Are you of a similar vintage to me, where you can remember the old kid’s toys that you could slide little bits of plastic around in to make a picture? If so, there’s a new game that may well take you back to your childhood. If not, well, ask your parents.
The game in question is called Farm Sliders, and it comes from developers Ludomo and publishers 2Awesome Partners. So, let’s go down to the farm and go back in time, shall we?
Farm Slider is simplicity itself – you have a picture on the right hand side of the screen, a copy you can interact with on the left, and the idea is to make the two pictures look the same. The graphics are nice and jolly, if somewhat minimalist, and the farms depicted in the levels are nice to look at too.
The sound is also pretty good, with some lovely jolly, bouncy tunes to listen to as you attempt to solve the puzzles depicted on screen. What could be nicer than some laid back puzzling on a spring afternoon, eh? Well, apart from going fishing, of course!
On to the action of the game, if that isn’t over egging the pudding somewhat. You must know the type of toys I spoke of in my opener – they are usually in a square, with lots of tiles and a gap that allows certain tiles to be slid around to rearrange them. Imagine that toy, blown up onto your television, and the controller taking the place of your hands, and you’re about there with Farm Slider.
When we begin a level (and there are over forty to go at, so the longevity is pretty good too) we have a messed up pile of tiles on the left, and the goal on the right. We select a tile, one that is next to the empty space, and begin sliding, trying to make the two pictures match, and that is the long and the short of it in Farm Slider. World’s shortest review right there!
Of course, as you go through the levels, they do get harder and more complex, and the number of tiles in each puzzle also rises very quickly. Some of the hardest levels have holes in the middle, and while there are no camera controls to speak of, you can see pretty well what is going on. Being able to revolve the maps if needed would have been a nice touch, but the kind of top three quarter isometric viewpoint is perfectly adequate.
I’m really struggling to find the words to convey just how relaxing an experience Farm Slider is. There is no shooting, no swearing, no racing, no time limits – just you, a bunch of tiles to slide about, and a pretty picture of a farm to make. Some of the levels almost moved me to utter a few bad words (Level 39, I’m looking at you!) and I’m not ashamed to say I had to tag the wife in to help with a little bit of tile sliding puzzle solving. But in all, Farm Slider has been one of the nicest, cutest, most relaxing games I’ve played in a while.
If you too are tired of the constant fighting and stress in modern games, can I suggest that you take Farm Slider for a spin/slide. For the princely sum of £4.99, there is a good couple of hours of gameplay here. And the best bit? It doesn’t just throw achievements at you, you really have to work and actually finish the game to get all 1000G. This is a pleasant change from the rash of Ratalaika and Eastasiasoft games that I have seen recently.
However, one pet peeve is that, like many of these games which are basic in the extreme, Farm Slider is sold as an Xbox Series X|S Optimised game. Really? My phone could run this game with no sweat.Â
Farm Sliders is a simple game, with a simple premise, and simple presentation. And who’s to say that this isn’t what we need in our increasingly frenetic lives? For a quick pick up and play, five minute gaming session, it is hard to think of another game that would be as much fun, and quite so relaxing.
