Cattle Country is Perfect Farming Sim for Stardew Valley Fans

All Stardew Valley fans (including me) have been waiting impatiently for any little bit of information about ConcernedApe’s next title, Haunted Chocolatier. It seems like it might still be pretty far out, but thankfully there are loads of other farming sims out there that can help us cope until we can dive into the chocolate shop. Cattle Country from Castle Pixel, LLC. and publisher Playtonic is a wholesome farming sim game where players travel West to start a new life. 

Cattle Country features all the classics: gathering, farming, fishing, mining, town events, romance, and more all wrapped up in a cute little package. If you’re a fan of farming sims, you’ll feel right at home here. You’ll start your farm by purchasing seeds to grow vegetables, fruit and other plants on your farm. Eventually, you’ll be able to get animals as well so it feels like a living, breathing farm. 

Fishing in the game is reminiscent of Animal Crossing, where you have to spot a shadow in the water and cast your line in front of the fish in order to grab it, but the mini-game once the fish bites is super simple. Mining, on the other hand, felt more like the mining in Terraria where you have to physically mine the blocks around you to create yourself a path. You can use ladders and other tools to help you climb and descend and, if you get stuck, you can blow a whistle and someone will bail you out, at a cost, of course. 

Something unique to Cattle Country that I’ve not seen in a farming sim before, is hunting and bandits. Hunting is just how it sounds, you can use a gun given to you by the sheriff to hunt animals for meat. There are also bandits that can come out of the woods and attack at random. You have the option to either pay off the bandits or you can take them on in a shoot out. If you lose you’ll end up at the doctor and the bandits will have taken a chunk of your gold. 

There are also town festivals that you can participate in, each with their own mini-game to accompany them. The dance festival towards the start of the game, for example, has a simplistic rhythm game you can play to show that you’re a true do-si-do master.

I’ve played just a few hours of Cattle Country so far and it's perfect for scratching the Stardew Valley itch. I find it hard to put down, but at the same time I am overwhelmed by the sheer amount of things that you can do in the game. If you love the Wild West or are simply looking for your next farming sim, Cattle Country is a darn good time. 

Cattle Country is available now on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch.