Orwell's Animal Farm

 PC
User Score
5.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 6 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 6
  3. Negative: 2 out of 6

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. iseeall
    Mar 20, 2021
    3
    An attempt at a tycoon game while also forcing the player to fail to fit the book's plot.

    Good: - well, at least it may be a way to get the younger generation learn about the Orwell's book "Animal Farm". So-so: - the graphics and the music are okay. Nothing spectacular though Bad: - it may look like a tycoon game to you at first, where you need to optimize your decisions and    An attempt at a tycoon game while also forcing the player to fail to fit the book's plot.

    Good:
    - well, at least it may be a way to get the younger generation learn about the Orwell's book "Animal Farm".

    So-so:
    - the graphics and the music are okay. Nothing spectacular though

    Bad:
    - it may look like a tycoon game to you at first, where you need to optimize your decisions and strive to keep the food supply sufficient, the mood high etc. However, by year 5 the farm just falls apart through no fault of yours. And by year 6 there are no available actions left apart form "sing" and "cheer". I had to drop the game when, in year 6, the game literally showed no available actions. That's effectively game end.
    - the game totally fails to deliver the book's message, or any message at all. E.g. I've managed to build the windmill but then human neighbors attacked the farm, and destroyed the windmill. Given that story, one would have to say that the USSR was a great country and only failed because the evil West attacked it or at least strangled it with sanctions and the nuclear threat. Ridiculous. Similarly, by day 5 there were simply no animals remaining who would want to do any work. Hens, sheep, cows - these all just weren't on the yard anymore and couldn't be assigned tasks. The last animal to do any work (planting seeds) was actually a pig! Which totally contradicts the book's idea that pigs became lazy and never did any work
    - animals are constantly "tired'. This begs the question: "if they are constantly tired now when they don't need to feed a human, how didn't they get mortally tired when a human was exploiting them?"
    - there are plot inconsistencies. E.g. I let the dogs run away on day 3. Still, on day 6 the story mentions dogs arresting the Clower horse.
    - for many actions, the result is unclear, and the action itself is just one word. I didn't bother to reload and just tried those actions out to see what they do. This all made the gameplay feel random and meaningless.

    I'd say that the designers of this game took an impossible task: to take a political book with a linear story and turn it into something that, at least to a gamer, looks like a tycoon or farm management game. The thing is, tycoon games ARE about central planning, just on a scale of a single company (run authoritatively by a CEO, in an environment of a free market economy). But this game has to "prove that communism is bad" by cheating against the player and forcing him to fail.

    Oh yeah, and just to be clear: I'm a Russian, and I still remember the USSR as a child. And I've read the "Animal Farm" book a few times: first time at school and then a couple times in English as an adult. And I hate communism. And I run my own business and hate all the leftist madness that's plaguing the West right now.

    Gee, what a mess of a game.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
65

Mixed or average reviews - based on 21 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 18 out of 21
  3. Negative: 0 out of 21
  1. CD-Action
    Jul 23, 2021
    70
    I fully recommend Orwell’s Animal Farm as a great way to familiarize oneself with the timeless novella. It lacks a lot as a game though, because the adaptation is completely faithful and therefore restricts the player’s freedom heavily. [02/2021, p.47]
  2. Games.cz
    Mar 23, 2021
    60
    The game looks beautiful, and its source material is brimming with potential, but the gameplay itself is lacklustre in the extreme. Most of the time you simply don’t know what to do or how to achieve the few things you’re sure you want. A very confusing, sometimes frustrating experience rescued only by the strengths of the book.
    Read full review
  3. TheSixthAxis
    Feb 11, 2021
    60
    Orwell’s Animal Farm relays the content of the book well, but stops short of drawing from any new depths, as choices are limited and the plot takes second place to a dry management sim.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »