Hemp

Hemp was one of those simple, straightforward games you'd find during the Flash era. It came out in 2003, a time when a lot of small, quirky titles lived in web browsers. You played as a little character, often just called the "hemp farmer," moving through a series of outdoor stages. The goal was clear from the start: gather everything you could find.

You control the farmer with the arrow keys, walking him across the screen to collect marijuana plants, loose seeds, and bottles. The space bar lets you shoot, which is mainly for breaking certain obstacles or dealing with the police that patrol the areas. Your main task is to pick up every collectible in a level before moving on, but you have to avoid hazards like electrified fences and the ever-present officers. The pacing is methodical; you often wait for patrol patterns to break before darting in to grab an item. It feels like a cautious, slightly tense scavenger hunt set against a backdrop of simple graphics and repetitive music.