Cancel your weekend plans because this fun cowboy life sim just entered open beta and you can play it for free

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Imagine if Arthur Morgan from Red Dead Redemption 2 visited Stardew Valley. Actually, don’t imagine that, because he would probably rob the train, shoot the mayor and drag Pierre through the city behind his horse. How about this: imagine that Arthur Morgan had a twin brother named, er, Garthur, and that Garthur Morgan wasn’t a violent bank robber, but a kind, gentle farmer who enjoyed a quiet life of fishing, crafting, and chatting with townspeople. And he alone occasionally shot a few bandits and cattle thieves.

That’s what you’ll find if you stroll over Veeland on Steam: a fun cowboy life sim where you plant crops, raise livestock, go fishing, romance the locals and sometimes get into trouble. And guess what, partner? Cattle Country just entered open beta, so you can play it for free.

If you’ve played Stardew Valley, you’ll find a lot of similarities in Cattle Country, like the handy box you dump stuff into to sell it automatically and the calendar in town that shows everyone’s birthday. I’ve only played it for a few days, but it starts with a nice little plot of land, several crops already growing, and a bunch of tools and supplies so you can jump right in and get started quickly. I already have a dog and a cat, I’ve caught a lot of fish, cooked a few meals and met most of the townspeople, including the blacksmith and the sheriff.

There’s no indication of bandits yet (and I’m not even sure where I can get my small, grainy hands on a six-shooter), but that’s fine with me for now. I’m interested in some Red Dead Relaxation. Save the redemption for later.

There are a few welcome twists to the familiar Stardew formula: the inevitable mines you have to visit to whack rocks and collect minerals change the game from an overhead view to a side-scroller, meaning you have to make use of craftable ladders and ledges to navigate your way up and down the levels. So that’s a bit of a starting point. And so far it doesn’t seem very gravelly. It was a bit of a hassle to get my first sprinkler in Stardew, but I just bought one from the store on my second day in Cattle Country. Did they even have sprinklers in the Wild West? I suspect probably not, but I’m willing to suspend my disbelief if it means I can get past the primitive foundry technology.

To jump in, just visit the Cattle Country Steam pageand in the sidebar you will find the demo button to download it. I only mention this because demo downloads are usually marked with a big green bar in the middle of the store page, but for some reason this is harder to spot for this fun cowboy game.