As the first majestic rays of golden light peek over the sleepy horizon, I am awake. In gratitude and greeting, I raise my steaming cup of dark, caffeinated liquid. Today is the celebration of a new day. And with a new day comes new opportunity. How will you spend it? Farm Together puts you in control of your fate of life on a farm. The question is, will this indie title bear good fruits, or does it count its chickens before they hatch? Hop up in this big green tractor and hold on, reader!

Developer: Milkstone Studios

Publisher: Milkstone Studios

12 Hours Played // Review Copy Provided // $19.99

Farm Together is a vibrant bundle of joy delivered in a cheery, colorful, and relaxing package. It’s one of those titles that once you start you continuously want to go back to time and time again. This is not only because is it calming and fun to play but also out of necessity. This unrealistic yet glamorized game about farming is built in a way where you are forced to take breaks and return later. Luckily, that time-delay factor that normally eats away at my soul does not have an appetite while playing this game. What a truckload of words!

The Scenic Route

Let’s take a moment to organize a bit and unload that densely-packed previous paragraph into nice neat bundles. Here comes bundle number one for you: Farm Together is a visual and audible treat. The aesthetics are a breath of fresh country air! It’s almost sure to be the element you notice straight away. I don’t mean that this game is breaking any boundaries for resolution, because it doesn’t (though while docked they are surprisingly good).

What I mean is the art style in which it is produced is very fitting to the theme and in the same vein as newer Harvest Moon iterations. The cartoon-like nature and bright, vivid colors will keep your eyes entranced. Day and night cycles, multiple seasons, and unique lighting fixtures will dazzle you for hours on end. For a game that, in essence, consists of performing what would usually be grueling manual labor, it sure is painted in a beautiful light.

Farm Together Achievements

Pair those mesmerizing sights with the dopamine-inducing audio cues and you have yourself a straight-up rural slot machine. Yes, Farm Together was like a trip to the casino for me every time I booted it up. The dinging, plinking, ka-chinging and constant congratulatory ringing were fueling and enabling my newfound habit. I needed to till that soil and plant new crops. I craved to hear the cheerful tones of reaping what I had sown. My hands tremored as I watched my wealth grow in conjunction with my farm; I was addicted. All of this set to the soothing ear candy melodies and sweet guitar strums is the cherry on top that will inevitably give your cochleae some cavities.

Suffice it to say I was genuinely enjoying myself. As far as the genre is concerned, it was a pleasant surprise to find myself actually engaged in a farming/ lifestyle simulator. They are not my usual cup of tea for a few reasons. One, I grew up in urban and suburban areas, and only ever go camping once every few years. It’s not that I don’t enjoy nature or the outdoors, because I do love a great hike. There’s just not a ton of overlap; not a lot to which I can relate.

And two, many of the games in this type of genre I have experience really just feel like chores. Why would I willingly want to stress myself out with tasks that need to be completed in a strict time frame? I have enough tasks on my plate to choke on already, I’d rather immerse myself into some fantasy where I’m a hero saving the world. Or, you know, mercilessly slaying monsters for no good reason other than “practice” (give me ALL of the EXP!). Yeah, I’m good.

Time With Farm Together

Farm Together is different. It stands out on its own as a unique experience despite dancing in the façade of the familiar. It utilizes many mechanics that have been worn out through years of repetition and optimizes them. The boring elements have either been spiced up or tossed aside completely like rubbish. This is demonstrated in almost every task throughout the game from all the planting and harvesting to building your own house and expanding your territory. Really the only thing you are limited by, other than time and currency, is your own imagination.

One of the main factors where you see much improvement is the ever-dreaded time mechanic. For me personally, amazing games such as Majora’s Mask and Stardew Valley have been heavily weighed down by the illusion of a “deadline”. If I want to enjoy a game, I want to play on my own terms. Don’t coerce me to finish by a certain time. I especially hate seeing my progress stagnated by forcing me to sleep. IT’S A GAME; let it feel like one. Farm Together eases the burden by using arbitrary time limits without punishing you if you decide to wander a bit.

Speaking of wandering, much like my attention span this indie title is prime in short bursts. This is because there’s only so much you can do at once. Eventually, you will either run out of currency, resources, or time. But as I mentioned, there is no punishment for taking your time. THANK YOU!

Lovin Life on the Farm

You can till, plant, and literally never water your crops and anything negative will happen. In fact, when specific seasons hit if your crops are in need of a drink, the rain has your back; those beautiful wet drops will do the job for you. The sole purpose of watering your crops is to cut down on the growing time so you can harvest quicker. You may also get a slight bonus on the payout as well but it is negligible. Eventually, you’ll be harvesting and planting so many crops there’s no way to keep track of them all. I eventually just planted whatever was available whenever it was in season and was able to crack that millionaire status within hours of playing.

Basically what I’m saying is if becoming an uber-rich mega farmer isn’t your goal, nothing is forcing you to hurry. I love this about Farm Together. When your crops are ready to be harvested, they’ll wait patiently for you to get around to it. I mean, what does it really matter anyway? Do you want something to brag about on your ‘Farmer’s Only’ profile? Just lie like everybody else. There’s plenty of fish in the pond.

