History YMMV / Harvester

* AntiClimaxBoss: [[spoiler:Mr. Pottsdam.]] By the time you fight him, it's been established that he's probably the most evil person in Harvest (save possibly for [[spoiler:the Sergeant-At-Arms]]). However, by that point you also have [[GameBreaker the scythe]], which allows you to kill pretty much any enemy in about three hits. The resulting "battle" will most likely end up being [[spoiler:Mr. Pottsdam]] hopelessly charging at Steve with two meat hooks and getting killed without even landing a hit on him.

* {{Applicability}}: Is the message of the story ([[spoiler:that video games create violent individuals]]) a critique on media or a SpoofAesop? [[WordOfGod According to the game's creator]], [[https://web.archive.org/web/20140302093153/http://www.kistlercreative.com/2013/10/gilbert-p-austin-harvester-interview/ either interpretation can work]].

* HarsherInHindsight: If you show the photo of Miss Whaley and Principal Herill having sex to Karin, an eight-year old, twice, you'll get arrested. This becomes so much worse once you learn that Steve's actor got arrested for owning child pornography in his later years. Actually, knowing this, everything about [[spoiler:Steve saving Karin after she got molested and buried alive by Mr. Pottsdam]] becomes DramaticIrony. With this information in mind, the overuse of the phrase "You always were a kidder, Steve" becomes a lot worse.

** [[spoiler:Saving Karin brings about a sweet cutscene where she is reunited with Edna. [[SubvertedTrope Unfortunately]], this makes the PlayerPunch involving the diner that much more [[InvertedTrope heartbreaking]].]]
** The good ending. [[spoiler:Steve chooses to spare Stephanie's life, declaring that he'd rather die than become a serial killer. The two both die, but they spend a peaceful lifetime together HappilyMarried in the simulation.]]

** [[spoiler:Harvest isn't real. It's a virtual reality simulation designed to breed serial killers.]]
** [[spoiler:Stephanie seemingly dies and only a spinal cord is left of her.]] It's not much of a spoiler when it's shown in some trailers and back covers.

** Mr. Pottsdam crosses it when he [[spoiler:molests a girl and buries her alive just so he can get into the Lodge]].
** Steve can pass it at any point in the game once the player obtains a weapon, should the player choose to kill someone and use the [[KarmaHoudini "Get Out Of Jail Free" Card]] — the player can even murder a kid and get away with it. [[spoiler:The official example occurs in the Bad Ending, where he can kill Stephanie in order to become a real serial killer.]]

* NauseaFuel: For those who don't find it {{Narm}} considering the outdated graphics, the gore can be this. Special mention goes to the examples under NightmareFuel below, especially the second example which shows [[spoiler:Steve's "sister"'s ''eyes popping out due to baby wasps crawling out and her mother popping them when trying to push them back in'']].

** The game frequently highlights the consequences of Steve's actions (albeit very exaggerated), but none works quite like the fallout from Day 5’s little bit of vandalism. [[spoiler:Steve burns down Edna’s Diner. Edna is so distraught that she hangs both herself and Karin, ''if'' you had just saved them a few days ago.]]
** Without giving anything away, the Bad Ending is the epitome of this in the game, also serving as a YouBastard moment for the player.
* RewatchBonus: There's actually a lot of foreshadowing towards the big twist and a lot of seemingly inexplicable things make much more sense upon replay. A very good example is how almost all the mothers in Harvest look the same; [[spoiler:the programmers of the simulation got lazy and reused the template with a few tweaks]].

** The most horrifying scene in the game detailed under NightmareFuel is somewhat blunted by the fact that the [[spoiler:cannibal children]] are plainly just the same kid copied three times (even if there might be an in-story reason for it).
* TearJerker: After Day 5, when [[spoiler:Steve burns down Edna's Diner and discovers that she has hung both herself and potentially Karin after doing so. The sight of Sheriff Duane Dwayne eating pie dulls the impact a little, but the scene with the suicide note and the hung body still manages to be somewhat poignant, especially since Edna and Karin were part of the few actually nice people in Harvest.]]

