Fridge / Harvester

• Fridge Brilliance:
  • Whenever Sheriff Dwayne arrests Steve for murder, he always points out things such as committing the crime with witnesses around or in broad daylight. It makes a lot more sense once you realize that Harvest is a simulated reality trying to turn Steve into a killer, and Dwayne is basically pointing out mistakes that would get him caught in the real world.
  • Also, Steve gets punished for things that would harm his or his fellow killers' actions in the future (give incriminating evidence to the police officer, or involving more people, asking questions, and generally drawing attention to a case), but rewarded for blackmailing and otherwise covering his tracks.
  • Look at the abhorrent violence that Hank's seeing on the TV every day! Look at all those horrible lessons and sociopathic philosophical musings delivered by characters in the Lodge! That's sick! It's the kind of thinking a serial killer would display! …Which is precisely the point; Steve is being trained to become one.
  • The bugs in the game, and the laziness (such as the example mentioned below with the cannibal children being the same kid copied) are the result of the murder simulator being imperfect. To quote the Sergeant-At-Arms, "As advanced as our technology is, we cannot make the sim any better." If you look carefully, you can see that they're wearing the same kind of shirt that Steve is.
  • Similarly, all the citizens of Harvest act in a weird manner, changing topics and moods seemingly at random. The player knows this is because they're pre-programmed NPCs in a computer game with a limited set of responses. But there is an in-universe explanation, and it's exactly the same, because they're all characters in an imperfect computer simulation.
  • Why is Deputy Loomis suddenly blind in the Lodge? Because he was masturbating, and there's always that old myth about what happens to your eyes if you do it...
  • His name is Mr. Johnson. Three guesses what he's obsessed with (other than his car).
    • Additionally, he's extremely proud of his fancy car. Men who drive large and/or expensive vehicles are often thought to be doing so out of feelings of inadequacy.
  • If the purpose of the simulation is to turn Steve into a serial killer, why is murder in the town proper punished by death? Serial killers aren't wild, Grand Theft Auto protagonist-esque madmen — they kill when they think they can get away with it. The Sheriff always comments on you killing someone in public or with witnesses around, and even gets upset if you claim you didn't like murdering a victim if you play your Get Out of Jail Free Card. What's more, Mrs. Pottsdam calls the act of admitting to a murder brave and stupid.
  • When referring to aliens, Colonel Buster Monroe mentions that "sometimes Swell bags one at night." However, the one who hunts aliens is Clem Parsons, while Pete Swell (who is actually the plumber/aluminum siding salesman with dwarfism) claims to have never seen any aliens. At first, this seems to be an oversight on the developer's part. Monroe does not exactly have the strongest grip on reality, though, and does not seem to even be able to recognize Steve from a few feet away until being told who he is. It's possible that he just had Swell mistaken for Parsons.
  • Buster Monroe's gun is an M16A1. The M16 family of rifles was not used by the U.S. Military until 1964 (and subsequently, the Vietnam War). Given that the rest of the game features appropriate 1950s-era technology, this anachronism hints at the town of Harvester being a modern creation. Or it could have been a mistake by the artistic team.
  • The photo of Principal Herrill and Miss Whaley in the broom closet at Gein Memorial will elicit responses from the townsfolk that implies they're fornicating, but if you actually look at the photo yourself in the inventory, the two of them are just intimately holding each other, which is certainly provocative but not explicit. However, it's implied that Harvest takes place in the 50's, when pornography could refer to anything even remotely sexual; it didn't need to tick all the boxes of today's standards to count as graphic. In that regard, it would make sense for the townees to kick up a fuss and claim it more scandalous than it actually is. That said, some of the inhabitants aren't as shocked as they are intrigued by the gossip.
  • The time limit imposed on you to complete all of the tasks necessary to get into the Lodge makes sense. If you're taking too long to get to the point where your actions start causing far worse consequences, death included, for those around you, it becomes clear to the Harvesters that you either aren't willing to continue the path to hopefully becoming a serial killer, or you're too dense to be the slightest bit effective at being one. Long story short, either way, you're not giving the Harvesters what they want, and the "blood drive" is just them disposing of their failure.

• Fridge Horror: In the "Good Ending," Steve and Stephanie live out the rest of their lives in Harvest. But as Joel pointed out in his Let's Play, just who the hell would want to live THERE?!
  • It's a Bittersweet Ending more than anything else: Steve and Stephanie will never have the chance to live free of Harvest's false reality, but by staying there, they are also depriving the Harvesters of the real-life serial murderer they were hoping to create in Steve.