damage dealt is fixed, since there does not appear to be any component of defense involved, which dumbs down battles even more.

Upon defeating the enemy monster, it will drop an item as a reward, such as a seed or food to recover stamina. If your monster is defeated, then the next one in the party carries on with the battle (the previous one is gone for good). If all your monsters are defeated, then your character awakens in the house on the farm. Though, unlike with nights of sleep, you only recover a limited amount of stamina. Naturally, it can be frustrating having to level up a favorite monster again and regrow planimals. Hopefully, it’s a favorable season if that happens, or you have more of the same types available in the pen. Good luck!

Shallow Roots

It needs to be noted that there are a fair amount of bugs and shortcomings in the game despite it being delayed several times. For example, after gaining access to a special area, you unlock the fishing rod, which can only be upgraded through a character named Vex. Somehow, Vex became bugged during the playthrough and only showed a “…” above his head. That meant he could no longer be interacted with to upgrade the fishing rod! Additionally, the size of the text is a bit too small to read, which is problematic when it comes to trying to read what to do with an item. There’s no option to change the size either, and playing docked on the Nintendo Switch only provides a modest improvement at best (AKA still tough to read). Also, the storage box and bin to sell items tend to be difficult to navigate and move items around effectively. It feels like it was designed for a mouse and keyboard setup and not updated with a game controller in mind.

That’s not all. Although the pixelated world is vibrant and the seasons are rendered well (the wet season’s purple trees contrast beautifully against the lush, green grass), oddities exist. The portrait pictures of NPCs do not seem to match the characters shown walking around. Moreover, despite there being quite a bit of detail on the trees, character sprites don’t receive the same attention. Some of the faces only have two tiny, black dots for eyes, and the rest of their body is equally oversimplified. It’s like having 8-bit characters living in a 16-bit world; it’s a bit weird. Lastly, the loading screens just take a long time. For example, after concluding the day, the screen goes black for 15-30 seconds, which is way too long. Plus, the loading screen between zones is black with a miniscule pixelated monster in the middle. Considering how often the screen appears in the game, it could be more imaginative or at least provide gameplay tips.

Monstrous Misfire

Overall, Monster Harvest is a very interesting spin on the very crowded farming simulator genre. The gameplay concept has great potential for an enjoyable experience. Unfortunately, the execution missed its mark in too many places, including but not limited to the main monster component, such as the oversimplified battles, bugs, interface and font issues, and limited content. It appears that the developers are currently working on patches to address issues, but it remains to be seen if the game will see its full potential realized. For now, feel free to skip this harvest.

A Nintendo Switch code was provided for this review and gameplay footage.