Hello Ranchers!

A new update is now available! 🔥
Please make sure your game is updated to version 0.8.10.842 or later.

This update focuses heavily on quest progression, ranching stability, and quality-of-life improvements based on the issues you’ve been reporting.

• Fixed a major issue where quests could fail to advance or validate correctly in certain scenarios.

• Fixed an issue where animals could become incorrectly associated with their barn or coop in certain scenarios.
  
• Fixed an intermittent issue where animals could lose their barn or coop association when advancing to their next growth stage.
  
• Fixed an intermittent issue where animals could incorrectly appear as starving after advancing to their next growth stage.
  
• Fixed an intermittent issue where barns and coops could display an incorrect number of linked animals in certain scenarios.
  
• Fixed an issue where animals could repeatedly turn around before entering or exiting a barn or coop.
  
• Fixed an issue where an animal could disappear if both the player and the animal exited the barn or coop on the exact same frame.
  
• Fixed an issue where animals could move underneath barns or coops built over rivers.

• Increased the maximum number of stackable items that can be purchased from a shop at once from 20 to 200.
  
• Increased the maximum number of non-stackable items that can be purchased at once from 20 to 50.
  
• Increased the maximum number of items that can be crafted at once from 20 to 50.

Thank you again for all your bug reports, feedback, and continued support. Every report helps us track down these tricky edge cases and make The Ranchers more stable with each update. ❤️

Happy ranching everyone, and stay tuned for more updates! 😉

Hello Ranchers!

A new hotfix is now available!

Please make sure your game is updated to version 0.8.10.562 or later.



This hotfix focuses heavily on improving the stability of farm animals, barns, and coops.

• Fixed a major intermittent issue that could cause animals to disappear when entering their barn or coop at night.
  
• Fixed a major issue that could cause chicks 🐥 to disappear when progressing to their next growth stage.
  
• Fixed an issue where chicks 🐥 could become stuck inside the coop after progressing to their next growth stage.
  
• Fixed a major issue where newborn mammals could fail to appear inside the barn or coop.
  
• Fixed an issue where animals could fail to appear inside their barn or coop when loading the game in certain scenarios.
  
• Fixed an issue where animals could become stuck between the barn or coop and its doors, making them appear missing or lost.
  
• Fixed a major issue where a roped animal could freeze after traveling with it using the Subway.
  
• Fixed a major issue where a roped animal could remain stuck outside when entering the Veterinary Clinic.
  
• Replaced the “Failed to hatch” label on infertile eggs with “Infertile” for better clarity.
  
• Fixed the localization of “Pet” (the action of petting an animal) across supported languages.

❤️ I also want to give a huge thank you to Alfa and Jenoula for helping me test the ranching systems. Tracking down these intermittent bugs required running hundreds of simulations and repeating the same scenarios over and over, and their help made a real difference. Thank you both from the bottom of my heart!❤️

• Fixed an issue where roofs would not hide correctly when the player was standing on garage foundations.

• Fixed an issue where vehicles could not be interacted with when parked directly in front of the AutoHue garage entrance.

• Fixed an issue that could prevent the game from correctly detecting Steam Families / Family Sharing in certain scenarios and regions.

---

More hotfixes and updates are on the way!

Thank you again for all your reports, patience, and support. 💚

Happy ranching everyone! 🤠

Hello Ranchers! 🤠💚

A new hotfix is now available on Steam! 🔥🔥🔥

Please make sure your game is updated to version 0.8.10.455 or later.


This update addresses two major issues:

• Fixed an issue where the game could remain stuck on the loading screen when Steam was running in Offline Mode.
  
• Fixed an issue that prevented players from joining a friend’s co-op session in certain situations.

*The Ranchers* is fully playable offline and does not require an internet connection for solo play. The game will now correctly detect when Steam is running in Offline Mode.

Please note that online features, including co-op multiplayer, still require you to be signed in and online on Steam.


Bugs can be part of the Early Access journey, but we are working hard to investigate and fix every issue you report, one by one!

If you encounter a bug, please report it through our dedicated Steam Bug Reports forum. You can also join our Discord server if you need assistance.


If you’re enjoying the game so far, please consider leaving us a review on Steam.

Reviews help The Ranchers enormously, improve the game’s visibility, and make a real difference during the Early Access launch.

Every review truly means a lot. Thank you so much for your support! 💚

Happy ranching! 🤠

Hello Ranchers! 🤠💚

Today is finally here!


