Cattle Country

I've played a full year of this game thus far and feel pretty confident in writing up my review now. I WOULD recommend this game with a caveat: if you have some extra dosh laying around. Otherwise the price feels a little steep for something that still feels somewhat barebones and requires you to read the minds of the developers to figure out what certain things are for, how to progress and what exactly each event entails. Now it's time for the breakdown (never gonna get it, never gonna get it-- ahem) Style: Acquired taste, it's giving Gleaner Heights in the squished pixel chicken nugget avatars. Not my jam, but forgivable for the immaculate pixel cowboy vibes. Overall I like all the other pixel art choices, but the character styles/avatar styles are not it for me. Despite being tiny, it definitely has detail rich environments and I'm here for that. + 1 for Red Dead voice actor narrating letters to you. Ace. The Not So Good: It's not intuitive. You go into it thinking it's like every other farming sim, which should - arguably - make progression relatively easy, but nothing is really in the formula you're used to, which is a double edged sword. It makes figuring out how to acquire buildings, unlock animals, etc more difficult because A) the game is new, and there is no proper wiki to fill in the gaps left by development, B) There are no in game tooltips, or even breadcrumb dialogue to even *hint* at what you're supposed to do. On the flip side, it can be refreshing to guess, but not at the expense of a whole day, or materials, etc. That gets annoying. EXAMPLE: I am STILL trying to unlock the barn, which I ONLY learned from someone in discussions was unlocked via Maggie at her 1 heart event that I cannot - for the life of me - actually trigger, and my girl is at two hearts. I don't need this stuff spoon fed to me, but I want some hints here and there. Breadcrumbs. Flat characters. All the characters have one line. Just the one. And they repeat it every time you chat with them. A year in and I'm invested in no one with the exception of Jim. Jim because he's just a derpy little mail bean. I know nothing about him past that. More variety would be great. Events. I've enjoyed most of them, I feel like improvement on this front would consist of a bit more flavor text a bit sooner in the mail about what to expect the day of, rather than getting it when the festival is supposed to start. A reminder on that day isn't bad, though-- who hates seeing the little mail bubble? Not me, I dig it. The winter feast secret santa lack of information was a bit of a bummer my first time through, but based on forum discussion, there may be a fix for that soon, so that's good. Machines and Furniture: Full rotations, please. Nothing makes my eye twitch more than to have to arrange my sheds with nothing but front facing machines, same goes for furniture. It seems like there are a few things you can fully rotate, but there's still a lot you can't for a game that's not in EA, and instead released fully. UI/Menu: This is a tough one for me, the menu feels.... meh? Like there should be more, more depth, more resources to pick through, notes, etc. This may just be a me issue, I'm not really sure, but something about the layout feels rushed. Overall I'd just like to see more information, as it is now, it feels like there's more I SHOULD know, that I don't, because I wasn't in the development of the game to know all the little secret pieces. The Good: This game gets a lot right. Chief being the cowboy homesteader vibe. I love it, and I think I could love the game even more with a little spit polish, you know? I love the bandit encounters, I love the music (but y'all could do with a little variety) and the clouds, and the little god rays you get some mornings on the farm, and all the critter life (and lack thereof during winter). Despite the game being frustratingly vague, I've still invested a good 30 some odd hours in it because it IS enjoyable to play, it just feels unfinished in a lot of ways. If my rating meant anything, I'd say it's a good 7/10. Needs some QOL work, tweaking, refining and it probably would be worth the price, as it stands right now, I'd probably wait for a better sale.

