The Cowherd Boy

Story premise

On an early autumn afternoon after the rain, Zhou He, a boy tending cattle, bends down to adjust his shoes. When he straightens up, the grassy slope before him is empty. The three cows are nowhere to be seen. Hoofprints in the wet mud lead toward the foot of the mountain, while the road back to the village lies behind him. Should he ask an adult for help first, or follow the mountain path for a while? You will join him in examining traces along the way, looking for evidence among blades of grass, mud, and the faint sound of bells to decide where to go next.

Content overview

The Cowherd Boy is an interactive film game about searching for missing cattle in the countryside. The village, fields, mountain paths, and woodland form the setting for the search. Natural light, everyday details, and restrained camerawork gradually build suspense around an unexpected turn in a routine farming task. The rustle of grass, the sound of shoes pressing into mud, and the distant ringing of brass bells also become part of your observations. You can examine environmental hotspots, record your findings in a clue notebook, revisit footage, and compare the age of traces and the direction of sounds to infer where the cattle have gone. At key decision points, you will help Zhou He decide whether to seek help, how to explain what he knows, and whether to keep searching for more evidence. When information is uncertain, you can also pause to check it or revise your judgment when new clues emerge. The search tests both your powers of observation and the way you make decisions. How you interpret the traces before you, whether you are willing to acknowledge uncertainty, and how you communicate with adults will all influence the course of this search for the cattle.

Mild tension involving a child searching mountain paths alone, trapped livestock, and searching at dusk.

Suggested age: General