There’s something a little unsettling about a farm. Is it because they are usually situated in the middle of nowhere? Or is it because those huge barns and giant sheds could hold all manner of secrets and horrors? Whatever, should you gaze at a farm during the night you can see why it could have inspired hundreds of writers, game developers, and filmmakers to base their horror experiences there.
A Night on the Farm is no different in that respect, but for a low-budget game, this has a lot more going for it than just shock and awe. Sing with me – Old MacDonald had a farm…
A Night on the Farm begins with you in the dark, next to a crashed car, near a cornfield, in the middle of the night. Who you are or what you are doing here is a mystery at first, as you follow a fence line, ending up on a small farm. There are a couple of sheds, a main house and a basement – shuttered by an electronic combination lock. You start to find notes from the people who were there and the mention of something they were keeping under lock and key…
This game surprised me a lot, especially in terms of the story and setup. It took me to places and environments I would never have guessed, playing out through a brilliant sci-fi story. I don’t want to discuss too much for fear of spoiling it, but be sure that the premise and writing are of a great standard. It’s all helped along by tapes that you happen upon, with a woman talking about the farm and eventually the outcome. It is well performed and a fantastic bit of writing.
It plays out via the first person, very much like a standard first-person survival horror experience. You explore the area around you, opening doors, collecting things for your inventory as you go. Some of those may be keys and passes, whilst a flashlight comes in extremely handy; mostly as A Night on the Farm is quite dark at times.
There is light puzzling to solve as you explore, but don’t think anything here is going to tax your brain too much. Again, I won’t talk about what happens in the second half of the game, but A Night on the Farm’s gameplay does turn itself on its head.
The game employs some lo-fi, early 2000’s PS1-styled pixelated graphics and it does it brilliantly. It allows for a great atmosphere, perfectly on tone, with a strange ominous sky and scary endless cornfields. Later on, as things get stranger, it does this with imagination and passion.
The audio is decent too; a droning synth soundtrack feels like a perfect accompaniment to the visuals and atmosphere. It also has some great little effects and the voice-over that you discover from the tapes does a great job of delivering the strange text.
A Night on the Farm stands out from many other low-budget horror games, and that’s because it nails its story and atmosphere. Powered by a superb sci-fi narrative that is surprising and unusual, the writing is very good whilst lo-fi visuals and the soundtrack help aid the atmosphere.
Some little bonuses – hidden toys – add to the challenge and so if you’re a horror fan then it may be worth getting in your tractor and heading down to solve the mystery of A Night on the Farm.
Survive a countryside horror in A Night on the Farm – https://www.thexboxhub.com/survive-a-countryside-horror-in-a-night-on-the-farm/
Buy A Night on the Farm – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/a-night-on-the-farm/9nmbg2ffpxmd
