Destructoid’s Indie Gems – Edition 7: Isolation has never looked so beautiful

The daily stresses of life are full of countless hardships, and it feels tougher and tougher each passing year to deal with the crushing inevitability that affects everyone. Yet this is life, and Garrett wants to get away from it all. He’s had enough. The world doesn’t need him back home. So he’s packed his things and headed to the middle of nowhere in hopes of life inside a quiet sanctuary. But something’s followed him there.

Are chopping trees, watering crops, feeding the stray cat, and selling whatever goods you can scrounge up enough of a distraction to keep you from thinking about why you left in the first place? There’s something in the woods, and you brought it here.

A farming sim for the lost soul

This is We Harvest Shadows, a first-person farming simulator with a dark twist. A true passion project from David Wehle, creator of The First Tree, invites you into a life of solitude. A cabin in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by acres of forest that house their own secrets, Garrett must come to terms with his own trauma if he ever wishes for a peaceful life. Moving away from the rest of the world simply won’t cut it. Anxiety, depression, fear, love, and loss will follow you anywhere.

There is something incredibly powerful in We Harvest Shadows that I haven’t seen in a video game in an awfully long time. Its simplistic game design makes it an easy one to sink hours into, using the cozy sim formula of a simpler life, away from the mundanity and stresses of our day-to-day. I’m not a big farming sim fan, but I respect it enough to always give them a go. I understand their USP and why games like Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing became a staple in peoples’ lives during lockdown. We Harvest Shadows fills a similar void as it provides a calming escape—a means to get away from reality—if only for a little while.

But unlike the most popular farming sims (stemming all the way back to Harvest Moon),We Harvest Shadows handles dark and very personal themes that make it incredibly profound as it feels as though you’re playing through a person’s history, their soul in show for the world to see. I feel more and more drawn to the simplicity of We Harvest Shadows and the sentimental, dark story that encompasses Garrett as I (and I imagine many others) can relate to what he’s going through.

The suffocating comfort of loneliness

The setting is gorgeous and the gameplay has that satisfying loop that offers replayability with its exploration. You’re welcome to do whatever you want or stick purely to completing Garrett’s daily to-do list to move through the narrative as you unravel the mystery of Garrett’s past. While there will be the option to play We Harvest Shadows as a pure farming sim, free from the terror that awakens every time the sun goes down, this title shines like tenebrescence because of its psychological horror elements.

I’ve played countless horror games that repeat the same psychological horror ideas. Rare instances of masterfully-crafted horror with psychological themes are Silent Hill 2, OMORI, Who’s Lila?, SOMA, P.T., Eternal Darkness, and Luto. But I have high hopes that We Harvest Shadows will join the list for capturing the struggles of a spiralling human psyche and the internal journey every human goes through at least once in their life.

The darkness which surrounds Garrett is brilliantly portrayed through a Layers of Fear-style painting in his lonely home, showcasing his current psyche and telling us if it’s safe to go outside. It’s an interesting way of handling the sanity meter and immediately creates tension for you don’t know what’s waiting for you outside. But are you the curious type to go have a look?

The mundanity of life has its horrors

We Harvest Shadows brings the darkness we all try to hide ourselves from out into the beautiful open, forcing Garrett to confront it. Like James Sunderland traversing through his Fog World, the hauntings that plague Garrett are desperately trying to remind him of something he just won’t reason with. The setting and clever use of horror create mystery and invite you to explore the surrounding land. You’re actively changing Garrett’s reclusive nature by looking at the horrors that keep trying to invade his home—his thoughts—his memories.

I’m a huge fan of media that doesn’t view or sell itself purely as a horror experience. Games that implement horror elements where the nightmare is brewing in the background, waiting for its moment to hit you, are significantly more impactful and realistic than any jumpscare. It’s a slow-burning horror that takes its time to jump out at you, and even when it does, you just might miss its entire point. The loneliness of Garrett’s setting is enough to create paranoia, for something could be lurking in the woods at any time. Are you truly ever alone, or do you just think you are? While the scenery is enough to lose yourself in, you can’t let it distract you—for you never know when something might reach out and touch.

We Harvest Shadows has a demo on Steam, but there’s no release date at the time of writing.