Lawn Mowing Simulator 2 Review Summary

Relaxing mowing and striping with enhanced grass visuals satisfy, but frequent glitches, stuttering, poor mower handling, and an unfinished feel drag it down.

Satisfying mowing and striping: The core gameplay of mowing and trimming is satisfying, with visible cut lines and striping adding to the enjoyment. The ability to see missed grass and the realistic results are appreciated.

Relaxing and stress-free gameplay: A recurring theme is that the game provides a relaxing, chill experience perfect for unwinding after a stressful day. It avoids competitive or intensive elements.

Enhanced grass visuals and physics: Many players praise the new grass textures, physics, and realism, noting it looks fantastic and almost smellable. The improvement over the first game's grass is frequently highlighted.

Fun and enjoyable experience: Players find the game very fun and a good time overall. It is enjoyable and has a lot of potential for future updates.

Improvement over first game: Multiple reviewers note that the sequel is an improvement over the original, with better mechanics, more content, and enhanced overall experience. It is less boring and clearly more extensive.

Frequent glitches and stuttering: Players encounter frequent stutters, frame drops, and other glitches during gameplay. These performance issues detract from the overall experience.

Mower handling issues: Mowers are difficult to control, especially on hills, and tend to drag to the left. Turning is nearly impossible on inclines, and the mowers feel clunky.

Game feels unfinished and buggy: Players describe the game as feeling like an early access title rather than a full release, with too many bugs and a lack of polish. Some feel it was released before being fully fixed.

Blocking progression purchase bug: Players report being unable to buy a blower or trimmer after the first contract, as all items remain locked. This prevents progression to the second contract and can render the game unplayable.

Black screen after character creation: Multiple players experience a black screen freeze after completing character creation or customizing their character. This occurs consistently and blocks access to the main game.

Business and company management: Players grow a lawn care business by hiring NPC employees, purchasing better equipment, and managing contracts. The system includes a money loop, repair costs, and progression through unlocking new locations.

Varied yard maintenance tools: Beyond mowing, players use leaf blowers, rakes, string trimmers, and edgers to clear debris and complete tasks. These tools add variety and strategic depth to the core mowing loop.

Core lawn mowing gameplay: The game centers on operating mowers to cut grass, with grass collectors filling up during mowing and visible cut lines. Players drive around objects and manage mowing tasks as the primary activity.

Mower physics and collisions: Mowers interact with terrain, inclines, and obstacles through collision physics, including flipping mechanics and hitbox glitches. Maneuvering around corners and hills requires careful control.

Contract and mission structure: Contracts are tasks that players can undertake, with requirements, time progression, and payout mechanics. Missions take place in small areas and can be toggled, often involving grass-cutting objectives and debris pickup.

Frequent stuttering and frame drops: Many players report frequent glitches, stutters, and frame drops even on high-end hardware. These issues occur during gameplay and are not resolved by lowering graphics settings or enabling DLSS.

Black screen issues on startup: Players experience black screens for a few seconds that resemble display disconnections, regardless of settings. Some also encounter persistent black screens after character creation, preventing gameplay.

Performance inconsistent across hardware: Some players enjoy smooth performance with no issues, while others with mid-range systems experience low FPS and poor scalability. FPS often drops on larger maps or when looking at certain scenes.

Severe crashes and freezes: Some players report game crashes that reboot the entire PC or system freezes requiring a full restart. Others encounter infinite load screens after the business creation menu.

Missing essential graphics options: Players note the lack of FPS limits, VSync, and limited PC-specific settings, which are needed to mitigate stuttering and screen tearing. Graphics options are described as console-like.

Wait Before Buying: Multiple reviewers advise holding off on purchasing until developers patch and fix the game. Suggested wait times range from a few months to waiting for a sale around $15.

Not Worth Current Price: Several reviewers state the game is not worth its current price and recommend buying only on a decent sale. Some say it lacks value for money in its current state.

Enjoyable Despite Flaws: Some reviewers find the game fun and enjoyable despite its imperfections. They consider it not perfect but still worth playing.

Early Access Feel: Reviewers feel the game is like an Early Access title due to its current state. They note many small annoying issues that detract from the experience.

Relaxing Lawn Mowing Game: Reviewers recommend it for players interested in a lawn mowing video game and for those seeking a relaxing experience without zombies or floods.

Community fair range: $10.00 - $20.00.

Players who enjoy the mowing and management loop report fun from the start, with satisfying missions and immediate improvements over the first game. Friction around tutorial clarity, control feel, hidden progression math, and repetition is noted, but the strongest reports describe early enjoyment rather than a delayed payoff.

Friction: Tutorial aspects are not explained well or presented early enough; Maneuvering the mower is tedious on simple corners and near bushes; Progression and payout math are hidden or unclear; Not enough content before repetition sets in; Controls feel off without a controller.

Unlock drivers: Using a controller makes the game work well and feel addicting; Completing the tutorial allows players to reach the mowing they enjoy; Turning off unwanted contract parts lets players focus on preferred activities; Improvements over the first game make it less boring and more intuitive.

Completionist Achiever: Methodical, checklist-driven completion of all objectives and collectibles. Motivation: Completing every objective and unlocking achievements. Stance: sale.

Relaxed Casual Mower: Casual, easygoing play focused on relaxing tasks and visual improvement. Motivation: Unwinding with low-stress, non-competitive gameplay. Stance: buy.

Sequel Veteran Comparator: Plays the sequel with prior knowledge, compares feature sets, and notices missing mechanics. Motivation: Continuing the series and seeing improvements while expecting returning features. Stance: sale.

Across the provided Windows VRAM cohorts, reports are predominantly negative: many users describe stuttering, low frame rates, black screens, freezes, and poor optimization, with only isolated reports of smooth performance.

Windows 12-15GB VRAM: negative. Most reports describe poor optimization, stuttering, frame drops, low FPS, black screens, and screen tearing, though a few users report smooth play.

Windows 8-11GB VRAM: negative. Reports are mostly problematic, including a black-screen hang after character creation and performance/access complaints, with only one positive note about little to no stuttering.

Windows 16GB+ VRAM: negative. High-VRAM users still report menu freezes and poor hardware scaling, despite one user saying the game runs very well without performance issues.

Steam Deck: The dataset shows the game launching and running stably with controller support out of the box: reviewers report working Xbox controller input, no stutter, and no crashes, with no mention of Proton toggles, external launchers, or anti-cheat blockers. The friction is confined to usability complaints, namely inconsistent menu navigation (sometimes holding a button, sometimes a simple press), frustrating vehicle controls, and limited hardware scalability with below-average visuals at maximum settings. No hard technical barriers were reported, so the experience is largely playable on a controller-based device with minor friction points.

Improved over first game: Many reviewers say the game improves on the original with better graphics and more refined business mechanics. They note it is a solid sequel overall.

Developer support and updates: Reviewers have faith that developers will address shortcomings through regular updates and future content. The developers have a good track record of expanding their games post-release.

Missing content and features: Players report fewer features and equipment compared to the first game, including missing grass collectors and employee leveling. The game feels less polished and content-light.

Broken and unpolished launch: Reviewers describe the retail release as broken and copy-pasted, with many small issues making it feel unfinished. A large update is needed for fixes.

Graphics and trailers mismatch: Developer trailers show high-fidelity volumetric grass and smooth clearances not present in retail code. The actual lawn appearance is hard to match due to physics issues.