Farming Simulator 25 finally figures out what the rest of us already knew: you gotta have some fishing in your farming game

A tractor driving across a bridge where a man is fishing — (Image credit: Giants Software)

Those pounding footsteps you hear approaching from the distance? That's Giants Software, makers of Farming Simulator 25. They're finally catching up with the rest of us.

Ask any virtual farmer what they like to do when they're not planting seeds or harvesting crops, and the answer is inevitably: "fishing." From Stardew Valley to Valheim and everything in between, there's a cardinal rule when it comes to videogames: if you can plant a crop, you can catch a fish. That's exactly how games should be.

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So at long last, Farming Simulator 25 is getting a fishing expansion, called Highlands Fishing. And since Farming Simulator gonna Farming Simulator, you will not be shocked to learn you won't just be catching fish, you'll be growing them from scratch on your farm. It's called aquaculture (apparently).

In a presentation leading up to Farm Con 25, the devs from Giants laid out the broad strokes of the expansion (starting at about 9:00 into this video). On a new map inspired by Scotland, you'll be able to build a farm complete with large tanks for raising baby fish en masse. Feed 'em with truckloads of whatever the hell it is fish eat, watch 'em grow, then transport them to the docks, load them into a boat, and release them into the ocean where they'll grow even larger.

As for catching those fish you probably spent a couple million dollars raising, there's two ways to do it: by boat, as you would in a commercial fishing operation, or with a rod and reel, if you want to relax and vibe with the Scottish scenery. That's the part I'm looking forward to.

It's not just fish in the expansion: there are also highland cattle. And onions. But c'mon, you think onions are gonna get me worked up? We're all here for the fish (except for Lauren).

Speaking of which, it's a little odd that neither the video nor the expansion's Steam page actually show anyone, y'know… fishing? That would seem like something you'd include in the lead up to your fishing expansion. There's a bit of artwork showing a guy casting a fishing line off a bridge, but I'm curious to see how it really works in-game.

Farming Simulator's Highlands Fishing expansion is coming in November. It costs $30, or $25 if you preorder.

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Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.

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