Do more with less.
One of the most interesting markets for games is the growing niche of “simulator” games that aim at mundane and realistic simulation of some aspect of everyday life. Games like PowerWash Simulator and Euro Truck Simulator are good ways to soak up the atmosphere and relax, but Farming Simulator 23 is a game that struggles to retain the same magic for me. My only experience with farming simulators so far was reviewing the Switch version of Farming Simulator 20 a few years ago, but the 2023 edition failed to enthrall me for many of the same reasons as its predecessor. .
The basics of Farming Simulator 23 are clear. You are tasked with managing a realistic farm, growing crops, raising livestock, and performing all the agricultural steps necessary to expand your business into more diverse sectors (figuratively and literally). Also). To generate significant yields to sell to the market, multiple vehicles would need to perform different parts of the process simultaneously, where automated workers could be hired to fill the slack. This automation is unnecessarily tedious, as it means that relatively little actual on-field work is required of the player.
The real part of the gameplay seems to be in the actual management and maintenance of farms and equipment, making it odd that the in-game tutorial focuses almost entirely on the ground-level process of harvesting crops. After setting everything up and automating, I don’t even know where to start to set up a new specialty on my farm, and the new equipment is realistically in range, so what should I do next? I was completely lost whether it was good or not. At hundreds of thousands of dollars, I couldn’t afford to try different things to determine what would stick.
Even some of the basics of harvesting weren’t explained well enough, which I realized when an in-game notification indicated that the fields were not being plowed properly. In order to properly prepare the fields for a bountiful harvest, I had to purchase a new tiller, which was never mentioned in the tutorial.Farming He A seasoned veteran of the simulator series would already know what he was supposed to do, but as an outsider I found the range of things I could do (and sometimes should do it) is completely impenetrable.
On Switch, Farming Simulator 23 also looks a little cheesy. Switch players will receive a stripped-down mobile version of Farming Simulator, scaled down from his latest PC and console version, Farming Simulator 22, due out in 2021. Farming Sim 22 features like beekeeping and multiplayer are not included, and the number of machines and vehicles is reduced. This speaks to the game’s marketing bragging about adding chickens to the mobile version. This feature has been included in his PC version for over ten years. The graphics are clearly a big step down from Farming Sim 22 as well, but the biggest problem I had with previous Switch releases was the low draw distance that made it hard to tell when the crops were fully grown. has been improved.
Farming Simulator 23 is not a game for beginners. Most of my playtime is filled with confusion, and the in-game tutorials and guides do little to steer new players in the right direction. It might appeal to die-hard fans of the series, at least because it’s a portable version of the game, but the reduced features are likely to be what those players care most about, at $45 anyway. The price is frankly a joke. Compare that to the $8 price tag for this same version of the game on Android and iOS. Maybe I’m wrong and there’s an X factor that any hardcore farming simulator fan would find me lacking, but Farming Simulator 23 is clearly not a starter for newbies and a more powerful game for longtime fans. There’s a distinct lack of content that I’ve come to enjoy with. hardware.
