Title: Freddy Farmer

Developer: Catcade Games

Publisher: Flynn’s Arcade

Available On: February 27th 2025

Platforms: PC and Nintendo Switch

Reviewed On: Nintendo Switch  

Introduction

Freddy Farmer is a platforming ingredient hunt where precision counts.

Synopsis

Navigate, jump, and avoid enemies all while completing your ingredients list in the order that is shown.

Analysis

You are Freddy the Farmer whose daughter gets kidnapped by a menacing dragon. After consulting with an expert potion maker, you make it your mission to collect ingredients in different locations to save your offspring.

The gameplay

Freddy Farmer takes a straightforward story and combines it with unique elements of item collection with a twist, by trying to collect them in order and not mess up your potion making process. This is what makes the arcade platformer really challenging. Try to obtain an object while trying to avoid gathering the other ingredients in the wrong order, all while trying to evade enemies and falls.   

The game has a total of five worlds with seven levels a piece and each of those levels has a potion you can create and obtain so that you can gain access to the castle where the dragon is keeping your daughter captive. You will need to hone your skills to get through each level and perfect your ingredient gathering skills.

The game contains 25 different enemies all trying to compete with taking you down. The variety is nice to have, and you must learn the skill set and nuances to navigate around them to reach the ultimate goal of gathering the ingredients. Some enemies shoot arrows, some high-speed roll towards you, and others swallow you whole while jumping over a body of water. The dangers are real in each level you find yourself in.

The levels are timed so you must look at your list located on the left side of the screen and formulate a plan. Find each item then proceed with both agility and caution as you frolic about the stage. One wrong step and you could accidently gather the wrong ingredient which then automatically obtaining the potion for that level becomes void. You can keep going to get potions in other areas as well as try and get high scores.

Speed running is satisfying especially when you complete your list without flaws, and it was fun to get on the online leaderboards as you continue to improve your times and personal skill level. If you find the normal setting is too easy for you there are two more game modes to make it more challenging for the player. Also you can unlock minigames as you continue to play and go farther in each level.  

Final Score

Freddy Farmer infuses a rescue mission story, bold pixel graphics, fast-paced platforming skills, and a grocery list to give you challenging and most importantly a fun gaming experience. Trying to outdo my skill and score from the previous run was refreshing because the item layout was random, which made me rethink my plan of attack each time I started a level. It kept me engaged and on my toes for whatever the level threw at me. Though some levels were extremely hard to formulate a plan of attack while your enemies were making moves of their own, I kept appreciating the game design aspects of the game.

One aspect that was kind of problematic for myself as well as others in my household who tried it was accidently going to the menu section and instead of restarting the level we accidently started the whole thing over. So for example I would unlock 5 potions in the forest level and maybe 1 in the graveyard. I then wanted to reset the level because I maybe missed something, however some lag would occur and as I hit what I thought was restart the level, it actually brought me to main screen. I ended up having to start a new run leaving me potion less and frustrated. This happened at least 4 time to me and a few times to my spouse. Though minor it made me feel my progress was for nothing.

This arcade style game was fun and delivers great quality in all aspects of level design, art choice, and narrative. Simple premise that compounds quite fruitfully with the layers of collection, fluid movement, and variety of levels and dangers to romp around in. If precision and speed running are high on your list, make sure to check out Freddy Farmer.

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Shane Kelley is a Senior writer for Boss Rush Network, as well as a writer for Another Zelda Podcast. His favorite game is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. You can find him on X or Bluesky to talk video games, Marvel, cribbage, and axe throwing.

Images: taken by author