When a notification came through that Gaucho and the Grassland was hitting shelves, a flame of anticipation sparked: I remember writing an article about that! This website may have dropped the news section to focus on life, that novel, and playing games, but I remember Gaucho.
Promoted as Latin Cowboy Adventure-Farming Sim with The Legend of Zelda influences, Epopeia’s game is bound to lift a few heads out of the bins to take note. Before you reach for your folks’ credit card, to me, this isn’t very Zelda-like at all. It’s more of a touch of Animal Crossing due to its community feel and cosy approach.
You won’t get any points for guessing that you play Gaucho in Gaucho and the Grassland. You begin with some supernatural tomfoolery where your ghostly father tasks you with ridding the chaos from the land, helping out your fellow neighbour, and just being a good ol’ human being that’s resourceful with materials and farmyard animals. Steady.
Gaucho And The Grassland Review
My first experience with Gaucho and the Grassland was a confusing one. Starting on the Steam Deck, I’d inadvertently loaded up the demo and almost immediately hit a wall. It didn’t deter me with the crafting element, which was quite moreish, but when the issue (me) was rectified and I was playing the official build, it took a little getting used as the crafting isn’t as prominent.
Straight to a girl’s heart (if I were a girl), the game presents me with some customisation options for Gaucho – not just his attire, but his very different appearance with multiple moustaches and eyebrows. They significantly change his look, and while this isn’t the game, even at the point of endgame, I’d still be dipping into trying out something new. To top that, he’s also accompanied by a customisable horse and dog, which earn additional skins with progress.
In Gaucho and the Grassland, you’re effectively doing good deeds for the community by herding cattle, building houses and creating couches, among a lot more. Like any farming game, you will be chopping down trees, and mining rocks, but instead of digging with a shovel, you can request your dog to source underground materials. Feet starting to ache? Give the horse a shout and you can ride in style.
A Side Dish Of Quests
It isn’t always clear what is expected of you, or where to source certain ingredients for crafting. Sure, you might have an image of what you need, but no tooltip to tell you what it is. As a result, the game can at times feel very linear – like you have to do something specific before the next, and that’s restricting.
The main quest is to help enough people in each biome to rid it of an evil entity. Once that’s done, you’ll traverse to a parallel world to free a guardian through a series of set pieces. As a ‘cosy’ game, Gaucho and the Grassland doesn’t feature any health or stamina gauges or game overs, but if you’re touched by a wrong ‘un, you’ll jump back to another point. Nothing remotely challenging, mind.
Even after ridding the area of the enemy, there are a fair amount of side quests that require sourcing materials and helping others to unlock cosmetics either for future quests or should you want to build Gaucho a home to don with supersize armchairs. And that area is perhaps one of my biggest reservations of Gaucho and the Grassland: the restricted crafting, unlike the demo.
The Plot
Throughout the grasslands are a number of plots that can be purchased to build homes on, cattle farms, decorative spaces and more. You don’t acquire any sort of currency and instead need a set amount of, sometimes, random materials. You purchase land from the broker, and can then start placing buildings on site, often requiring fences to keep livestock from escaping.
Here you have the opportunity to breed cows, chickens and sheep, then ravage them for their goodies to trade with the local merchant to build new tools or learn a new recipe. Again, the crafting options are quite limited, but through story progression, this gradually improves.
Though there’s no illusion that Gaucho and the Grassland is on par with Animal Crossing, it does have a lot of charming qualities. Irrespective of what hairy slug you stick under his nose, he has an abundance of character, and having your companions follow you about is a nice touch. Quite honestly, it’s easy to get lost in this enchanting little world, but I just wish there was a little more freedom with creativity and that quests weren’t so repetitive.
Gaucho And The Grassland Review Summary
Gaucho and the Grassland is a lovely little farming sim that is just the right level of accessibility and cosiness to chill for a few hours at a time. Though the game isn’t never-ending, there’s a fair amount to unlock and discover in it, and it’s not always obvious what you need to do, therefore encouraging a fair share of curiosity, and ultimately, an excuse for exploring.
