What if Vampire Survivors had farming and frogs? Pesticide Not Required is my ideal roguelite

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SHOULD I PLAY PESTICIDE NOT REQUIRED?

Absolutely yes. Pesticide Not Required has everything I could ever want in a Vampire Survivors clone: smooth bullet heaven gameplay, over-the-top power-ups, frogs, farming mechanics, and even a pet capybara to help me care for my plants. I’ve only played the demo, but I’m already head over heels in love with Pesticide Not Required. Unless you totally hate roguelites—or frogs—this is a must play.

PLAY IT FOR YOURSELF

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TIME PLAYED

I’ve played four hours of Pesticide Not Required, and I’m already itching to get back to my crops. This might be a demo, but it’s already got tons of content, and I was able to unlock new playable characters, upgrade my skills, and experience multiple seasons during my play sessions. I can honestly see myself playing the demo nonstop until the full game arrives.

WHAT’S AWESOME ABOUT PESTICIDE NOT REQUIRED?

• Farming and horde survival mechanics are a weirdly perfect match. I’m a die-hard fan of farming games, but I was still pleasantly surprised by how well tending crops and shooting through waves of enemies fit together. The goal of Pesticide Not Required is simple: grow crops and fight back against swarms of angry bugs. It’s a pretty simple concept, but the game uses this theme in all kinds of fascinating ways.

Like most horde survival games, Pesticide Not Required lets you upgrade your character and unlock deadly new abilities. What sets this game apart is that most of those power-ups come out of the ground. Every day, I could buy and plant weapon seeds. Once those seeds finished sprouting, I’d get an awesome new skill. It was incredibly satisfying to harvest a freshly grown plant and unleash a devastating attack.

• There’s so much to do. Farming is a core part of Pesticide Not Required, but I could also fish, scavenge for apples, and mine ore for extra cash. I almost always find roguelites to be addictive, but the sheer range of daily activities here made the game that much harder to put down.

• It’s filled with cute critters. Not only did Pesticide Not Required let me play as a frog, but I was able to unlock all kinds of cuddly pets. I had a tiny elephant tending to my crops, a toucan helping me plant seeds, and even cats that helped me battle the bug hordes. Eventually, my screen was filled with pets, and the result was as ridiculous as it was adorable.

• It’s not super punishing. My runs weren’t always successful, but even if I failed to survive the season, I felt like I was always making progress. Pesticide Not Required has a persistent skill tree that permanently upgraded my frog, so I got a little bit stronger after every defeat. Even in the demo, I had tons of goals to work towards, and that made failure feel kind of rewarding.

WHAT NEEDS IMPROVEMENT IN PESTICIDE NOT REQUIRED?

• It could use more power-ups. The pool of upgrades in Pesticide Not Required is pretty small, and by the time I made it to the end of a season, I’d basically run out of weapon seeds to buy. It’s only a demo, and the power-ups that are available are all pretty fantastic, but I hope the full version of the game has a wider selection of skills.

PLATFORM TESTED

PC.

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO PLAY ON THE CLOUD?

Pesticide Not Required runs a little less smoothly on the cloud, but since your character auto-attacks, the game is still extremely playable. I was able to fish, mine, harvest crops, and shoot through enemies without any issues. Buying seeds and other upgrades was a little awkward—the shop interface clearly wasn’t designed for a touchscreen—but I was still able to purchase everything I needed. While I’d recommend playing on PC if you can, the cloud version is still a great way to check out the demo and see if it’s up your alley.