Devs, thank you so much for this cute and fun title! There has not been a game since Stardew Valley that has captured my attention until Cattle Country - and I've played so many similar titles. At first, I thought "meh, it looks cute, but it's probably mid." I'm glad that this game proved me wrong! It has many unique features that does set it apart from other relatable titles. And I still have much more yet to do in the game! [b] What I love: [/b] -[i] The wild west theme. [/i] It gives this genre a fresh perspective. -[i] The relationship building and events. [/i] In these games, I tend to focus on relationship building later because it doesn't seem like there's significant impact, or characters just seem bland. Although it is nice to see dynamic dialogue every day when talking with NPCs, I admit I don't pay that much mind these days. However, what really draws me about the relationship building in Cattle Country are the milestone heart events - they are meaningful and bring a unique aspect that I've not seen before. I actually look forward to the events and to see what unlockables come from them! I even started the game over after the first season just to make sure I balanced relationships with all the other activities, and it has been so worth it. Some of these unlockables are important for progression. -[i] The mining. [/i] I'm really enjoying mining in this game with the Terraria-like format. It is also a very lucrative activity early game while I'm waiting for better ways of making more money. I appreciate the fact that I get a generous amount of energy from the bars that I get from mining so I can spend all day in the mines if needed. Even though there are three added things you need to bring with you to the mines (torches, ledges, and rope ladders), I can leave all my tools minus the pickaxe behind to focus on this activity. -[i] The fishing. [/i] I am so appreciative of Cattle Country's simplicity with the mini game. I don't like spending all of an in-game day just fishing for a few catches. -[i] The hunting. [/i] This is actually challenging lol. I like having a new activity I don't think I've seen yet in other titles. Animals are fast as expected and scatter when you use the hunting rifle, and the bow makes this better, yet I still prefer the rifle. -[i] Buildings/craftables. [/i] I appreciate that buildings are in blueprints and if you don't like where something is after it is placed, you can pickaxe it back up to replace it before it gets built. I also like that the buildings don't take up a large amount of space so that I can have room for many buildings if I want. There are many different things to craft and I love that the decorative items you can make incorporate the things you forage, farm, or fish for. [b] What I don't like: [/b] -[i] Cooking sell prices. [/i] Many recipes do not seem calculated well in that the final price after cooking items together should be more than the items combined. There are some recipes where you actually seem to lose profit, despite it giving great buffs. I had to take a calculator out to see what would profit me most lol. I hope the devs could rebalance these recipe prices. -I love and hate the crockpot. It's like preserving jars/bins in other games. I love that it can make things after one day, but it's limited in what it can make. I hope in the future, the devs can make it to where it's not most vegetables put in only makes oil. Most of these lose their better sale prices after turning into oil. I'd rather most of these be pickled versions. -Getting enough ingots can take a while - I did have to set up 20 furnaces to be able to smelt enough ores for certain things. Like tappers take 10 copper ingots each. That is a lot to me, but I love the mining so I can get past it. But might be too tedious to others. -No auto-feeder currently. This is not so bad to be lacking, but it does make things easier. (I see that they plan to implement this and an auto-petter in the next update, so this will no longer be an issue- yay!) -The festivals are awesome and fun, but I do wish there were more! Misc.: -The backpack initially has two full slots of inventory at the start and the upgrade for this can be gotten easily within the first week or so with getting intial quest rewards. -Walking in this game is faster than Stardew. That game you're slow as heck and the speed in this one is much better. Yes, the map is big, but I don't have to do everything in one day. I can choose a focus so I get to what I need when I want. -I love the amount of resources I get from chopping trees or mining rocks. It's also so satisfying. I don't have to spend a long time at all getting what I need. -Tool upgrades seem very far and few between. However, when you do upgrade, there is a significant difference. Every game has its flaws and with a lot of games, I can overlook these to appreciate the hard work it must take to make a great game. Cattle Country has been compelling and captivating enough for me to be excited about progress and achievement in the game. It's what these games are about and I think Cattle Country captures these qualities well, despite the flaws or "annoyances." I don't feel like I need to mod this game to make it interesting, but I do look forward to their upcoming update(s). 9/10 for me.

This is a personal thing for me, but I wish the game had some kind of direction, purpose, storyline?? It would be a great game if I knew why I was playing it. I am all for cozy games but... I still want something to work towards, some story to discover, Something? Its just a personal thing. If you want a game that has no direction other than "Do whatever you want all the time" its great. But there are only so many times you can spend a day digging in a mine or foraging the fields just to do it..

The controls are a nightmare. (right click for jump, you have to click DIRECTLY on doors, tool button and interact button are BOTH mapped to left click, etc.) The keybinds make no sense, and there is no way to customize them. Furthermore, there is too much going on at the start of the game, and there is a lack of tutorial. I'm very disappointed as the concepts in the game were interesting. Hope the devs polish the game more, but for now, play at your own risk.

Loving this game so far. Stardew elements, with it's own twist. I LOVE the western aspect and that it is taking place in the 1800s. Thoroughly enjoying and can't wait to see where they go with it. Trying to pace myself with the gameplay but its hard. :D

