Farming games aren’t just for coziness; sometimes, they can be for horror, too. In fact, sometimes a farming game can take you directly to Twin Peaks, and Carbonara Games’s Crop is here to do just that. Announced during the Triple I Showcase, Crop is a genre-blending game, developed by Carbonara Games and published by 11 Bit Studios. The game blends farming sim and management with a horror mystery story and setting.
A single-player experience, Crop is aiming to blend the familiar rhythms of farming and management sims with a dark, story-driven descent into mystery and psychological horror. And the game wears its horror inspirations on its sleeves.
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With an atmospheric agricultural backdrop, players plant, harvest, and manage their land while unraveling a deeply unsettling narrative centered on self-destructive behavior. The relaxing gameplay loop of plant, harvest, and plant again is gradually twisted into something far more ominous. One part farming and one part investigation, the game is also using time and inventory management systems, all while aiming to create slow-burning tension.
11 bit Studios and Carbonara Games’ Crop is bridging farming sims and horror with an atmospheric flair.
At GDC, we got to experience a hands-off preview of the upcoming game. This included getting a chance to see actual gameplay and learn more about the farming thriller. The game starts with players waking up “naked” in the trunk of a car with no idea where or how they arrived at this situation. Players then set up a shelter at an abandoned, rundown farm down the road.
This farm will be where players spend the majority of their time, as they will go day by day of rebuilding the farm and planting crops. Those familiar with the farming genre will be right at home during these stages. Plants will need to tend the fields, repair any damage, and perform basic maintenance. Everything players do will cost energy throughout the day, so planning your day is vital.
As you probably guessed from this setup, Crop is not your happy-go-lucky farming game, and the weather and the setting will play a vital role in things. The setting, being very dark and dreary, helps facilitate this, with plenty of rain and thunder. In my preview, the devs onsite showcased how vital raingear is and how players can get sick if not properly equipped. The field can easily flood and be washed away, or crops can be damaged.
Serious farm management and serious horror make up Crop’s core game features.
Once players can get some crops growing, they can start to sell them to make some extra money to either buy new crops, improve the farm, or just general supplies to help the player survive on this abandoned farm.
Crop is clearly a farming sim set in a dark, abandoned farm in the woods, but it is also a story-driven mystery. This showcases as mystery events unfold and you find various items around the farm, suggesting something bad has happened here. Players will also work with a town sheriff to figure out exactly how they got here and investigate what is really happening not only at the farm, but also in the town.
Investigating these clues and events is just as important as maintaining your land. Players need to piece together the horrors, try to figure out what is going on, before they are eventually consumed by the farm. It’s safe to say that if you’re a fan of management games, but more importantly of horror and mysteries like we see in Twin Peaks or even Remedy’s Alan Wake, Crop is going to be made just for you.
Crop is set to release on PC; however, it has no official release date yet.
