I somehow enjoy a game based on a task I hate.

Normally, I would be dreading the day I have to cut the grass. It’s always hot, I never have gas for the mower, it takes forever, and it’s just a chore that I could do without. Now, if you said I could mow my lawn in the comfort of my home, complete with air conditioning and run a landscaping business, I may get on board with that. In fact, in Lawn Mowing Simulator, that’s exactly what I did, and you know what? I had a nice, relaxing time with it.

Lawn Mowing Simulator is exactly that, but with a few extra bells and whistles. Players start up a new landscaping business starting off with a single mower and one employee – themselves. They take on contracts and mow different areas to earn more money to afford better mowers, hire employees, and purchase a bigger building to house all these new mowers. That’s the main gist of the game. What the player will be spending the most time with is on the mowers doing the hard labor.

Platforms: PC, XSX/XSS
MSRP: $29.99
Price I’d pay: $29.99

While this is a business sim at heart, what the developers focused on the most is the actual cutting of the grass. I would have a specific height to cut the grass, make sure to not cut flowers or hit any structures in the area, and be careful taking turns as to not leave any tread marks on the lawn. Before cutting, I could go through the area and collect any objects that I may hit along the way. That would also give me a nice cash bonus. Most clients would require at least 99.5% of the grass cut to the right height which was usually not too bad. Occasionally, I would finish with the majority of the lawn only to be at 99.4% and would have to search for a spot I may have missed. Luckily, I could hold down on the analog stick and tall grass would be highlighted so I would be mowing forever trying to find that little patch. Of course, every mistake I did do ended up with money penalties, but it was never too bad. I would rack up eight pounds of damage on a 560 pound project. No skin off my back.

Back at the headquarters, I could maintain my mowers using the money I earned, purchase new mowers, swap parts from one mower to the next, hire new employees that came with their own weekly salary, but could send them on contracts that would bring in even more money, purchase bigger headquarters that would house more mowers, or take out a loan that I could use to expand the business even more, but keep in mind, the bank will come down on players hard after the first week. Make sure you have enough capital before taking out a loan. It’s easy to go bankrupt if one is not careful. While the business sim portion of the game is fine, its not a very big part of the entire experience. There isn’t a lot of aspects to look at here. The main draw is the mowing itself.

Controlling the mowers is simple enough. Some have slightly different feels to them, but all play the same way. Taking on jobs was never overly difficult and sometimes mowing an area with a lot of obstacles provided a nice personal challenge for me that kept me on my toes. I know this sounds strange to say in a game where I was riding a lawn mower, but I always had a decent time with it.

Players will unlock challenges they can take on in the menus. These can be finishing a job with only a limited amount of fuel or in a certain time limit. They add a little bit more to the game, but in the end, the thing that kept me coming back was the satisfying feeling I got just going through a contract and making sure I hit all the lines and getting the perfect cut.

It’s a hard one to describe, but I fell in love with the relaxed feel of this game. Sure, the business side of the game wasn’t the deepest and really all you’re doing is going back and forth on a lawn mower, but I would be lying if I did have a good time with the game and to the point of writing this review, have put over 20 hours into it. If you’re looking for a chill game to throw some music or a podcast on and just ride, you really can’t beat this game. It’s not going to throw some hard curveball at you. Sometimes, that exactly what you need. You may find yourself like me and have a nice, relaxing time with it.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.