Farm Manager 2021
Ok, I’ve only played the launch version for 3 hours so far, so this is a very early post. However, I sunk a ton of time into the demo and prologue, so I think I’ve already got a decent take on how the game plays.
Firstly, I disagree that it’s the same as the 2018 version. The 2018 version required a player to micro-manage every aspect of the game, as almost nothing happened automatically. In the 2021 version most of the tasks happen seamlessly, with workers having a decent degree of intelligence as to the next task required. This is a huge improvement, as the 2018 version’s micro-management made it almost unplayable if you owned a very large farm. For example, I built a greenhouse, housed plenty of workers nearby with “plant” skills, set the production to strawberries, and then sat back and waited. From that moment, every task was fully automated and eventually the strawberries arrived in my warehouse, ready to sell. It’s the same with fields. Make a field, set up the crop required, buy all the necessary equipment, employ and house the correct workers nearby, then sit back and wait for the crop to be harvested and ready for sale. There is even a menu to auto-sell and auto-buy, for those that don’t wish to track the market prices for min/maxing best prices as they fluctuate.
– Real player with 383.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Agriculture Strategy Games.
I didn’t play 2018, so maybe that makes me like it more. It’s a good game, I finally finished the scenario after ~28 hours. Definitely worth the purchase price.
I did have a few times certain things got “stuck”. A tractor sitting in the middle of things not doing anything, two greenhouses who’s workers vanished in the middle of the harvest leaving me unable to do anything with the greenhouses, two animal pens not getting fed for reasons that mystify me. Saving, quitting and reload always resolved them though.
– Real player with 136.4 hrs in game
The Stillness of the Wind
I cant say as i regret playing this but if someone asked me if they should play it, i would say no and thats why i decided on a thumbs down.
Firstly if, like me, you expected a farm simulator of some kind you would be very wrong. Do not get if you have that in mind.
The only two things i enjoyed enough to note are the visual style and the writing. This game has a very nice visual style, simple but pleasant and enjoyable. The writing is very artsy and poetic.
There are many things i did not enjoy. Nothing about the game is explained at any point other than the blurb on the store page. Its easy enough to get the point and click controls though. The story is unclear, difficult to understand (due to the very poetic nature of the writing) and i couldnt figure out what was happening, political unrest maybe? The day to day routine or running of the little farm is mundane, nothing really changes at any point. The character you play is a little old lady and the movement is SO SLOW, i get shes old but moving around is a chore in itself and gets boring very quick. It looks like there are place outside the farm to explore but after walking about 5 metres out the fence its night time so no idea what they are. The days go so fast that you cant get anything done. Your food does go off but there are no indicators at all as to how long before this happens. I dont know if i did something wrong or not enough of something. There is no indication how much things are worth when the trader shows up so you just have to click stuff until a tick appears. Wolves attack but they move so fast and you move so slow its impossible to stop them (i never managed to at least but i did shoot my own goat apparently). Eventually everything kinda stops for a few days yet again with no explanation or idea on what to do about it.
– Real player with 6.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Agriculture Story Rich Games.
In The Stillness of the Wind you control an old lady living quietly in solitude.You do minimal task everyday to survive and sustain. You can trade your artisan cheese, goat, chicken, harvested crops for resources you don’t have or need more of. As your family goes far away from town, you receive heartwarming and sometimes heartbreaking letters.
You may like this game if you are okay with or want to…
- in-depth letters with emotions of a roller coaster and steadily dealing with some grief/loss (you can’t reply and that can make it harder to endure feeling uneasy like prisoner in chains - at least it was for me)
– Real player with 6.0 hrs in game
Circadian City
I love this game although it is obviously very early access and still got some problems, but overall I enjoyed playing it a lot.
Here is a video I did for you: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZP6dZ6oCR0Mwi0Lx2ggo1g
You can not really compare it to Stardew Valley although it might be a bit inspired by games like that.
Also you can see that the developers put a lot of heart into it and the background story as well as the NPC characters are already very unique although I expect them to still add a bit more text to some to show more details about the different characters.
– Real player with 91.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Agriculture Life Sim Games.
This is not a beta disguised as an Early Access title. This game really is early access. It is pretty rough around the edges with incomplete content, bugs, and balance issues. I’ve got 3ish hours in and don’t think I’ve gone 5 minutes without noticing something that felt wrong.
But the game is still really good even in its current state. The gameplay loop feels new and is interesting. Some mechanics feel more complete than others, and those feel and play great. It looks like many other games we’ve seen before, but there is enough of a new spin on this one to make it feel unique.