I'll start this off with a simple statement - I want this game to improve. I think it holds some potential to be a better game than it is in it's current state. That said, there's one overarching issue about this game... it's kind of boring. I've put hundreds of hours into Stardew Valley. What keeps me going back to that game? I'll nail down a few points and give a contrast to what CC does differently. 1. The sound: SDV has a fantastic sound track that both motivates you and allows you to get into the zone, just like good game music. In comparison: Cattle Country has some great music, but it's so low most of the time that I barely notice and other times it doesn't play at all. More music please! 2. The writing: SDV has narrative that was built into every level. Okay, not everything has a ton of depth to it, but it honestly felt like the effort was given to make it shine. In comparison: Cattle Country's writing is very, very shallow. There's repeat descriptions on every little thing. Characters repeat the same dialog over and over again, even in different times of day. 3. The story progression: This point isn't as clear at first because it presents you with a singular goal: new roof for the town hall. Then CC gives you another: become an official town. In my time playing, I hit the first goal, then meandered trying to figure out the second before giving up. SDV gives you an extremely clear goal, then many more smaller goals to keep you busy. 4. Hunting: a good skill that needs better on boarding for the player. Give the character a bow instead of just a gun. Or, put in a quest where you trade a bow for feathers, thus giving player motivation so start hunting with their handgun and a direction to where they can continue to improve. I'd also like to see it be more interesting as once you see deer explode to meat and leather more than twice it becomes boring. 5. Art: I'll be the first to admit the art in SDV is inconsistent, however it does have lots of it in more than one perspective. Characters and objects can only be seen from one direction, thus making everything feel stiff. I can forgive the mining being locked to that one front facing perspective; that was a mechanic decision that needs that stiff perspective to work. Now, here's some things CC does better than SDV 1. The Minigames during festivals are fun because they're actually minigames. 2. Fishing is very well done, and I normally hate fishing minigames. 3. You can turn off monsters spawning. I've heard people complain about SDV being good but not wanting to engage in any combat thus they choose to avoid it entirely. I would like seeing this disabling monster spawning when you start the game instead of buried in the start menu. I hope this helps you, the consumer, in making a decision in purchasing this game. To you the developer: I mean what I said, I want this game to be great. Please keep iterating on it and make it shine!

I have played this game nonstop since i bought it. if you are a fan of games like stardew valley, you will adore this. i loooove the mining system. i love hunting even though im bad at it. i love the fishing minigame. i love how cute the art style is, and just how much resources are available either on your farm or elsewhere on the map. i love the holidays. my ONLY gripe is i wish you could craft from ingredients in chests, and sometimes i wish next steps were a little more clear to guide you to cutscenes to unlock parts of the story. otherwise?? this is a super fantastic and fun game.

There's way too many "Stardew Valley but INSERT MINOR DIFFERENCE" games and most of them are either inferior copies, usually because they're basically the same game but worse in most ways or because the differences they implemented in setting or gameplay make it a worse game in some way, or they're crappy half-baked games made in a rush to capitalize on the genre's popularity in recent years. This one doesn't fall in those categories and it reminded me of the better SV-inspired games, such as Fields of Mistria, to give an example. It's one of those games that resemble SV enough to be familiar from the get go because they wear their inspiration on their sleeve, but still make enough changes to the setting and game mechanics that manage to make it feel like its own distinct thing, even being "better" than SV in some specific respects, though they ultimately fail to stack up to it as a whole because, while SV does almost every single thing well, very well, or exceedingly well, this kind of game does usually have a few very clear flaws as far as bugs, clunkier game mechanics, and stuff like that are concerned, that ultimately make it not quite as good as SV once everything is considered. If you liked SV or Fields of Mistria and you like westerns, you'll probably like this one. I played two in-game years and managed to build up my relationship with almost all NPC's to at least 9 out of 10 hearts and experience their three events as well as unlock most crafting/cooking recipes, buildings, animals, etc, and Town Improvement requests, and I had a lot of fun with it. My only complaints as the game currently stands are either minor, such as not being able to sit on any furniture or sometimes running into a couple of mostly harmless bugs that were annoying but not game breaking, or related to things I don't quite get why they decided to implement this way, such as the way grinding for materials in the mines is a chore when you're specifically trying to farm the higher-value ore like silver o gold, or the fact that you can't sell furniture and equipment. I mean, why? What's even the point of being able to craft all this stuff and being able to see each item has a monetary value if you can't sell any piece of furniture or machinery you built? Other than using it yourself your only options are stashing it in some chest and ignoring it exists, gifting it to some NPC or throwing it away. Of course, none of that is anywhere near enough to ruin the game for me or anything of the sort, but having those minor issues fixed would make for a much more fun experience for sure.

