How Farming Simulator 25 aims to plow over all your free time this November
8.19.2024
By Steven T. Wright, Contributor
The Farming Simulator series might sound slow and methodical on paper, but you shouldn't underestimate its ability to take over your life in relatively short order. Just ask Martin Rabl, Head of Marketing at developer GIANTS Software, who attributes its popularity to its deliberate pace and sense of player empowerment.
"What makes Farming Simulator appealing is the relaxed pacing and freedom to do what you want, when you want," he says. "Do you want to do a couple of jobs on the farm? Get in the tractor, hitch up your plow, and get going. Would you rather create a cozy little corner at the edge of the field? No problem—the construction tools allow you to remodel almost every bit of your surroundings."
Indeed, this sense of total freedom can almost feel overwhelming at first based on my time with the previous entry in the series, Farming Simulator 22. You're given the opportunity to control every aspect of a farm's operations, from simple tasks like plowing fields and planting grain to advanced money-makers like setting up your own greenhouse, sawmill, or even a bakery.
With the upcoming Farming Simulator 25—which releases November 12 on the Epic Games Store—the team wanted to make some aspects of the game easier for newbies to grapple with, most notably its steering assist system.
As Rabl explains, this "GPS" system helps both players and AI helpers alike by analyzing the shape and size of a given field and suggesting optimized plowing paths. It can even take control of your vehicle and automatically turn at the right moment to keep you aligned. Though similar mechanics existed in previous Farming Simulator entries, Farming Simulator 25's revamped GPS can deal with irregular field shapes or nearby trees much more effectively than before, making it more useful for players who prefer a hands-on approach.
"The new system perfectly reflects current developments in agricultural technology in the real world," Rabl says. "It's another thing we are always aiming at: While we want to be an accessible game, the simulation aspect is very important to us."
Like all entries in the series, Farming Simulator 25 features a new slate of crops to grow, including rice, which presented significant challenges for the developers. Farming Simulator 25 introduces two different types of the staple grain—one which is sown on dry soil that is then flooded, and another that uses seedlings that are then transported onto a flooded field. Since both of these processes are quite different, they give players a whole new set of realistic machines to try. Rabl notes that rice was an obvious choice for a new crop for GIANTS to add, given that the team wanted to try an East Asia setting after featuring USA- and Europe-based maps in previous entries.
Farming Simulator 25 also includes realistic baby animals like calves—a first for the series, and a feature that fans have clamored for.
While Farming Simulator 25 includes a number of splashy new features, there are also a number of minor tweaks that enhance verisimilitude. For example, the team revamped Farming Simulator 25's fluid and particle systems to support realistic flooding, since rice is such a key part of the new entry.
This benefited other parts of the game too, improving the look of existing bodies of water and allowing for mud splatter on the wheels of farm equipment. These small details aren't always noticeable to every player, but they add up to a more polished experience overall. "It's another item on the list of things that really help the game feel more immersive," Rabl says.
Some of Farming Simulator 25's most-requested additions are quite impressive in their specificity—the kind of thing that you need to play the game for dozens of hours to even think of. During a showcase of the game's new features, fans applauded the inclusion of more realistic consumables for the baling process (i.e. the creation of hay bales and the like). Players will have to regularly replenish their supply of nets and silage wrap in order to create their bales, which wasn't accounted for in previous entries.
Another great example of this in Farming Simulator 25 is ground deformation, a real-time physics calculation that shapes the tracks your machines leave in terrain when driving. You don't have to look far to find forum threads of fans debating the merits and functionality of this subsystem for dozens and dozens of posts. It's a testament to the enthusiasm of the community that GIANTS has brought together with the sheer power of plowing, and the team has taken great pains to continue to support fans and modders with the upcoming title.
"[In] Farming Simulator 22, many creative minds designed maps and buildings based on the places where they live, and meticulously recreated an incredible number of highly detailed vehicles, machines, and much more," Rabl says. "That’s the other thing we are hugely proud of: We have a thriving, active community of players, modders, and influencers with whom we love to cooperate in many aspects. We love to share information, gather feedback and in general support our audience wherever we can. In return they have always shown us much loyalty and love, it is incredible."
Rabl is quick to note that the modding community of Farming Simulator 22 created more than 6,000 mods that were downloaded more than 1.6 billion times, two stats that demonstrate just how active fans are in tinkering with the game to create their own perfect farm. GIANTS has endeavored to make Farming Simulator 25 even more customizable than previous entries in the series, and it's a virtual certainty that modders will cook up even more outlandish and impressive additions over time.
That said, GIANTS already has a serious roadmap for how they plan to improve Farming Simulator 25 during its first year. This includes a new set of licensed machines that have never appeared in the series, as well as a new map in an upcoming expansion. When pressed for details, Rabl said that they can't reveal much yet, but it's sure to excite the fanbase. "All we can say is that it again will bring new opportunities for players to experience previously unexplored ways of farming."
Overall, while it's fair to say that the heavy-duty tractors and expansive crop flowcharts of Farming Simulator 25 might scare off casual Stardew Valley fans like me, the truth is that the experience is exactly what you make it. Like many simulators of its type, you don't necessarily have to bootstrap your humble farm into an imperial juggernaut of maximized crop yields and whirring machinery. Sometimes, you just feel like climbing into a big truck and plowing a field, and that's enough for one day. Just don't be surprised if you find yourself mulling an unlikely career change.
"All-in-all, we think that with Farming Simulator, we have created a product that has found a good balance between catering to fans of big, realistic machines, who love to experience the power of modern (and vintage) agricultural machinery, and giving people the chance to relax in a stress-free environment," Rabl says.
Farming Simulator 25 releases November 12 on the Epic Games Store.