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0 Howdy pardner! Ready to put on your boots and step into a new life of farmin’ and adventure? Get ready for the Wild West with Cattle Country! Developed by Castle Pixel and published by Playtonic Friends, this cowboy themed farming sim just rode its way onto Steam, Switch, Xbox Series X|S and PS5! For today’s review I’ll be playing the PC version.
Yeehaw!
Aight, listen up. I love me some farming sims, and could play them all day, every day. A lot of recent releases have been rather hit or miss for me, but this one I really enjoy playing. Sure, there are some minor flaws and issues, but most are already being worked on and, let’s be real, which game doesn’t have a few of those? Enough negativity for now! The game has so many areas in which it absolutely shines, and I can’t wait to get into them!
Do you have any farming sims that you’d recommend? Let me know down in the comments! I am always on the lookout for some cosy games to play.
Gameplay
Generally speaking, Cattle Country plays like your typical ol’ farming sim, but with a neat Wild West twist! Of course, you still have your basic tasks and mechanics, such as planting crops, raising animals, and even mining, foraging and fishing. The other folks living in town are genuinely nice and building friendships with them is actually quite an important part of the game, but more on that later.
What really makes it stand out is its setting. It’s more than animals, crops, and the likes. You’re not just farming — you get a gun. It’s the Wild West after all, who doesn’t have one? You can use it to hunt animals for their meat and pelt (don’t worry, it is optional), or to defend yourself if a bandit chooses to make the mistake to ambush you.
Throughout the year, your town will host various unique events. You’ve got your standard seasonal event like “Fallfest”, but also a Lifestock Fair or even a Rodeo! The events are filled with fun little minigames, special vendors who sell you fitting goods or foods, and some even sell special cattle for your farm! But can a settlement that small really be considered a town?
The Town
The main goal in Cattle Country is to grow and improve your little mining settlement and help it get recognized as a proper town. In order to do this, the game hands you a list of specific tasks that need to be fulfilled. For example, improving the infrastructure by building better roads, constructing a water tower to protect the town from harsh droughts, expanding upon already existing businesses like the saloon, and more! It’s all fine and dandy. I love me a game that gives me tasks to check off with a clear idea of what needs to be done.
However.
The game itself doesn’t actually tell you how to achieve pretty much any of these goals. At all. Which is quite a bit of a pain, and a bit of guidance would be of massive help. The developers did make a Steam guide that basically acts like a mini wiki, explaining what is needed for the checklist and also listing helpful information like NPC routines, heart event locations, and crafting recipes. All this is nice and all, but what about people who don’t check Steam guides? What about console players? It would be beneficial if there was at least a short line about this in-game.
Either way. Once you know what the requirements to unlock the projects are, it does make sense. For some of them you will need to raise your skill levels, for others you have to raise your friendship stats with certain villagers. For example, you need to become friends with Carrie, the saloon owner, to upgrade the saloon. Once you reach the requirement, the game allows you to donate items and money towards the project in the bank. See? Told ya’ friendships will be important!
Interactions & Exploration
Apart from just helping you with your Town Recognition, making friends with the townsfolk will also unlock new crafting and cooking recipes! I love that idea. Unlocking some neat decorations that fit the vibe of your friend is a really cute touch. You also start out knowing everyone’s liked and disliked gifts, which makes you wonder just how you learned all of that. Regardless, it is a massive help when choosing the right gifts and takes out the annoying trial and error of guessing what someone may like.
You can also donate items to the town hall, kind of like a museum. Though the game does not make it very clear which items are eligible for donation and which ones aren’t. I did ask the developers in the Steam discussions, and they have confirmed that, in a future update, there will be a checklist for all the items that you can donate!
While the game does not set itself apart from other farming games in its core mechanics, it is still a very enjoyable experience. One thing it does do differently though is mining. When you enter the mine, the game switches to a cool 2D perspective. You can literally mine every single piece of rock around you, or just do it like I did and dig down in one straight line to get to the better ores hidden in the lower levels of the mine. While you will need a lot of ores throughout the game, it still does not feel very tedious to farm for them. Generally, things don’t feel too grindy or annoying to get.
Graphics & Audio
Cattle Country quickly reels you in with its adorable pixel art style and charming, very smol characters, which make the game stand out from other pixel farming sims. I am also a big fan of the cute character portraits that pop up when you talk to people. They give you a much better look at the townsfolk and add a small touch of personality to everyone, plus, they are mostly very pretty. The world itself looks absolutely lovely, with great-looking environments, items, and buildings! The weather also affects the game’s appearance, giving a fittingly muted look to the game. In the morning, you sometimes get to see a beautiful sunset when waking up on your farm, though it can be rather blinding at times.
The game’s music is wonderfully country-sounding, perfectly fitting the theme. It is nice and calming to have in the background without ever getting too distracting. Another cool thing is that there are breaks in between music tracks. When it’s nice and quiet, you can hear the crickets, cicadas, and bugs buzzing around, and the gentle breeze of the wind. The sound effects are also top-tier. Your tools make a very satisfying “woosh” sound when you swing them. The items in the inventory play a satisfying clacking noise when you cycle through them. Walking through grass and crops creates a rustling sound. There are just so many neat details to it. It all feels incredibly fitting and adds a lot to the experience.
Longevity
Like most games in its genre, Cattle Country offers a very open-ended experience, giving you basically infinite playtime. If you are aiming to complete the main story, and get your settlement to town status, it will absolutely take you a good chunk of hours. I am currently in the winter of my first in-game year, and I have only managed to check a single thing off of the list so far. So, whether you are just looking to chill on your farm or you want to complete the story, I am sure that the game will keep you busy for a good while either way.
Final Thoughts
While Cattle Country was a bit buggy upon my initial playthrough, most issues have been fixed as I am writing this review. Only some minor, non-game-breaking ones remain. Despite the issues, it has been a truly fun experience to play this game and I have found something to do every single day. I genuinely love this game. I’m nearly a full in-game year in and it has been an absolute blast. The gameplay loop is fun, the characters are so lovable, and it feels nice to befriend them. It really pains me to deduct points, but I unfortunately have to as the biggest issue this game has, is quite a big access issue. It’s really hard to figure out how to complete the game’s main objectives without looking it up on Steam. For example, implementing a hint system that could give you a pointer on how you can achieve a certain goal for the Town Recognition checklist, would be lovely. Unfortunately, that is lacking and since the quest UI is such a major part of the game, it does tank the ranking a bit.
On a very positive note, the developers are incredibly active in the Steam discussions, taking bug reports and feedback and answering questions. It is a rare and impressive sight to see.
I’d say if they were to make that one change to the quest logs, we would be more than good. Golden even.
However, cautiously for now, I am giving Cattle Country the Thumb Culture Silver Award.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
If you enjoyed this review, why not check out my previous article about the visual novel Best Served Cold here!
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