Farming Simulator 22 Xbox review: Get your green thumbs ready

Farming Simulator 22 Opening Scene Winter Source: GIANTS Software GmbH

The Farming Simulator franchise kickoff came to my attention mode dorsum in 2022 when my partner came across Farming Simulator xv while perusing an Xbox sale. Despite being relatively new to consoles way back when, Farming Simulator 15 was actually the fifth championship in the series at the time of its release. Past that signal, the series had already clustered quite a post-obit amongst sim fans and modders akin.

Since so, my partner and I have and continued to expect forrad to each new Farming Simulator title, often released every two years. Farming Simulator has continued to grow and evolve by adding new agricultural industries and livestock while as well securing licensing rights to feature large proper name equipment brands. Farming Simulator 22 for the Xbox Series X, Serial S, Xbox One, and PC easily features some of the biggest mechanical and technical advances for the franchise to date, simply information technology withal manages to retain a level of jank that has continued to haunt the series.

Farming Simulator 22 Reco

Farming Simulator 22

Lesser line: Designed with the hardcore simmer in mind, Farming Simulator 22 continues to build upon the foundation of previous games in the franchise to provide a realistic open up globe where players can put their green thumbs to the exam in a variety of agricultural industries.

The Good

New seasonal mechanic
New maps, equipment, and crops
Online multiplayer

The Bad

Controller mapping is a mess
Everything has a waxy sheen to it
Not beginner friendly

Disclaimer: This review was fabricated possible by a review code provided past GIANTS Software GmbH. The visitor did not see the contents of the review before publishing.

Farming Simulator 22: What you'll similar

Farming Simulator 22 The Farm Source: GIANTS Software GmbH

From its transparent titling scheme to the very mechanics it employs, it feels condom to say that Farming Simulator is non a game that tries to hide what it is. After a thespian creates their character and chooses from three new maps, they'll find themselves left to their own devices with a plot of digital farmland. There are three difficulties from which to choose, with the easiest giving players a piddling flake of a caput offset with land and equipment for free, whereas higher difficulties require more advanced players to do odd jobs for the resident NPCs to salve up to starting time their humble homestead from nothing.

Category	Farming Simulator 22
Title	Farming Simulator 22
Developer	GIANTS Software GmbH
Publisher	GIANTS Software GmbH
Genre	Simulator
Xbox version	Xbox Series X
Game size	23.8GB
Play time	40 hours
Players	Singleplayer, online multiplayer
Xbox Game Pass	No
Launch price	$60

Much like the previous Farming Simulator titles, Farming Simulator 22 features recognizable tools and equipment from proper noun brands such every bit John Deere and Massey Ferguson that players tin can purchase and employ for their ain agricultural pursuits. There are more than than 400 machines available for players to test out on their farms, with different equipment being best suited for specific crops or livestock products.

As impressive equally that is, however, the best feature found in Farming Simulator 22 is the new seasonal mechanic. Past farming simulator titles were in a country of perpetual summer, without any weather mechanics having a begetting on whether your crops grew well. For a simulator, it was lackluster that yous could just plant what you lot wanted when you wanted without a thought.

That's gone out the window, however, as players are at present forced to consider the seasonal changes and how the conditions will bear on their farms. The requirement to plant and harvest crops in specific seasons is a dainty new claiming that adds a much-needed element of strategy to Farming Simulator 22.

Farming Simulator 22: What you lot won't similar

Farming Simulator 22 Opening Scene Cornfield Source: GIANTS Software GmbH

Upon first launching Farming Simulator 22, players are greeted with an incredibly detailed cinematic of an older gentleman preaching the values of waking up early and working hard on the subcontract juxtaposed alongside of scenes of a immature adult female being a bit irresponsible correct upward until the bespeak where she finds her corn ingather rotting in the field. Having learned her lesson the hard way, she and then pulls herself upward by her bootstraps to become a amend farmer (along with some help from her father, the narrator).

If that sounds like an intriguing campaign narrative, so I'1000 sorry to tell you lot now that the opening cutscene is the beginning and end of anything that resembles a story in Farming Simulator 22. There's nil incorrect with making your ain fun out of a game, to be fair. However, the lack of whatever guidance from a campaign tin make it difficult for new players to notice their footing with Farming Simulator.

Farming Simulator 22 Stuck Red Truck Source: GIANTS Software GmbH

Nothing really prepares you for what equipment you should purchase prior to growing sorghum for the first time, for case. At that place is a rudimentary tutorial in the beginning, but information technology does niggling more explain how to connect your tractor to a plow. Don't exist surprised if you find yourself with a field full of grapes without the proper equipment to harvest them in a timely manner.

When it comes to actually managing the equipment, Farming Simulator'due south age-former jankiness continues to be an issue. Push mapping of actions to the controller are overly complicated, oftentimes requiring the user to hold LB every bit a replacement for a PC'south shift key to let for different tasks to be mapped to the aforementioned push button. When attempting a chore like lowering your equipment to the proper meridian or simply connecting it to your tractor, the thespian has simply small visual nuances to know whether the activeness was washed correctly.

Farming Simulator 22: Should yous play it?

Farming Simulator 22 Tractor Source: GIANTS Software GmbH

Farming Simulator 22 fills a very specific niche. One where the player base is particularly interested in a more realistic heavy farming feel. That is both a blessing and a curse for the game, as it centers itself around catering toward players already comfortable with the simulator feel at the expense of being hard to approach for new players.

That's not to say if yous're looking to effort a farming simulator for the first time that you should discount Farming Simulator 22, however. The learning curve may be steep for newcomers, simply in that location are elements like cooperative online multiplayer that make it viable for a new thespian to jump in with a more experienced friend who is willing to teach the basics. There is also a robust modding community for the franchise, and so players who don't desire the hassle of trying to build a farm from scratch tin find community-made add-ons for countless game changes, including easy money or modified equipment.

Despite Farming Simulator 22's quirks, it is still i of the best options available for this underserved niche. The freedom to experience the game however you so choose coupled with the continued improvements each game in the series makes over its predecessor continues to make it a worthwhile experience for hardcore strategy and simulator fans.

Farming Simulator 22 Reco

Farming Simulator 22

Bottom line: Farming Simulator 22 manages to scratch the crawling of any hardcore simulator fan looking to escape the hustle and bustle of city life for some time in an idyllic rural setting where they can raise livestock and produce. The mechanics can be a little convoluted for new players, but online multiplayer and a robust modding customs can help anybody become an experienced farmhand.

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