83 people found this review helpful
9 people found this review funny
Recommended
0.0 hrs last two weeks / 562.9 hrs on record (52.5 hrs at review time)
Posted: Feb 25, 2018 @ 4:03am
Updated: Feb 25, 2018 @ 4:48am
Product received for free

Early Access Review
Farm Together is exactly what it says it is - a casual farming game designed to be a relaxing timewaster. It's almost like meditation in a video game, something repetitive you can do to reset your stress levels. It feels very similar to a mobile game with the real-time time-gating, but has no in-game microtransactions at all. Whilst early on in the game (the first hour) you might be sitting around waiting for your crops to grow, the game quickly develops into an addictive what's-next game where there is literally not enough time in the day to do everything in your farm. So ultimately, the time factor becomes more of a simple strategy as to what crops to place and where, rather than an actual gate.

⌛ Play with Time, not with Microtransactions ⌛

With no automation (although you can unlock the tractor which farms in blocks of 9 rather than your 1 by hand), by the end of a few hours play I found I had a fully functioning farm with half a dozen crops, 4 different types of trees, chickens, pigs and a selection of buildings. From that point on, there is always something that needs watering or harvesting and I've only unlocked the first tile of many! That's the cycle of the game - you don't want to quit as there's always just one more thing to do, then another, then another, and then another... I would really love to see things like automatic sprinklers for watering, and perhaps even hiring staff to go harvesting for you.

But the farm keeps going whilst you're offline, so the motivation is all in your head and you can spend 5 minutes doing some tasks and then leave it to keep going and when you log on the next day, there'll be tons to do. Bear that in mind if you have an addictive personality and are known to spend too much time gaming (aka, me for sure!) you might find yourself never logging off.

🐔 Simple, casual concept 🐔

This is no Stardew Valley or Farm Simulator and it doesn't want to be. It's a basic concept designed for people who just want to create a farm without having to think too much about it. This is farming at it's most simplest. Plant, water, harvest. Upgrade. Plant, water, harvest. There are a few nice customization options in between, with cosmetic buildings, items, fences and paths, so if you like making a pretty farm there are some options there.

🍆 Accessible co-op 🍆

I forced my husband to play with me for a few hours (he hates this type of game so bribery was involved) to test out the co-op and it works reasonably well. You can jump in and out of other players games, and they can change their settings to allow people to just farm or have higher modification permissions. It does need some work, as right now you can only change friends or not friends. I have 300 steam friends and I only want to give my husband permissions, but this doesn't seem to be settable on a personal basis. Additionally, the farm is hosted locally and as such if your friend isn't online, you can't contribute to their farm, so you can't truly have a co-op farm that's run by multiple people. The host would have to leave their PC and game running 24-7 to allow for a truly multiplayer farm. Still, what's there is very easy to use, intuitive, functional and fun (if you enjoy this sort of game).

I think it would make a great family game, with a parent hosting and everyone helping out and it should run on even a potato machine.

My husbands verdict: Addictive, but pointless. He also said "Why did you make me play this and when do I get my <redacted> as payment?" So, definitely not for everyone.

My verdict: A relaxing one-cost alternative to the casual mobile / Facebook farming genre.

🍌 A good start. If you like this sort of game 🍌

It's all rather basic right now but it's a solid early access foundation for what seems to be a well thought out and very cute casual farming game. If this is your style of game you will know it from the store video and screenshots. Looking forward to seeing how this evolves with time. But even in these early stages, it's a thumbs up from me. Now, time to go harvest some grapes.. 🍇 🍇

💖 If you find the reviews of an old Welsh lady interesting, please follow My Curator Page 💖
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9 Comments
Flatulence Florence Oct 11, 2018 @ 3:51pm 
Great review!
diamondhead Mar 26, 2018 @ 1:29pm 
How did you get this game for free?
Athravan Feb 28, 2018 @ 7:02am 
Yes as mentioned in the review, it currently has chickens, ducks, cows and pigs - and several varieties of each. You need to level your farm up to unlock them, but you can see what's locked in the buy menu. I've uploaded some screenshots showing all of the animals and my level 13 farm at the moment :) Fingers crossed for horses!
SirSquatch Feb 28, 2018 @ 3:13am 
@Donte A.| 374
It already has chickens, you just have to level up...
SirSquatch Feb 28, 2018 @ 3:11am 
Your review is real cute, I wish old Welsh ladies wrote reviews for all Steam games xD
Lightning Feb 27, 2018 @ 10:20pm 
what was payment? a bj?
™Schoke™ Feb 27, 2018 @ 12:07am 
add animal it will be hood
Sleazy Feb 26, 2018 @ 8:42pm 
fanstatic review,a and yes this games is awesome. waiting for chickens to get here.lol
Mickmane Feb 25, 2018 @ 7:13am 
Thanks for the review. Sadly, seems not to be for me. I'd rather have something my pace (turn based). I have enough waiting and clicking (pointlessly) in free games. :)

Also, the viewpoint from the screenshots seem to be horizontal, rather than top-down. (Plus, I wouldn't want to steer a character around even top-down.)