New Video Game Lets You Drive Ukraine's Fearsome Tractors

The Ukrainian tractor is starring in its own video game. Ukrainian Farmy is an indie game on Itch.io that lets players use tractors to haul away destroyed Russian tanks, APCs, and other armored vehicles.

The tractor is a symbol of resistance in Ukraine. Russia has lost almost 700 tanks and social media is full of images and videos of Ukrainian farmers hauling away the twisted wreckage of Russian tanks with their mighty tractors. Now, players can relive the experience of using a tractor to haul off a weapon of war in the video game Ukrainian Farmy.

It’s a simple game. Players tool around the countryside in a tractor, looking for wreckage and dodging artillery fire. Collect six pieces of armor and haul them back to your farm while jaunty music plays. The faster you collect six pieces the better your score. Every strike by artillery fire adds 10 seconds to the clock.

Even Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense is getting into the action and promoting the game.

Billed only as “ukrainian” on their Itch.io page, the developers shared their motivations for creating the game.

“At 5 AM on February 24, 2022, we woke up to the sounds of Russian missiles bombing our cities without any declaration of war,” they said. “We have spent the following days taking our families to safety. We have made sure we are where we need to be to help those dear to us and our country. Some of us are now volunteers and members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Others are actively involved in civilian volunteer groups providing for those in need. These groups procure and deliver food, medicine, warm clothes, and other things to civilians in our capital Kyiv and other cities all over the country. They evacuate civilians trapped in places under attack by the Russian forces. They need your help.”

According to the development team, they’re doing what they do best: making video games. Ukrainian Farmy is a “pay what you want” game where anyone can download it and pay what they’re comfortable with. The suggested price is $3.99, but people can pay more or less. According to the page, any payment is a donation to the developers but they also provide direct links to humanitarian organizations and imply that donating to them is as good as paying directly for the game.