Farming Simulator 22: The Final Preview

There’s no denying it – there’s something oddly satisfying about driving a massive tractor through a mature field in the Farming Simulator series, but with Farming Simulator 22, the developers at GIANTS Software aren’t content with a shiny new coat of paint. Instead, they are adding features that have so far only been endorsed by a passionate modding community; mainly, seasonal cycles and productive chains. Now before I could get on my platform and get that delicious reward for harvesting crops, I had to come up with a plan on how to best use my time, space, and resources that extended far beyond the barley field.

It’s hard to overstate how important seasonal changes were to my time with Farming Simulator 22: Gone are the days of eternal August weather conducive to farming. Now I had to get creative, planning which crops to grow during which seasons, and making sure to harvest everything before it wilted on the vine. The hot summer months, for example, were a great opportunity to grow wheat and supply my reserves for the colder months, while the snowy winter season required the construction of greenhouses to grow strawberries in an inhospitable climate.

Screens – Farming Simulator 22

The seasons forced me to think completely differently about running my farm, and only by carefully planning ahead was I able to make a profit, acquire new land to work, and expand my ever-hungry produce empire. And that added a strategic element to a series that, until now, has mainly focused on driving large machines. Don’t get me wrong though: you’ll still be driving a ton of massive engineering marvels and it’s as awesome as ever; now there is much more.

A perfect example of how the series is evolving can be found with its other great addition: production cycles, which involve you in refining, distributing, and ultimately selling your products. In one scenario, I harvested wheat, took it to a factory to turn it into flour, then I took that flour to a bakery to cook it and turn it into bread. And in another much more elaborate sequence of events, I spent an entire year in the game figuring out how to grow or harvest strawberries, sugar, milk, eggs, and butter so I could make and sell cakes.

Expanding my business by purchasing production facilities became an addictive part of making money to feed my always hungry farming operations (in addition to the always hungry animals and people I was literally feeding). Why sell my crops when I could own the businesses that use those crops and start some of that sweet, sweet vertical integration? My thirst for success as an agricultural magnate led me to acquire a good portion of the Midwestern town of Elmcreek.

And of course, as my operations expanded and my cash reserves grew, I was able to buy bigger and better farm equipment that allowed me to sow, fertilize and harvest my crops in a classic and Zen way. Farming Simulator has always had these beautiful machines in abundance and this game is no exception. There are some pretty nice models too, like the Fendt Katana 650 and the New Holland Braud 9070L.

It has been a few years since the last Farming Simulator and so far it seems that GIANTS Software has not sat on its laurels. I’m excited to hug my in-house agricultural mogul when it launches later this month, and yes, handling great machines too.