Cowboy Life Simulator Review – Chill Wild West Ranching in Early Access
I spent hours tending goats, fighting bandits and poking around Bravestand — a cozy ranch sim with real charm and the expected Early Access scrapes. If you like relaxed farming plus a dash of pistol-swinging, this one’s worth a look.
Cowboy Life Simulator casts you as a burned-out businessman who swaps spreadsheets for spurs and starts rebuilding a ranch in the Wild West. Think Stardew-ish farming meets a light RDR-lite vibe — cozy days of planting, messy nights of bandit shootouts, and a friendly dev team that actually listens.
The core loop is nicely simple: buy animals, plant crops, craft useful tools and expand your ranch. Bravestand is an open map with hidden nooks, mines and small story threads — you’ll meet quirky locals, take on quests and slowly unlock buildings in the Farm–Fame–Frontier progression. Animal care, farming and decorating are satisfying; there’s a real pleasure in arranging fences, placing a goat pen and seeing a field of cabbages grow. There’s also light survival (water and hunger meters), a crafting system for tools and building parts, and a combat layer when gangs or wild animals show up. The game is in Early Access, so expect some jank: missing features locked behind future updates, occasional inventory quirks and strange animal behaviours reported by players. On the bright side the devs are active on Discord and have a fast patch cadence — that community involvement makes the EA ride more pleasant. Performance is surprisingly good on modest PCs and even some players report nice Steam Deck/controller support, though the official focus remains PC. Overall it’s a cozy, exploration-forward sim with enough variety to keep me coming back.
Cowboy Life Simulator is a promising and genuinely cozy ranch sim with enough content to be worth jumping in now if you’re fine with Early Access bumps. Wait if you need a perfectly polished release — otherwise saddle up and enjoy the ride.
Pros
- Charming Wild West setting with lots of little discoveries and cozy ranch vibes
- Deep farming, crafting and decorating loop — satisfying to build your homestead
- Active developers and engaged community — patches and feedback actually happen
Cons
- Early Access rough edges: bugs, phantom inventory items and unfinished systems
- Some gameplay balance issues — combat and animal mechanics can feel clunky
Player Opinion
Players praise the game’s charm, the variety of ranching and the active dev presence on Discord. Common complaints are the usual Early Access stumbles — bugs, missing features (workers, some building options) and occasional quest or animal glitches. If you enjoy relaxed farming sims with a sprinkle of combat and story (think Stardew Valley meets a toned-down RDR-lite), you’ll likely enjoy Cowboy Life Simulator.