The Ranchers is available to purchase now on Steam! 🎉🎉🎉

Reaching this milestone means more to me than I can put into words. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for supporting The Ranchers and for being part of this incredible journey.

Your patience, encouragement, feedback, and belief in the game have helped bring us this far. I’m truly grateful to have you with us as we begin this new chapter together. ❤️❤️❤️

🚀 Once you’ve had a chance to play, please consider leaving us a review on Steam. It helps the game enormously and makes a real difference during the Early Access launch. 🚀

The Ranchers is also available in a special bundle with Solarpunk, offering an additional discount when purchasing both games.


Early Access is only the beginning. We still have many exciting features, improvements, and major updates planned for The Ranchers, including:

• ⛏️ Mines, Combat & Monsters
  
• 🦌 Wildlife & Hunting
  
• And much more!

Thank you once again for believing in this project and helping make this moment possible.

The Ranchers is available now. See you in Harvest Hills! 🤠💚🔥

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1501310/The_Ranchers/

Hello Ranchers!!! 💚

The wait is finally coming to an end...

I'm incredibly excited to announce that :


This is a moment I've been dreaming about for years.

From the very first prototype to today, The Ranchers has been a journey filled with challenges, lessons, excitement, and countless hours of work. Reaching Early Access is a huge milestone, and honestly, it wouldn't have been possible without your support, feedback, patience, and belief in the project.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for being part of this adventure. ❤️

When Early Access launches, you'll be able to continue the story, complete new quests, raise animals, expand your ranch, explore more of the world, and play together with your friends like never before.

And this is only the beginning.

We have many exciting features, improvements, and surprises planned for the road ahead, and I can't wait to continue building The Ranchers together with all of you.

Thank you again for being here and helping make this dream a reality.

See you on July 30th! 🤠💚,

Ethan

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1501310/The_Ranchers/

Hi Ranchers,

I know it's been a little while since the last update, but I can assure you I've been cooking hard behind the scenes! 😄

In addition to the incremental updates released over the past two months, a new major update is now available. Make sure your game is updated to version 0.8.10.420 or later.

Let's dive into what's new!


One of the biggest focuses of this update has been driving.

Every vehicle in the game has been rebalanced and upgraded with a completely revised driving system designed to make vehicles feel more stable, responsive, and enjoyable to drive while preserving the unique personality of each vehicle category, whether it's a sports car, muscle car, pickup truck, or utility vehicle.

This overhaul represented a significant amount of development work, and I'm genuinely happy with the results. A huge thank you to everyone who shared feedback during the demo. Your comments helped shape many of these improvements.❤️


Introducing My Garage, a brand-new smartphone app that allows you to manage all of your vehicles in one place.

With My Garage you can:

• View every vehicle you currently own.
  
• Send broken, destroyed, drowned, or stuck vehicles to the mechanic for repairs.
  
• Repaired vehicles will automatically be returned to the nearest Car Pound parking location.
  
• Manage vehicles that have been seized after being left outside your ranch or outside designated Overnight Parking locations.
  
• Recover impounded vehicles directly through the app.

A quick reminder:

• Starting with this update, vehicles left outside your ranch or outside a designated Overnight Parking location will be impounded and transported to the Car Pound. To help with this, 17 Overnight Parking locations have been added throughout the map.
  
• Stolen vehicles must first receive new license plates at AutoHue before they can be managed through My Garage.
  
• Stolen vehicles with forged license plates that are left outside your ranch or a designated Overnight Parking location will be permanently seized by the police. There is no way to recover them. Crime doesn't pay! 😄

When a main quest requires you to drive from one location to another, you can now choose to skip the driving segment.
Your vehicle, along with all passengers (players, NPCs, and farm animals), will be transported directly to the destination.

This feature is designed to reduce downtime and let players focus on the parts of the experience they enjoy most. Available only in selected quests.


Getting around Sunvale just got easier!

• You can now use the Subway for local travel. 🎉
  
• You can travel together with your attached or roped animals. 🐄
  
• Added 8 new subway stations, bringing the total to 15 stations, providing much better coverage of the current world map and points of interest.

Added full support for:

• PlayStation 3 controllers
  
• PlayStation 4 controllers
  
• PlayStation 5 controllers

Including proper PlayStation button icons throughout the game.

• Reduced traffic density near the airport to prevent traffic jams.
  
• Fixed an issue where bicycle front wheels were not turning correctly.
  
• Fixed several edge cases where abandoned or failed quests could not be restarted properly.
  
