Pesticide Not Required

I went in expecting a thin Vampire Survivors clone with a frog skin slapped on top. I came out two hours later having completely fumbled my first three runs because I kept ignoring the farming loop. That is the tell of a game that is doing something genuinely different: the mechanics bite back if you disrespect them. The core setup is a top-down auto-attacking bullet heaven where each run spans 15 in-game days, and each day lasts about a minute of real time. So far, so familiar. The twist is that killing insects and mining ore earns you coins, while planting crops and catching fish earns experience for stat upgrades. Weapons are not picked up from drops - you literally grow them from seeds purchased at the shop. That single design decision changes the pacing completely compared to Vampire Survivors or Brotato. You are juggling a tiny farm economy mid-combat, deciding whether to spend coins on new weapon seeds or buy another crop plot, and those choices compound fast. A fishing-heavy build plays nothing like a mining-and-combat build, and the 21 unlockable characters each carry unique stat biases that push you toward strategies you might otherwise skip. The meta-progression layer adds a skill tree funded by purple gems earned per run, plus cosmetic customization for your home and the pets that tag along during each attempt. A dog that hoovers up loot, a cat that claws at enemies, animals that help water your crops - the pet system is small but it adds a welcome tactical wrinkle when you are trying to keep a multi-crop spread alive while a wave of giant insects is rearranging your face. The twin-stick mode is worth turning on immediately if you plan to use controller; some weapons aim awkwardly in the default auto-aim setup and being able to steer your shots yourself fixes most of the frustration there. A handful of characters have stat spreads that feel punishingly skewed rather than interestingly difficult, and some weapon synergies - the fusion combos specifically - are hard to execute reliably because rerolling the shop gets expensive fast. Those are real friction points, not dealbreakers. The art is pixel-work that leans cheerful without being cloying, the music sits comfortably in the background, and the whole thing runs cleanly on low-spec machines and reportedly well on Steam Deck too. For a small-team indie, the content volume - 21 characters, 40-plus stats, multiple resource tracks, 100 achievements - is genuinely generous. The game does one thing exceptionally well: it makes each run feel like a different problem to solve rather than the same rotation with a fresh coat of RNG. If the genre already has you, this earns its place in the rotation. If you have bounced off Vampire Survivors because it felt too passive, the active decision-making here might be the version that sticks.

Alex · Scout Team

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