– Real player with 32.1 hrs in game
Fujii
This is a very special game. Fujii is absolutely full of charm, character, and magic. While I haven’t even finished it in 2.5hrs, I’m already in love. It’s the type of experience that you want to play through slowly and savor, enjoying the beautiful sounds and sights. The aesthetic and the experience as a whole is incredibly relaxing - exploring, gathering light to push further, and collecting seeds to grow a garden.
And beyond is the Index controller support. It’s absolutely wonderful being able to grab, pull, and interact with the world using fully tracked fingers. The implementation is extremely well done and adds so much to the experience. This was the first game I tried after receiving the new controllers, and I think it was a perfect choice. I’ll likely use it as a first experience to show others the Index controllers as well.
– Real player with 9.7 hrs in game
Did you ever play Okami and think to yourself “Man, I wish this were a puzzle game/gardening sim”? If so, the answer to that wish would be Fuji.
The Good:
1. Art Direction – Fuji has style in spades. The cute cartoon graphics are simple, but lively and loaded with character. Everything moves, wiggles, bounces, and dances in this world. The radiant color palette pops vibrantly, and the environment is full of music and surreal chirps and warbles from the flora and fauna around you. Some areas are genuinely moving in their beauty – be sure to visit the standing stones atop the mountain in the desert. Don’t forget to look up once you’ve activated everything there!
– Real player with 2.9 hrs in game
Viridi
Disclaimer: I beta tested this game.
Viridi is exactly what it says on the tin: it’s a little virtual garden where you watch your plants grow.
The gameplay itself is minimalistic. Apart from planting your succulents, watering them, and zooming in to sing at them, there’s very little else you can do. It’s supposed to be a very zen experience — similar to keeping actual plants — so if you expect more interactivity than that then this is not the game for you. I usually had it on in the background while I went on with my day as always (hence my exorbitant playtime), but you don’t need to leave it on all the time. Your plants will grow just fine while the game is closed as well, so if you only want to spend 5 minutes a day checking up on your plants, then you can do that too. As you can see the joy of the game doesn’t lie within its interactivity, but rather within owning a virtual garden in itself.
– Real player with 302.4 hrs in game
Inch by inch… Calmly
snail crawls around the pot. Zen.
Watching grass grow.
…………
In real life I’ve killed more plants than I can (or would bother) count. In Viridi I can feel like an expert gardener, and without a stress of real gardening. Au contraire - it is an awesome stress reliever (and believe me - I know about stress!).
This game requires a really low level of skills, there’s no steep learning curve, you don’t have to spend hours trying to beat something or find some other-thing or figure out some puzzle. You just open the game once a day (or even not every day, or maybe 2-3 times a day - up to your liking), water your plants and pluck weeds. Once a week you get a free seed that you can add to your existing pot, or keep it for the future, or trade with other players.
– Real player with 204.0 hrs in game
The Islander: Town Architect
I bought his game because of the beautiful pixel graphics not expecting some suprisingly assortment of prop decorations you can place in the game. To my suprise this game caught me off guard being the must laidback casual sandbox city builder steam has on their games list. It has become one of my favorite games. The only thing i would say bad about it is I hope the devs and makers of the game read the comments that additional content would be excellent as this game has a lot of potential! The great part of this game is its your own pace, dont worry about stressing out about anything “expiring” or “collecting” in time, just sit back, relax and enjoy the beautiful feeling of a stardew valley/sim farm game remixed :D
– Real player with 25.8 hrs in game
Tentatively I would recommend. If you can get it on sale for like 90% off. Firstly, It suffers from a lack of design options and no way to import your own. Secondly, I get frustrated by the day/night cycle. I’ll be in the middle of a design for my island and it turns night and on my monitor that means I can’t see anything that is not lit with the in game lighting options, and I was unable to find any way to stop time so I could complete my design without the night interrupting me. Third, the island cannot be expanded, so space is severely limited. And finally, a couple of the achievements are tricky because they only count sometimes. I was only able to get them be deleting my saves, which should not be a thing. Seriously.
– Real player with 23.1 hrs in game
Farm Manager 2018
As someone who absolutely loves Farming Sims, I can say this is my favorite. I should add, my kind of Farming Sim is the game that puts you in the place of the farm owner or the farm manager, not the guy physically out there driving the harvester. If you want a game where you get in the machine and drive through the fields, this one isn’t it. But this one is the best one out there that is following in the footsteps of the original SimFarm. You buy the land, lay out the roads, plan the fields, and hire the help to work the crops. Then, most importantly, you balance the budget and watch the market to make sure the farm stays in the black. There are a few annoying bugs that have gotten better since the game was released, but they still exist.
