Game: Instant Farmer
Genre: Puzzle
System: Nintendo Switch (also on Steam)
Developer|Publisher: Mens Sana Interactive| Silesia Games
Age Rating: EU 3+ | US Everyone
Price: UK £2.69 | EU € 2,99 | USA $ 2.99
Release Date: August 26th, 2021
Review code provided with many thanks to Silesia Games
The trailer for Instant Farmer shows everything a farming sim enthusiast wants to see. Lush crops, a cow munching away in the field, a rooster ready to herald the day. It also shows a very different kind of gameplay then what you’d expect: no farming simulation, no watering crops or tending to livestock. Instead, you have to puzzle your way through the game!
Water Equals Life
Water brings life. That’s the basis for Instant Farmer. You are presented with a small field of barren ground and stone, and a minimum number of water blocks. You have to reshuffle the blocks in a way that every block is adjacent to water, giving it instant life.
In the background you can see a small farmhouse and fields where crops appear as soon as you’ve solved the puzzle. Moving along to the next of a total of 50 logic puzzles, the farm in the background grows and the crops change. There is no tutorial. And if you are seriously stuck on a game, you can’t move forward. Each level has to be finished first. Still, I’m no puzzle buff and I was able to keep going!
As you progress, more special blocks are added. There are blocks that can form a channel to make the water flow further, and as there are various corners and end blocks it takes some puzzling to figure out which goes were. There are also lawn sprinkler blocks and pipes to extend the sprinkler. So you see, water really is life.
Just You and the Puzzles
The visuals are lush and colorful and it’s very satisfying to see the crops pop up when you have all the blocks in place. All this is accompanied by nice background music, a slow tune that is very relaxing.
The level selection interface is a bit bare, just a line with marking for each level. Although Instant Farmer looks good, there are no frills. There is no time limit (which I don’t mind at all!), and no limit on resources to manage. No statistics telling you the time you took to solve the puzzle. It’s just you and the set of blocks before you.
Conclusion
Instant Farmer offers puzzle fans a good challenge and a very fair price. Though there is no tutorial is clear from the start what you have to do. There are no frills, but it all works as it should accompanied by some relaxing music.
A good game to pick up and play during your coffee break, even for someone like me who doesn’t want to spend days stuck in one level!
Final Verdict: I Like It a Lot
Thank you so much for playing our game and for the lovely review!