2026.9.5 Gameplay Overhaul: Potato Cow & Tomato Cow Reworked — Prelude to v1.1

Hello, farmers.

First, I owe you a sincere apology for how long this update has taken.

Since graduating and starting a full-time job, I have continued developing Deck of Harvest in my spare time. Progress has been much slower than I hoped, and I am sorry I could not bring these changes to you sooner. Thank you for your patience, feedback, and understanding.

The 2026.9.5 update is a prelude to the larger v1.1 update, which we aim to release before October. Rather than applying a small balance patch, we have rebuilt the yearly resource loop, shop progression, opening choices, and large parts of the Potato Cow and Tomato Cow archetypes.

The game will be somewhat harder than before, and we hope these changes give you more ways to build your deck and plan each year.

Major Gameplay Changes

A fresh economy every year

At the end of each winter, excess stored Yield and crops remaining on the field are converted into Cow Coins at a set rate, then cleared. Excess Yield can no longer be carried indefinitely from one year to the next, so each year now asks you to make clearer choices between surviving the current season and preparing your economy.

The relic Pork Knuckle is the exception: it lets you keep half of your Yield after the yearly settlement.

Potato Cow and Tomato Cow archetypes reworked

Core cards, growth paths, and important synergies for both characters have received major revisions. Many cards—including Rainbow Potato, Purple Sweet Potato, Cassava, Clock Wheat, Electric Wheat, Seawater Rice, Parsley, and Rye—now have new effects, Yield values, or growth times.

Several overly direct or dominant old combinations have been redesigned. The new version puts more emphasis on play order, adjacency, Fertility, removal, regrowth, weather, and planning across solar terms. Returning players will need to rediscover some familiar builds, and we hope you will find new combinations to explore.

Opening Blessings

Instead of choosing directly from a large set of Crop cards at the start of a run, you now begin by selecting a Blessing—such as a Tool Bag or Seed Bag—alongside a golden Blessing relic. This gives each run a more distinct starting direction.

Shop overhaul

• Paid rerolls become more expensive during the same shop visit. The reroll price resets after you leave the shop and move to the next season.
• Free rerolls from relics do not increase the price of later paid rerolls.
• A relic that is not locked in the shop may appear at 50% off; locking it keeps that discounted price.
• Shop upgrades now unlock the Spring Lock, an extra shop slot, and the Iron Lock in sequence.
• The Wordless Heavenly Book can be purchased in volumes and eventually becomes the Written Heavenly Book.
• Several card prices and discard costs have been adjusted, making late-game economy more demanding.

A separate Boss season

With the Pig Trotters Descend difficulty enabled, finishing four years no longer ends the run immediately. You will face an additional Boss season against the Pig Boss, and the route board now displays this extra stage correctly.

New content

New additions include the Tool Bag, Seed Bag, Old Coin Purse, Wordless Heavenly Book, Written Heavenly Book, Luoyang Shovel, Two-Headed Flower, One Hundred Thousand Whys, Pork Knuckle, Radio, Gem Millet, Chip, and the Frosted, Saline-Alkali, and Weedy special plots.

End-of-season relic choices have also increased from two to three.

Card and Relic Reworks

Dozens of cards received mechanical changes. Highlights include:

• Cassava: harvesting grants additional stored Yield equal to its own Yield.
• Job's Tears: now draws cards on harvest; each adjacent crop reduces the number drawn.
• Taro: can only be played when it is the last card in your hand.
• Konjac: when harvested, copies the crop directly to its right into your hand, preserving its attributes.
• Parsley: gains Yield after every regrowth harvest.
• Umbrella Mushroom: waters the entire field with rainwater when planted.
• Durum Wheat: removes adjacent crops and gains Yield based on the number removed.
• Seawater Rice: enters the draw pile when removed and gains printed Yield every time it is drawn during the node.
• Mung Bean: reduces next turn's draw in exchange for Fertility across the whole field.
• Clock Wheat: turns time back by one solar term and cannot be harvested or removed.
• Purple Sweet Potato: if the previously played card was a Tool, it keeps its bonus and returns to your hand.
• Sorghum: evolves into Chip Sorghum after being planted several times.
• Electric Wheat: removes all crops, discards your hand, then draws the same number of cards.
• Fel Mung Bean: clears all Fertility and gains half of it as Yield.
• Rainbow Potato: buffs Potatoes in your deck for the season and lets adjacent Potatoes inherit its Yield.
• Sword Bean: consumes all Fertility on its plot and grants the same amount as stored Yield.
• Rye: can only be harvested when no other crops remain; its reward scales from the lowest-Yield crop in your hand.
• Hoe: now adds Fertility to an empty plot.
• Ox Plow: instantly matures crops in its row that are about to ripen.
• Flail: removes one crop and returns to the draw pile after use.
• Rake: removes every crop in a row and draws cards.
• Dragon Horn: triggers Plant effects one additional time, excluding evolution.
• Wood Seed: permanently increases the Yield of every crop in the deck.
• Fire Seed: exhausts the first card played each solar term, then retrieves cards exhausted earlier that season.
• Dark Cloud Spirit: crops planted during rain have double Yield.
• Wind-Calming Pearl: draws a card whenever the weather changes.

Many more crops, tools, relics, hazards, prices, Yield values, and growth times have also been rebalanced. Some in-game names have been updated, including Straw Rope, which is now Magical Straw.

Controls, Feedback, and Stability

• Played cards leave your hand sooner during rapid card play, watering, and harvesting.
• You can queue End Turn while current card effects are resolving.
• Score particles from mass harvests now travel plot by plot instead of piling up at once.
• You can continue playing as soon as harvest resolution is complete without waiting for every particle animation.
• Resolution options are now 1080p, 2K, and 4K, and your selection is remembered.
• Permanent Yield or growth-time changes are shown in green on cards.
• Permanent, seasonal, and on-field bonuses are now calculated separately. When a crop returns to the deck, only its temporary on-field bonuses are removed.
• Pumpkins remain on the field across seasons and evolve into Giant Pumpkins when their countdown reaches zero.
• Fixed a crash after completing a run at max career level.
• Fixed Pumpkins disappearing from the field after loading a cross-year save.
• Fixed delayed crop removal, duplicate discard animations, and End Turn stalls.
• Fixed long input lockouts after mass harvesting and repeated watering.
• Fixed route-board progress, End Turn button, score audio, main-menu effects, and collection tooltip issues.

Thank you

This update is intentionally a little more challenging. Some familiar strategies will need to be relearned, but we hope the new version offers stronger build identity, a clearer yearly rhythm, and many more meaningful decisions.

This is only the prelude to v1.1. I will continue working on the next stage in my spare time and aim to bring v1.1 to you before October.

Thank you again for waiting, sharing feedback, and continuing to farm with us.

GameFarmer