Yes, this is not the standard "force field" pairwise stuff you're used to when you heard "simulation" of biomolecular systems. I don't know if it's quite disingenuous, just not what we expect based on what the vast, vast majority of the field does! It does represent that many atoms. We shouldn't include atoms for the sake of having them, right? It should depend on what questions we're asking of the system.
I like seeing other (simulation or analytic) methods get attention. Lattice methods --(HP models[0], for hydrophobicity[1], lattice-boltzmann even. field theoretic (see polymer physics, melts, old theory[2], new theory, and even newer simulation[3]). Even the simplest shit like springs[4]!
[0] https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&h... [1] https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.11... [2]https://www.google.com/books/edition/Renormalization_Group_T... [3]The Equilibrium Theory of Inhomogeneous Polymers (International Series of Monographs on Physics) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0199673799/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_... (numerical scft) [4] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaussian_network_model