Ancient Farm

Farm like an Egyptian. 

I have always been drawn to ancient Egyptian settings. I marveled at their ingenuity and have often wondered how their day-to-day farming homesteads may have functioned before the invention of modern tools. When I first heard of Ancient Farm and how it was predominantly focused on those aspects, I was instantly intrigued. After diving in, I was rewarded with an interesting experience guided by an authentic historical feel. Let's chat about it.

The game opens on the banks of a rich river serenely running through a barren plot of land baking under a high sun. Yes, it is barren, but you can tell it's full of potential in the forms of rough grasses, groups of desert-hardy trees, and scattered rock formations, no doubt full of useful minerals, and a merchant ship settled at the dock. The atmosphere is indeed very solitary, but peaceful, and the soft music promises to guide you gently through the entire experience.

You start your journey standing near the side of the river and with nothing to your name, except a little money. The game wastes no time in offering a guided tutorial that will teach you how to utilize hand made tools and navigate 3 unique sun dominated seasons. You start by gathering resources by hand and crafting the tools needed to get each task done. These manual jobs include watering, planting, harvesting, and much more that is revealed as you progress through tasks. At the start of each of the seasons, a merchant ship docks at the shore for a few days. This is where you will sell crops, various resources you collect, and even purchase a plethora of different seeds, animals, and even building plans that begin more complicated techniques and systems.

The challenge of Ancient Farm comes from strategic planning and planting of your crops around the 3 sun seasons. You will need to pay close attention to each crop’s needs in order to gain the most potential out of each seed. Some have small growth windows, which have a little more leeway in case you get too busy to plant them right away, while others may take nearly a whole season to grow a bountiful harvest and need more focus. Most of the plants wither and die during the hottest season (Shemu), and during that period, I found myself storing and utilizing harvests in recipes to sell when the merchant ship arrived.

But don't forget, while you are tending your field, there are also the animals to care for and each comes with different care instructions and pen/building types. You purchase the animals in their infant stage from the merchant ship. Then you will be tasked with building their pens, maintaining their food, water, and in the case of the powerful ox, their stamina levels. However, try not to get overwhelmed by all of this. As long as you can develop a “to-do list” mindset, it is easy to settle into a farming rhythm that will make handling the homestead a breeze and even add new plants and animals into the mix with hardly a change in habits.

Now let's get into the nitty-gritty of this gorgeously animated game. The performance and technical aspects of Ancient Farm. The graphics are quite sharp and wonderfully animated, offering smooth frames when moving around the farm regardless of how populated it becomes. There were very few pop-ins, and I only experienced graphical “chugging” if I chose to run from one end of the farm to the other. The only system annoyance I suffered was trying to purchase from the merchant and having to back out of the shop and re-enter multiple times to get my double clicks to register on my choices. While these few tech and graphical hiccups could be a little frustrating, the developers have been quite active with patches and updates, listening intently to reports and suggestions by the community of players. The game itself already looks impressive, and having such an active development team is the icing on the cake.

The big drawbacks of Ancient Farm, unfortunately, according to many of the players and things I've noticed myself, comes from the content of the game as a whole. The game is gorgeous, operates smoothly, and is such a peaceful, solitary experience wrapped up in a semi-educational package. However, that is apparently all there is. At least so far. The farming loop you settle into can become monotonous, and only having one instrumental track adds to this unfortunate factor. Where you were once peacefully settling into a solitary experience, it comes to a point where you will hit a wall of engaging moments and can quickly become bored. The design and appeal to a niche corner of the farming sim fandom becomes a double edged sword that seems to limit the overall growth and potential of the game.

While I was drawn in by the peaceful/educational premise of Ancient Farm, the pinnacle of what can be experienced and subsequently enjoyed is too quickly achieved. In the face of this, though, the developers do give me hope with their active hands on approach, and perhaps in the future, could add more to the game. Until then, I will play Ancient Farm as a way to relax for a bit after a stressful day, taking in captivating Egyptian scenery.

Developer - A2 Softworks. Publisher - Ultimate Games S.A. Released - January 8th, 2026. Available On - PC. Rated - (N/A) No descriptor. Platform Reviewed - PC - Steam. Review Access - A review code for the game was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.