I have played Stardew valley for quite a long time, but it reached the point that I achieved all I wanted to achieve, and did all I wanted to do, and I was tired of some of the game mechanics. But I’ve always had the itch to find another game like that, but with different, interesting mechanics. As such, I think this is a great game. Anyone wanting everything working the same was as Stardew Valley will be dissappointed, but if it worked that way, why would you play this game instead? So I feel there’s a lot of refreshing takes on the mechanics from Stardew, and that’s why I’m playing this and not Stardew anymore. I like the mining in this game. Rather than have levels that disappear forever, the mining is a grid of blocks that is persistent (so what you mined before doesn’t disappear as soon as you leave the mines). What rocks spawn depends on the depth of the mine, with things like diamonds only spawning down deep. If you undermine sand, it will fall down and crush you! There are enemies, but never anything too difficult (particularly once you have the rifle). If you’re really down deep, before you set up a network of mine carts, it can be a real challenge to get home in time before you collapse, so you have to keep an eye on the time. Maybe it’s not for everyone, but I found I liked it better than Stardew’s mining, and it feels a fair bit more natural and explorational. I also like the hunting in this game. On release, some kinks had to be worked out of the hunting system, but once you get the rifle (or possibly the bow now), then it’s quite serene to wander around the map hoping you’ll come upon deer, foxes, bears, racoons, vultures, bees, etc. The meat, pelts, and feathers they drop are pretty valuable, so you don’t feel like you’re doing it for no reason. The shooting controls are a bit tricky to get your hands around (the right shoulder switch, which usually goes to a different level of the visible inventory, is what fires, so at the beginning you do a lot of accidental firing, or trying to fire and not!), but once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty fun. It’s not overly violent or graphic, the animals always explode into a puff of pelts and meat, so it feels like the right balance for me. The fishing isn’t like Stardew, but I think it’s a good thing. If you don’t see a fish in the water, you won’t catch anything, so at least there’s no sitting there hoping there’s something as in Stardew. The actual fishing is a timing game, which I think is well done, and I didn’t struggle with in this game, but others have complained about the timing games. I don’t like the fishing where you have to mash the button repeatedly, as in many games, so this is a bit of a breath of fresh air for me. I found it reasonably easy to catch most of the fish with the basic rod. The odd one does get away, but the difficulty feels right for me. This game makes you realize that Stardew is much more a game of restriction (as Eric Barone himself has said). However, the world in this game feels much more vibrant. You can hardly shoot into the forest without hitting a bird, maybe too much birds for some, but it makes everything feel very alive. When foraging, even in winter there’s tons of stuff to get, it replenishes itself quickly, and you get a fair amount for it, so you don’t feel like there’s not much to forage. Farming too feels easier. You can get sprinklers fairly easily, so the manual labour of farming isn’t too bad. There’s tons of seeds in every season, so there’s lots to experiment with. With this is also a lot of recipes (more than I would have expected), which increase as you get to know people, so there’s tons to try out if you like that part of it. The friendship aspect is different than Stardew, which takes some getting used to, but makes sense once you understand it. You won’t build friendship with anyone unless you give them a lot of gifts in one week. Initially it was hard to track them down, but now there’s an icon of each character on the map screen, which makes finding them much easier. Once you make the initial gift investment, it’s relatively easier to “level up” your friendship, but you still have to work on it. Lots of unlocks, and most of the story are dependent on increasing this friendship, so it’s a big part of the game. Once you make it to 10 hearts, then you can focus on making friends with someone else! They all have things they like that aren’t too hard to get, so at least that side of it isn’t too hard. I didn’t really get as much into the relationships with other characters in Stardew Valley, but this one prompts you to do that so you unlock things you otherwise wouldn’t. Getting better equipment is dependent on mining, (later you can pan for gold, but it’s probably not the fastest way anyway). Once you get the best equipment, it feels pretty powerful, but nothing unusual compared to Stardew Valley. You get the six shooter early on, but in early builds it was pretty tough to hunt with, maybe now it’s easier (once I got the rifle I never looked back). The town events are pretty interesting, mostly with timing based mini games. I found them fun, but they may not be other’s cup of tea. I somehow managed to get chickens, but haven’t gotten to the point of horses or other animals yet (there’s a lot to explore in this game). There does appear to be a lot more options for decoration than Stardew Valley, which is interesting, though that’s not my focus for games like this. No matter what you do, it’s easier to get money in this game, as mentioned, so it feels less like a struggle to survive than Stardew. At first I wasn’t super into the chunky character sprites with huge hats, but they’ve grown on me. The art is pretty fun and vibrant, and the wild west theme (though it’s pretty lush for the wild west!) is quite fun. So it’s maybe not everything someone would be looking for in a Stardew Valley clone, but I think it’s great, and it adds a number of meaningful extras to keep a Stardew Valley fan who’s gotten bored with its mechanics entertained. It’s not a perfect game, and it wouldn’t be perfect for some people, but it’s worth a look if you’re into this kind of thing, and think the theme would be fun. The developers are still actively engaged on working on it, so it’s also not one of those games that is basically stuck however it is.