• Fixed an issue where vehicles with broken engines were not displaying smoke effects.
  
• Quest vehicles now correctly fail related quests if their engine becomes irreparably damaged.
  
• Fixed an issue where player-owned vehicle icons were not always displayed on the map.
  
• Fixed a major bug where NPC-owned vehicles could be incorrectly saved into player save files.
  
• Multiple minor bug fixes and stability improvements.

My current priorities remain:

• Auto-harvesting for plantation crops, so vegetables can be collected all at once instead of one by one.
  
• Jump mechanic improvements.
  
• Additional bug fixes and quality-of-life improvements.

---


For now, I simply want to thank everyone who has taken the time to play the demo, leave feedback, report bugs, and share their thoughts. The amount of feedback we've received has been incredibly valuable and has helped me identify exactly where the game needs the most attention before Early Access.❤️❤️❤️


The demo will be taken down on Friday, 12 June 2026, so if you haven't had a chance to try it yet, now is the perfect time!

Thank you once again for your patience, support, and belief in The Ranchers. It truly means the world to me.

See you soon 💚

Ethan


https://store.steampowered.com/app/1501310/The_Ranchers/

Hello Ranchers 💚

I hope you’re having an amazing Next Fest!

As promised, I’m back with a follow-up to my previous post. Alongside the AI cleanup, I’ve been working heavily on bug fixes and quality-of-life improvements based directly on your feedback.

The reviews and messages you’ve shared have been incredibly valuable. There have been so many thoughtful suggestions, and over the past few days, addressing them has been my top priority. Your feedback truly shapes the game. ❤️❤️❤️

There’s still more on my list, and I’m continuing to work through the backlog, but I wanted to keep you updated on the most important changes already implemented.

Here are the highlights from the latest update:

• Ranchers.ID has been removed. The game now uses Steam ticket authentication for all connected features. Existing players are automatically migrated.
  
• Added a Gameplay setting to adjust Phone Call text speed.
  
• The game now pauses in solo mode when using the Feedback App or Settings App.
  
• Game Settings are now accessible directly from the ESC menu.
  
• The second ranch door remains locked during the first quest (driving back to the ranch) to avoid confusion.
  
• ESC now both opens and closes the menu.

I’ve reworked and simplified controls across all gameplay modes:

• Camera rotation is now mapped to Right Mouse Button.
  
• All primary tool actions (axe, pickaxe, etc.) are now on Left Mouse Button.
  
• Building/Hammer placement now requires only one button to place or edit blueprints (previously two).
  
• Long-range weapons now require only one button to aim.
  
• Secondary items (Torch, etc.) are now mapped to keyboard inputs.
  
• Added QWERTZ keyboard layout support (Germany, Austria, etc.).

Camera responsiveness has been refined to better match player input:

• Reduced acceleration and deceleration to remove the “snapping” effect.
  
• Smoother, more predictable movement overall.

A new Camera Settings section has been added:

• Camera Movement Speed
  
• Camera Zoom Speed
  
• Automatic Camera Recenter – On Foot (Disabled by default), When enabled, the camera automatically rotates to align with the player’s direction, without requiring any manual input
  
• Automatic Camera Recenter – In Vehicle (Enabled by default)
  
• Automatic Camera Recentering Latency (Default: 0.5s) - Helps with motion sickness.
  → Controls how quickly the camera realigns
  → Lower value = faster recentering
  → Helps reduce motion sickness
  
• Auto Reset Camera Zoom (Disabled by default)
  → When enabled, zoom adjusts automatically depending on context
  → When disabled, zoom remains stable while driving

• Added option to Auto Equip Hammer after placement (Default ON).
  
• Added option to Auto Re-Equip Same Blueprint after placement (Default OFF).
  
• Added clearer error messages when placing blueprints:

→ On unpurchased farm parcels
→ In unauthorized zones or interiors
→ When colliding or failing placement requirements
→ When exceeding City Hall building height limits

• Fixed Settings menu not closing during cutscenes.
  
• Fixed rare spawn under terrain when skipping intro cutscene.
  
• Fixed certain SMS messages appearing twice.
  
• Fixed minimap GPS looping in specific zones.
  
• Fixed falling through ranch docks.
  
• Fixed falling through props near the casino exterior.

My next priorities, based on your feedback:

• Driving balance (Highest priority, but it’s a bigger task)
  
• Jump tweaking
  
• Auto harvest for plantation vegetables instead of harvesting one by one.
  
• Additional bug fixes

Thank you again for the incredible feedback and support.