– Real player with 388.4 hrs in game
Review as of 2018-09-09
I like this game and am getting my money’s worth out of it. I’ve seen it compared to SimFarm in other reviews, which I find to be a fair comparison. It has most of the features I expect from a modern business simulator game.
That said, it is not without its fair share of problems, and, at this point, feels like an early access or brand new product that needs polish. It was released in April with major updates in June and August, so I’m hopeful that some of the issues I’ve run into get resolved in time.
– Real player with 216.5 hrs in game
Stardew Valley
This game got me through a really dark place in my life. I lost my job, spouse, and home in less than a year. I would chop wood and fish when I couldn’t find the energy to do anything else and fall asleep on the couch listening to the background music. I’ve put thousands of hours into Stardew Valley. The little successes I had were the catalyst I needed to think maybe I could have little successes again in life, too. Highly recommend. Thank you for making this game.
– Real player with 2475.7 hrs in game
The first time I heard about it I was set on “I don’t like pixel games”, I played it half-heartedly and stopped after 3 hours. Almost a year later I picked it up again and now I am on the grind for 100 % perfection, decorating, fishing, mining, etc. There’s so much you can do in-game and you can either play it very chill and laid-back or you can chase all those achievements.
What I’d say now, after almost 200 hrs in-game, just give it a proper chance and let it charm you. :D
– Real player with 214.8 hrs in game
Farm Expert 2017
Motto: If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree , it will always feel stupid compared to a monkey.
For the experts, this game is like an Early Acces, For new players, the gamea looks prommising.
I am not a farming simulator expert but I think this Farm Expert 2017 is better then Farming Simulator 15. it has better terrain physics and animations plus it looks more detailed. Consider the game a mixture of Spintires and FS15. It also has some repairing vehicle features similar to Farm Mechanic Simulator 15.
– Real player with 68.5 hrs in game
When considering this game, one should also consider it’s price tag. What do you expect?
Yes, the game has a heap of bugs. Yes the game’s physics are a bit weird.
Basically, what SILDEN trys to do is to provide a little more realistic spin on farming than the rather arcady market leader while being enjoyable as a game (ploughing at 15 km/h? Not in this game. Although, you could - it is only very hard to control).
Machines get dirty and decay - but can be fixed. The ground is dynamic (ploughing feels like ploughing, not like painting a surface with a different texture), it has greenhouses in which you actually have to ‘work’ to get something and orchards - both with their own set of tools.
– Real player with 46.1 hrs in game
Farming Simulator 17
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Lately I’ve been really keen on games that let you customize and open - world decisions. Games that you aren’t restricted to a set path. I bought FS17 on a whim when it was on sale and fell in love with it - to my own surprise.
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I’ve always been a community organizer and so knew that this game is far better when played with other people. Sure I’m a nerd because I game so much, and play D&D, but it blew me away how much I enjoyed FS17. Not something I ever thought I’d like. I think what pulled me in is the fact that it isn’t scripted. There is no “What should i do next” hand holding. It’s an open-ended relaxing game where you get to drive big awesome machines. At my prime I was spending every evening playing FS17 when running the server for several hours. When the server was very popular I would easily spend 3-4 hours a night playing. Much longer on the weekends.
– Real player with 1762.3 hrs in game
Not even sure where to start man. I got this game because I’m a sim player and the graphics looked nice, and it was on sale. I’m in LA, so the last thing going on around me is farming, unless you’re farming weed. This game, and it’s modders, BLEW MY MIND.
You do the first two tutorials to get the gist of the controls and the basics of farming. And it’s the basics, I’m 140+ hours in and all I’ve done is work the fields on the first map. No animals, I cut down a half dozen trees by chainsaw around my silos that were pissing me off because I kept ramming them, no chaff, hay, manure, blah blah blah, just joyously working the fields, learning where everything is, and buying shit (the lower three fields and better equipment so far). To say this game is addicting, even to a city dude with zero ties or previous interest in farming, is a gross understatement. Just playing the basics, you realize the layers of this game just go on and on, and how each crop (and animals when you get them) interweaves with different functions of your farm, and each other, is one of the coolest applications of resource management I’ve seen, and I’ve got probably 50 RM games.
– Real player with 1080.6 hrs in game