The Farmer Was Replaced is a satisfying way to learn a little programming with automation

Learning a little programming doesn't need to be boring, and The Farmer Was Replaced makes it quite fun actually with you coding a little farming drone. Note: the publisher sent GamingOnLinux a key.

It uses a Python-like language that carefully and slowly guides you through programming blocks of code, to get a drone to do its thing and build up a collection of resources for you. After you get enough resources, you can jump into a tech tree to unlock more of the game to do a little more in-depth programming and farming. In a way, it's also an idle game, because once you've got a good loop going you can sit back and watch the satisfying action of your code move your drone about to do its work.

Now, I'm no stranger to programming, this very site you're reading was coded by me, but it's also held together by hopes and dreams because I am a terrible programmer. So, games like this that helpfully introduce lots of programming elements in a fun way really are great. And, this might actually be one of the best I've played. I still feel like a complete dumdum going through it, but it gives an interesting challenge that tickles the mind a bit in a way that pushes you to want to actually program a little more and see what you can do.

What's really interesting here is the layout of the game. There's no levels to go through, it's all one self-contained ever-expanding plot of land that grows as you plant and harvest to unlock more of it.

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Something else that's interesting is that you can open multiple windows, to have an array of different code blocks. So you could set up an initial loop to get going, and get some resources, while you work on another better block to replace it later or to do something else entirely. Lots of nice ideas went into this one.

What's also really slick about it, is that the code blocks you create are actually stored directly on your system in .py files, so you can actually edit them outside of the game in your favourite editor too. On Linux with Proton, that would be somewhere like this:

steamapps/compatdata/2060160/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/LocalLow/TheFarmerWasReplaced/TheFarmerWasReplaced/Saves/Save0/

Wonderful idea, great presentation and really easy to get into. But, it won't hold your hand, you still have to figure out all the solutions entirely by yourself. It gives you the tools, and guides you a little on how to use them but the rest is up to you.