There are some incremental games that try to reinvent the genre, and there are others that simply understand why people like incremental games in the first place.
Agrivore: Incremental Farming falls very firmly into the second camp.
It isn't particularly groundbreaking. It doesn't suddenly redefine incremental gaming or introduce some revolutionary mechanic that I've never encountered before.
What it does do, however, is provide that wonderful little dopamine hit that every good incremental game needs.
And sometimes that's exactly what I want.
🌱 Agrivore starts innocently enough.
You have crops.
You harvest crops.
Numbers go upwards.
Excellent. I'm happy already. 😂
But, as you'd expect, things don't stay quite that simple.
As you progress, crops become increasingly difficult to harvest, new ways of dealing with them become available and what began as some relatively peaceful farming gradually turns into considerably more chaotic harvesting.
At its best, Agrivore becomes wonderfully ridiculous.
There were moments where harvesting was happening so quickly and so much was going on across the screen that I could barely keep track of everything. Numbers were flying around, crops were disappearing and the whole thing had developed into exactly the sort of over-the-top incremental chaos I enjoy.
🌾 The harvesting mechanics are probably where I had both my favourite and least favourite moments with the game.
Some of the tools are fantastic.
They're quick, satisfying to use and can turn the screen into absolute carnage as you tear through crops that previously took considerably more effort to deal with.
Others...
Well, I wasn't quite so fond of those.
A few of the harvesting methods felt noticeably slower and more frustrating to use. When you've just experienced one tool that lets you cause glorious agricultural devastation at high speed, switching to something that feels considerably more cumbersome can interrupt the flow a little.
It never became enough of a problem to stop me playing, but there were definitely tools I looked forward to using considerably more than others.
🌳 One area I particularly enjoyed was the skill tree.
A good incremental game needs progression that feels meaningful, and Agrivore gives you plenty to work towards. Unlocking improvements and watching your ability to deal with increasingly stubborn crops develop kept giving me another reason to continue.
Then we have prestige.
Lots and lots of prestige. 🔄
Prestige systems can sometimes annoy me when they feel as though they're simply forcing me to repeat content for the sake of making a game longer. Here, though, the progression generally kept that familiar incremental feeling of sacrificing what you've built in order to return stronger and push further next time.
And push further I certainly did.
🏆 I played Agrivore all the way from the beginning to genuine 100% completion.
Every achievement.
Everything I needed to finish.
The lot.
That took me just short of ten hours.
So my opinion isn't based on playing the opening hour, seeing a few upgrades and deciding I'd understood everything the game had to offer. I went through the complete progression and kept going until there was nothing left for me to achieve.
And overall?
I enjoyed it.
Agrivore isn't going to be the game I point towards and say "This changes everything we know about incremental games."
It doesn't need to.
What it gets right is the thing that some incremental games surprisingly struggle with: it makes progression feel satisfying.
There's always that desire to reach the next upgrade, unlock another part of the skill tree, prestige again, become stronger and find out just how ridiculous the harvesting can eventually become.
It's that familiar:
"I'll just get this next upgrade..."
Then another one is nearly affordable.
Then you're close to another prestige.
Then there's another achievement within reach.
And suddenly you've apparently spent nearly ten hours farming imaginary crops.
That's incremental gaming. 😂
💷 I do have one significant caveat, and that's the price.
I bought Agrivore during a sale, and at the price I paid I'm perfectly happy with the value I received. Nearly ten hours of entertainment and a complete journey through to 100% certainly left me feeling I'd had my money's worth.
At its normal full price, however, I think it's a little expensive for what you're getting.
That's particularly true because, enjoyable though Agrivore is, it doesn't do a huge amount that experienced incremental players won't have encountered elsewhere.
For that reason, if you're interested but aren't desperate to play immediately, I'd be inclined to put it on your wishlist and pick it up during a sale.
At the right price, there's a very enjoyable incremental game here.
👍 For me, Agrivore: Incremental Farming earns a Worth a Look.
It's not revolutionary, some harvesting tools are considerably more enjoyable than others, and I think the normal asking price is a little steep.
But none of that changes the fact that I played it for nearly ten hours and completed absolutely everything.
The skill tree kept me interested, the prestige systems kept the progression moving and when Agrivore really gets going, watching the screen descend into completely ridiculous harvesting chaos is enormously satisfying.
Most importantly, it gave me the thing I want from this genre:
Numbers went up. My brain liked it. I wanted the numbers to go up even more.
Sometimes an incremental game really doesn't need to make things any more complicated than that. 🌾😂
Wishlist it, wait for a good sale, and there's a satisfying little incremental farming adventure here that's well worth harvesting. 👍
