Farming Simulator 22 as the name says it, is a simulator for the farm life. The name does not mean that the game has had 22 iterations but it simply means it’s for 2022. I have not played a previous Farming Simulator game so my take on this game will mostly be about my first time playing the game.
Farming Simulator 22 starts you off with the character creation. There are enough options for you to choose from to keep your character unique. There are even a few branded clothing that you can use to dress up your character. You then get to choose from three places to start your farm in.
I then went to experience the tutorial for the game to get an idea of the basic controls. The tutorial was very helpful in not getting me too overwhelmed with the things I needed to do. Considering that this game’s layout is meant to be played on a PC, the console version is actually not that difficult to navigate. The tutorial only shows you four basic things that will ensure you will always have income. First would be the harvesting of crops, then the tilling of the field, then the sowing of the seeds and finally how to sell the crops.
You would probably think, how does one person do all of these tasks all at once? Thankfully you can hire other people to do the work for you. The only task that you can’t hire a person for is when you are selling the crops. Hiring workers would of course require money so you’d have to keep an eye on how much money your spending towards hiring other people.
The simulation really feels very immersive and it really requires a lot of grinding. It reminds me of Farmville from the early days of Facebook just with a more real life feel to it. Adding the fact that you are able to handle real life farming equipments from renowned brands makes it all the more authentic.
What’s also interesting about this game is the addition of seasons. This makes the game more interesting and reminds me of the seasons that you encounter in Stardew Valley. You would need to carefully think about which crops to plant on which season or which plants can last the whole year round.
You normally start off with a few pieces of land. And once you get enough money from selling crops you will be able to buy other pieces of land or even establishments. This will help you grow your money even more. You can even raise animals and reproduce them so that you can sell more.
Another feature that the game offers is requests. These requests are like side quests that you can fulfill for a cash reward. The cash reward varies depending on the difficulty of the task which can be anything from sowing the fields or harvesting crops. To complete these tasks, you would need specific machines. You will have access to some basic machines but there will be other machines that you will either need to buy or rent to fulfill the request.
Traversing the farm is actually easier than I initially expected. With just a push of a button you can teleport instantly to a vehicle that you own. You can even check on a vehicle that is being operated by a hired worker. This makes any tasks that involves vehicles a lot more manageable because then you don’t have to get out of a vehicle to enter another.
The only thing I find odd is that even though you can buy items and machines on the go, you will still need to go to the store manually to get your paid items. This is the only time I feel that your time will be wasted when it could have been used to do other things. I’m not really sure why there’s no option to have your items delivered to you.
Overall, Farming Simulator 22 has prove itself to be a game that is as authentic as the real thing. A game that really puts you front and center in farming. An immersive experience that will get you forget about the time of day. A game that you can even play with friends through the Multiplayer mode. If you ever wanted to know what it feels like to be a modern day farmer, then look no further and try out Farming Simulator 22.