Farming Simulator 25 review: Your relaxing evening now requires a larger trailer

The big picture

Farming Simulator 25 offers the fantasy of escaping work by going home and operating a different workplace. You'll prepare a field, plant something, harvest it and discover that moving the harvest would be much easier with a bigger trailer. Buying that trailer makes a bigger field seem sensible. Eventually you're browsing agricultural equipment with the grave expression of someone choosing a family car, except this one needs to carry several tonnes of wheat.

GIANTS Software's farming sandbox, released on 12 November 2024, understands the appeal of a job you can actually finish and point at. That field was a mess; now it's useful. Your reward is knowing exactly what you accomplished, followed by noticing the next field. The important question is whether that sounds satisfying or like a weekend you were hoping to avoid.

Straight lines, increasingly elaborate plans

Preparing soil, sowing, fertilizing, removing weeds and harvesting connect into a process rather than a series of unrelated chores. Optional rolling can improve the result, while some seeders eliminate a separate cultivation pass. That makes equipment choice pleasantly practical. You're buying a machine because it removes work, increases coverage or suits a crop, which is a considerably better justification than “the paint looked nice,” even if the paint did look nice.

The catch is that you still drive up and down fields. A lot. Efficiently repeating a task is much of the entertainment, and a wider implement won't turn wheat into an action sequence. Patient players can enjoy refining their routes and watching an operation become more capable. Anyone who needs a surprise every few minutes may start hoping the combine has a secret boss fight. It doesn't need one; it needs you to finish this row.

Rice has read the instructions, even if you haven't

The base game's three environments cover North America, Central Europe and East Asia. Goats and water buffalo expand the farmyard, while ground deformation and weather events give the landscape more physical presence. Rice is especially worthwhile because it demands a different routine. Rice and long-grain rice both use paddies, but flooding happens at different stages, and ordinary rice involves specialized machinery and saplings. “I already own a tractor” turns out to be the agricultural equivalent of telling a chef you have a spoon.

That variety gives diversification substance, but also a bill. Your current fleet won't automatically handle every new ambition. Green beans, for example, require a specialized harvester, although you can lease it. They can be sold directly or processed into jars at a factory, extending your decisions beyond simply emptying a field. The game makes a convincing argument for expansion, then politely leaves you to deal with everything you expanded into.

Let the assistant argue with the steering

GPS steering assistance and configurable AI workers offer help with working width, direction and headlands. Guidance lines show the intended coverage, letting you drive with assistance or hand a job to a helper. For a game built around repeated passes, fewer tiny steering corrections are a meaningful improvement. Your tractor can follow a sensible line while you consider something more important, such as whether the other tractor needs to be larger.

Seasonal growth adds planting and harvesting windows, but can be disabled. Contracts offer paid work on other farms and can include borrowed equipment, giving beginners a way to try unfamiliar jobs without personally financing the entire experiment. These options reduce pressure without removing the planning. Helpers won't decide what sort of farm you want, and no amount of guidance will rescue a business plan consisting of “buy whatever has the most wheels.”

Before you invite everyone into the tractor

Multiplayer supports shared farms or separately managed operations helping each other, and ModHub adds community machines, maps and other content. Cross-platform availability and mods vary. Splitting harvesting, hauling and preparation gives cooperation a clear purpose, provided everyone agrees on the priorities. Otherwise a farm meeting becomes a surprisingly authentic argument about capital expenditure.

Native editions are on Windows, Mac, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Check hardware requirements, expansion bundles and included add-ons; the Mac version requires supported hardware and macOS 11.3 or later. PS5 supports up to six online players with PS Plus. There is no native Xbox One version. Switch 2's Farming Simulator: Signature Edition, released 9 December 2025, is a separate, single-player adaptation, so don't buy it expecting identical features or shared purchases. Steam Deck is rated Playable, with small interface text flagged.

Cloud routes also exist through GeForce NOW, Xbox Cloud Gaming and, for the eligible PS5 edition, PlayStation streaming. Device, region, input, subscription and game-access requirements differ; Xbox's store and launch-page entitlements need checking against your account. Portal requires eligible access, Premium and an adult account. Headset streaming is a flat screen with a compatible gamepad, not a VR tractor cab. Those distinctions matter more than the appealing thought of harvesting on every screen you own.

Farming Simulator 25 suits machinery enthusiasts, patient planners and friends who enjoy a shared project. Expansion is rewarding when it solves a problem; expanding because you were briefly left unsupervised in the shop can make relaxation feel remarkably like overtime. Start manageable. The enormous tractor will still be enormous tomorrow.