Have you ever looked at Stardew Valley and wished it had more of cowboys in it? Well, your oddly specific desire will be met with the newest life-sim on the block, Cattle Country, which is bound to grab peoples’ attention for featuring the voice of Red Dead Redemption 2‘s Arthur Morgan in its reveal trailer.
Yes, that is indeed Roger Clark doing the narration, lending a suitably classic cowboy voice though it’s somewhat softer than his performance as Arthur Morgan, which is fitting for a game that’s obviously going for a cozier vibe than Red Dead Redemption 2‘s gritty melodrama. Clark being picked to narrate must’ve been a deliberate choice since, according to IGN, Cattle Country developer Castle Pixel and publisher Playtonic Friends are calling the game “Red Dead Redemption meets Stardew Valley.”
Cattle Country wears its Stardew Valley influences on its sleeve, since you’ll be building and tending to your own farm, hunting and fishing, and exploring caves for buried treasure. However, the cowboy theme isn’t purely for aesthetic; you’ll also need to fend off bandits, though we don’t see any such action in the trailer. It looks like there could be some neat minigames too, with my favourite parts of the trailer highlighting a livestock contest and a pro wrestling match. And yes, there will be romance options as well; 18 of them to be exact.
This will be Castle Pixel’s first foray into the life-sim genre, having previously released 2D platformer Rex Rocket and the two action-adventure Blossom Tales titles. At the very least, Cattle Country has some delightful pixel art visuals, which the studio has plenty of experience with. I can see life-sim fans flocking to this one though whether they stick around and keep playing is another question entirely. It’ll hopefully offer enough unique traits to help it stand out not just from Stardew Valley but other life-sims as well.
Currently, Cattle Country is only confirmed for a PC release via Steam and lacks any sort of launch window. Maybe, if it performs well enough, it’ll see a console launch. A game like this is perfect for the Nintendo Switch. I also can’t wait to see someone mod in Arthur Morgan as an NPC or something, because you know someone will.
