Farm Manager 2021

Ok, I've only played the launch version for 3 hours so far, so this is a very early post. However, I sunk a ton of time into the demo and prologue, so I think I've already got a decent take on how the game plays.

Firstly, I disagree that it's the same as the 2018 version. The 2018 version required a player to micro-manage every aspect of the game, as almost nothing happened automatically. In the 2021 version most of the tasks happen seamlessly, with workers having a decent degree of intelligence as to the next task required. This is a huge improvement, as the 2018 version's micro-management made it almost unplayable if you owned a very large farm. For example, I built a greenhouse, housed plenty of workers nearby with "plant" skills, set the production to strawberries, and then sat back and waited. From that moment, every task was fully automated and eventually the strawberries arrived in my warehouse, ready to sell. It's the same with fields. Make a field, set up the crop required, buy all the necessary equipment, employ and house the correct workers nearby, then sit back and wait for the crop to be harvested and ready for sale. There is even a menu to auto-sell and auto-buy, for those that don't wish to track the market prices for min/maxing best prices as they fluctuate.

I've enjoyed the game so far and haven't experienced any crashes of freezes. I think it's excellent value for money at the price point, and I even got a big discount for owning one of the other games in their catalogue. I would like to be able to move around the screen with the mouse, as I find moving with "wasd" rather clunky. I find the flocks of crows flying around rather distracting, as they become quite large and "in your face" when you're zoomed in.

Graphically it's very similar to 2018, but I think it's perfectly suitable for what it is. They didn't really need to do a total graphic overhaul anyway.

I will update my post after I've played it a lot more, but for now I'd say it's excellent value for money and an 8/10 game for lovers of the genre.

I hope the devs listen to feedback and continue to support the game with updates and patches. With a few tweaks here and there, Farm Manager 2021 could be a 10/10 game.

Recommended

POST UPDATED JUNE 5TH 2021
I've played well over 150 hours now and I'm still really enjoying the game. Since I bought it, the devs have put out lots of patches and updates to smooth over the bumps and add new features, making it even easier to recommend. Considering the improvements they've made since launch, I would now give Farm Manager 2021 a 9/10 score

---{ Graphics }---
🔳 You forget what reality is
🔳 Beautiful
✅ Good
🔳 Decent
🔳 Bad
🔳 Don‘t look too long at it
🔳 MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
🔳 Very good
🔳 Good
✅ It's just gameplay
🔳 Mehh
🔳 Watch paint dry instead
🔳 Just don't

---{ Audio }---
🔳 Eargasm
🔳 Very good
✅ Good
🔳 Not too bad
🔳 Bad
🔳 I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
🔳 Kids
✅ Teens
✅ Adults
🔳 Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
🔳 Check if you can run paint
🔳 Potato
✅ Decent
🔳 Fast
🔳 Rich boi
🔳 Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Difficulty }---
🔳 Just press 'W'
🔳 Easy
✅ Easy to learn / Hard to master
🔳 Significant brain usage
🔳 Difficult
🔳 Dark Souls

---{ Grind }---
🔳 Nothing to grind
🔳 Only if u care about leader boards/ranks
🔳 Isn't necessary to progress
✅ Average grind level
🔳 Too much grind
🔳 You'll need a second live for grinding

---{ Story }---
🔳 No Story
🔳 Some lore
✅ Average
🔳 Good
🔳 Lovely
🔳 It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
🔳 Long enough for a cup of coffee
🔳 Short
🔳 Average
✅ Long
🔳 To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
🔳 It's free!
✅ Worth the price
🔳 If it's on sale
🔳 If u have some spare money left
🔳 Not recommended
🔳 You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
🔳 Never heard of
✅ Minor bugs
🔳 Can get annoying
🔳 ARK: Survival Evolved
🔳 The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

---{ 1 / 10 }---
🔳 1
🔳 2
🔳 3
🔳 4
🔳 5
🔳 6
🔳 7
✅ 8
🔳 9
🔳 10

Let me just start by saying I love farming sims and management games in general.
This game could have been one of the best games of the genre on steam, but no, for me it's not even a good game.
Unfortunately, it just feels like early access BS, if it was in early access I would have gladly accepted the flaws but to call this a finished game, yikes.

1. Lack of content
One example, if you upgrade the main building you do not get any new buildings, only increases field size. Research feels lacking, you get % of efficiency to increase and other minor upgrades. There are only few vehicles and attachments. There are little to none graphics options...etc.

2. Bugs
Time and time again you either have to re-hire an employee or delete a building to remove some notification. Path finding just plainly sucks, no logic in that whatsoever. For no reason my tractor would go in circle before going to the destination, the longer way for some reason.

3. Mediocre animations and graphics
In this day and age to have something look like this with no options to increase the graphics quality...just lazy. I played a lot of indie games and I really do appreciate a good game play over looks, but come on, people move like robots and roads look really cheap like it was made in some free game world editor.

4. Lack of useful tool tips and tutorial
This is really annoying, countless times I would hover over important info. to get some sort of insight into what the hell is going on and what am I supposed to do and nothing happens.
I wish there was a help section / almanac in game to explain crops, animals, vehicles, harvest times etc. This would really help with the seasonal planning. Confusing graphs and statistic that look like they are supposed to help you but just make UI a mess, this is unacceptable in a management game where you are supposed to maximize your profits and micromanage your farm.

These are just some of the annoying aspects of the game.

I bought the first game and was disappointed, thought to myself this one looks really promising and the reviews are not so bad... oh boy how I was wrong.
Couldn't recommend, wouldn't play this even if it was free.
Asked for refund.