Forget Stardew Valley's cozy vibes. New farming sim Crop keeps you "on edge," and I can't get enough of it

The cozy vibes of Stardew Valley can make farming feel like a breeze, even in the tougher seasons. As someone who looks after their own garden and grows the odd tomato plant, I know that isn't always the reality. Tending to your land sometimes means being out there in the freezing damp and the fog, but it's all part of the experience. Nothing I have to deal with is a patch on what you'll face in Crop, however. This new farming game traps you in a nightmarish trudge, weaving the uneasy rural vibes of Twin Peaks and the eldritch curiosities of Dredge into an oppressive twist on the format that's got me completely hooked.

The farm you run in Crop isn't an "opportunity." It's closer to a prison. Waking up in the trunk of an abandoned car wearing nothing but your tighty-whities, the nearby farmhouse seems your lone salvation from the pounding rainfall. Unfortunately, this unfamiliar town is going to be your home for the foreseeable future, because the only bridge back to civilization is out. You're gently encouraged to take charge of the farm and help ensure the locals can eat, and the reason for this becomes quickly apparent when your first task is assigned: dig a grave for the previous owner.

Moment to moment, your days in Crop aren't unlike those in many games like Stardew Valley. Wake up, clean the scrap and rubble from the land, plant crops, water them, harvest the fruits of your labor, and sell them to the local supplier. Everything here is slow and deliberate, however. Each patch of dirt you dig takes a moment to finish, each harvest requires a few seconds to pull it from the ground, and scraping grass trimmings to carry into the compost pile is a meaningful endeavor. Pumping water for your irrigation channels means lugging the heavy equipment into place, pouring in gasoline, and remembering to turn them off once they've done their job.

The relentless wet and cold will take its toll, and in the demo I'm shown our protagonist shows signs of a cold, despite his heavy rainclothes. With an oil lamp lighting his way through the afternoon gloom, he buys meds from the local store in town, trudges home, changes out of his soaked rags, and gets an early night. It works: in the morning, the sickness has lifted, and the longer rest means he's better prepared for the next day of work. Let's hope the slugs haven't ruined our potato crop in the meantime.

This methodical sense of progression is core to Crop. Designer Adrian Tingstad Husby, of the three-person Carbonara Games team, tells me, "In the end it comes down to the difference between the work feeling tactile and demanding, vs tedious and sluggish." He compares it to the challenging intentionality of the Dark Souls series. I could immediately see myself getting immersed, embracing the more involved style of full-blown farming sims as opposed to the simple clicks of Stardew.

"We find not only are people willing to put in a lot of effort, but that the resulting sense of accomplishment is greatly increased as a result," Husby remarks. "That said, even though we think Crop will appeal to a lot of people, it's also quite a specific game. We are conscious of who our audience is, don't want to underestimate them, and believe no-one wants a 'game made for everyone.'"

With the money you make, you can buy new equipment, and even start expanding your plots out across a wider stretch of land. Crop isn't just about the drudgery of its menial labor, however; don't forget that our tale started with our abduction, and the death of the farm's former owner. What of the Bible found lying in a corner of the field, scribbled with occult markings and stained in sinister red? "Blood enriches the earth," a scrawled note in its margins reads, "I will finally achieve abundance."

Then there's the matter of the townsfolk. They're very keen for you to help out, and the Lynchian vibes are certainly throwing me into all manner of speculation. Husby acknowledges Twin Peaks as a key reference point, alongside the "dreamlike, captivating nature" of the works of Tarkovsky, and the claustrophobic feeling of being trapped from Danielewski's House of Leaves.

"Some other examples of our inspiration include the open, player-driven mystery solving of Outer Wilds, and the juxtaposition of manual labor and cosmic horror in Dredge," Husby continues. "The alienated protagonists of Yorgos Lanthimos movies, and the crisp rollercoaster narratives of Jordan Peele's films." It all comes together in the stark, grim beauty of Crop's world, brought to life by artist Frits Olsen, who previously served as the art director for the gorgeous Death's Door.

Local mechanic Johnny warns us that "If you want to get away from this place, I hope you're ready to get your hands dirty." Can you trust him? Your relationship with each character is recorded in 'minimaps' - there's no romance here, I checked, but with everything else going on that perhaps shouldn't come as a big surprise. Maybe we should head back to the car and look for clues? Unfortunately, when we do, it dramatically sinks, slowly but meaningfully, into a rust-red pool, until it's gone from sight completely.

Crop isn't a forever game - much like Dredge, its mechanics-heavy gameplay is there to serve the dark narrative that runs through its core. You can expect a playthrough to take approximately 15 hours, although I could see myself sinking into the loop of working its damp fields for a while longer. Perhaps, in its own twisted way, Crop could be cozy after all. You can wishlist it now on Steam.

Despite its unsettling nature, Husby assures me that Crop isn't a horror game in the traditional sense. "I will say that even though there are many moments of meditative labor, we do want you on edge throughout. As some questions are answered, new, deeper, and more unsettling ones are raised, urging you to keep figuring out what is going on." It's a compelling mystery, and one I'm eager to investigate.