after completing my first year in game i feel like i've played enough to write a decent review, so here it is! first of all i absolutely LOVE the wild west theme, its a refreshing and awesome twist on the typical farming sim and i have had so much fun playing. the gameplay itself is addicting and relaxing and i could truly sit and play for hours. i love the different take on the mines, having the freedom to explore and choose where i go instead of having to search around for an exit to the next level is amazing and makes the mining experience so much more fun. the mines also go super deep!! i also love the hunting in this game. its a feature i have not seen before and its honestly really relaxing wondering around the map hunting things, its also a really good money maker so it makes the effort you put into it worthwhile! the events are really cute, and i love that little minigames have been added to them such as rhythm games. getting to fight bandits is also really fun! gameplay aside, this game has a wonderful soundtrack and the artstyle is really cute. i love that little birds will sit in the trees on your farm and animals like squirrels will be wondering around on your farm too, it helps make the world feel alive and i think its a lovely feature. the devs are also lovely and very responsive :) overall this game is one of the best farming sims ive played in a while and im super excited to play more of it, and im excited to see where it goes in the future too. i definitely recommend giving it a go :) also as a huge fan of red dead redemption, roger clark having a cameo is incredible

Very fun! It rivals Stardew well, but with some updates it will be better in my opinion!

Having a fantastic amount of fun with this game and expect to have many hours more. I just hit the first day of spring in year 2 and it took me nearly 30 hours to get there. The game is deep and wide in all the best ways. Plenty of engaging NPCs, tons of daily work and activities to keep busy (even in the winter), a lengthy but attainable list of milestones to reach to "win" the game, the art style is charming and the gameplay is fluid and intuitive. The developer is responsive on the Discussion forums and has created several very handy guides that are updated regularly. Don't listen to the handful of reviews that got bent out of shape over the availability of a non-specific honorific (you can select mr, mrs, or mx) but honestly if that one tiny detail puts you off buying a game, the game was probably too good for you to begin with.

It's like stardew but with way more glitches that don't work in your favor.. I'm in year 2 and I was asked to help build a water tower... I gave all of the resources and I have enough money but it won't let me finish the project... I have $100,000 in game half in the bank and half on myself and I still can't complete the mission.. the games fun enough but they have a lot of issues

If you enjoy games like Fields of Mistra or Stardew Valley, then this is in that same vein. Currently one year in and still going. I really liked the overall ability to customize the farm layout. You can even move the buildings later on if you don't like where they are.

This is tough because I enjoy this game and am definitely still playing - that said, the bugs, the lack of direction, the crazy gameplay imbalance - it is shocking that this game was released on all platforms and is not currently in early access/beta or even alpha testing. It feels like the developers did their own testing and did not conduct real end-to-end or user acceptance and integration testing of the entire game. And that is completely beside the almost total lack of quality of life and automation progression that is key to a farm/life sim game, which could be more excused in the first version of a game if that were the only major issue. Just off the top of my head - tool hit placement sporadically bugs out; inventory duplicating/disappearing (particularly tools when upgrading); festivals fail to trigger on some(?) circumstances; farm animals and wild animals walk out of bounds/through builds/through cliffs/randomly over fences; ghost items block tiles after being re/moved; some items can be picked up (farm animal products) when inventory is full, causing them to disappear; item stacks over 9999 do not count or double. Some furniture can't be rotated, some buildings can't be moved...there are so many more, but these are what I can think of right now. As far as quality of life, some major ones that should have been done pre-release are - allowing resolution change on Steam Deck (it's unchangeable from a small/hard to see size); notes/letters/ANYTHING that explain mechanics and gameplay aspects (why do my crops die? why is there a drought? why can't I get this animal/tool/upgrade/recipe? For a game that relies HEAVILY on gifting and friendship with villages, their dialog is tiny and redundant. Clearly defined and explained buffs - I have no idea what any buff does besides speed and I've just started year 3. Fishing and hunting seems imbalanced vs the other skills. Further, the highest quality tools do not scale with the game - the game's reliance on manual everything, forever, is not helped with them. Mining with the diamond pickaxe below level 500 is the same as mining level 1 with the first tool - far too tedious when you had to spend a quarter of your day manually feeding/collecting your animals and crops. No automation for animals or farming outside of sprinklers, which don't work for a period of the summer due to drought. You can literally just buy all the animal products for far less hassle than having animals. I can only hope that unlike other game developers, they focus on fixing what they have rather than rushing out new content (looking at you Sun Haven). The tl;dr is if I didn't have so much idea of how these games go from playing other similar games, I'd have quickly given up for the total lack of direction in this game.

It's like a bit more barebones stardew valley, and with less tips. Progression is.. weird - and i think it's stupid beyond all belief to lock buildings etc behind relationship levels (literally only read about how to unlock the barn from one of the other reviews). It's fun enough for a while, but loses goals really fast and doesn't have anything else to draw you back in (whereas stardew valley i played over 3 different game systems and prob put about 200 hours in all up). Buy it if you've got some spare cash and have that SDV itch. Otherwise.... eh.

I got this game in the summer sale and I am so glad I did. It’s so good. The gameplay has so many elements from many farming games that I loved all mixed into one. It’s a cozy, satisfying game that I am really enjoying. If the devs read reviews a “craft from inventory” would be life changing!!

