General Information
On the other hand, it has been a fair few years since I played a Farming Simulator. DDNet's review history tells me Farming Simulator 19 was the last one I reviewed. I don't know if it's the last I've specifically played, but sure, lets run with that. Three to six years between Farming simulators actually seems like it would be the best cadence for most players anyway.
In the years since there have been several critical improvements. Farming Simulator 25 does look gorgeous, whether you're ploughing through a field of crops or just wandering around on foot and admiring your livestock. The world is as open but empty as ever, but that's a deliberate design decision we'll get back to, and it's for the good of the experience.
It's easier to view and analyse information than ever, thanks to seasonal graphs for crops and a streamlined menu system that helps you find what you need, when you need it. Weather plays a big effect in Farming Simulator 25, which is an excellent and important touch given how much farmers need to deal with the rapidly changing weather thanks to climate change. Farming Simulator's greatest service has always been that it opens people's eyes to the farming experience. Perhaps what it takes to get some people to listen to the warnings about what climate change is doing to crops is to play a game where the weather destroys their virtual investment.
The most significant improvement from the last time I played a Farming Simulator, however, is the tutorial. The last time I reviewed a Farming Simulator the tutorial was a series of text prompts that could be maddening to play through and far too easy to forget once the game lets you loose in the world. With Farming Simulator 25 you get a fully voiced, narrative-driven tutorial by your protagonist's grandfather. It's not going to win narrative awards any time soon, but storytelling is a more engaging way to convey information, and playing through this tutorial will be far more effective for transferring the basics of how to play to you.
It's still nowhere near enough, however. The tutorial specifically leaves out advanced, yet critical processes. It even says as much, telling you that you'll "start learning about them later" while completing the tutorial. What it actually means, however, is that you'll have to teach yourself about these things. For the longest time while playing Farming Simulator 25 you'll be left unable to shake the impression that you're probably not quite playing it right. It takes far too long to overcome this feeling, and that can be stressful for some players who prefer to fully understand what they're doing in simulators.
In other words, once you remove the side of the job where, if you don't do it to a satisfactory degree, you starve and lose your home, the work itself can actually be almost therapeutic. This is especially true in a simulator like Farming Simulator where, as long as you play mildly competently, you're going to get constant positive feedback and no consequences for a mistake like ditching your tractor. This is also why the Farming Simulator world, outside of the farming, is so empty. If you had to spend too much time pursuing objectives, dealing with challenges and being distracted from the core loop, the game would lose its relaxing quality. The fact that the world around the farm acts like a diorama experience to simply represent a sleepy town and community gives it a hobby-like aesthetic and vibe, which is a perfect design decision.
However, all of this is why it's so important that the onboarding process and learning curve is more welcoming. I understand that the depth of the simulation makes this difficult, and there is progress being made from one year to the next, but you still need to commit a fair amount of time to Farming Simulator 2025 before you will start to truly feel comfortable and enjoy it.
