FARMING SIMULATOR 22

In the past decade, a new genre has taken shape in the industry – a simulator of a working profession: a builder, a loader, a bus driver, a miner. Unlike all the familiar flight and car simulators, these games do not focus on competition or combat, do not try to surprise with realism or a high level of graphics – this is a rather specific entertainment, focused on showing the features of the profession and is great for those who want to try themselves in the role of, for example, a lumberjack, without getting up from a comfortable chair.

It all ended with completely absurd examples that ridiculed the monotony and routine inherent in such projects – remember at least the Rock Simulator stone simulator. However, why did it end? The genre still feels great today, and the release of the new Farming Simulator from Giants Software is another confirmation of this. What is so special about a farming simulator if it has more players on Steam than the fresh Battlefield?

Player cover
Good in the countryside in summer
What can a single modern farmer do in general? Everything related to the production of agricultural products. Thanks to scientific and technological progress, work in the countryside can now be so well automated that even a small team can cope with a farm of considerable size – with due competence, of course.

FS22 gives you the opportunity to experience all aspects of farm life, from plowing fields to delivering produce for sale. If we take the classic mode, without multiplayer and modifications (with which the series has been friends for a long time), then the player is free to do whatever he wants, from the restrictions – only starting capital. However, the possibility of renting equipment and lending will help to cope with this inconvenience: you can do whatever your heart desires, even on high difficulty.

In the store, you can customize the equipment before buying.
You buy your first plot of land, you think about what is more profitable to do, and your eyes run wide – what is not grown here, from wheat to cotton. But the situation, in fact, is twofold: on the one hand, yes, there are many types of crops, some require special equipment for processing (for example, grapes), and on the other hand, harvesting the same wheat is almost the same as harvesting sunflower, even if harvesters on combines and will be very different. Universal work and even more so the same – take the same plowing. Not without exceptions, of course, but in general, you should not admire the abundance of crops, it is better to look at the types of equipment and how they are used – only this makes it clear the true level of diversity in the game.

Logging stands apart from other works, but the process requires attention and skill.
In general, among the occupations, one can distinguish such main types as processing crops, raising animals and logging. Transportation is also worth noting – there are no teleports that move grain from the combine bunker straight to the counter in the form of bread, so take care of the logistics as well. Not Truckers, of course, and not Euro Truck Simulator – the maps here are quite small. But it is better to get a truck or at least a cart for a tractor from the very beginning.

With the breadth of the model range of equipment in the FS22, everything is in order: there is really a lot of it here. Even I, who do not understand the brands of agricultural machinery at all, was impressed by the number of models – several hundred, and these are the products of real-life companies, among which there was a place for the domestic Rostselmash. I’m sure, for people in the know who know that “that green tractor over there” is actually a 9R from John Deere, such richness is one of the main advantages of the game.

This is just a small part of the technology available.
The blue tractor is coming towards us
But all these tractors-combine-loaders are not just a beautiful decoration. Each unit of equipment can be controlled, performing a lot of agricultural tasks. The most ordinary tractor can act in several roles, depending on what equipment it is used with: there is a plow, a cultivator, a seeder, a mower, a pitchfork, a bucket – you can’t list everything. There is a view from the cab, and the equipment in most cases is not just a piece of iron attached to the front or rear: it has its own functions. For example, the plow can be turned or folded, the angle of inclination and offset change at the harvester, the sprayers fold and unfold, and there is nothing to say about the work of loaders, cranes and manipulators – there is generally complete realism.

You will also have to load the bags into the car yourself.
Here Farming Simulator fully justifies its name. If you wish, you can delve into the settings and get to such subtleties as manual gear shifting and giving light signals (for example, turning on “turn signals”) – a good help for those who like to win back, especially since FS is friends with the steering wheel and pedals.

However, the gameplay itself, exactly as it is portrayed in jokes about such games, is more work than entertainment.