Have you ever longed to just up and quit your job? Start a new life in a new place? Stares at the current state of the world. Boy howdy, does that sound great! And while I do routinely say “boy howdy” unironically in my own life, it has even more application with what we’re going to be discussing! Enter Cattle Country, releasing today on PC (Steam), Xbox, Switch, and PlayStation.

Cattle Country, the fourth development from Castle Pixel, LLC, and published by Playtonic Friends. The game drops you into the life of a pioneer heading to the American frontier to start a new life. You’ll make a home in the mountains of Insert Town Name Here and become a member of this small community. You’ll farm, adventure, fend off bandits and animals, and deepen bonds with the townsfolk as you progress through the seasons.

The Gameplay

Now, to those that are familiar with Stardew Valley, much of the game will feel reminiscent of the aforementioned title. Wake-up, do as much as possible, and end your day before you pass out from exhaustion (totally unlike real life). Plant and water crops, chop down trees, smash rocks, fish, build items and customize your home area. However, unlike Stardew Valley, the sheer volume of ingredients within this world is staggering. During my playing of the game, I would routinely have to go back to my home and unload everything that I had picked up. Between ores and gems, wild fruit and flowers, fish, and seeds for planting, you’ll fill up your pack before you even realize it.

But it’s not all about crafting and foraging. It’s also about making yourself a known persona within the town itself. Talk to the townsfolk, get to know them and their lives, and make yourself a reliable resource for them.

One of the coolest differences between Cattle Country and Stardew Valley is the concept of mining. In Stardew Valley, you just needed to make it to the bottom of an already constructed mine. In Cattle Country, the process of building the mine falls to you (and you alone). I’ll admit that this was a cool little take on the process of mining for resources. Rather than already have the mines “laid” out for you, you can choose the paths you want the mine to take. Additionally, the emphasis of the mine appears to be more on the building itself than dealing with monsters/wild animals. I think in all the mining that I did, I only ran across a few spiders, some snakes, and occasional…bees (I’m still not 100% sure what they were).

The Good

I am an absolute sucker for cozy farming simulators (I have over 150 hours in Stardew Valley alone – and that doesn’t include how much I have played on my Switch). This is a perfect game if you’re looking to change up your escapist life simulator game. The warm nature of the town, the beautiful landscapes coupled with the pixelated graphics just…work.

Along with the environments and art style of the game are the unique takes on town events. Most farming simulator games have these events that bring the whole town together for…some reason. One of the first of these events in Cattle Country is the Spring Hoedown (like, I said it was a Western game).

In this event, you can chat up the town folks and get more unique dialogues than you would normally get in day-to-day contacts with them. Additionally, there is the main event itself. In the Spring Hoedown, you can choose a dance partner (hopefully someone has warmed up to you enough to dance with you) and you’ll be treated to what is essentially a rhythm game. Think Dance Dance Revolution…if the music was in a barnyard. This was a truly unique take on these kinds of events and it was a breath of fresh air in such scenarios that I have encountered in other farming simulator games.

What Cattle Country also introduces to the open-world is bandits – actual enemies that will not just blindly run at you and try to attack. You can pay them off or show them they messed with the wrong hombre. Now, how do you do that? With your gun of course! Oh yeah – there’s guns in the game – it is the Wild West after all! The process of fending yourself off from the bandits is essentially a quick time event. Succeed and you’ll scare them off! Fail and you’ll end up the Town Clinic slightly poorer.

One additional interesting mechanic that is added to this game in the Town Bank. Invest your money and earn interest on your investments or invest in the infrastructure of the town itself and shine a light on your settlement as a beacon for others looking to move to the frontier. I enjoyed this mechanic and by investing in the town, you open up new opportunities for work and tasks to even further the town’s reputation.

The Bad

One of the first things that I noticed was the music. While not bad, it just didn’t grab me the same way that other games did, so I ended up turning it down within the System Settings. That being said, it may be for you! I, however, was raised on country music (I love her mother, just not her musical tastes), so it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

Any new game may have glitches present – it just comes with the territory. That being said, I encountered a couple of very problematic glitches, specifically when it came to the town-wide events. Upon “completing” these events, speaking to any villager would cause a complete game crash. This happened with both the Spring Hoedown, as well as the Town Rodeo in the Spring season. And unlike Stardew Valley, the day still continues after you finish the event (as opposed to progressing time to 10 PM).

The solution that I found: immediately going to bed after the event, even though it was only around 11 AM. That being said, GSC was able to speak with the developers and while they were made aware of the issue, they had not been able to trigger such a game crash on their own end. So take this point with a grain of salt – it may just have been my device.

As we noted earlier, there are many townsfolk to get to know in Cattle Country. Part of the process of getting closer to anyone in these types of games: gifts! Now, in other games, I would have to find out everyone’s Likes/Dislikes but trial-and-error for the most part. However, in this game – you are given everyone’s Likes/Dislikes immediately. While I appreciate that, it does remove the, well, challenge of this process and it is somewhat unrealistic that you would be able to know everyone’s likes and dislikes immediately.

The last, and biggest concern, that I had with Cattle Country was the resources. Not that there were too few, but that there were far too many. I think that one of the strongest points of these farming simulator games is that there is a scarcity of resources at the end of the day. This inevitably forces you to choose the most optimal route for what to do with what you collect. In Cattle Country, the absurd abundance of resources across the very large town map begs the question “Is there any inherent risk in blowing all of these resources on this one specific project?”. And the answer is no.

At the end of the day, this may be a personal preference. However, I do think that there is more merit in making a realistic world (in terms of resources). But maybe the point in it being on the American Frontier is that there is such an overabundance of resources. I don’t know the answer to this question, but let your personal preferences decide if this is good or bad.

The Overall

Farming/life simulator games are not going anywhere anytime soon. Gamers (myself included) will always yearn for a sense of escapism to another life that we cannot fulfill in the real world. Cattle Country definitely provides a new take on this genre of video games and I do recommend it, with one caveat. You’ll notice that I made a LOT of comparisons to Stardew Valley. While not one of the first in this genre, its impact was enormous to this corner of the gaming universe. Without fail, any discussion of this genre will seemingly lead back to Stardew Valley (or Harvest Moon for you old-timers). Will I go back for more Cattle Country now that this game review has been completed? Yes. Will it be immediate and with the same fervor? Probably not.

Cattle Country is available for purchase today on PlayStation for $24.99 ($21.99 with a PlayStation Plus Membership). It is also on Xbox for $21.24, Switch for $21.24, and Steam for $16.14. Steam also has a demo version of the game available now. Give it a run to find out if it fits your vibe or not!

Gamer Social Club was provided an early-access code for the purposes of this review. This review was played on PC (Steam).