How the seasonal cycles change the visuals and the gameplay of Farming Simulator 22
How the seasonal cycles change the visuals and the gameplay of Farming Simulator 22
In Farming Simulator 22, you need to prepare for Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. If you don’t, you’ll see your valuable crops wither away. That is, if you choose to play with seasonal cycles enabled, of course.
Today, we show you more of the new feature and invite you to watch our FarmCon presentation in case you missed it. Want to know more about FarmCon and recent news from our community event? We’ll provide more info in our summary! Here’s Gameplay Developer Jos Kuijpers from GIANTS Software providing you with an introduction of the seasonal changes in the game:
Visual changes through the seasons
Let’s take a look at the most obvious change: the visuals. Since we showed you the four seasons in Farming Simulator 22 last time, we updated the visual appearance of various assets in the game. The tint of trees, grass and bushes is more homogeneous now.
We updated the general game graphics, too (and we’re still working on it) – so, you’ll notice more detail here and there. Reflections on water, for example. Whether you look at season-specific aesthetics or not, nature looks more natural.
Since each season comes with its own characteristics, the atmosphere changes quite a bit throughout the year. In spring, trees start to grow their leaves in vibrant colors. They mature into lush green trees in summer. Take a look:
In Fall, the color pallet changes – the atmosphere turns a bit melancholic before everything will be covered in a thick layer of snow when winter comes around. Here and there, it even gets icy. We recommend paying the waterfall a visit to enjoy a cave-like place of solitude, riddled with icicles. But we won’t spoil it for you, right now!
Seasonal gameplay: on or off?
By implementing seasonal cycles, we added a new level of gameplay to Farming Simulator 22. It’s not just a visual thing. Unless you want it to be. In this case, you deactivate “seasonal growth”, so you plant and harvest your crops independently of the season.
The seasons in-game are divided into months. A year consists of twelve days. Meaning, each day in-game is the equivalent of a month. Using the timescale control, it is up to you how fast the days pass. Basically, a season can range from half an hour of playtime up to a long weekend.
If you still want to keep the seasonal charm of running a farm in the middle of winter – go ahead. You can turn off snow separately if you want. As usual, the new feature can be deactivated, so you have more control of your gameplay experience.
Seasonal gameplay on: Mind the calendar!
Do you want the full experience, including seasonal cycles with impact on gameplay? You’ll have to take a look at the new crop calendar, then! The calendar provides an important overview and tells you when you have to plant your crops, and when to harvest if seasonal growth is activated.
Take the new crops, for example: Grapes and olives have to be planted from March to June. Harvest season for grapes starts in September and last until the end of October. Olives, though, you have to harvest in the month of October. Sorghum, the third new crop in Farming Simulator 22, needs to be sown from April to May. It’ll be ready to harvest from August to September.
You also have to bear in mind that the demand for your crops, and therefore the selling prices, change throughout the year. To get the best price, you will have to store your harvested crops and sell them when the demand is high due to the season.
More to do, more to keep in mind
As you can imagine, snow covering your farmlands requires more actions from you. There’s some snow plowing needed to get rid of the snow and keep your roads and yards clear. Also, you have to plan ahead if animal husbandry is part of your farming operation. Store enough food for the winter!
If you don’t like to shovel loads of snow and don’t possess any animals, you might think about starting production chains. If you have the resources available, you can deliver them to various production halls to produce goods. You might even get into the hauling business to transport all the crops and goods to the next link in a production chain. Remember, you can start multiple production chains at once. As you can see, there’s still a lot to do in winter.
Pre-order now to get your bonus!
Farming Simulator 22 will release on November 22nd for PC, Mac, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One and Stadia. Pre-order now to receive the CLAAS XERION SADDLE TRAC Pack for free!
