Running a farm from the ground up
Farming Simulator 22 puts you in the role of a modern farmer and hands you the whole job: agriculture, animal husbandry and forestry, all shaped by the four seasons, with winter putting real pressure on your plans. You start by building your farm and then extend it with production chains, so a field of wheat, corn, potatoes or cotton can turn into something worth more before it leaves your land. Ground working goes deeper than just driving up and down a field — mulching and stone picking are part of the routine, and the build mode has been expanded with greenhouses and beehives. A character creator lets you make your own individual farmer before you get to work.
The world gives you different places to do it in: a lush vineyard or olive orchard in the Mediterranean south of France, vast farmland in the US-Midwest, or a lively animal farm in the hilly European Alpine region. Horses are on the list of things to tend as well. Machinery is a big part of the appeal — more than 400 machines and tools from over 100 real agricultural brands, including Case IH, CLAAS, Fendt, John Deere, Massey Ferguson, New Holland and Valtra, so there is a piece of equipment for most jobs you take on.
Playing it together
Online Co-op lets you run the farm together with friends, and the multiplayer is crossplatform, so a group spread across different setups can still share one operation. Split the work the way it suits you: one person on the fields, another on animals, someone else hauling and managing productions. The open world and the sheer number of tasks mean there is usually more than one job going at once, which is where a group pulls ahead of a solo farm.
Before you start
Expect a management game as much as a driving one — seasons keep coming, and the economic side means what you grow, process and sell decides how fast your operation grows. The game is moddable, and a large variety of free community-created modifications, officially tested by GIANTS Software, can extend the experience well beyond the base content. It works as a singleplayer game too, so you can learn the systems on your own farm before bringing friends in.