Wild Indigo Ranch balances cozy ranching with cowboy action
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Wild Indigo Ranch is built out of two great concepts: a chill, Stardew Valley-esque ranch simulator, and the core gameplay loop of survival sandbox games. The player arrives on the Western frontier to collect their inheritance from a mysteriously deceased uncle. Turns out that inheritance is Wild Indigo Ranch, a run-down shack on a patch of dirt surrounded by bandits, coyotes, and the nefarious Grit Corp.
This game has co-op for up to four players, and while I played it solo, I can see myself returning with my husband or a good friend in tow. This town, luckily, is big enough for the both of us. The early game is very familiar to anyone who has played a crafting game; I have to punch trees and pick up stones to build basic tools, which allow me to build a workbench and start fixing up the ranch. The graphics are super stylized, with an isometric angle. Each character looks like a little egg, and the animation for my rancher’s run cycle consistently gave me a giggle.
Unfortunately for me, I’m a city slicker who doesn’t know how to create all the tools and supplies I need to survive out here in my new home, and so I have to set out and brave the hostile frontier in order to meet my neighbors and get their help. This game was originally titled Don’t Die in the West, which is great advice, but easier said than done.
It takes me a bit of time to master my slingshot skills, and eventually I need to build some firearms at the ranch. But it’s not all grit and gunfire in this game; after chatting with a couple of nearby neighbors, I get the ability to draw animals in with a lasso and build structures, like a humble chicken coop. By building garden boxes, I can plant my own crops, which I can cook into meals. Wild Indigo Ranch has a similar food system to Valheim, another excellent survival crafter. I can eat up to three meals at once that offer various bonuses, like boosting my health bar or giving me extra damage against bandits. If I don’t eat, I don’t get hunger pangs; I’m just a weak little guy with a tiny health pool, easy game for robbers and rattlesnakes.
My neighbors give me quests, which are filed away in a journal. The game won’t mark quest objectives for me; I’m expected to remember the location of things within each subzone. This encourages exploration, and I enjoyed keeping a little journal of the people I met and what they needed. But on the other hand, I found it can be frustrating to need something from a neighbor — a new recipe, perhaps — only for them to have wandered away from their usual spot.
Wild Indigo Ranch originally came out in November 2023 and has been in early access since. Today’s update marks the 1.0 release of the game. As someone who has played Stardew to death, but finds games like Project Zomboid to be a little too in-depth, this co-op experience looks like it’ll scratch a satisfying itch. It’s still plenty of fun solo, and I’m looking forward to executing the aspirational HGTV vision of a residential ranch that I’ve cooked up in my mind while clearing out bandit camps and investigating the mysterious Grit Corp.
Wild Indigo Ranch was released in early access on Nov. 9, 2023, on Windows PC. The 1.0 version of the game was reviewed on PC using a pre-release download code provided by Funday Games. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.
