Run a working farm with friends
Farming Simulator 19 puts you in charge of a real farm operation. You drive hundreds of faithfully reproduced vehicles and tools from leading brands, including John Deere, Case IH, New Holland, Challenger, Fendt, Massey Ferguson, Valtra, Krone, and Deutz-Fahr. The work covers the full cycle: cultivate fields, plant and harvest crops, and manage the money that comes in. New crops this time are cotton and oat, alongside the rest of the roster. Livestock is part of the job too, with pigs, cows, sheep, and chickens to tend. The game runs on a rebuilt graphics engine, and the whole thing plays in first person.
Farm together online
Online Co-op lets you develop the farm with up to 16 players. Split the work across the group: one person drives the tractor and seeder, another runs the harvester, someone else handles the animals, and someone keeps an eye on selling and upgrading. The open worlds are large, so there is room for several people to work different fields at the same time without getting in each other's way. Community-created mods can be added to the shared game, so the whole group can agree on extra machines or changes before anyone loads in.
Horses and open land
Horses are new to the series, and riding one is a way to travel the land instead of always taking a vehicle. The game includes both American and European environments to develop and expand across, and the areas are described as vast and loaded with farming activities. Expect a slow, methodical pace: this is a management game as much as a driving game, and progress comes from working the land over time rather than from quick sessions.
Before you start
The vehicle list is large, so expect a learning curve on which machine does which job. Mods come from the ModHub, including three bonus vehicles: the John Deere XUV865M Gator, the CLAAS DOMINATOR 108 SL MAXI, and the CLAAS TORION 1914 Dev Mule. Farming Simulator 19 Platinum Edition is a separate release, so check which version the group has before planning a session.