Great lil game nice and chill. Nothing new just a good all rounder farming game.

This is one of my first ever reviews for steam. Overall this game gets a 8.5/10. It is your typical farming sim but I love the take on mining and the plot/story of the game. I would say my only issues are that there is a lot of events that are tied to friendship which is typically not an area I focus on. In addition, not being able to sell during the day was a little difficult to get around. This game is great and I would recommend it to anyone who liked games like Littlewood or Stardew.

Surprisingly very fun and not just another SV type game. The gameplay loop is easier for me to get into than SV though I’d love to see the socializing aspect deepening. Also… guns? The soundtrack? HOEDOWNS? I went to a cowboy university, I love this shit.

Very cute little game that fills the hole that Stardew left. Really enjoying at the moment.

I bought this game because I fell in love with all of the life options in the game. There's hunting with bow and arrow, shooting, cattle raising, homesteading and the list goes on. This game is not like all the other games in the genre, the differences are awesome (not intuitive, that may be because I play a lot of games like this) I had to ask a few questions about key game mechanics (once again they were not intuitive) But they work well and they aren't made hard just because, like in some games. There was full controller support and Steam Deck Verified. I've had this game for a few days now and boy am I having a lot of fun. I had the option of overworld and underworld enemies, which is a great plus. I usually hate combat in these types of games because I get anxiety with combat (yeah it's a me thing). But most games like this do not give you the option to turn off the combat completely, usually you get easy mode (which does nothing for my anxiety). The Devs have been nothing but nice when they answer my ever ending stupid questions about how to do something or where to go for something. This has been the best game that I've played so far this year.

If you love stardew valley, you will love this game. very similar game-play but set in the wild west. A lot of fun

I can't wait to see what they'll add in future. It's a game with great potential to become a Country Site Stardew Valley.

This game is fun! It kinda pulls some elements out of Stardew Valley like the shipping bin, but overall I think it is really fun and original!

Cattle Country is a very solid farming sim with a unique wild west twist. The controls feel very smooth, and it's really satisfying just gathering wood and other materials. (Also, it has pretty nice controller support, which is a big win in my book.) All the basics you’d expect are here, such as farming, ranching, crafting, marriage, etc. The Devs have also mentioned they want to add more things down the line, like having kids, for example. As for bugs, I experienced one crash in my roughly three-hour playtime, but nothing else of note. The Devs are active in pushing out fixes, so I’m not too worried about that. All in all, Cattle Country doesn’t do anything to reinvent the wheel, but what it does, it does well.

I'm really enjoying this game! Yes there are things I would add or changes- but they are all quality of life (such as adding people locations or more item explanation) the game itself has such a strong backbone!!! I'm excited for all coming updates and hoping it continues to be worked on in the future like many other farming rpg's For those who think it's still in its early stages or not polished enough remember that games like stardew had many many updates before being the game it is today! And FIelds of Mistria has been having active updates over the years! This game is great!

I highly recommend if like this type of cozy games it is a nice new take I would say on this type of game. Also I like the characters.

I promised the Dev I would write a review after 100% and well, after 131 hours of awesome entertainment, here it is. I cut my teeth back in the day on a game called Harvest Moon: Back to Nature, my first adventure into Farm-Life sims and I had a blast. Naturally as other farm-life sim games came out, I picked those up as well: Fields of Mistria, Stardew Valley, Mirthwood, Everafter Falls, Medieval Dynasty, and of course the reboot of Harvest Moon: Back to Nature - Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town. I also have thrown in a slew of other genres and titles into my game library over the years. One such title is the well known Red Dead Redemption Online. Knowing all that, I now can write my review and it'll make more sense to the reader. This game does what all of the aforementioned titles fail to do, enthrall you into your adventure. The farm-life sims basically "isekai" you into taking over a previously established farm and Red Dead Online fails to provide you with the opportunity to lay down a homestead and do what you can in Cattle Country... which I have been longing for something like this game for the longest time. Hence why I sank 131 hours into it. Graphics - You don't play farm-life sims for graphics, you play them for the feels and sense of accomplishment, but having grown up with Nintendo and Super Nintendo, I am all for pixel graphics. Soundtrack - solid 10 out of 10. Its not the most expansive soundtrack, but its enough and it doesn't constantly play all the songs so you get a break and can enjoy the sounds of nature; which has stopped me in my tracks just to feel the immersion... especially during the thunderstorms. Story - I actually enjoyed all the villagers story lines and the options of what to do/say during the cut-scenes, made me more invested. Glitches/Bugs - I ran into a few, but none were game-breaking, and since the game auto-saves every night, you aren't risking progress. This is where the dev REALLY shines. They are active on this game's discussion boards and will investigate things same day if allowing and reply back to you on their plans and findings, as well as provide you guidance on issues. Overall - Absolutely worth the investment, going to buy it on my PS5 now. To the dev, I love your work, keep it up and I look forward to what this game has in store! Yeehaw!

