If you’ve ever wished Stardew Valley was more all-action, Pesticide Not Required is well worth trying. It takes the tried-and-tested wave-based horde survival gameplay popularized by Vampire Survivors and combines it with a clever farming system to create one of the most delightful roguelike surprises of 2024. Now, developer Jampacked Games has unleashed a fresh update with an entire new tier of weapons and more challenges to put the most committed players through their paces. Alongside this, you can pick up the already-cheap indie game at a discount thanks to a Steam sale.
In Pesticide Not Required, you play a frog managing a homestead. You’ll plant seeds and water them to grow crops, mine rock outcrops for resources, and fish in local ponds. But don’t mistake this for a traditional farming game. Every day, your beautiful land is swarmed by hundreds up thousands of angry insects, transforming the action into a horde-survival roguelike game akin to Vampire Survivors.
To fight back, you’ll need to buy special ‘weapon seeds’ from the local MerchAnt that are grown into all manner of auto-attacking tools and support abilities. You’ll also earn regular upgrades in the classic pick-from-three style of Hades or Slay the Spire, and I particularly like some of the bolder risk-reward options that give you a strong buff at the cost of a reduction in effectiveness to another stat for the rest of the run. You can also discover pets that handle tasks such as planting and watering for you, and there are between-run boosts that can be unlocked with a currency to make you stronger for future attempts.
With its new update, Jampacked Games has introduced a whole-new mechanic to further enhance your buildcrafting potential. Weapon fusions work a little like the evolution of Vampire Survivors, requiring you to first take two specific pieces of equipment and upgrade them fully. Once that’s done, you’ll be able to combine them into a new superweapon. The ten options you can find are the Dimensional Slash, Shovel, Meteor Smash, Sweeping Slash, Wind Bombs, Mole Hat, Fairy Tango, Devil’s Fork, Tidal Wave, and Tadpole Burst.
Alongside this, there are new, “extra-difficult” challenges to complete. These will only be made visible once you’ve cleared all of the regular in-game achievements, so consider them an extra task for true completionists. If you’ve yet to try Pesticide Not Required but are interested in what it has to offer, a Steam sale discount lets you snag 30% off for a limited time. I’m certainly a fan, and 94% of its user reviews are in agreement with me.
The Pesticide Not Required weapon fusion update is out now. You can buy the game on Steam at a 30% discount through Wednesday March 12, meaning you’ll pay just $4.55 / £3.85. Head here to grab a copy.
If you want to see how long you can last against all odds, try the best survival games. We’ve also rounded up our pick of the best indie games you should play in 2025.
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