See you on Discord [ranchers.game]and the Steam Forums, and make sure to play the demo while it’s still available 💚

Ethan

Hello Ranchers!

What a week it’s been. 🔥

Seeing the demo in your hands during Steam Next Fest has been an incredible milestone for us. Watching you explore the world, stream the game, and share your thoughts has been both exciting and motivating. ❤️

We’ve been reading every review and piece of feedback carefully. That’s the purpose of this demo, to learn, adjust, and make The Ranchers stronger.

Over the past few days, I’ve been fully focused on improvements. Bug fixes and quality-of-life updates are underway and will be shared in a dedicated post soon.

Today, I want to address one specific topic clearly.

After reviewing community feedback, we’ve decided to remove all AI-generated elements from the game.

Some players felt these elements didn’t align with the experience we want to deliver. We agree that the game should feel cohesive and intentional, so we’ve taken action.

Here are the changes:

Game version: 0.8.10.235 - Available now on Steam.

- Removed NPC phone call voiceovers, replaced with dialogue-style audio cues
- Removed the NPC dialogue Q&A mechanic for visitors and resident NPCs
- Replaced loading screens with the main game illustration (temporary solution, gameplay tip screens will be implemented later)
- Removed all AI-generated artworks, including wall paintings
- Replaced AI-generated car radio music with licensed music

For streamers, we’re also preparing a solution to ensure you won’t face copyright issues while broadcasting.

We’re building this game together, step by step, and every update brings it closer to the experience we want to deliver at Early Access.

If you’re enjoying the demo, leaving a Steam review helps us tremendously. And as always, keep sharing your feedback, it directly shapes what comes next.❤️❤️❤️

More updates very soon.

Ethan

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1501310/The_Ranchers/

Hello Ranchers!!

Today is the day, The Ranchers demo is finally live!🔥

To celebrate this incredible milestone, I’m excited to share our brand-new demo trailer with you:

The goal of this demo is simple, to give everyone a first taste of The Ranchers, share the heart of what we’re building, and shape its future together with you. ❤️

We’ve put a lot of care into making this demo as smooth and enjoyable as possible. At the same time, the game is still actively in development, so you might come across a few bugs or small hiccups along the way. If that happens, we’d truly appreciate you letting us know through the Steam forums, or even better, on our Discord[ranchers.game], where I and our amazing community can help you directly.

Once again, thank you for being part of this journey. We are building this together!❤️❤️❤️

With love,

Ethan


https://store.steampowered.com/app/1501310/The_Ranchers/

Hello Ranchers 💚

In less than 48 hours, the demo of The Ranchers will finally be live.🔥🔥🔥

I’m incredibly excited, but also deeply humbled, to share years of work, love, and dedication with you. Building a game with the scope and freedom of The Ranchers, while being a very small team led by a solo developer, is honestly a bit of madness.🤯

None of this would be possible without the support, patience, and trust you’ve given us along the way. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for believing in this crazy project and for helping us get here. ❤️❤️❤️

In this demo, you’ll arrive in Sunvale City, where your new ranch is waiting. Since you’re new to the city, you’ll start from scratch. You’ll create your first fields, buy seeds, craft the early parts of your home, meet villagers, grow crops, visit shops, drive into the city center, and begin shaping your new life.

The demo experience covers roughly the first 1.5 hours of the main questline. There is no time limit per play session, so you can explore and experiment at your own pace. The demo will be available from February 12th (10 am PDT / 18h GMT) until March 2nd.

Some features that are already part of the full game, such as co-op multiplayer, ranching systems, and certain building blueprints and interiors, won’t be available in this demo. You’ll be able to experience them in future demos or when we reach Early Access.

The goal of this demo is simple, to give everyone a first taste of The Ranchers, show you the heart of what we’re building, and shape its future together with you.❤️

We’ve done our absolute best to make this demo as smooth and enjoyable as possible. That said, the game is still actively in development, so you may encounter some bugs, glitches, or performance issues, especially on lower-end hardware. If you do, please let us know through the Steam forums, or even better, on our Discord[ranchers.game], where I and our amazing community can help directly.

You’ll also find a Feedback app inside your in-game smartphone, allowing you to share thoughts, ideas, and feedback while you’re playing.

Once again, thank you for being part of this journey.
We’re beyond excited to finally put the game in your hands and can’t wait to hear what you think as we move toward Early Access. 💚🔥❤️

With love,
Ethan

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1501310/The_Ranchers/