• Price: $24.99 USD (digital, currently on sale for $21.24 until June 17th); $34.99 (physical)
• Developer: Castle Pixel
• Publisher: Playtonic Friends
• Release Date: May 27, 2025

A review code was kindly provided by Mark Allen PR on behalf of Castle Pixel and Playtonic Friends. We thank them for allowing us to cover something they’ve worked so hard on.

Content warning: rated E 10+. Use of guns + bow & arrows against bandits and for hunting purposes.

Note: I was unable to take screenshots of the Switch version I played, so images below are from the Steam page and eShop listing.

I just can’t get enough of farming sims, so I was excited to check out Cattle Country, which is set in the Wild West in the 1890s. They describe the game as something that “straddles the saddle of cozy wholesome gaming and action-adventure.” You’ll grow the usual crops, tend to your livestock, and get to know the townspeople, but starting over in the Wild West comes with its own set of challenges. 🤠

When you start up the game, you get to name your character, select your prefix, and customize your skin color, hair color and style, and outfit. You also get to name your ranch and the town, choose between a 12 hour or 24 hour clock, and decide whether you want enemies to appear in the mine and/or the overworld.

The story begins with you being driven to your new home by stagecoach. It’s got a neat voiced introduction to the game! The driver asks you about your plans for your new land, with multiple choice answers; I’m not sure how your answers impact the gameplay, if at all. (After starting a new save file, it looks like it may start certain characters with one heart of friendship?)

You’re welcomed by the mayor, who escorts you to your new property and offers you some advice as well as some basic equipment and supplies. Which you’ll need since you start out living in a tent! That’s right – while longtime farming sim fans are used to less than stellar accommodations at first, this is the Wild West we’re talking about, after all. Fortunately, we at least have some bedding and a table.

The game helpfully gives you a starting list of tasks to complete, which will help you get used to the gameplay and your new town. Clearing some of the land to make room for planting crops should be one of the first things you do, and then it’s off to meet the townspeople!

I had a hard time tracking down all 22 residents for the introductory quest at first since a few of them tend to roam around a lot. I did wish we could see everyone’s current location on the map, and I still am not sure about store hours and their days off besides Sunday. But I liked quite a bit about socializing in Cattle Country.

For one thing, they implemented several features that made the gift-giving process less taxing on the player. Instead of having to guess what characters like or look up a guide, they just gave us their likes and dislikes on the People section of the menu. That’s really convenient!

And you know how there are almost always characters in farming games who like items that are really hard to get? Well, it seems like everyone in this game has at least one easily accessible gift item (except for maybe the mayor). Even better, the townspeople often gave me one of their favorite gifts, which I’d then give right back to them for some friendship points!

I was a little disappointed in the lack of variety in the dialogue, as people kept saying the same things every day, and their dialogue didn’t seem to change as I continued to increase our friendship levels. Everyone also uses the exact same dialogue to thank you for a gift.

That being said, I did enjoy the friendship events (I’m not sure any of them would be considered romantic despite marriage being possible with 18/22 residents). There’s some overlap/continuity between different characters’ events, and the other townspeople get involved in a character’s storyline.

Character events also differ from those in other farming sims because you can actually control your character and do things in some events. You can fish with one character, or even herd cattle on a cattle drive with another! 🐮

These events really help to establish a sense of community. And when a character’s friendship level increases after one of their events, you’ll unlock rewards such as new crafting blueprints, recipes, discounts at stores, and new town projects.

As is often the case in games like these, a lot of the burden falls on you to make improvements around town. You start out by fixing the Town Hall’s roof, which then unlocks access to the Town Hall. This unlocks access to a checklist of major tasks that will eventually result in the town being officially recognized as a proper town by the government. (You can also donate items to display in the building.)

Improving the town’s facilities will take a lot of hard work, so it’s important to take a break from work and have fun at the festivals! Swing your partner ‘round and ‘round at the hoedown, and ride a bull at the rodeo. The final event of the year was so sweet and special.

The atmosphere gets pretty festive in town – especially in fall and winter, with holiday decor and the traveling merchant’s cow even wearing an adorable Santa hat! You can even buy holiday themed decor and outfits for yourself.

Outside of character events and festivals, I’d often see the townspeople continue to interact. Certain characters regularly eat dinner together at one of their homes, or you might see a group painting by the lakeshore. Small details like the animation for Abigail using her butcher knife make the town feel even more lively. (Plus the people riding around town on horseback!)

The townspeople may be quite friendly, but it wouldn’t be the Wild West without some bandits and hostile wildlife, now would it? Bandits appear in some character events, and if you turn on enemies in the overworld they’ll occasionally appear and try to extort you; you can choose to pay up or shoot them.

You’ll also encounter aggressive animals such as a vulture, which will attack you and decrease your health. Shooting them with your gun usually causes them to drop items such as feathers or meat. Using your gun causes the prey animals in the area to scatter, so if you want to hunt them you’ll need to use a bow and arrow instead. There’s an impressive amount of wildlife wandering around the areas surrounding the town.

You can get some meat by hunting, or you can ask the butcher to butcher some of the livestock that you’ve named and loved. 😱 (I believe these are all optional activities.) There’s a fairly decent selection of livestock to unlock, including the standard cows, chickens, and sheep as well as bunnies and pigs.

New livestock and buildings unlock as you increase friendship levels with the townspeople. You also unlock new blueprints and recipes by leveling up your skills (i.e. farming, hunting, mining, fishing, foraging).

I had a lot of fun improving the town and my farm. Your house can be upgraded several times after you upgrade from tent life, and you can decorate the inside of your house plus the outdoor space on your property. (What’s really neat is how your spouse will actually sit on a bunch of different seating options that you place in your house!)

I had a few issues with Cattle Country; sometimes the loading between screens felt just a little long for my tastes, and there are a handful of minor bugs (i.e. livestock names) here and there. My biggest complaint is the lack of dialogue variety in everyday interactions with the townspeople, and the marriage process didn’t feel terribly romantic,

But overall I really, really liked this game. I’ve played a lot of farming sims, and it can be hard to stand out from the crowd. In my opinion Cattle Country does an absolutely fantastic job of creating a welcoming Wild West atmosphere with many different activities to keep players engaged.

I chose to use the 24 hour clock for my playthrough so I could complete more tasks in the longer days. It took me 40+ hours to get through a full year of gameplay with the 24 hour clock, so I’d assume those using the 12 hour clock would spend 20+ hours on their first year.

And it sounds like they plan to add more content to the game; in this Steam thread they indicate that marriage is included in the launch version, “with kiddos coming shortly after.” I’m still not done playing yet either, as I want to complete all of the tasks to get the town officially recognized.

If you enjoy farming sims, I think you’ll really appreciate what Cattle Country has to offer. Be sure to check out the demo and “horse around” with the townspeople for a while. 😉 I think we could all use a wholesome community that’s kind to one another, and this certainly fits the Buffalo bill.

8.5/10