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Review: Farming Simulator 25 (Sony PlayStation 5)

It's like Harvest Moon, but on an industrial scale.

8 mins read

I want to get this out of the way upfront – it is genuinely silly that Farming Simulator has become an annualised franchise. It makes sense to have annual sports games because teams change from one year to the next, and having an authentic roster matters when you’re playing while watching your real team go through their season. Farmers are not buying new John Deere gear every year and I’ve been to FarmTech conferences in the past – the rate of innovation is not that great that the nature of farming changes that much from one year to the next. Farming Simulator is an annualised series purely out of profit motive, and Farming Simulator 25 is, by definition, exploitative as a consequence.

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.

A screenshot from Farming Simulator 25

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.

A screenshot from Farming Simulator 25

The somewhat ironic thing about this is that Farming Simulator is designed to be fundamentally relaxing and a way to unburden yourself of the stress of your actual job. I’ve long been fascinated by why these work simulators are so popular when work itself is… well, work. You couldn’t get me to work on a farm if you gifted me the entire farm and attached a million-dollar annual grant to it. So why do I enjoy Farming Simulator so much? I found as good an answer in Popular Science as I think exists (albeit that article was talking about Stardew Valley): “researchers at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada found substantial evidence of players extolling the benefits of Stardew Valley and other games like it with regards to relaxation and the management of mental health issues. Much like the main character moving to the country to escape the stressors of modern life, Stardew Valley reviews paint the picture of a userbase finding a reliable safety valve to blow off steam in its work-like gameplay loops.”

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.

A screenshot of Farming Simulator 25

Farming Simulator remains an excellent experience. It’s educational, in that you’ll walk away with it with an appreciation for what farmers go through so you can eat. At the same time, once you are familiar with its systems and loops, it becomes laid back and almost meditative for the way you’ll go about what is mechanically a repetitive grind, but aesthetically and thematically a rewarding loop that keeps you both engaged and stress-free. Farming Simulator continues to appear like it should be a mess of paradoxes, yet in action, it just works.

Support 10

Matt S. is the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of DDNet. He's been writing about games for over 20 years, including a book, but is perhaps best-known for being the high priest of the Church of Hatsune Miku.

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