The Culling of the Cows

The Culling of the Cows is a defense game where you control the gun-wielding farmer Sammy who needs to protect his farm against waves of diseased animals and creatures through different levels. Each level takes place in a single screen with the farmer on the left and the farm behind him. Shown from a 2D sideview, the farmer can be moved freely in four directions. The attacks always come from the right and that is also the only shooting direction. The goal is generally to survive the waves without letting too many creatures pass. The maximum amount is shown near the top of the screen. There are however also levels where not a single one can pass and boss fights solely based around shooting.

Sammy wields a shotgun and needs to reload regularly. A free supply drop can be called in every now and then to receive cash, an ammo refill, slowed down time, invincibility or infinite bullets. Cash can be used to purchase different types of ammo, such as piercing rounds or explosive ones. There are also four types of upgrades that can be bought with cash, such as more room for ammo, more rounds per reload, more powerful bullets and a laser sight to help aiming.

Some levels provide a number of assists that can be activated and have a cooldown time afterwards. These is a saw that protects the barn, a wall of fire, grenades, bombs dropping from the sky, a sentry gun on top of the barn and more. Contact with a creature is instant death and then the level and all waves need to be started over. Enemies include mutated cows that are either slow, charge, carry explosives or zigzag up and down. There are also crows that drop down from the sky, zombies, baseball guys that require two hits and more. Levels are selected from a main farm level map and they all have optional, secondary objectives.