Farming Simulator 22 test – A good vintage

Farming Simulator 22 is first of all a return of the famous agricultural simulation after 3 years of waiting. If we put aside the Switch and mobile version at a discount (Farming Simulator 20), Farming Simulator 19 had left us with a mixed picture as the contributions were insufficient. With this new episode, let's see if the Giants Software studio was able to take advantage of this fallow period to come back with a better harvest. Note that the developers also sign their first self-published game after a long adventure with Focus Home Interactive.

Test conditions: We played a good thirty hours in the title on PC, and mainly on the Haut-Beyleron map, starting normally with a new farm. Afterwards, we “played” with the amount of our budget in order to try out as many activities and machines as possible. We also didn't try the multiplayer mode since we had access to the game in advance.

Farming Simulator: a brief summary for newcomers

Farming Simulator is a simulation greatly appreciated by its fans and especially its very active community, but it is also very criticized by them, and rightly so. Indeed, there are often recurring defects and novelties often considered insufficient. It must be said that fans have been feeding mods for a long time, which allows farmers to achieve colossal content in an unofficial way. Giants Software is also very close to this fringe of the community and even uses it to improve its game. If you are new to the franchise, this is a component to take into account and which is almost entirely part of the game. 'experience.

This test was carried out without using its famous mods (which are not mandatory) because the title already offers very solid bases. Over the years, Farming Simulator has grown and diversified. The management of farms has gained in content, with the addition of new crops for example, as well as in realism with new tasks to be carried out requiring specific tools or vehicles (this opus introduces, for example, the stones that must be cleared on our fields). With this game, you enter a pure simulation where you have to do practically everything from A to Z: tillage, transport, tool handling, harvesting, time management... With more than 400 machines and tools for more than 100 brands present, enthusiasts will be delighted.

To start, the title offers three modes already present in Farming Simulator 19:

For newcomers, the first is obviously the recommended one. However, Farming Simulator 22 does not fix one of the biggest recurring flaws, namely the reception of newcomers. The wealth that we have mentioned is a weight at this level since as a neophyte, you have to become familiar with a lot of procedures and machines. The very succinct basic tutorial is totally insufficient. You do have an "Assistance" menu that goes a little further, but again it's still too limited. The series really needs a campaign or several scenarios where we practice specific activities. The game store still offers a new section that can help with the "packs" which give a list of essential vehicles and tools to buy by sector of activity.

Giants Software is undoubtedly aware of the problem and has even launched a Farming Simulator Academy with explanatory articles, but only in English. Either way, nothing beats practice.

Still behind technically but with more charm

As with every opus, the graphics are subject to great debate. The studio had greatly improved its engine, however we remain on something very below what we can expect from a title which is a commercial success with each episode . We understand all the same that Giants is aiming for a fleet of very wide machines in order to reach the most people, but impossible to miss this recurring defect.

This does not mean that nothing has been done so far. Regulars will notice the retouching which further improves the engine with new effects such as dust and the movement of the earth when using a tool on a field or even more shimmering crops. It's often in the detail, but the accumulation still makes us take a different look compared to the previous one. We note a clear improvement in the display distance (on PC in any case) but the problem is still too present. There are also a few bugs (cage stuck in the greenhouse, a pallet stuck on the ground, etc.) even if nothing serious penalized us during our sessions. The franchise of course keeps its greatest strengths, which are the impeccable modeling of the vehicles, as well as an even more realistic sound design. For example, you will hear your engine struggling on the climbs.

Still, the physics still needs to be reviewed, and certain elements make stains in the decor, such as the interiors of the houses which are “jpegs”. At the limit, we can say that it is not too serious, but we unfortunately find the same process on crops such as grapes on vines or crates of strawberries. We're not talking about the radio, which isn't even activated by default anymore. You can definitely do without it.

On the other hand, where Farming Simulator 22 does much better, it is at the level of its cards which have more charm than before. There are 3 of them: Erlengrat (a mountainous area inspired by the Bavarian Alps), Elmcreek (the American setting par excellence), and Haut-Beyleron (the French map inspired by many local regions including the south-west in Nouvelle-Aquitaine or the PACA region). It may not seem like much, but the proposal is varied enough to immerse us in it for a while. We feel a real effort to offer us magnificent settings which also makes us want to explore. That's good, the title offers you to find collectibles that will save you a lot of money. We will gladly take a few breaks to walk around while our workers are at work.

We take stock of what's new

Farming Simulator 22 offers new features this year that further enrich the content, and others that will make our lives easier. In our opinion, the most important thing is undoubtedly the more advanced management of the AI ​​of the workers which will save you a lot of time for often thankless tasks. We mainly think of transport. With this new tool, you can simply choose a vehicle and drive it from point A to point B. You can even make it park in the direction you want. You can also directly assign specific tasks to a worker, who can even repeat them in a loop if necessary, from the menu such as cultivating a field (no need to position the machine correctly and press H).

The other contribution, very well executed, is the system of seasons which turn out to be much less restrictive than we thought. We especially had winter in mind, but the studio thought of everything by putting an option that saves us from dealing with snow (necessary especially at the start of the game), and now allows the construction of greenhouses in order to have a source of income in these difficult times. Above all, this brings more coherence, and therefore more realism, to the agricultural adventure. Without however being subject to the constraints, since one sleep on your farm is equivalent to one month gone by. As in reality, many crops can be planted and harvested in different months. In addition, we come back to the charm of the cards mentioned above. The impact of the seasons on them contribute greatly to the beauty of the setting with an environment that is constantly changing.

A better structured progression

What we also liked about this Farming Simulator 22 is the better supervision of progression. First of all with the cards that correspond to very distinct desires. With its mountains where there are few cultivable fields, Erlengrat is ideal for animal husbandry or forestry activities unlike Elmcreek. It may seem chauvinistic, but Haut-Beyleron is undoubtedly the most interesting because it is more versatile. In addition, it highlights new crops, grapes and olives, which offer a real change of scenery in terms of agricultural production. This scenario is also typical of the need for mods since the game cannot afford to include wine production (a shame on a French map with vines) in order to keep its "PEGI 3 without alcohol" . It is then necessary to be satisfied with raisins and grape juice.

What structures our farm epic even more once on site are the production lines. In concrete terms, everything you produce can be used to produce a more sophisticated and, above all, more profitable commodity. Instead of waiting for wheat prices to be interesting, we can transform our harvest into flour by having acquired a grain mill, and why not into bread afterwards if we have a bakery. We can thus more easily set a goal by developing our farm to create and sell products that are much more satisfying to design and that will pay off big. When it comes to baking, cakes are the hardest thing to make. But this motivation pushes us precisely to develop our exploitation accordingly.

A chicken coop for eggs, a barn to produce cow's milk, a dairy factory for butter... We take this opportunity to note that the construction method has been improved and is a little more intuitive than before, even if some manipulations still remain rather imprecise such as the depth of the soil. Last thing, we can welcome the efforts of Giants to offer us further customization of our avatar with many clothes. It was time.