Pure Farming 2018 Review

Farm simulators are one of those genres where players either go all in and love them or they completely avoid them. Pure Farming 2018 by Ice Flames is a new entry into this niche and spoiler-alert, they do a pretty good job introducing a new game into the Virtual Farming arena.

Let’s start by talking about the visuals for Pure Farming 2018 on the PC. I’m running a 1070 8GB graphics card and on Ultra settings, I consistently had over 60 FPS in various weather conditions. As you would expect, there are numerous graphics settings to be tweaked so it won’t be hard for you to find the settings that best match your machine. Buildings, look beautiful, but what got me were the intricate details such as the mud sticking on the wheels and the side of equipment as they are used in the fields. Additionally, the fields are nicely detailed with elevation variances and even ruts are easily distinguishable after working a field.

Sharp graphics may make the game appear pretty, but how does the simulator really play?  Pure Farming 2018 starts out creating your farmer selecting from various tops, pants and even a few pre-defined outfits. Once you create your farmer you are given a tablet that is essential to your success on the farm.  A tutorial helps you understand the game mechanics, navigation, and farming techniques to help prepare you for your life as a virtual farmer. I found that while helpful, a few of the tutorial lessons were a little laborious to complete.  I got the idea of what I needed to do, but I couldn’t move to the next lesson until I spent the next 20 minutes working a field.  I guess I need more patience. The controls were pretty easy to pick up and I found myself using an Xbox One controller more than the keyboard and mouse.

Speaking of working the fields, each field has several attributes to monitor such as plowed %, irrigation, spraying, and cultivation. One nice feature I found is the use of a drone to fly over the farm giving you an overhead view of the stats for each of your fields and if so desired, new fields can be purchased using the drone. Fields change color based on their status (irrigated, plowed, etc). Equipment available to purchase in Pure Farming 2018 was varied, but I expected to see a few more manufacturers represented. However,  there is great mod support and you can import equipment into the game that was designed in 3D modeling applications such as Blender. Additionally, map mod support is also available to bring your favorite maps into the game.

Pure Farming 2018  includes a few different modes: My First Farm, Farming Challenges, and a sandbox Free Farming mode. One glaring omission I noticed is there is no multiplayer option. This seems like an odd mode missing given how much fun it can be to get together with some friends and plow through some fields.  Pun intended. I’m hoping that multiplayer gets added in a later DLC download.

Pure Farming 2018 Review Final Thoughts:

If you have any interest in virtual farming, I highly encourage you to take a look at Pure Farming 2018. It requires some patience, but it is worth it when you see yourself running a profitable farm. Pure Farming 2018 is available now for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One for $39.99 and Steam for $29.99.

Related: https://coin-op.tv/pure-farming-2018-preview/