Pure Farming 2018 Review in Progress

Pure Farming 2018 takes everything from previous farming simulator titles, adds a bit of its own flair, and delivers the most up-to-date, rich farming experience available on any platform right now. While it could get outpaced by the latest Farming Simulator title due out late this year or early next, Pure Farming 2018 will be, and should be, the farming game of choice for all farm simulation fans, and will likely remain so for the next 10-12 months.

This is the nature of farming simulation games. A few dominate the charts in terms of sales, and constantly play off each other, noting what works and doesn’t work, and perfecting new ideas. That is Pure Farming 2018 in a nutshell. With outstanding looking visuals and a great farming depth, it is the current King of the Hill, so to say. So let’s assume – and rightfully so – that the farming from this title resembles that of most other farming simulation titles, and just jump right into what I think Pure Farming 2018 is doing better than everyone else.

The Story

Previous farming simulation titles I’ve played have lacked any type of story mode, but rather just exist as a free-play experience, dropping you in a farm with a few vehicles and some money, and letting you figure it out on your own. Pure Farming 2018 does things differently. Although you have the option to jump into free-play, the story mode in the game really aides mechanic understanding and all around farm knowledge. You’ll slowly work up to bigger and better machines, more profitable crops, and even multiple farms, but the pacing is great and lets you learn as you go. For the uneducated, the story mode in Pure Farming 2018 will act as a tutorial that isn’t a tutorial. It’s fun to play, regardless of your experience level, and doesn’t feel useless or worthless.

And it gets you going quickly. Before you know it, you are harvesting wheat and learning about potato growth, and quickly after that it’s learning about chickens, rabbits, and greenhouses. It all works so well, and flows. This is partially aided by how the day-night cycle works. Unlike other games where you might as well make the most of every second in the day, Pure Farming takes a bit more of a realistic approach. Especially early on, those that time their planting and harvesting can make good use of the day-night cycle. I began playing the game as an actual farmer would – and the game does track the number of days you have played! – working hard during the day, but ultimately always heading for the farmhouse somewhere between 5:00 PM and midnight, to catch a few hours of sleep before heading off again at 6:00 AM.

The ability to farm 24/7 is there, but having this wonderful day-night cycle made the game that much more enjoyable.

What Could Be Better

As I played through the first 10-12 hours of the story mode, I wasn’t noticing a whole lot of things I wish could be better. Sure, the character animations are pretty weak overall, and while the tractors and environments are nice, everything else is a bit lackluster. The water in particular could use a major upgrade, in my opinion. It’s not what I would have expected playing on the Xbox One X. It appears as if the resources allocated to graphics was pushed towards farming, which is understandable, but when some of the game looks so good, it really makes the less impressive elements stand out.

Another major issue I have when starting out is the lack of a trailer hitch on the pickup truck you begin with. As a kid from a farming community, I know the importance of pickups on the farm, and 99% of the time these trucks will have hitches for performing smaller tasks on the farm, like pulling smaller hoppers of grain, moving around water and fertilizer tanks, and so on. On numerous occasions, my greenhouse would run out of water because I had a worker using my only tractor on the fields. Having a pickup truck to get the water I needed would have been a major bonus, and one that would have been realistic to a farm setting.

We have more planned for Pure Farming 2018, but the long and short of it is this: if you love farming simulation titles, this is a no-brainer of a purchase. Coming in under the cost of a typical AAA title on console, it makes the purchase even more worthwhile. There are dozens – if not hundreds – of hours of gameplay here, and we have only scratched the surface. Stay tuned for more great coverage, and check out our streams on Mixer!