Cattle Country is a fun and engaging life simulation game set in the Wild West, which helps it stand out from other similar games like Stardew Valley while still keeping many of the same enjoyable features. Players get to start a new life in a small frontier town, where they can customize their character and build their own ranch. The game begins with a voiced introduction, which is a nice touch, though the rest of the game does not continue with full voice acting.
It’s not just a clone of Stardew Valley
The main gameplay revolves around different activities: farming, mining, fishing, hunting, crafting, and meeting a variety of characters. Farming includes preparing the soil, planting seeds, watering crops, and harvesting them. The game makes this process less tedious than in some other games by giving players plenty of stamina and tools that don’t wear out over time. Players can also raise animals like chickens, cows, sheep, bunnies, and pigs.
Mining in Cattle Country has a unique 2D side-scrolling style, similar to games like SteamWorld Dig or Terraria. Players dig downward, place ladders, and set up lights to explore deeper levels and find valuable resources and hidden treasures.
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Hunting lets players track wild animals such as deer, foxes, squirrels, vultures, and snakes, while also defending against bandits, adding some action and adventure to the experience. Fighting often involves quick-time events, but players can turn this off if they prefer a more relaxed playthrough.
Building relationships is an important part of the game, with 22 townspeople and 18 characters available for romance. Players can become friends or more by giving gifts and completing tasks for them. Progress is tied to improving skills and completing the Town Recognition checklist at the bank, which helps upgrade the town and unlock new features.
The game also includes fun festivals and mini-games, like the Spring Hoedown, Livestock Fair, and Rodeo. One feature that reminds me of Stardew Valley is that players automatically pass out at 2 AM if they stay up too late, waking up at the doctor’s office with a small fee of $100.
Return to the Wild West
In Cattle Country, players start a new life as a pioneer in the American West in the late 1800s. The game begins with a voiced introduction that feels nice and sets a good mood, but the voice acting does not continue for the rest of the game.
Players create their character and arrive in a small frontier town, where they first live in a tent on a messy piece of land. The mayor gives them basic tools and simple tasks to complete, such as meeting the 22 people who live in the town and doing basic farm work like growing crops and cooking.
The main goal is to turn the mining settlement into an official town, which is tracked by a Town Recognition checklist at the bank. Players move forward by improving their skills, finishing quests, and gathering resources to help upgrade and expand the town. The game does not always explain these goals clearly, making you look up guides online if you really can’t figure it out.
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Talking to people is a big part of the story, with many characters to meet, including 18 who can be romanced. Becoming friends with the townspeople by giving them gifts and doing quests for them is important to unlock their personal stories, more detailed conversations, and special rewards like new crafting items or shop discounts. While the everyday dialogue can get repetitive, special cutscenes for each character provide more interesting details about their lives and relationships.
Besides the usual peaceful farming activities, Cattle Country adds action and adventure to match its Wild West setting. Players run into bandits and dangerous animals, leading to shootouts or hunting moments.
These combat sections, which often use quick-time events, bring an unexpected twist to the normally calm farming genre, though players can turn off combat if they want a more relaxed experience. The story is decent but open-ended, letting players create their own pioneer adventure.
I had a fun time in cattle country despite some problems
Cattle Country has a fun Western style and mix of life simulation and adventure, but I did notice a few bugs and some issues. The map does not show where you are or when buildings were open, so you have to memorize schedules or walk around a lot to find people or know when stores were available. Along with the character walking very slowly, moving across the big map felt like it took too long.
Managing items was another problem. It is annoying to move things around and I was always running out of space, especially when mining, since important tools took up room that was needed for other things. Items like plants or mined materials would also vanish quickly if not picked up right away, making it easy to lose resources.
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The game also did not explain well how to move forward with the Town Recognition checklist or how to unlock basic things like building a barn. Talking to characters had some special scenes, but daily conversations often repeated, making it hard to feel connected to the townspeople.
Building relationships with them was also said to be slow or sometimes not work right. While fighting could be turned off, hunting was tough at first, and some mini-games felt like their timing was not quite right.
Still, the game is very fun and worth an 8 out of 10. You can get your copy on Steam or Nintendo.
