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.

F95 twist of my life