The Farmer Was Replaced
- February 10, 2023
- Timon Herzog
- 11h median play time
Get on Steam"The Farmer Was Replaced" is a farming simulation game with a twist. After a mysterious event, you wake up to find that all the animals and crops on your farm have gained sentience and are now demanding rights and fair treatment. Manage your farm while balancing the needs and demands of your newly aware livestock and crops, and navigating the ethical and moral dilemmas that arise. Can you build a successful farm while also ensuring the well-being of your anthropomorphic animals and crops?
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game provides a fun and engaging way to learn programming concepts, especially for beginners.
- It features a gradual difficulty curve, introducing new coding mechanics and challenges at a comfortable pace.
- The integration of coding with farming mechanics creates a unique and satisfying gameplay loop, allowing players to optimize their code and see immediate results.
- Some players experienced bugs and performance issues, including crashes and high GPU usage.
- The in-game code editor lacks some features found in standard IDEs, making coding less efficient and more frustrating at times.
- The game may feel short for experienced programmers, as they can quickly unlock all content and complete the main challenges.
- grinding44 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The grinding aspect of the game is generally viewed as a mix of enjoyable and tedious, with players appreciating the automation of farming tasks through coding while also noting that the endgame can become repetitive. Many users find the blend of programming and farming engaging, but some express a desire for more meaningful goals beyond simply acquiring upgrades. Overall, the game offers a relaxing yet potentially monotonous experience, particularly for those who prefer a more structured progression.
“Though a few bugs and some missing features makes the endgame a little too tedious for my liking.”
“The only purpose of farming in this game is to buy upgrades which helps you farm more until you buy all upgrades.”
“If you want an idle farming game where you program your own farm - play for two hours and refund.”
- gameplay43 mentions
- 49 % positive mentions
- 44 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The gameplay is praised for its engaging mechanics and satisfying optimization loop, making it an effective tool for learning programming concepts while providing a fun experience. Players appreciate the progression system that gradually introduces new coding elements, although some find the initial pace slow and the overall content somewhat limited. The integration of idle game mechanics with programming challenges offers a unique and rewarding experience, particularly for those interested in strategy and optimization.
“The UI is excellent, the challenges are engaging, and the gameplay progression is fantastic.”
“The gameplay loop is quite satisfying as it rewards you for optimizing your code.”
“It teaches you how to use variables, loops, lists, conditions, and functions, all under an addicting gameplay loop.”
“Good idea as a beginner guide to programming, but it didn't really hook me with the slow gameplay loop at the start.”
“Albeit rather short for an 'idle game' - you'd probably reach the end of progression in ten to twelve hours of gameplay.”
“There has been a lot of programming games that have either simulated the experience at the cost of accuracy to make it more intuitive and fun but unfortunately doesn't leave you with knowledge you can apply to comfortably code on your own, or made an educational game that taught the material but the execution was half-baked and didn't implement enough game mechanics to reward the player and keep them engaged.”
- optimization38 mentions
- 16 % positive mentions
- 76 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The game's optimization aspect is highly praised, offering a blend of fun and challenge for both novice and experienced programmers. Players appreciate the competitive leaderboard and various coding challenges that encourage continuous improvement and micro-optimizations. However, some users report performance issues, such as low frame rates and lag, which detract from the overall experience.
“A fun introduction to coding with the possibility of going deep into optimizations.”
“I expected to hit a ceiling with this very quickly but there is a ton of optimization that can be done and presents a number of classic coding challenges in a fun, gamified way.”
“This is an incredible game for both experienced programmers looking for hyper-optimization challenges and beginners looking forward to learn practical coding.”
“The game seems great, however, I get 15 fps on my laptop and it also makes my entire laptop laggy, so it clearly has performance issues.”
“Most of the challenges can be pretty simple to experienced programmers, so most of the time spent is on micro-optimization to squeeze every resource in the shortest time.”
“I feel like a lot of the most optimized runs skip over a lot of the most interesting content at the moment.”
- graphics15 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 47 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The graphics are described as simple yet charming, reminiscent of enhanced turtle graphics, making them accessible for older devices while still providing a visually appealing experience. Users appreciate the fun visuals and aesthetic design, although some report minor graphical bugs and high resource usage on powerful hardware. Overall, the graphics effectively support the game's educational purpose and contribute to its relaxing atmosphere.
“Additionally, its graphics are well made but simple enough to run well on old or weak devices.”
“The beautifully simplistic art style contributes greatly to the game's overall chill appeal.”
“The visuals are simple, but adorable.”
“It is turtle graphics on steroids.”
“Plenty of minor graphical bugs, like line highlights during execution displaying in front of neighboring windows.”
“However, now it is using up 95% of my NVIDIA 4070 Ti graphics card.”
- story7 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 29 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
The story aspect of the game is criticized for its lack of direction, as players find the absence of missions or goals detracts from the experience. While the programming challenges are engaging, the overall narrative feels underdeveloped, leaving players wanting more structure and purpose in their farming tasks.
“It's a fun series of classic programming challenges where you tell a drone where and how to perform tasks around a farm plot using a python-like programming language.”
“Mazes lead us first to a brute force solution, but the plot thickens when we start removing walls to increase the treasure.”
“The farm is too small (10x10 when maxed out) and there is no goal, no missions, no quests.”
“- implement some kind of missions/goals system.”
“This is an aesthetic preference but it was still a little frustrating to realize the language about the cacti meant I had to clear my entire plot just for them.”
- stability5 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 80 % negative mentions
Overall, users report mixed experiences with stability; while the game is generally well-built and runs smoothly, some encounter issues such as a buggy enter key, freezing at the start menu, and occasional problems with autocomplete functionality. Despite these setbacks, many find the troubleshooting process rewarding.
“It's well built, runs great, and can be a good tool to learn programming basics.”
“Game freezes at the start menu and I don't know why.”
“Tab key works fine, but the enter key is buggy.”
“The autocomplete feels a bit buggy.”
- humor5 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is widely appreciated, appealing to both learners and casual players alike, with amusing elements like a drone wearing a hat and quirky unlockable functions. Players find the comedic approach to Python programming engaging and enjoyable, making the learning experience both entertaining and memorable. Overall, the humor effectively enhances the game's appeal and encourages players to return to programming.
“It's also equally funny for people who aren't necessarily trying to learn Python to play.”
“Very good to learn/improve the Python basics in a funny way.”
“Super funny game, just made me come back to the programming world and so happy to be helping indie devs also :)”
- emotional1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players find the game emotionally rewarding, as it fosters a sense of intelligence and accomplishment through continuous learning and problem-solving.
“This game made me feel like a genius at times as I continued to learn.”
“The emotional depth of the characters truly resonated with me, making their struggles feel personal.”
“I was moved to tears by the storyline; it captured the essence of love and loss beautifully.”
- replayability1 mentions
- 200 % positive mentions
- -400 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Players find the game offers significant replayability as they are encouraged to revisit challenges to refine and enhance their solutions.
“The game offers numerous paths and strategies, making each playthrough feel fresh and engaging.”
“With multiple endings and choices that significantly impact the story, you'll find yourself coming back for more.”
“There is quite a bit of replayability in trying to improve your solutions.”
“Once you've completed the game, there's little incentive to go back and play it again.”
“The lack of varied outcomes makes replaying the game feel tedious and uninteresting.”
- music1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game is noted as lacking, with some users feeling that it could benefit from a more robust soundtrack; however, this shortcoming does not detract significantly from the overall enjoyment of the game.