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The ending can be seen as this, because rationalizing the screwed-up nature of the town somewhat takes away from how creepy it is once you know [[spoiler:it's just a simulation]]. The fact that it's somewhat metaphorical makes up for it a little, but it still makes the game far less of a MindScrew.
* TooBleakStoppedCaring: The sheer level of depravity on display in [[CrapsaccharineWorld Harvest]] can lead to this reaction among some players. Unusually, this may well be at least partly ''intentional'', as in the context of the game itself, [[spoiler:the Harvesters would be ''delighted'' if Steve stopped giving a damn about the town and wanted everyone in it to just die already...]]

** Edna Fitzpatrick, especially if the player [[spoiler:waits too long and allows Karin to die]].

* HilariousInHindsight: The guy on the cover looks an awful lot like the [[VideoGame/DeadlyPremonition Raincoat]] [[http://static2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20101127235843/deadlypremonition/images/b/b0/RaincoatKiller_(570_x_292).jpg Killer.]]

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs: The Lodge, ''all of it''. It's like the developers just threw in random elements of the game, or that that part of the game isn't even finished.

* NightmareFuel:
** The Temple of Motherly Love. [[spoiler:A woman is surrounded by her three children, who are actually eating her alive. In between WHAT IS NOT an AuthorTract, the game cuts to a FMV of the kids, mouths covered in gore, commenting on how good mommy tastes. Oh, and then one of the kids takes a chunk out of her thigh.]] Also doubles as NauseaFuel.
** [[https://youtu.be/CzNQFONW4Gg "It's not as bad as it looks. You just pop 'em back in..."]]
** If you kill anyone outside the lodge without a "Get Out of Jail Free" card or specific orders to kill them, Steve is arrested, and you are treated to a scene of him getting executed in an electric chair as he screams at the top of his lungs and gurgles blood out of his mouth, with the scene fading to a heart monitor flatlining. Not helped by the fact that his mother isn't disturbed in the slightest, [[StepfordSmiler smiling all the while]].

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: The sheer level of depravity on display in [[CrapsaccharineWorld Harvest]] can lead to this reaction among some players.

* {{Anvilicious}}: Only if the story is serious about it's "fictional violence makes you violent" message, which is doubtful; see the entry for {{Applicability}} below.

** The game frequently highlights the consequences of Steve's actions (albeit very exaggerated), but none works quite like the fallout from Day 5’s little bit of vandalism. [[spoiler:Steve burns down Edna’s Diner. Edna is so distraught that she hangs both herself and Karin, ''if'' you had just saved a few days ago.]]

* AntiClimaxBoss: [[spoiler:Mr. Pottsdam]]. By the time you fight him, it's been established that he's probably the most evil person in Harvest (save possibly for [[spoiler:the Sergeant-At-Arms]]). However, by that point you also have [[GameBreaker the scythe]], which allows you to kill pretty much any enemy in about three hits. The resulting "battle" will most likely end up being [[spoiler:Mr. Pottsdam]] hopelessly charging at Steve with two meat hooks and getting killed without even landing a hit on him.

** Others may find it to be the game's BestLevelEver for throwing everything out the window and going completely insane with the concept of the game.

* NarmCharm: Say what you want about the [[SpecialEffectsFailure goofy FMVs]] or the [[WorldOfHam silly acting]]. Occasionally, the game will blindside you with a rather creepy (and ''jarringly'' well-acted) character comment. And other times, its cheesy special effects only makes some of the scary scenes worse than they would have been with modern graphics.

* ItWasHisSled: [[spoiler:Harvest isn't real. It's a virtual reality simulation designed to breed serial killers.]]

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* ReducedToDust: Killing [[spoiler:Range Ryder after the TV station burned down]] results in him turning into a pile of ash, with his hat on top.