Back in April, Giants announced the new game of Farming Simulator 22. With the initial reveal, they announced that seasons would be coming to the game, along with revealing we’d be getting two new maps and the return of Erlengrat – the map released as part of the Alpine expansion of FS19 – with some improvements given to it. Within my article where I talked of that announcement, I held hope the improvements to Erlengrat would fix some of the issues I’d found with it, as well as hoping that the detail of the new maps would be better than that of previous games.

It’s been over half a year since that announcement, and plenty has been revealed about the game since that time. We’ve had reveals of the new maps, a look at the greatly improved build mode of the game, and the introduction of production chains – which expand what we’re able to do with the crop that we harvest. With the release of the game coming at the end of next month, I thought it would be good to talk of the new stuff coming to the game.

It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t start with those maps. These new maps are taking a lot of inspiration from the areas they’re based on while also being the largest official maps in the series. There’s a lot of small details being put into them to make them look a lot more realistic to what you could find in the real world.

From what has been shown of Elmcreek, there’s a few built-up areas scattered around, with a baseball stadium located near the highway. There’re businesses that are scattered around that look more detailed than those seen before (and for good reason), rivers and lakes, a rocky canyon that looks like only travellers on foot can navigate, and even a small campground. For a map based on the midwestern US, it certainly feels like such.

As for Haut-Beyleron, not as much has been shown about this one, but we’ve still got a good idea of how it will look. Based on multiple areas around southern France, there’s a Mediterranean feel to the map from those influences. Other parts of the map include a lot to look at, with a castle inspired by Sisteron’s Gateway to Provence, an observatory, and plenty of other things such as gondolas floating along the rivers.

Erlengrat is said to be seeing improvements, though we haven’t seen it. During my own time with the map on my Feeding Cows For Christmas stream (and some time before and after), it felt everything was squashed into the northern central area of the map to allow for a large amount of elevation representative of the alpines. Now, I don’t expect major changes to it, but reducing the cramped feel around the town would certainly help.

For the first time – officially, at least – seasons are in the game. Seasons work on a cycle, where crops are planted in one season and harvested in another. If you don’t want to deal with such realistic growth cycles, it can be turned off so you can just enjoy the variation that the seasons bring to the maps. In a later article talking about feedback, it was confirmed that players could change the number of days a season lasts. That’s up to 28 days per season.

There’s more to the seasons than just growth cycles, as the demand for crops changes based on the season. Demand will be lower during the harvesting season of that crop, but keep it all stored ready for when the next batch is growing and it will sell for a larger sum. Snow will fall during the winter, so plowing your most-used routes will be essential in keeping your operation running smoothly. And if you do have growth cycles active while keeping animals, you’ll need to make sure to store enough food for them.

Production chains are the largest addition this game, giving players more to do with everything they’re working to produce than just selling it. As from the article originally detailing what they’re about, the grain mill, dairy, and sugar mill will turn produce into ingredients such as butter, flour, and sugar, then all of those go to the bakery to craft the final product at the bakery.

There’s choice in how that final product is sold, such as the business selling it directly or distributing it to the local supermarket, as well as how the ingredients get some one point of the chain to the next. Either deliver it yourself or have the business transport it all for a fee. There’s a lot of chains to utilise in maximising the profit you gain from your produce, with varying levels of complexity depending on what is being made.

The new build mode improves upon how it appeared in Farming Simulator 19 in multiple ways. Combining placing of objects and editing of terrain into one mode allows for easier access to everything when it comes to building things how you want them to be. The controls have been redesigned to allow easier editing of the terrain, and plenty of new placeables have been included to allow a greater range of personalisation of your lands.

Everything you can place is within one of five categories to make it easier to find them. Buildings, Production, Animals, Decoration, and Landscaping each bundle up those placeables seen in Farming Simulator 19 and adds more to them. Fences can now be placed, which combined with animal pens allows a deeper control of how those pastures look.

As usual, there’s new additions to the crops and vehicles, with beehouses being added for the first time. Greenhouses no longer directly sell what they produce, with them being a part of the production chain by producing strawberries and other fruit and vegetables. And for the first time, there’s cross-platform multiplayer, so console and PC players can join together on a map to help each other run a farm.

There’s been general improvements to how the game will look and sound, with Parallax Occlusion Mapping being implemented for the first time in the series to give depth to various surfaces. Dynamic audio tools are being implemented for realistic sounds of vehicles based on what they’re doing in real-time around the worlds. The engine Giants use for the games has also been upgraded to allow for more realism in the worlds, and as the release draws near, we’re seeing all of that come together in the released screenshots.

There’s a lot to be looking forward to with the base game. Modders will no doubt be adding a lot more over the coming months after the release, but Giants are also releasing a Year One season pass for Farming Simulator 22 that is set to bring more tools to the game across the year – including a fourth official map in the Autumn of next year. Since this is the first time the season pass is being labelled as Year One, I have to assume that a second year of content will follow – including a fifth official map.

I am excited to get exploring all the new additions coming with this new Farming Simulator, including exploring those two new maps. I can see this being the definitive Farming Simulator experience for anyone who wants to make a start with the series. There’s a lot of involvement and a lot of personalisation (including of our character) than any previous game in the series. If you want a nice, relaxing time but still with a goal in mind, this is a series you can’t go wrong with.

Images Taken From:
First Look at Elmcreek Farming Simulator Official Site
First Look at seasonal cycles… Farming Simulator Official Site
Farm Animals & Wildlife… Farming Simulator Official Site
Welcome to Elmcreek… Farming Simulator Official Site