October this year marked five years since I started enjoying the Farming Simulator series. Seems fitting that I’d be enjoying a new game for that anniversary. Farming Simulator 25 has a lot of great additions to it, with new crops providing new machinery to use. New maps, expanded productions, and NPCs who provide a bit of a story to discover when it comes to their experiences in the farming world.

A very nice change Farming Simulator 25 makes is right from the start. Custom options for how I started out. Though the standard three presets are available to choose from, all the options can be changed as I wanted. Starting money, starting loan, economic difficulty, whether I want the starting farm given to me, along with whether I wanted a guided tour to farming.

Rather than touch any of the custom options, I just stuck it to the preset I usually use and jumped into the very new map in an East Asian location. Hutan Pantai is where I was discovering the visual upgrades and detail that have gone into these maps. And discovering that the speed traffic moves has been improved when I almost got run over when crossing a road.

Across Hutan Pantai I walked, not even bothering with a vehicle. Along the beach of the west, the hills of the north, and the city of the south east, I took in all the sights I could. Tried swimming to the islands visible just off the coast, admired the views from the hills and discovered the temple. Followed a stream to the city, then wandered the streets of that city. This map felt very well designed, and should I ever make use of it for the long haul, it could easily become one of my favourites.

The map where I did set up is the Central European location of this game, ported from the expansion maps of Farming Simulator 22. Quite a few lakes can be found here, with rocky streams that winds their way from north to south. I did also find a football field here, with a ball that can be kicked around. Unfortunately, not around the entire of the map, as the ball disappears once outside the confines of the field.

Searching around for a suitable location to set up, I grabbed a field not too far from the spawn location. Which is another thing I like with there being NPC farmers on the maps, as that spawn location is at the home of grandpa Walter. Free sleeping arrangements to skip across days, rather than relying on just speeding up time. Which admittedly now does go up to x360.

The UI is an improvement compared to previous games. Many things have been condensed, bringing the number of menu pages down considerably. The shop pages of previous entries have been condensed into just one, listing everything into categories such as driveables, harvesters, and special crops. The page that provides tools for each crop is still around, which does make it easy to find what’s needed for a particular one.

Everything that can be bought and sold is now arranged in alphabetical order, making navigating that simple. Contracts for other farmers are now sorted by job, with a section of the map where the contract is for shown as part of the information provided. Active contracts are now in a separate tab. With one accepted, the total percentage is always visible on the screen. And there’s also a giant red circle around the field number so there’s no way I could end up at the wrong one.

Another great part of the menus is that the production chains section now lists everything that’s available. All the information about them, such as what they make and what is needed to make them, is easily visible. Which makes a huge difference, as I’m no longer reliant on external information to tell me about such before I’ve bought one. As it was in FS22. It allows for greater planning in what I want to focus on.

Since I have only started out, there’s plenty to be doing. Large productions to take part in, which will see me focus on things such as growing cotton and forestry. Really getting stuck into the new crops that have been added (including those introduced in FS22 that I never got around to). And making my land look its best with the construction tools, paving over the grass and placing things such as greenhouses. And can’t forget the animals!

All of what I have played so far has me feeling that Farming Simulator 25 is the best of the series. So much extra detail makes it look great. So many new things to experiment with. And a third-person camera while on foot gives people who prefer such a view a greater immersion in the world. As such, I can easily recommend giving Farming Simulator 25 a play.

Images Taken From:
Farming Simulator 25 | Xbox Series S