How to play Hatch & Harvest

What is the goal in Hatch & Harvest?

Every level gives you one to three goals. A goal can ask you to deliver a number of one product, such as 5 scarves, to own a number of animals, or to hold a number of farm coins. On a phone the goals sit in a row under the top bar, and on a computer they run down the left side. The clock in the top bar counts up from zero. Finish inside the gold time for three stars and inside the silver time for two. After that you still win with one star, because a normal level never fails. Every tenth level is the exception: it is marked HARD, has three goals, more rascals once they have arrived, and a real time limit. Every fifth level is a calmer CHILL level with smaller goals and no rascals.

How to play Hatch & Harvest, step by step

A level is one loop that you repeat faster and faster: collect, feed, make, load and sell. Peachy runs to every spot you touch and reacts to what happens on the farm. Level 1 walks you through the first moves with tips on screen, and every new building or animal brings its own tip card when it arrives. The pictures below come from level 1 and level 24.

1. 1Step 1: Swipe to collect. Beehives make honey, sheep make wool and cows make milk, and each good lands on the grass. Drag a finger or the mouse through the goods and they fly into the barn, which holds 10 at the start. One long swipe through several goods builds a combo. Anything left lying for 20 seconds blinks and disappears.
2. 2Step 2: Keep the animals fed. Sheep and cows get hungry, walk to a patch of flowery grass and eat it bite by bite, and the bees fly to the flowers too. Anything hungry makes nothing. Tap or swipe an empty brown patch to grow new grass. Each patch uses one bucket of water. The well holds five, and when it runs dry you tap it to refill it in about two seconds.
3. 3Step 3: Run the workshops. The Bakery turns honey into honey buns, the Loom spins wool into yarn and the Dairy makes cheese from milk. Later the Cake Shop, Tailor and Creamery take those one step further, to honey cakes, scarves and ice cream. Tap a workshop to start it. A ring shows the time left, and the bubble over a workshop shows what it needs and bounces when that good is in the barn.
4. 4Step 4: Load the truck and sell. Tap a good in the barn bar to put one on the truck, or hold it to load them all. The truck carries six goods. Tap the truck to send it to market on a round trip of about nine seconds. The coins and deliveries count when the truck gets back.

Rascals, boosters and hard levels

From level 11, raccoon rascals sneak onto the farm and try to carry off goods lying on the ground. Tap a rascal twice to shoo it away, or three times from level 101, and it drops a coin as it runs. Rascals never hurt the animals. Three boosters sit next to the Farm upgrades button, under the board on a phone and on the right on a computer. Freeze costs 15 tokens and stops the clock for 15 seconds. Hint costs 10 tokens and points at the next best move. Shield costs 15 tokens and keeps rascals away for the whole level, and it stays greyed out on farms without rascals. If time runs out on a hard level, you can pay 20 tokens to continue with 60 extra seconds, up to two times, or try again. A level won after a continue gives one star.

Tips to beat hard levels in Hatch & Harvest

Swipe in long lines so nothing is left on the grass. Keep at least one patch of flowery grass ready before the animals get hungry, and refill the well the moment it hits zero. Start a workshop as soon as its bubble bounces, because made goods sell for far more: an ice cream is worth 90 coins and a jar of honey only 4. Load the goods your goals need first, then fill spare space with extras to sell. Near the end, send the truck as soon as it carries the last goal items instead of waiting for a full load. When a goal needs lots of raw goods, buy a second animal early. With rascals around, collect quickly, since they only go for goods on the ground. On hard levels, keep Freeze for the final stretch.

Controls, upgrades and OvO helpers

On a phone you swipe to collect and plant and tap for everything else. On a computer the mouse does the same, and the keyboard works too: the arrow keys move a cursor over the farm, and Enter or Space acts on that spot. Winning a level banks farm coins, half the coins you have left plus 15 for each star. Spend them in Farm upgrades on the Well (+2 water), Barn (+3 space), Truck (+2 space, faster trips) and Workshops (12% faster), four levels each. Upgrades start on your next level, and no level needs them. Stars also bring the OvO crew: Skipper drives the truck 30% faster from 9 stars, Clover plants grass next to hungry animals from 30 stars, and Suds picks up a good every 3 seconds from 66 stars.

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