Amid the aureate military shooters and indominable open-world adventures, Farming Simulator certainly does occupy its own lane out of time. I remember hauling a payload of grain to the mill and passing by a handful of nondescript NPCs on the sidewalk, all of whom looked like they were plucked out of some open source asset depository from 2007, which did bring a smile to my face. The franchise went viral for its uncanny, antiseptic style and dogmatic approach to its source material-which I suppose are the tenets you'd expect for an offbeat videogame about planting vegetables. That said, oftentimes I get the sense that the Farming Simulator community enjoys the jank. If just a few of these creases could be smoothed over, Farming Simulator would become much easier to recommend. The series has sold over 25 million copies throughout its lifetime-this is no longer a rough-and-tumble indie game-and yet there are so many fussy hangups in both its interface and its engine that actively push newcomers away. What I'm saying is that Farming Simulator simply still lacks a certain intuitiveness that could considerably broaden the appeal of the franchise. The waypoint system is muddy and imprecise at one point I needed to Alt-Tab and watch a video to figure out where in town I was supposed to sell my products. I'd be driving my truck down a peaceful highway, wind in my hair, before suddenly tumbling into the forest. The physics logic occasionally freaks out. I often found myself backing into my fertilizer sprayer at every possible angle before I was prompted with the hitch function. Attaching your tractor to a towable piece of equipment is finicky. Giants Software has obsessed over every possible detail that could concern a humble farmer, but from a pure gameplay perspective, there remains a thick layer of unpolished chaff clinging to the fundamentals. Of course, that gets to the greatest lingering complaint I have with Farming Simulator 22-a complaint that's persisted through even my earlier brushes with the series. I am far too much of a Farming Simulator novice to contextualize how those wrinkles deviate from the prior games in the canon, but from a purely aesthetic perspective, I do appreciate how an idyllic little homestead can glow through the cold air. Giants Software have also added the ability to clear out the forests from the land or dig up the stones in your fields, which adds a faintly Animal Crossing-esque verve to the proceedings. (Barley must be planted in the fall, and it won't be ready for a harvest until the next summer.) This also affects the economy, as some products sell at higher prices during certain parts of the year. Leaves fall in the autumn, snow blankets in the winter, and farmers must make sure they are only putting new crops in the ground when conditions are right. The biggest addition in Farming Simulator 22 is a brand new seasonal system. An endless expanse of soybeans? A tightly-packed meadow of sugarcane? A flock of sheep? Let your empire unfurl across the map. From there, it's up to you to determine what kind of farm you'd like to build. Upon beginning a campaign on the easiest settings, you will be gifted a barn, a house, a handful of equipment, and a trio of pastures. Unlike the abstract bucolic fantasies of Stardew Valley or My Time At Portia, Farming Simulator has always aimed for those who are genuinely fascinated by the modern technology wielded by smallholders all over the world. All of the games are developed by the Swiss studio Giants Software, which lovingly renders a punctilious, businesslike interpretation of heartland warmth. There is so much joy in scraping by.įarming Simulator 22 is somehow the 11th entry in this franchise. And yet, here in this yeoman muck, Farming Simulator has finally clicked in my brain. My plow is inherited from the bronze age, my cultivation skills cannot nurture anything more fragile than the hardiest of cereals, and I frequently sell my labor to the richer neighboring homesteads. I have three fields and a simple life subsisting on the bare edges of the agrarian economy. I belong to neither of those camps, which is crucial context for a review of the most recent game in the series titled, with a hilarious Madden-ish flair, Farming Simulator 22.
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