Farm Manager 2022 Review

Game: Farm Manager 2022
Genre: Strategy, Simulation
System: Nintendo Switch (also available on PlayStation, Xbox and Steam (Windows))
Developer|Publisher: Cleversan Software | Ultimate Games
Age Rating: EU 3+ | US Everyone
Price: US $15.99 | UK £13.49 | EU € 14,99
Release Date: July 21th, 2022

Review code provided with many thanks to Ultimate Games. 

It wasn’t that long ago that I reviewed Farm Tycoon on Switch: an adaptation of Farm Manager 2018 for this console. I really liked the game, despite some annoyances in playing it. It opened up a new kind of farming simulation for me, being used to farming games like Story of Seasons. In those lovely games, the farming you do is more like a suggestion carried out by cute characters and quick buttons. In Farm Manager 2022, like it was in Farm Tycoon, farming it’s more of a strategic management game. Let’s see how Farm Manager 2022 plays out, and how it compares to Farm Tycoon. And before we start on that, I also wanted to point out that Farm Manager 2022 is the console version of Farm Manager 2021, available on Steam.

Strategic Farming Simulation

Feeling like taking the reins to manage your own farm without getting your hands dirty? The newest instalment of the Farm Manager games has a lot going for it. There is a huge variety of crops to grow, whether on the fields or by using greenhouses for winter. Lots of different machines are needed to work the fields. The game schedules them on your plots of land, and automatically puts the permanent or seasonal workforce you have to work. Keep your employees satisfied and increase their qualifications with training. And of course, they do need some rest from time to time, you don’t want them to get fed up and leave you. And to maintain your machines, you can also mechanics garage.

Not feeling like sowing crops? Look into keeping animals, like cows, goats, sheep and chickens. You can also go for ducks, geese, turkeys and even ostrich, boar and quail. Or go for building a fish farm. Build a veterinary centre on your farm to have the vet close by. Cut out the middle man and build factories on your land: the milk your animals produce can be made into more profitable cheese. And the strawberries from your greenhouse can be turned into juice.

Effects of outside events have to be managed as well. Your buildings could catch fire in a thunderstorm, heavy rain and hail can influence your crops. Overall there’s always a lot going on, and you have to make sure everything goes as planned while making sure you have a good bank balance.

Everything a Manager Needs

The game is out on all the major consoles, and I have been playing it in handheld mode on the Switch. A lot is controlled by the menu wheel. Buying machines, building structures, laying roads and putting up electrical wiring. The Market where you can buy seeds and crops as well as sell your produce is a very important one. It shows you what the price level has been for the item you want to buy, and if you already have it in storage or in delivery. At the push of a button the goods you need to further your farm can be added to your shopping basket. Selling is just as easy, and you can watch specific items on the market to determine whether the time is right to sell when it comes to the price.

Another option on the wheel is the various Manager tabs, showing all you need to know to make the best choices. It shows your employees, where they are working and what their abilities are. Your account history to see how the farm is doing financially. The fields that are producing and whether something is missing for you to get a good crop. The animal buildings and the production manager, whether your machines need maintenance and what’s in your warehouse.

On the left side, there are a number of notifications to keep things running, like messages and alerts when something is wrong in one of your farm elements. It also shows the layers of gameplay: the buildings layer, and the field layer with all the specifics you need to know displayed. And of course, the electricity layer, showing which buildings are connected to electricity.

Comparing Farm Manager 2022 with Farm Tycoon

Farm Manager 2022 has a tutorial. Now that in itself is worth mentioning. Farm Tycoon lacked a tutorial, and though the one here is short, it is included which is helpful. After that, if you want to learn more and get familiar with all that can be done in the game, the Campaign mode will do the trick.

Electricity added

One of the first noticeable things is that this game includes hooking up your buildings to the electricity grid with an electric transformer and connecting it with electric poles. Later on, you’ll find that you can check the various layers of your game. One of them is the electricity reach, depicted on your farmland. I’ve recently been playing Cities: Skylines, and I was somehow reminded of that. It was just as iffy.

More Management, Less Tinkering

Another difference I noticed is that this game is much more focused on the management side. Remember how we needed to point the workers to the plot of land to work on? And how you had to assign machines to the plot of land, with a bit of trial and error included as to finding the right machine for the right crop. All of that is gone in Farm Manager 2022. It all happens automatically, as long as you make sure the work crew is available, as well as the right machines. Much easier, but I did miss the tinkering to get it all just right.

As is only right for a manager, you have a lot of info. The manager option in the wheel shows what was shown when you clicked on the Main Farmhouse in Farm Tycoon. But this time it’s even more in-depth and complete. Another addition is the range: the cow barn had a certain range, which will depend on the barn, warehouse and employee cabin that have to be situated in that range.

Overall, in comparison, Farm Manager 2022 puts more focus on managing it all, but it also helps you by making choices so you don’t have to. So in essence, it’s less hands-on.

Experience the Farm on Eye Level

Graphically the game looks okay in handheld mode. I’ve noticed that there are no workers walking around, but you do see the machines doing their job. You can get up close and personal by using the ZR and ZL buttons, and the detailing works for me. You can actually look into the greenhouse to see your strawberries. I do notice the odd jitter here and there, and as my farm grew bigger, I had the game freezing on my occasionally. It didn’t mar my fun at playing, but I think seeing Farm Manager 2022 running on PC must be quite amazing.

The controls sadly don’t work flawlessly. Especially when you select one of your buildings. On the right top of the screen, some specifics are mentioned and choices have to be made: workers to add, make sure the cows have a good selection of food and so on. I did notice however the buttons to make choices don’t always work well. And as there is no good way of checking where you are when it comes to scrolling with the buttons to make choices, it often results in clicking away until I can make the choice I want.

Conclusion

Farm Manager 2022 is the best that Farming Management Sims have to offer, or so I think. It has a lot of improvements over Farm Tycoon and has much more elements to manage. It is less hands-on though, but it does give the opportunity to delve deeper into statistics such as Market prices. Not surprising when you realize Farm Tycoon is Farm Manager 2018 under a different name. The current game I am reviewing now is much more evolved, though the fans might miss the more hands-on element.

It’s a pity not all button choices work well nor intuitively. And that it can crash when the farm gets bigger. But with a good tutorial, campaign, scenario mode and several difficulties setting in free mode there are many, many hours worth of farming fun to be had!

Final Verdict: I Like it a Lot