Farmer's Shop Simulator: Prologue

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"Farmer's Shop Simulator: Prologue" is not a game. It's an advertisement for a product called "Farmer's Shop Simulator". Farmer's Shop Simulator is a really bare bones Early Access job simulator, and not even a good one... with a single scene, you just offload trucks and load trucks. I've seen so many of these minimum effort "job simulator" games that I'm pretty sure they're all coming from a couple of basic blueprints that are getting reskinned. It comes across as an incredibly lazy effort and I'm wondering if it will ever leave Early Access (only about 1 in 4 Early Access games do).

But this isn't completely relevant because this is not Farmer's Shop Simulator, it's just an advertisment for it, so it's not correct to try to review that completely distinct product. We must instead review this for what it is... an advertisement. If you enjoy advertisements, you can consume them for free on the web or on Youtube without needing to add them to your game library, download them, and then launch the advertising. It's impossible in a general sense to recommend people should do that over playing real, full games on Steam, and that applies here with "Farmer's Shop Simulator: Prologue" too.

The purpose of this advertisement is to get you to shell out twelve bucks for an unfinished product. Yeah... this is not good for gamers.

This is only free in the same way that adverts on Youtube and banner ads in your browser are. This is a game demo that's been dumped on Steam to advertise another Steam store page in the hopes of raking in some cash. Just because advertisements are free, doesn't mean they're worth your time.

It's important to understand there's a formal process to create a demo/page for a game which hasn't been followed here:

https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/application/demos

While it might seem like an inocuous mistake, publishing demos and advertisements as if they are full games is misleading and in some ways harmful. This advertisement is taking up marketing space and visibility that would be better made available to a developer that's done the right thing and created a full game. Instead, that visibility is given over to a demo/advert that's been published incorrectly and is polluting the marketplace.

It's unclear if this mistake was made through incompetence or a deliberate intent to mislead gamers. Often developers may choose to incorrectly publish demo/advertisements as separate games as a cheap way to bypass paying Valve for marketing presence on the Steam front page, which may seem clever to them, but it's harmful behaviour and it's not good for gamers.

Even though this is "free", it failed to appeal to the 120 million+ gamers on Steam. SteamDB showed the game peaked at only 8 concurrent players... this is a dismal public reception. This was so bad they couldn't even give it away.

Advertisements and incorrectly published demos don't add +1 to your game collector count, they aren't full games. It's impossible for me to recommend this incorrectly published advertising spam to gamers, you deserve better than adverts.

This Game is a Gem in the Making

Unique Mechanics

The game's mechanics may need a bit of fine-tuning, but even as they stand, they bring a lot of laughs and unexpected moments. From shooing away pesky crows to *almost* getting that trash bag in the bin, there's always a surprise around the corner.

Tutorial? What Tutorial?

Right now, the game’s tutorial is... well, an adventure on its own. Discovering everything as you go adds a true sense of exploration and keeps that "what’s next?" feeling alive. Here’s to hoping the devs add a tutorial someday – but then again, the DIY approach kinda grows on you.

Graphics and Optimization

Classic indie feel, with just enough rough-around-the-edges charm. It’s not AAA, but it’s got heart – and that’s what keeps me coming back.

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Final Verdict

This game has character, from every trash bag you toss (and miss) to every crow you scare off. It’s quirky, addictive, and a little chaotic – but that’s why it’s so easy to love.