Buenas, tchê!

Epopeia Games is releasing its fifth game, Gaucho and the Grassland, which has as its theme Gaucho culture, folklore, the mystical world, and the farm. The Brazilian developer was at the BIG Festival event (the most important independent game festival in Latin America) with an open stand to exhibit the game, which brought greater recognition to the company.

I am very honored to have the opportunity to play the demo of a Brazilian game, especially since it is a farm simulator (a genre that I am incredibly passionate about) and is such a calm and comfortable game to play that we can stay there for hours and still not get sick.

When I started the game, I could choose the look of my character, and something I found curious is that right there I saw that I would start with two "pets": a dog and a horse, for which I could also choose the color of the coat. So, I finalized my preferences and stepped onto the gaucho lands for the first time, together with my two adventure companions, to start my exploration.



The first thing I noticed about the game was the voice acting. It's simply brilliant, being very particular and having a strong presence at all times. My character's lines were very cool and funny, and with every major action or even a different movement, she would say something intrinsic to the accent of the region.

I felt like I was in Rio Grande do Sul, visiting a farm and talking to the people who work there. It was one of the most striking points of the game, which I realized was really well planned and executed.

Exploring the pampas

Gaucho and the Grassland is simply one of the best farm simulators I've played. I like the style of the game, and even though it's still in the demo, it's already very promising.

The fact that it has this theme was something that captivated me a lot. Right from the start, I was already enjoying the experience just because of the strong southern accent, which is very striking and brings a whole identity to the work.

And also for addressing folklore, which is very present in Brazil. It was a very interesting and fun method to bring this idea to life in a game since it can reach an audience of all ages and delight many people.



Many elements are addressed here, such as Boitatá himself, the great fire serpent protector of the forests. You have your farm and many others to explore, and, when you go a bit further, you find an enchanted forest. That's where he lives, and you need to complete the mission of building some totems to free that region.

So, another point that catches my attention is the quest system, which is very well-rounded here. In addition to making several missions available at the same time (allowing the player to have the freedom to choose which way he wants to go or what he wants to focus on first), they are well-instructed and easy to complete.

This way, you don't get stuck in slow and long tasks, and you can change your path at any time. There are many things to do in the game, from building totems, fetching and acquiring animals, collecting artifacts, and mining. We can't forget that, besides the game having a nice narrative, it is a farm simulator, and you have to take care of your space as a producer and explorer of mystical lands.



With little time in gameplay, you already see yourself with many items that will be used until the end of your trajectory, such as weapons (machetes, picks, axes, etc.) and materials (leaves, stones, wood, and ropes).

In the game's progress, the dog is our greatest companion since it digs and finds essential items so that we can continue our exploration. And also, as mentioned before, we have the help of a horse to move faster through the terrain.

The game has very good dubbing, and being from a Brazilian developer, it has a lot of presence. It has three languages to choose from: Portuguese, English, and Spanish. There is a character, the "Negrinho do Pastoreio", who is a narrator that gives us tips and explains several missions that are given to us during the game (a compliment here because it is a super well-characterized and useful NPC).



About the audio, the only problem I found was that sometimes when my character was talking and I started an action at the same moment, her speech cut in the middle of the sentence to start another different one, generating a break.

And, in that sense, because it is a demo, it is super normal that there are some technical problems or small flaws. Something that I understand was the creator's intention and not a bug is the possibility of swimming or passing through some (invisible) walls of the game.

For me, the character being kind of "locked" to walk near the rocks and mountains and not being able to pass near the water (or even dive) also generates a break in the gameplay, like a pause.

In addition to these items, what also bothered me in a way was the mission system itself. In general, it is great and works perfectly, but a common problem in some simulation games is the repetition of missions. Some tasks need to be done more than once throughout the game, and it is something that loses its charm over time. Novelty, a new building that is harder to achieve, has a higher appreciation than small missions, even at the beginning of the game.



I fully understand that at the beginning it serves as an introduction so that the game is well presented to the consumer and that he starts the journey little by little, but even after hours of gameplay, continuing to produce initial items slows down the pace a little.

This is also part of the question of freedom of choice—how you will take the game. If you prefer to follow the story, discovering fragments little by little to understand the context, if you prefer large and significant buildings, or even if you prefer to explore the animals, create your herd, and make an income, Depending on how you prefer to play if you choose to discover every bit of the game calmly, this system will be no problem for you.

With this, the game allows you to shape your home and your life, conquering new terrains in different biomes and living life in the countryside, just like a "true gaucho", as Epopeia itself says!



Mystical World

Besides all the settings in Gaucho culture, the game has many features specifically from the pampas territory of Rio Grande do Sul. Something I noticed was that it feels like we are floating on an island, since the relief that best represents the region is the plains (large areas of pasture where the herds develop), which give just that impression.

The art style of the game is unique. I found it different because the characters are drawn without eyes, with the hair and hat covering that part of the face, which is a very strong element of the culture. The use of hats in the game is for all characters, from the main character to the NPCs, and it is even a "symbol" of that state.

With vibrant, vivid, and very striking colors, the "gauchos game" has beautiful graphics, with drawings that match the story of the game. The visuals of Boitatá were an element that impressed me a lot; it is a mystical being that passes all its energy through the traces and bright colors, which express in a certain way all its potential in the game.

The video graphics of Gaucho and the Grassland are also very fluid, and the characters, animals, scenarios, and figures are very well animated. All the components of the game are well drawn and have a lot of detail, and something that I value a lot in games is the work of the artist, who manages to convey the identity and function of that work to the player.

Taking into account that the game asks for 8 GB of RAM, a Core i3 processor, and any video card as minimum requirements, I played on a PC with 16GB of RAM, an Intel Core i5-9400F processor, and a GTX 1050 Ti video card. I did not suffer any bugs or glitches; the game ran perfectly. It does not require much of the computer and is a very light game.