The game series Farming Simulator has long been the benchmark for agricultural simulation, but it is not the only one to explore this genre. In 2018, Pure Farming 2018, developed by Ice Flames and published by Techland, tried to stand out with a diverse offering of crops and agricultural activities. Although the game was not a resounding commercial success, it appears to have left a notable imprint on later farming simulation games, most notably the Farming Simulator series.
Crop diversity in Pure Farming 2018
Pure Farming 2018 introduced crops rarely seen in farming simulation games at the time. These included rice, olives, grapes, coffee and even hemp. These crop choices were intended to give players a more varied experience, allowing them to explore farming in different regions of the world with specific techniques and crops.
A visible influence in Farming Simulator
In the years since, we've seen elements introduced by Pure Farming 2018 appear in the Farming Simulator series. For example, Farming Simulator 22 added olive and grape crops, which were already present in Pure Farming 2018. More recently, it was announced that rice would also be cultivable in Farming Simulator 25, another crop introduced by Pure Farming 2018. Have the developers of Farming Simulator found, with the features of Pure Farming, their new muse to enrich the player experience with a greater diversity of crops?
And after?
With the addition of new crops and diversification of farming activities, it's not out of the realm of possibility that we'll see other elements of Pure Farming 2018 being adopted in future farming simulation titles. The cultures of coffee and hemp, for example, could appear in Farming Simulator 28 or in other similar games.
Even though Pure Farming 2018 is a shadow of its former self, its influence is felt, and it's almost difficult to call it just a coincidence.
