Cattle Country (Switch) Review
Summary: A frontier fairy tale fans of Stawdew Valley are bound to enjoy.
3.6
Rollin, rollin, rollin
Cattle Country is a rootin’ tootin’ good time that adds a sense of adventure and the dangers of frontier living to the fertile soil of the otherwise cosy farming genre.
Our tale opens with our city slicker hitching a ride on a wagon out west with a taste for adventure, and a plan to raise cattle just outside a small settlement on the frontier.
On arriving in town, the mayor takes you to your farm. I say, farm it’s a forest clearing southeast of [my town’s name]. I gave it a rude name we can’t publish. Yes, I know I’m a child.
Anyway, after throwing all the tools you’ll need to grow basic crops, chop down trees and mine that sweet sweet ore, Fairfax presents you with your new home – a two-man tent, then tells you to introduce yourself to the locals before returning to his estate and leaves you to die of starvation or exposure in the wild.
Undeterred, I began to build up my modest homestead, clearing the trees, tilling the soil, and planting a few basic veggies.
You know the drill; if you’ve played Stardew Valley, Story of Seasons, or any farming sim from the past 40 years.
However, just because the soil has been tilled a few hundred times doesn’t mean it’s necessarily barren. There is still a simple pleasure in looking after a smallholding and watching your hard work pay off,
What sets Cattle Country aside from most other farming sims, though, is its setting – you’re not just a farmer living the simple life and doing up a farm your estranged grandfather left you in his will; it’s 1890, and you’re a cowboy.
That means adventure, facing off against outlaws and bandits with a steady aim and quick trigger finger ( presented by a slightly janky minigame), and delving deep into the mines in search of gold, bucking broncos at the rodeo, and letting off steam at a hoedown.
There’s a nice sense of progression to Cattle Country, bolstered in no small part by your trusty tools not degrading as you use them. Just getting better as you craft stronger versions that improve the yield of your crops.
It’s also fairly generous with the amount of stamina you’re handed each day. Though this does balance out by some strange form of narcolepsy that sees your character pass out without fail at 2am every night, regardless of how much stamina they have left, whether you’re at home in bed or in the middle of the street. It’s at this point that the local doctor will kidnap you. Even if you pass out on your own damn farm, then drag you to the infirmary and charge you $100 for the privilege.
Then you have to walk back home from town, wasting precious time. I hate that quack. It’s a racket, I tells ya.
Speaking of time, Cattle Country respects the players since it doesn’t tie your progress to it at all. You never have to wait for an upgrade or a new game mechanic to present itself to you. After the first couple of in-game days, as long as you put in the work, you can make, breed, build, or hunt it.
There’s plenty of old west hijinks to take part in, too, from shootouts and bandit raids, to cattle drives, but my favourite activity by far is prospecting.
Take a trip to the mine, and Cattle Country becomes less Stardew Valley and more Steamworld Dig. As you plumb the side-scrolling depths, you’ll need to install ladders, then lifts and reinforce your gradually expanding network of shafts to dig deeper and grab the best loot and materials that, in turn, let you craft better gear, to dig even deeper. It’s a simple loop, but one I found satisfying and more than a little addictive.
The simple, cutsey visuals reminiscent of Stardew Valley, or any of its many imitators, are accompanied by a fantastic country-themed soundtrack, which helps to give the game a lovely sense of place as banjos and guitars keep pace as you tend to your fields and drive cattle over the vast prairies.
Final Thoughts
Cattle Country is a farming sim that presents a rare sense of adventure in the genre. Part cosy farming sim, part survivalist fairytale, part baby’s first Red Dead. It’s a delightful romp that fans of Stardew and Story of Seasons looking for a new twist on the well-worn genre should wrangle as soon as they can.
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