Perfectly simulates farming but without the crippling debt, cow turds, and bi-weekly calls to the suicide hotline. However be warned that enjoying this game will cause you to forever wonder at what point in your life it all went wrong, that you're now sitting in your underwear at 2am fretting about the fluctuating price of corn.

This is surprisingly good for something that doesn't even try to hide the fact it's a farming simulator. That said, of course it still *is* a farming simulator, so you *will* be doing some things that are a little more tedious than you'd expect from a typical game. For example, there's no denying that a large part of farm work is driving up and down a field at slow speed, so you will be doing some of that. At the same time you don't have most of the sources of excitement that other open world games have, you're doing honest work (except if you're stealing golf carts, which is possible and apparently nobody cares) so you're not going to be in any police chases or shootouts. The game does a very good job at simulating a farm. You start out with some money, machinery, a loan, and a field (depending on difficulty) and manage the operation from there on. You tend your fields, buy machines, buy more fields, perhaps some animals, and so on, and the level of detail is mostly pretty good. All this takes place in a completely open world, and while you can't buy any cars unless you install mods, there's a very large selection of tractors and other equipment that you can drive around. The nice thing is that equipment generally works like you'd expect it to work: Trailers can be attached to tractors, or in some cases to other trailers, making trains; then you drive them over a grate and press a key to unload your grains, which will happen in a way specific to the type of trailer you're using. Front loaders can pick up things and carry them around, sowers sow, sprayers spray, additional tanks attached to the front of your tractor provide more fertilizer for the sprayer attached to its rear, balers pick up straw and make bales, which you can then pick up with a front loader or another machine that stacks them. Cows produce manure, which you can use to fertilize your fields if you choose to do so, and so forth.

The game does try to alleviate some of the tedium by letting you hire help for some of the repetitive driving tasks. For example, plowing, cultivating, sowing, fertilizing, spraying, and harvesting can all be done by a computer controlled clone of you. This is implemented very nicely, you just drive the machine to the starting point and press H and it'll start doing what you'd expect it to do. For example, a combine harvester will start slowly harvesting your field, driving up and down, and eventually stop when it's full. Then you can pull up next to it with a trailer and the computer help will extend the combine's pipe and unload the harvest into your trailer and continue. Similarly if you drive next to it while it's harvesting, it'll transfer the harvest to your trailer as you go. This makes it very easy to do some of the typical farming tasks that normally require more than one person. It also adds an aspect of time management to the game when you have multiple computer controlled helpers working your fields and need to jump around between them to support them.

You also don't have to wait for your plants to grow. There are three settings to control how fast plants grow, and separately you can also speed up time by 120x. Machines only work at one fixed pace, though.

The farming aspect of this game includes various types of grains, potatoes, beets, as well as cattle (for dairy), sheep (for wool), and chicken (for eggs). Additionally, you can buy green houses that you can freely place on the map to grow things such as herbs or tomatoes, and you can buy bee houses that'll produce honey.

In addition to typical farming tasks, there also are some half arsed missions (basically two types: one requires you to pick up something with a front loader, another requires you to mow strangely rectangular areas where grass suddenly appeared on the golf course). You can also buy solar panels and wind energy converters, which will provide a nice consistent stream of extra income (they're a little too good).

I'm rating this game a 9 out of 10 because it's a good farming simulator with a very nice open world and very detailed equipment. But as I stated above, it's still a farming simulator, and not an action game, and I would not necessarily expect it to appeal to the same audience as other open world games.

Don't let the metascore scare you away. This game isn't for everybody, but that doesn't mean it's a bad game. If you like relaxing, slow paced, and somewhat realistic simulators, give this one a look. There are over a hundred different vehichles, and tons of different features. It's also fully moddable, with a thriving modding community. It's bug free, and runs on relatively low end machines. Works on my four year old rig.

My steam account only shows 22 hours on this game as I purchased this digital copy only recently so I could play coop with my six-year-old son. I’ve played this, the 2011, and the 2009 versions for many countless hours.

As background, I have a graduate degree in agriculture economics and have spent a good portion of my life farming. By all accounts, I should dislike this game:

* the controls are clunky
* the physics are often aggravating
* the particle flow/dust and other graphical elements are a throwback to 1990’s 3D engines
* the ‘farming’ elements are incredibly simplistic and the economics are silly.

And yet there is something oddly cathartic and relaxing about this game that keeps me coming back for more day after day.

I derive the most enjoyment from utilizing some of the many modifications to stretch this game to its limits. The most important is Courseplay, which allows me to automate most of the tasks and play a managerial role, even though the game it technically a driving simulator. I also enjoy user-submitted maps, such as Paradise 2013, which are set up for larger operations and automated farming.

Even though I wish the developers would license a better game engine so that the physics, rendering, and particle flow are more realistic, as well as include an 'advanced' mode that actually adjusts growth conditions and incorporates specific pests/weeds that I have to control, I can’t help but think that I’ll keep playing this game for a long time to come.

The game you get when your spouse doesn't let you get an actual tractor. Or cows. Or trucks. Or anything else farm related. Apparently the block is only big enough for 2 cars. I still disagree!

A calming, surprisingly engaging game. Even if you laugh at the concept, it's worth a try if you're after a chillout game but have played Minecraft to death.

One thing I would say is that the time you need to invest before you start getting the cool equipment is pretty steep, but there are things you can buy that passively earn money and mean you can earn more than you spend on production.

Many people ask me why I play this game. My only response is "Because I can't stop." When I need a game to play that will get my mind off the daily crap of a corporate cubicle monkey job, I turn to Farming Sim.

Boring in description, but oddly addictive. You buy land, till fields, sow seeds, and harvest crops. Much like many simulations, though, there's an underlying satisfaction in setting the groundwork and watching your crops (and fortunes) grow steadily. It can get a little boring later on once you've got steady income and all the equipment you could need to maintain it, but still manages to be a relaxing experience throughout.

I own both this version (2013) and its successor (2015). I tend to prefer this version to the 2015 version because I am not a fan of the logging focus that was forced into 2015. I think they should have spent their efforts adding more crops and farming styles (like orchards for example). Regardless, they are both EXCELLENT games for those that enjoy an open play style and empire building style. A relaxing and enjoyable experience all around.

The Modding community behind these games is AMAZING. If you can imagine it, then someone, somewhere has probably built it. Almost anything you can think of is only a few clicks away from adding it to your game.

More than 500 hours played in FS2013 at the time of this review.

Best game i've ever bought. Sad to say i spend more time on this than with my family...... Well worth the money... definately if you have a good card to play this with.