Farm Together Multiplayer

You’ll find someone eventually – why do you think they call it “FARM TOGETHER”? The multiplayer aspect is a huge draw for this game. And it seems the developers had thought of everything when they implemented the cooperative system into the game. Don’t want to be social? Turn off all options for someone dipping their toes in your precious soil. Only want people to do your dirty work? You can have an option for friends or the public to only be able to harvest on your farm. Do you prefer an open relationship with your personal property? You can also choose to give everyone free reign to be all up in your business whenever they please. So many options!

There’s no doubt that it can fun to play with your friends and family. So I appreciate the ability to do so. Plus, when others visit your farm, it makes those tedious tasks go by so much faster! “But Mikey, why would anyone willingly do my work for me?” You may be wondering. Well, if someone chooses to help out and farm for you, they also reap financial rewards for doing so. It’s as simple as that. That is what I call a win-win. But enough talk; get back to tending to my crops, peasants!

Git ‘Er Done

I kid, as I am primarily a solo player. If you’re a lone wolf like me, you may not necessarily have an abundance of people who are willing to sit down and go fence-hopping with tractors for an hour. Not to worry friends – you can get hired help in game. Once a bit further into the game, for a small fee you are able to recruit an AI farmhand to take care of things around the farm while you sip ice-cold sweet tea in the shade. Though this may be an appealing option, my motto has always been, “If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself”. So that’s what I do. Plus, I like to sing to my plants for that extra special care and I don’t want anyone else to hear.

So, we’ve covered the looks, relaxed timing and pace, and multiplayer basics of the game. The last thing of note I want to praise is the abundance of customization options. Farm Together has so much to offer! Not to mention the developers have just released an update adding more and continue to improve the game after release. I suspect that won’t be the last time we see that happen. Whether you want to meticulously layout your crops like an architect’s wet dream or cause widespread paranoia with mysterious crop circles, you can literally do what you want with the layout of almost everything. Let’s just say if space is there, you can build/ plant/ customize to your liking – down to the very walkway you step upon.

Farm Together Boats and Prose

I was blown away at the options you begin to unlock as you progress further into the game. From flat screens in your living room to boats in your backyard, you can start to enjoy the finer things in life. However, in order to get to that point though there is some dirt that has to get under those fingernails first. Fortunately, there are a few simple and relatively quick ways to do so.

Farm Together Wishlist

The first of which is to complete assigned tasks. Convenient and simple, they’re all laid out in a nice list and will pop up on screen when you’ve completed one. Most tasks are simple things such as harvesting X amounts of Y. All that’s spent is a bit of patience really. The second is to make sure to plant, harvest, and raise as many things as possible. So don’t be picky! Your tenacious efforts will increase individual crop and animal levels thus raising your overall farm level, in turn unlocking lots of goodies. And last but certainly not least, BUILD. As new items become available, so will unique structures.

Starting off, the structures that are available are more or less what you would assume: toolsheds, silos, and windmills – things of that nature. Some cost small amounts of money to maintain (like the silos). It’s not a big deal with all the other money you’ll have coming in from crops and whatnot. Once you start accumulating a stock of harvested produce and materials, you will definitely want to set up different stands. These are cute little areas in which you can make additional profits from by-products of what you have grown and stored.

Diamonds are Forever

These cutesy little stands that look like what you would see a group of kids put together for some weekend pocket change are important! Stands will typically grant you diamonds, which are necessary for greater customization and details. The more you invest into yourself, the more profits you will ultimately create. As the saying goes, “scared money don’t make money”! Enjoy planting the vast variety of crops, tend to zoos full of animals, and enjoy the “finer things” in life. This is what I find to be the main goal in Farm Together. It will take time, but there is always something new to unlock and to purchase.

Final Thoughts

Overall, my experience with Farm Together was an unexpectedly fun one. I enjoyed this game. It is not meant to portray realism or the hardships of farm life. It won’t accurately represent the actual work that goes into farming whatsoever. And that’s okay with me. To put it in even greater perspective, one of the customization options for your avatar is literally a fireman outfit complete with a fire extinguisher. You can map a Fortnite dance to a directional button. This is what I’m talking about.

Farm Together works very well as a casual game that will hold your attention for probably longer than you anticipate. This may sound contradictory, but what I enjoyed about this game is also my only critique. My biggest issue with it is there is no real goal to be seen.

You aren’t saving the world, or even making a difference in it. The player won’t be meeting a final boss or seeing a resolution to a conflict. There’s no princess locked away in a castle; no resurgence of a formerly dormant ancient evil that must be stopped. You don’t and won’t have any worries . . . at all. It may be a silly thing to complain about, but no matter how small, I enjoy having a sense of purpose. Call me old fashioned, but that’s my opinion and I’m sticking to it. Maybe after I’m done saving the world I’ll come back and retire to my quaint, quiet farm life. Until that day comes, excuse me while I go find my sword.

I hope you enjoyed this review of Farm Together for Nintendo Switch. I worked tirelessly day and night to build it from the ground up! If you enjoyed my thoughts, please join in our community Discord to keep the discussion going. Check out our YouTube channel as well for additional content. If you can spare a coin or two, feel free to take a look at our Patreon as well. Thank so much; until next time!