Farming Simulator 22 answers the call of the wild with new, revamped animals

The largest draw of Farming Simulator is no doubt its agricultural farming mechanics. However, the series has long featured animal husbandry as well. Giants has gone ahead and showed a little extra love to our feathered and furry friends as shown in a new trailer for the upcoming Farming Simulator 22. 

In this newest version of the sim, the animals will look “a lot cuter,” in addition to being “more important than ever.” They tie directly into the new production chains mechanic. For example, you can build chicken coops to produce eggs that you can then deliver to a local bakery. You’ll also still need to take care of  them during the wintertime when agricultural fieldwork isn’t available.  Thus, raising a healthy farm of livestock will double as both a solid additional revenue stream, in addition to being a virtual petting zoo.

Monkey business

While Giants doesn’t specify exactly how it improved the animal models from a technical perspective, just seeing them in action in the new trailer gives enough context. The models look to have a noticeable amount of extra polygons and much smoother (and varied) animations. Their texture work is also a bit more high quality than previous entries.

What is definitely the easiest difference to spot is that there will now be wildlife. Farming Simulator 19 had the small inclusion of crows feeding on fields, but now wild animals will truly populate the maps of Farming Simulator 22, such as deer that run through the forest. That’s the only type shown off so far, however. In terms of animals available to purchase, bred, and care for, cows, sheep, chickens and pigs make a return. Horses will continue to be fully rideable. Bees are also on their way, likely to function as honey farms that will add yet another line to the new production chains.

From fur to functionality

Beyond all the fresh changes made to the animals, Farming Simulator 22 will also include other improvements. In addition to the core changes such as the enhanced visuals, sound design and gameplay mechanics, Giants has implemented more refinements to these areas since they were initially shown off a few months ago.

Giants has confirmed that the new seasons mechanic can be customized to where an in-game month can last up to 28 virtual days. Originally, an in-game year would only consist of 12 in-game days, and each day would represent one month. The visual fidelity of the sim has also been tweaked. This includes the fine-tuning of its SSAO, outfitting it with more natural looking color-grading, and more. A comparison between the revamped build and the reveal build will release soon to really emphasize the improvements made. One of the new crops, sorghum, has also received a pre-launch improvement. Now, the process of harvesting it will be a little more realistic.

All of these improvements show that Giants is paying attention to community feedback. Considering that Farming Simulator 22 has had a three-year development cycle (which is a year more than previous PC entries), fan expectations are higher than usual. We’ll see just how far its all come in only a matter of weeks.

Farming Simulator 22 will spring up for launch on November 22.