Relaxing, fun, addictive, cute

I wish there was a better way to differentiate between romanceable characters and your npc nonromance characters. Cause so far I haven't seen a noticeable difference. Usually in these type of games it's a color changing heart to signify a potential bachelor/bachelorette. I talked to the sheriff and literally the first sentence he said while meeting was that he had a kid. But from what I can gather in the discussion forums, I think he's a romanceable cause he has heart events? There was another one I talked to (I forget which one), but again, first conversation mentioned his wife. Are there any bachelor's available in this game? There doesn't seem to be a wide number of characters/npcs. And there's supposed to be 18 bachelors/ettes. That doesn't seem like there are enough characters to fill out the nonromanceable npc slots and also have your 18 romance ones too. Cheating on your spouse/breaking up your family is not a vibe I'm down with. The game doesn't seem advanced enough to have the sheriff's kid also move in with your if you get together. So now you're breaking up a family? It's sad because I like the exploration vibe of foraging, and the very rustic, very historical vibes of the game. And the newbie vibe of knowing nothing, and learning new recipes/crafting as you level up and find use of all these "useless" things you've foraged. That part of the game is excellent. It reminds me a lot of Roots of Pacha, which you literally make discoveries while exploring. But the romance aspect leaves much to be desired. I expected more from an out of early access game. Especially one that boasts 18 romanceables as a selling point. It also took awhile to realize how to fish considering I never saw fish spawns swimming around until after my bobber was in the water for a minute already. I'm still confused whether they're meant to be there before you fish or if they only show up after you cast. There's an intro quest to catch 20 of them and honestly I can't be bothered. It took so long to even catch the 1 fish I caught. The graphics, I'm almost fine with. I like how the game world looks. Definitely achieves that 19th century, rustic western vibe. I just wish it was a little more open, some areas. A lot of the areas surrounding your "farm" are so cluttered with trees its hard to see anything. And yes you can chop them down. But it's a little overkill on the trees. The faces are too squished and small for my personal taste. Especially the bodies. You can hardly tell what their faces or outfits look like. I wish the faces looked like what the art advertising the game name looks like. They're so cute and lively, instead the ones we get are a fraction of that size. I've been looking for a new farming game but honestly Roots of Pacha achieves similar vibes to what Cattle Country is doing, but vastly improves upon them. I cannot recommend Cattle Country as such when there is nothing left that it stands apart on or improves on compared to other games in the genre. It's also 2025, and crafting from your chests isn't a thing? The first day exploring alone I have enough unique items to fill my entire on person inventory, both rows. That's a lot to store. It wouldn't be an issue if crafting would withdraw automatically from chests. But it doesn't so you have to gather everything you need to make (and memorize everything you need!) and then take it to your campfire/crafter/forge/etc. It's an unnecessary and annoying extra step. Cattle County is a rather mid game, I'm a little bummed cause I was hoping for more from a new farmer game with a more unique theme than they usually have.

So, i'm halfway fall. I'm stacking money quite easy, but I cant explode stuff in the mines yet to get some good quick amount of ores yet to improve/finish some of the town improvements. I got my house to a 4room (2 story house) which makes marriage possible. So I did. I got a ring (craft it from a recipe you get in mail), and asked the Banker to marry me. The day gets spent and you get engaged. So I think this will come after : (edited) he does sleep at the house, and eats breakfast in the morning, but he goes to bed at like 12pm each night, he still does his job as always with no different interactions... No NPC interacts with you about it or a congrats or SOMETHING. So that's where I'm at at the moment and yeah, it's losing charm over it by A HUGE AMOUNT. There's so much goods in this game. The mining is fun, the town is small but good enough to interact with everyone, knowing who/what and hey, it's one of the few farming games I got a lot of hearts with most townies, cause I just throw random goodies at them. I got most around 6 hearts now(aside from 2 or 3 that are more out of town, like mr. Miner who is just gone in mine for most of the time), and the 3 men I went for are at 10 so.. Yeah, it's not that hard. But I wish I could sometimes take someone on a date, or get a mail to go somewhere would be fun. Ohyeah, I don't have a birthday either in the game. If townies would talk more and go "oh, if you had a barn you could keep cows. You might want to talk to x about that", or something. And that hints you might need to interact with characters more. Stuff like that might help with the unlockables. I saw sheep, turkeys, bunnys and some other animals on the livestock festival, but I haven't unlocked those yet. I like that you unlock stuff by talking with townies, and getting new in town by doing so as well. The festivals are interactive and fun, but everywhere on this story, it comes down to: THE PEOPLE ARE NEVER SAYING SOMETHING NEW. I think it's really not that hard to add some small talk sentences to everyone. Or some text of interest (be it completing a town thing and them going for the week like "oh, look at x it's amazing!". At the beginning of the game I didn't mind, as I don't always read what's said(early on I just do what I want, then get into it and want to read more). But it gets so noticable. It gets so stale. You do a lot of stuff for townies and you get the same sentence, over and over again. My marriage is the most plain thing ever in this game and it's really on a great track with the collectibles, talking with townies for unlocks etc. BUT that missing amount of personal depth to each NPC, aside from their cutscenes which I like, really feels unpolished/missed out on. It's a great Stardew inspired game, but there are definitely things missing (when can I get a bigger barn or coop, who to talk to for something etc), it lacks the love and depth on the character sides to make it get that accomplished feeling of playing a farmer at a new town. I do recommend it, but note these things are missing. I'd give it a "maybe". I wouldn't give it a no as it does have a lot of good points, just missing that polished part for npc/relationships.

