Farm Manager 2022 Review (PS5)

For those uninitiated, a game like Farm Manager could sound like some sort of tycoon-based title whose only objective is to harvest crops.

But in reality, Farm Manager 2022 is absolute madness. In a positive way.

I know this sounds like the conclusion, but it’s exactly what this franchise is all about. Farm Manager isn’t just a game that lets you explore the magic of being a farmer from the comfort of your living room, but it’s also a way to learn a lot about the world of agriculture and cultivating land in the most genuine way.

The latest iteration of the game has recently launched on new-gen consoles, including the PlayStation 5. In other words, if you’ve ever dreamed of becoming a farmer, you can now get a taste of what the whole thing comes down to from your sofa using nothing but a DualSense controller.

This is actually both good news and bad news. The controller isn’t necessarily the most convenient way to play Farm Manager 2022, and on several occasions, I ended up pressing the wrong buttons, simply because it’s hard to navigate a UI that was otherwise built with mouse input in mind.

But leaving aside this shortcoming, Farm Manager 2022 comes to new-gen consoles with an amazing package. It includes a very large selection of machines, plant species, and animals, with the 2022 release also coming with lots of news on these fronts.

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For example, Farm Manager 2022 allows farmers to grow organic plants. It also includes support for fish farms, ostrich, wild boar, and quail farms.

The game is extremely complex, and I strongly advised you to try out the tutorial, not only if you’re new to the genre but also if you’re an occasional player. Farm Manager 2022 comes with lots of novelties, so getting to know them all takes time.

First of all, given it’s a farm-based title, your main role is to grow crops, buy new animals, create plants to process what you’re producing, and make money. In other words, you’re not a traditional farmer but a modern businessman, so the gameplay is based on a contemporary idea that many players are likely to love.

In essence, the process comes down to planting crops, growing them, harvesting, and then making something out of them. You can eventually store the products in warehouses and then sell them for money. Each of these steps includes tens of other smaller steps, and this is precisely why I said the tutorial is playing a huge role in the whole experience with the game.

One of the things I liked the most is that you don’t have to do everything on your own. As a manager, you get to hire your own staff and give them tasks that would help you make money without necessarily keeping an eye on everything.

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This isn’t easy at all though. I learned the hard way that picking the right employees for each job is critical, as otherwise, you could end up wasting money just like, well, a bad manager.

Investing in the right buildings, including for your employees, is an essential part of the gameplay, and more often than not, it’s the right way to end up making money by selling whatever you produce.

In many ways, Farm Manager 2022 is a game that will keep you close to the TV for many hours in a row, simply because there’s so much to explore. Unfortunately, the controls leave a lot to be desired, as I truly believe this is a game that makes much more sense with a mouse than with a controller.

The folks over at Cleversan Games have tried to make the experience as real as possible, so from time to time, you end up struggling with the devastating effects of bad weather. As you probably know if you’re an aspiring farmer, bad weather is bad news for agriculture, and Farm Manager is here to prove you this.

Thunderstorms, for instance, can cause fires, and unless you move fast to call the firemen, you could end up dealing with heavy damage to your crops or buildings.

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion