Developer: Castle Pixel LLC
Publisher: Playtonic Friends
Platform: Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC
Tested on: Switch
Cattle Country – Review
When it comes to farming sims, there are hundreds of titles to choose from, but the vast majority stick to the same old formula that made games like Harvest Moon and Story of Seasons so popular. Even the addition of dinosaurs or cramming your farm in a Polly Pocket style toy doesn’t change the fact that, at the end of the day, you’re still essentially playing a similar game. Occasionally, a game does break away from the formula while staying true to the essence of the genre. A great example of this is Stardew Valley, which took the core farming sim gameplay and turned it into a life sim. Another is Sakuna, which blended farming with platforming. And now, there’s Cattle Country, a game that tries to build on Stardew Valley’s success story by adding cowboys into the mix.
Story
After creating your very own character, an opening scene sees you aboard a wagon travelling to a small town on the American frontier in the 1890s. As you are riding, you’re reading a letter from a friend, who is giving you words of encouragement about starting a new life. Upon arriving in the town, which you get to name yourself, the Mayor escorts you to a small patch of overgrown land. You set up your tent, and you are ready to start your new life in the Wild West. As far as premises go, Cattle Country’s narrative is serviceable but not exactly original. It’s just another variation on the standard farming sim story, except this time there isn’t a dead relative involved and you’re starting from a tent instead of a derelict farmhouse. While there are cute stories to be found as the game unfolds, the initial setup is perhaps Cattle Country’s weakest element.
Graphics
We’ll be mentioning Stardew Valley quite a few times throughout this review, as it’s very clear that that game was an inspiration for Cattle Country. This is something that bleeds through in the visual design, as Cattle Country’s pixel art is very similar in aesthetic. That’s not a complaint, mind you. In fact, we’re happy that Cattle Country wears its inspiration on its sleeve. The game looks absolutely beautiful, despite the simplicity of the visuals. The colors pop, and the character portraits have real personality to them. The game’s interface is easy to read at a glance too, and the performance was as smooth as the freshly churned butter you’ll be making on your farm.
Sound
The vast majority of Cattle Country’s soundscape comprises ambient sound effects. While these are great, we couldn’t help but notice that in-game music felt underutilized. When there is music playing, you’ll hear instruments that you’d associate with the setting, like banjos and pianos. We do feel like Cattle Country would have benefited from a more “cinematic” soundtrack, especially during action scenes. There is also limited voice acting present in the game, although there is nothing special or standout about the performances.
Gameplay
If you’ve ever played a farming sim before, then the opening stages of Cattle Country will feel very familiar. The core formula remains virtually untouched. You start out from humble beginnings and with limited resources, including basic farming equipment and a handful of seeds. You tend to the soil, plant those seeds, water them, and soon enough, you’ll have some crops. Your harvest can be sold, and earnings can be reinvested, allowing you to get different varieties of seeds and improved tools. Soon enough, you’ll move on from just farming, expanding your entrepreneurial activities through fishing, item crafting, and mining, the latter of which turns the game into a 2D side-scrolling puzzle of sorts. However, Cattle Country’s gameplay doesn’t end there. Just like with the aforementioned Stardew Valley, there is so much more to do and discover here than just tending to your farm. The twist is that Cattle Country injects its familiar core formula with the kind of stuff you’d expect to find in Red Dead Redemption instead. The nearby town is home to all sorts of characters, and since we’re in the old West, those include bandits and outlaws as well as a plethora of romanceable cast members.
Granted, Cattle Country is a slow burn, especially early on, but that is something that is very common in the genre. To its credit, while there is a stamina bar to keep an eye on, the game does sidestep a lot of the more frustrating aspects of the farming sim genre. You won’t have to worry about your tools breaking, for example, although improving your tools does reward you with a higher yield, so it’s still worth committing to that. Additionally, while there are time-based mechanics, mostly related to the growth rate of your crops, the game never felt like it was actively time-gating things. Compared to many other farming sims, Cattle Country felt less grindy, without oversimplifying things. Instead, all of the elements that make the genre enjoyable were present, making the experience as frictionless as possible. That doesn’t mean that Cattle Country is an easy game, as the Western aspects do add some challenge and depth. Having spent several hours in our little Western town, we feel like we still haven’t seen all that Cattle Country has to offer, even though we’ve gotten involved with rodeo riding, stopped a train robbery, and ended up in multiple shootouts. The latter involves a simple but effective minigame.
Variety is perhaps Cattle Country’s biggest selling point, especially compared to other titles in the genre, but don’t let that fool you into thinking that this is just a collection of tacked-on, disjointed minigames. Everything about the game feels deliberate, and the different mechanics flow together smoothly and naturally. The only thing that bothered us about the gameplay was that it took some getting used to placing and moving objects on our farm, especially early on. The game doesn’t quite explain those controls, but after fiddling with them for a few minutes, we were able to figure it out after all. We can’t quite put an estimate on the length of the game, as we’re a couple of dozen hours in and we’re still discovering new things. However, that is something that is typical for the genre, and it wouldn’t surprise us if there is around 60 to 100 hours worth of content to be discovered here. At an RRP of €24.99, that makes this one a fantastic choice in terms of value.
Conclusion
While the influence of Stardew Valley is undeniable, we’d be doing Cattle Country a disservice by calling it a ripoff. Through its unique Western-inspired mechanics and minigames, Cattle Country succeeds in carving out an identity of its own, while still sticking true to the more enjoyable aspects of the genre. The baseline of the story could’ve been fleshed out more, but given that this is a common genre pitfall, we’re willing to overlook this. If you’re a fan of the genre, you owe it to yourself to check this one out.
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