SnowRunner Season 8: Grand Harvest review

Sponsored

SnowRunner meets Clarkson’s Farm in my Season 8: Grand Harvest review. Here is whether the last of the Year 2 Pass is worth the money.

After getting the one-map Season 7: Compete & Conquer update after a glacially slow wait, it felt like developer Saber Interactive did not really want to compete and conquer our playtime. The map itself was good – there was just not enough meat on the bone and the racing element was too Forza for many.

To be fair, this had not been the best time for game development. Many countries had only recently come to terms with an annoying virus that, like Voldemort, shall not be named.

Then there has been conflict, recession, inflation, rising energy costs, fuel hikes and a whole lot more not-so-cheery stuff, to put it lightly. The fact Saber Interactive had to move offices did not help either.

As a result, the fate of the Year 2 Pass finale rested on the shoulders of Season 8: Grand Harvest. Like Atlas holding up the globe. Except if Atlas was a tractor and the globe was a potato. Or something.

Concerns faded fast however as more information emerged and the build eventually showed up on the Public Test Server (PTS). Four maps as big as the ones in Amur, farming, new trucks that were not scouts, potatoes – it all sounded like trucking-based DLC heaven.

And the reality is that when the Season 8: Grand Harvest release date of the 13^th of October arrived, bringing with it two Kirovets tractors and a Tayga King wannabe, most of us were only too happy to put on our farmer overalls, make a pack lunch and head out the door before sunrise.

Keen to explore the mountain-less countryside of Crossroads, The Institute, Heartlands and quote on quote “HarvestCorp”, based in the Belozersk Glades of Central Asia.

Please note: This is the script from my YouTube video, click play above to watch or go here.

Season 8: Grand Harvest review – FarmRunner?

The premise of Season 8: Grand Harvest is split into three distinct categories. “HarvestCorp”, where the majority of the 107 Season 8 tasks come from, involves farming. Minus the Lamborghini tractor. This is done by cultivating, planting and harvesting a big yellow-lined rectangle of soil.

Using the Cultivator, Multi-Row Planter and Harvester trailers boils down to driving up and down a field in either a really old or really new tractor. Both with the turning circle of a cruise liner.

Waiting for the per cent counter to reach 100 is hardly going to make your heart explode through sheer excitement, but the process does involve a level of careful driving and the tractors are mostly satisfying to drive.

By the end, you are rewarded with potatoes that you can deliver to nearby farms. Or slather on some salt and pepper, spices and enjoy them in A Tribe Called Carbs style.

Suffice to say, SnowRunner farming is not as in-depth as in Farming Simulator 22 or real life. But then Runner of Snow’s interpretation looks far better and that surface deformation wins on the realism front. Churning soil has never looked so good.

Perhaps it is a shot across the bow from the juggernaut vessel that is Saber Interactive’s owner, the Embracer Group. Or maybe the developers thought farming was a good fit. Either way, the task starts off fun but by the end you never want to see another potato again.

Admittedly, the repetition feels like an overestimation on the developer’s part of how much fun it is to plough a field, repeatedly, as opposed to a cheap way to extend longevity. Because if there is one thing Season 8: Grand Harvest is not lacking in, it is content. And potatoes.

Potato dreams

Then there is the second pillar of challenge, which comes in the form of the Kolari Group. Here SnowRunner takes a nod to its eco-awareness as you are tasked with cleaning up chemical accidents, taking out the rubbish and a field study among other things.

As you would expect from the Death Stranding of the driving game genre, most of these tasks involve you going from A to B, picking things up and delivering them elsewhere. Seeing as that is partly what makes SnowRunner so enjoyable, it is not a problem.

The third and final pillar of Season 8: Grand Harvest comes in the form of Sunsails Technologies. It is here you get to help return power to the Belozersk Glades by delivering logs, solar panels, medium planks and, best of all, wind turbine blades.

There are three of them of differing sizes, all suitably gigantic and therefore a fun and somewhat cerebral challenge to deliver. Because some routes will not be friendly to a never-ending piece of metal, fibreglass and plastic.

A combination of the seemingly flat yet mogul-packed maps filled with deep mud and forest if you venture too off the beaten track, plus unwieldy cargo and a big engine doing its thing, really is peak SnowRunner.

While there is a lack of notable points of interest in the Glades, unlike Season 6: Haul & Hustle in Maine, the sunsets and sunrises cast a likeable golden glow over a cohesive and forgiving set of environments. Each one distinct.

The good life

Players who have seen SnowRunner at its toughest in Lake Kovd, Imandra and, most challenging of all, Amur, will find the more relaxed pace as welcome as mince pies at Christmas. Or news of a second series of Clarkson’s Farm.

Don’t get me wrong, Season 8 can and will provide challenge in abundance – particularly if you stick to vanilla trucks. It is just that the good routes are particularly friendly, allowing you the chance to use vehicles that would otherwise crash and burn.

This is a big part of why this particular DLC is a winner. You can be a little more creative in your approach to each task, as opposed to wheeling out the usual suspects.

Tractor time

It helps, too, that the three trucks you get to rescue – the Kirovets K-700, Kirovets K-7M and Step 39331 “Pike” (check out my unlock guides for all) – are actually useful and can serve a purpose elsewhere. Usually as burly wannabe Caterpillar 745C refuel and rescue monsters.

Though the Step 39331 “Pike” is not the best truck in SnowRunner, it is top tier. As a result, there is much incentive to use what Season 8 gives you, enhancing the value.

And that is what it all boils down to, isn’t it? The four-map DLCs tend to be pricier but as with Amur, the amount of hours of content you get makes it a veritable bargain and it is only near the end that repition truly kicks in.

Even some task structure and cargo confusion and a few other foibles do not sour the experience too much, especially as it usually takes about five seconds to research the issue on Reddit or the official Discord. Or my own Discord.

I still wish your delivery successes had a greater impact on the world and maybe there should have been more variety in the farming element. Early on, multiple crop types were discussed but never made the cut.

Even so, those who enjoy the core gameplay of SnowRunner will find Season 8 offers more of it in a pleasingly paced and potato-based package. And here ends my Season 8: Grand Harvest review.