There is something deeply satisfying about building a farm from the ground up. Watching an empty field become productive farmland, reinvesting profits from one harvest into better machinery, and gradually transforming a modest operation into a thriving agricultural business are pleasures few simulation games manage to replicate. The Farming Simulator series has spent years perfecting that satisfying cycle, and Farming Simulator 25: Beans & Alpacas Edition offers a particularly compelling reason to return to the fields. By combining the main game with the Beans & Alpacas Expansion, GIANTS Software delivers an extensive farming package that takes its familiar agricultural foundations into a lush new South American setting.
This edition brings together four farming environments, more than 400 machines and implements, and equipment from over 150 authentic brands. That is an impressive amount of content before you even consider the expansion’s new crops, animals, production chains and community activities. The headline additions are coffee cultivation, banana plantations and the arrival of alpacas, which introduce fresh routines and new ways to make money from the land. Rather than simply adding another field crop and calling it a day, the expansion seeks to broaden the farming experience with systems that require planning, investment and a little patience.
The result is an appealing proposition for established fans and newcomers alike. Experienced farmers have another environment in which to build their agricultural empire, while those approaching the series for the first time receive a substantial package with plenty of room to experiment. There is still a considerable amount to learn, and the familiar cycle of planting, maintaining, harvesting and selling remains at the heart of the experience. However, Catuaí gives those routines a different character, and the new agricultural systems provide fresh reasons to keep working long after the first harvest.
Four Maps, Four Different Farming Experiences
One of this edition’s biggest strengths is the variety offered by its four environments. North America features winding rivers and historic grain elevators, while Central Europe frames farming operations with ponds and a distinctive landscape. East Asia introduces a lush environment of rice paddies, offering a change of scenery and agricultural focus. Then there is Catuaí, the new South American-inspired region introduced by Beans & Alpacas, where red soil, dense greenery, rolling hills and coffee plantations create a strikingly different backdrop for rural life.
Catuaí is particularly important because it feels designed around the expansion’s new systems rather than simply serving as another place to plant familiar crops. Inspired by regions of Brazil, its humid valleys and winding rivers help establish a strong sense of place, while narrow roads, dusty streets, scattered rocks and colourful buildings give the surrounding community a character of its own. Agricultural depots and local shops provide practical links to the wider farming operation, while the dense vegetation and uneven landscape help distinguish it from more conventional farmland. It is a welcome change of scenery for anyone who has spent countless hours working through familiar European and North American fields.
There is more to the map than its appearance, too. Players can discover dinosaur bones to display in the local museum, visit a remote research station hidden within the forest and undertake projects that contribute to the surrounding community. These activities give exploration a purpose beyond finding the quickest route between fields and processing facilities. They also help make Catuaí feel like a place with its own identity, rather than a collection of agricultural plots waiting to be developed.
The four maps offer considerable freedom, although their real value lies in how they encourage different approaches to farming. Players can settle into a familiar routine or use the new region as an opportunity to rethink how they manage their business. For those who enjoy the long-term satisfaction of developing a farm, having several environments to explore gives this edition substantial staying power.
Coffee: From Plantation to Production
Coffee is one of the expansion’s most significant additions, introducing a production chain that extends well beyond planting and harvesting. Players must establish coffee plantations, invest in specialised harvesting equipment, and move their produce through drying and roasting facilities. The resulting beans can then become a range of finished goods, including packed coffee, coffee capsules and coffee beverages, alongside products such as tiramisu and coffee yoghurt. This creates a satisfying link between growing crops and supplying a wider production network.
What makes this appealing is how it encourages players to think beyond the immediate harvest. Selling raw produce can be part of a successful operation, but processing crops into finished goods adds extra stages to manage and gives the farm a broader economic purpose. Players must consider the equipment they need, the facilities required, and how their production fits into the rest of the business. It adds another layer of planning to a series that has always been at its best when small decisions gradually develop into a larger operation.
Coffee also feels like a natural fit for Catuaí’s landscape. The new environment and its warmer agricultural identity help the crop feel part of the world rather than an unrelated addition. This relationship between location and farming activity is important, because the strongest expansions are those that make their new content feel as though it belongs. Coffee provides a clear reason to invest in the new map, and its multiple processing stages give players a worthwhile project to develop over time.
Naturally, more complicated production chains also mean more work. Players who prefer straightforward crop farming may find the extra equipment and processing requirements a little demanding, particularly when several parts of the operation need attention at once. However, for anyone who enjoys turning raw materials into a profitable network of finished products, coffee cultivation offers a substantial new avenue for experimentation.
Bananas Bring a Different Kind of Challenge
Bananas are another major addition, and their cultivation system gives players a different set of responsibilities. Rather than simply preparing a field and sowing a crop, players design plantation layouts via the construction menu, then connect transport rails to washing stations to create a functioning network. These components must be positioned and connected correctly, making the planning stage an important part of the process. It is a more involved approach to cultivation, asking players to consider the physical arrangement of their operation as well as the crop itself.
Harvesting also offers a choice between hands-on work with a machete and allowing hired workers to automate the process. That flexibility is welcome, as it lets players decide how directly they want to participate in the day-to-day running of their plantation. Some will enjoy managing the individual stages, while others will prefer to invest in automation and concentrate on the wider business. Either way, the system adds variety to the usual agricultural routine.