As a long-time fan of Stardew Valley, I tend to use it as my gold standard for farming sims. Cattle Country definitely falls into the genre, but with its own unique twist — a fun and refreshing Western theme that gives it a distinct identity. After nearly 125 hours of gameplay, I’ve experienced virtually no bugs, crashes, or glitches — a rare feat for a newer release and a huge plus in terms of stability. The art style is adorable, the weather and music contribute to a cozy and immersive atmosphere, and the world feels lively thanks to diverse and interesting NPCs. Foraging is abundant, materials like wood, stone, and minerals are easy to gather, and I’ve especially enjoyed the mining — it feels both engaging and different from other games in the genre. That said, there are a few areas where the game could grow. The storyline feels a bit underdeveloped and sometimes unintuitive (for instance, I wouldn’t have thought to visit the bank to advance the plot). Some crafting systems are also unclear without external guidance — I struggled to figure out what the distiller was for until I consulted the guide. Progression pacing could also use some fine-tuning. Heading into Year 2, I’ve already maxed out two of the five skills and have another nearly there — and that’s without spending much time on hunting or fishing. Meanwhile, building friendships feels disproportionately slow. NPCs often repeat the same dialogue, which makes interacting with them feel less rewarding. One of the things I loved about Stardew Valley was how NPC dialogue evolved with the seasons, weather, or your relationship — something like that would go a long way here in making friendships and romances more meaningful. Overall, Cattle Country is a delightful game with a lot of charm and potential. It brings something new to the farming sim space, and despite a few areas that could use polish or clearer design, I’ve genuinely enjoyed my time with it and look forward to future updates.

Very nice! Great work from the dev. This and fields of mistria are my goto cozy games :)

I am very much enjoying the gameplay loop, but I've committed mass deforestation in hopes to rearrange the trees and I've found that I cannot plant trees outside the farm. Please help.

I'm enjoying it! It's like stardew, animal crossing, harvest moon, terraria. It has all the best parts of everyone's favorite games and even the grinding part of the game is more fun/easier than most. It doesn't feel like as much work as the big name games. Perfect for those who don't have a lot of time for gaming.

I am only in early summer of year one, at this point I like how bountiful this game is. I enjoy the exploration needed to figure some things out. There are a few quality of life items that would help the game play some, mostly UI stuff. Being able to hit 'I' for inventory, 'J' for journal or changing keybindings so you can use space to jump instead of the right button on the mouse. I would highly recommend this game for any cozy gamer.

Oops, I played this game for far too long in one sitting! It's just that fun! Cattle Country scratches a very specific farming itch- if you enjoy collecting and crafting, has it got you covered! It's just enough like other games in the genre that came before while offering new mechanics and a spin on the expected tropes. I really enjoy the art style and the characters are fun to talk to. Yes, their daily statements do get a little repetitive, but the cut scenes are a whole lot more interactive. I think the map is just the right size. Newer games in this genre seem to treat bigger as better, which can be fun but a lot of times I find that the result is I water, then I can choose just one thing to do. CC's map is big enough that while you can't explore everything in the day, small enough that you can do a 2-3 activities and feel satisfied with the day's progress. The crafting system could use just a bit of sorting or organization. Also, something that I wish of most games in this genre: let us craft from items in the chest! It's always frustrating to have to look at the recipes and then search for the item. And with a game THIS PACKED it can be a little overwhelming.

Bland and boring.

If you love the old Yeee haw country, You'll love this game :) It's stardew but country.

scratches that stardew itch ft arthur morgan

i love stardew valley and i love cowboys, do i need to add more

brillent cosy game :)

If you liked Stardew Valley, you will love this game.

love playing

if you like games like this, you will love it!

i loveeee to be cowboy >:3