Farmer Ted: Farmer Ted and the Tractor-Related Injury (Play at Home)

Ummmm… what?

Guide Farmer Ted around the rooms, exploring, solving clues and playing mini-games on your way to achieving your goal.  Farmer Ted helps you by giving feedback! It’s a real partnership!

No, this is nothing to do with Father Ted (that was my first thought when I heard the name). If you have never watched Father Ted then you’ve missed out and you really should, but I digress.

This game is possibly one of the hardest games I’ve ever had to review as it was just so different to everything else and I’m still not sure what I think about it, we found it as frustrating as we did enjoyable. We had to give a star rating as that is what we do, but I’m still not exactly sure what rating this game deserves – but for £5 perhaps it is worth a punt just to see what you think?

So it’s quite clear that we knew nothing about this game before we started playing it. All we knew was what the creator told us  “It’s a little different in that you play an animated character searching for clues”, but that was enough to pique our interest for sure.

It’s worth noting that this game (at time of writing) is only available on Windows machines. Fortunately I had just built a new Windows PC so that seemed like a great excuse to give this game a try. So we huddled around the new computer and sat down to enter the wacky world of Farmer Ted.

CONCEPT/EXECUTION

As I said, this game is very different to other online escape rooms. Farmer Ted plays out more like an old school computer game than anything that you may be expecting. You control Farmer Ted and navigate him around the room using your keyboard and mouse, but as soon as we started playing we found his movement to be hilarious and spent the first minute or so just laughing at the comedy aspect of it.

Farmer Ted is on the hunt for Farmer Ned’s special cider recipe, after Farmer Ned’s terrible tractor-related injury. The first room that you start in is what I assume to be Farmer Ned’s living room and from there you set out to solve the puzzles and explore his world, and his world is certainly fascinating. A few bits of audio commentary just add to the quaint feel about this game, but maybe I just like Farmer Ted as I’m from Somerset and it reminds me of home?

I mean no disrespect when I say this, but in terms of the visuals, this game has a very homemade feel about it. It reminded me of being a child and when I used to play around with MS Paint. So if you play this game, don’t expect a refined masterpiece (it’s still likely better than anything I could create though), so go in with an open mind.

We did have a few little quirks in the game that took us a little while to get over but they were pretty minor and once we realised what was going on we were able to move forward. Make sure you click on everything in the room, they’ve added a few little bits and pieces that may give you a laugh/smile.

PUZZLES

Looking back at this game, I don’t feel like there were a lot of puzzles in it, yet it still managed to keep us occupied for 45 minutes. Although we did get stuck on one puzzle for probably 15 minutes, there was nothing wrong with this puzzle, we were just overcomplicating it like we always do.

Some of the puzzles resulted in combinations for padlocks, while others triggered something or rewarded you with an item. Observation is key for this game so make sure you look everywhere. You’ll also find puzzles that are typical run-of-the-mill escape room puzzles and then two puzzles that are far far far different to what you may expect.

So, those two puzzles…. I don’t really know what to say about them. They offer a change of pace to the main game and they are on theme, but they are just so different. I don’t want to give too much away but one of these reminded me of a very famous video game that involves a large angry ape, and the other, well the other was new to me.

CLUE SYSTEM

The puzzle that we got stuck on we really needed the clue system, and unfortunately that was the biggest downfall of the game. We clicked for a clue for the puzzle and we were just told what we already knew, so that got us nowhere. That’s why we lost 15 minutes and it soured the game and took away some of the fun.  A more gradual hint system that culminated in the final solution would have been nice so that regardless of how stuck you get, you can always finish the game.

Thinking about it, there were those two ‘different’ puzzles and if you couldn’t do them then I’m not sure how the clue system would help. I can only assume that if you can’t do them then you can’t progress through the game, but I’m really not sure. Patience is key with these puzzles.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This is not a bad game, it is also not a good game. I really don’t know what it is. Play it, you may enjoy it. Go in with an open mind and just prepare yourself for something ‘different’.

TOOLS REQUIRED

• Internet Connection
• Printer (optional)
• Notepad/Pen may assist in places

Final Rating:

Team: 2 players

Time Taken: 45 mins

Website: https://www.farmertedescaperoom.com

*Disclaimer: we weren’t charged for this experience, but this has not influenced our review.