Once harvested, bananas can enter further production chains, becoming products such as banana milk, chips, jam and cake. As with coffee, this creates a reason to develop facilities and think carefully about how crops move from the plantation to their eventual destination. The appeal comes from watching a carefully planned operation become productive, particularly when several stages work together to turn a harvest into something more valuable.
The downside is that this additional complexity may intimidate newcomers. Planning rail connections and washing stations requires more thought than simply preparing a conventional field, and mistakes in the layout can make the initial setup feel labourious. Yet this is also what gives banana cultivation its personality. It is not just another crop to add to the rotation, but a small agricultural project in its own right.
Alpacas Steal the Show
For many players, the arrival of alpacas may be the expansion’s most immediately charming feature. Farming simulations already offer plenty of opportunities to cultivate crops and operate machinery, but animal husbandry provides a more personal connection to the farm. Alpacas bring that relationship to life through additional care routines, including taking them for walks to improve their happiness and shearing them once a year in spring. These activities introduce a gentler rhythm alongside the more industrial aspects of running a successful agricultural business.
Shearing can be handled manually or entrusted to hired workers, allowing players to choose between direct involvement and a more hands-off approach. The resulting fleece can be sold or processed into wool and a range of finished goods, including socks, pillows, furniture and alpaca plush toys. It is a charming progression from caring for the animals to turning their produce into items that contribute to the farm’s income. The plush toys are a particularly delightful touch, giving the production system a little personality amid all the machinery and financial planning.
The addition of Brahman cattle further broadens the livestock selection, while wildlife such as parrots and non-biting caimans helps bring the South American environment to life. These details contribute to a more distinctive setting, making the landscape feel inhabited rather than existing solely for agricultural work. The alpacas are undoubtedly the headline attraction, but they benefit from being part of a wider environment that supports the expansion’s warmer, more varied identity.
There is a pleasing contrast between these animal care activities and the more technical side of coffee and banana production. One moment you might be planning a plantation network or checking your machinery, and the next you are taking alpacas for a walk or preparing their fleece for processing. That variety helps the expansion avoid becoming entirely focused on production efficiency. It gives players more than one way to enjoy their time on the farm, which is precisely what a substantial farming package should aim to achieve.
Machinery, Construction and Community Projects
No Farming Simulator release would feel complete without a generous collection of machinery, and Beans & Alpacas adds more than 25 machines and implements. The new equipment comes from familiar agricultural manufacturers, including Case IH, John Deere, New Holland, KUHN, Oxbo, Stara and Valtra, alongside Mercedes-Benz Trucks and Ford. Colombo Industries and Southern Spreaders also make their debut in the series, expanding the range of brands represented in the game.
For enthusiasts who appreciate agricultural machinery, this remains one of the franchise’s biggest attractions. Selecting the right equipment for a particular task is part of the satisfaction, and specialist machines help make the new crops feel distinct from the existing farming systems. The expansion also builds on the game’s presentation with enhanced ground-working animations and improved visual effects, adding detail to the process of operating equipment. These refinements are welcome because the machinery is not simply a means to an end; for many players, it is one of the main reasons to spend time in the game.
Beyond the farm itself, community projects provide additional objectives. Players can take on new construction work and use materials such as pigments and resin to repaint houses for the local community. These tasks give the region a purpose beyond producing and selling agricultural goods, connecting the player’s business to the surrounding town. Combined with the museum discoveries and research station, they create a broader sense of participation in Catuaí’s development.
There is a lot to manage here, and the volume of equipment, production stages and optional activities can make the experience feel daunting at times. Menu navigation and supply management may also require patience as operations grow, while newcomers will need time to understand how the different systems fit together. Nevertheless, this complexity is part of what gives Farming Simulator 25 its lasting appeal. It is a game about building something gradually, and the expansion provides plenty of projects worth building towards.
Final Verdict
Farming Simulator 25: Beans & Alpacas Edition is a substantial and appealing package that gives GIANTS Software’s agricultural simulator a welcome new direction. Catuaí offers a distinctive South American-inspired setting, while coffee and bananas introduce production systems that require more planning than conventional crop cultivation. The arrival of alpacas brings charm and additional livestock management, and the new machinery, community projects and discoveries help make the expansion feel broader than a simple collection of extra crops.
Its greatest strength is the variety of ways it allows players to approach farm life. You can focus on cultivating coffee, build an intricate banana plantation, develop a livestock operation or work towards a more ambitious network of production facilities. The different activities complement one another, giving players the freedom to build a farm around their own interests rather than following a single prescribed route. The four environments also provide plenty of scope for long-term projects, particularly for those who enjoy gradually turning a modest operation into a thriving business.
The complexity will not appeal to everyone. Banana plantation layouts demand careful planning, and the expanded production chains add more management responsibilities that may feel overwhelming to beginners. Those looking for a quick, uncomplicated farming experience may prefer to start with the basics before tackling everything the edition offers. Yet the depth is also its greatest selling point, rewarding players who enjoy planning, experimentation and the steady satisfaction of seeing their efforts pay off.
For returning farmers, this edition offers an enticing reason to head back into the fields, while newcomers receive a generous introduction to a series built around patience and progression. The alpacas bring a welcome dose of personality, the coffee and banana systems add meaningful agricultural variety, and Catuaí gives the whole package a fresh sense of place. Farming has rarely looked quite so inviting.
