The upcoming launch of Cat Quest 3 solidifies this because the definitive period for cats in video video games. From titles akin to Stray, Little Kitty Huge Metropolis, and 9 Sols, plainly avid gamers can’t get sufficient of of those lovely furry little pawtagonists. As a self-professed cat lover with two magnificent ginger tabbies myself, I’m all for it.
In fact, The Gentlebros have been fur-crazy since their first Cat Quest sport was launched in 2017. Now, seven years later, Cat Quest 3 will mark the third entry within the developer’s feline-inclined motion RPG collection. After sinking a handful of hours into the preview construct, I can safely say you don’t want to like cats to dig this sport. It seems to be prefer it has sufficient going for it to please any fan of whimsical motion adventures.
As with each different entry, Cat Quest 3 is an indie motion RPG, impressed by Torchlight and Zelda. Having by no means performed a Cat Quest sport earlier than, getting acquainted wasn’t a difficulty because it’s pretty simple to select up. This time round pirates are added into the fold. You are taking the reigns of a cutesy swashbuckling purrivateer as you search the seven seas for a legendary treasure.
Proper from the get-go, you’re handled to a splendidly animated opening cutscene which units the scene. After your ship is destroyed at sea, our younger hero is saved by an lovely blue cat ghost, Captain Cappey. Right away you end up on an island prepared to search out the famed North Star treasure.
That’s all of the backstory you get, and fairly frankly, it’s all I really want. Simply from the few hours I received to play, it’s clear this isn’t essentially the most refined story on the market. However that’s okay. It serves extra as a set dressing for the sport’s whimsical and colourful tone.
That is most obvious in Cat Quest 3’s incessant use of cat puns. Nearly every little thing is a cat pun on this sport; it’s chock-full of them. It pervades every little thing, from areas, to characters, and even dialogue. It may possibly induce the odd cringe and eye roll once in a while.
As you might inform from this preview, I respect a very good pun with the perfect of them. Nevertheless, even I discovered it a bit tiresome after some time. It’s one thing followers of the collection will undoubtedly be aware of (and sure love), nevertheless it’s price flagging for many who might have a low tolerance for such issues. Both manner, the story and plot in Cat Quest 3 appear primarily to serve the actual meat and potatoes of the sport: its exploration.
Exploration is the place Cat Quest 3 actually shines. First off, every little thing is beautiful to have a look at. As with the earlier Cat Quest video games, it has a delightfully vibrant and colourful visible model. It expertly merges the two.5D motion of Cult of the Lamb with the distinctive character fashions of Paper Mario. The textures and draw distances are additionally one thing to behold. They appear to be an enchancment on earlier iterations within the collection. It’s a pleasure to see the brilliant visuals pop on the display.
This vibrant backdrop serves the sport’s exploration splendidly. Consistent with its pirate theme, Cat Quest 3 introduces ship traversal to the collection. It’s a very good factor, too, because the map is stuffed with small islands to discover. Fortunately, you may embark and disembark out of your ship at a whim.
Ship gameplay is surprisingly speedy. You simply hop straight on and may zoom and zip rapidly to the place you want to go. It’s a good way of getting round as you discover the islands, caves, dungeons, and puzzles that litter the map. There’s a pleasant combine between ship and on-foot traversal, providing you with a deeper sense of freedom as you get about.
Every island additionally has a specific amount of treasure to find. It’s all tracked in your map with a inexperienced checkmark after discovering every little thing, which my internal completionist is grateful for. You can even play all the sport in co-op, which makes the exploration much more enjoyable. Finally, there appears to be a powerful quantity of content material on supply. It makes me very intrigued to expertise extra when the complete sport drops in August.
Whereas swashbuckling your manner by means of Cat Quest 3’s vibrant world, you’ll be getting in loads of battles and skirmishes with pesky pi-rat enemies. As an motion RPG, the sport options real-time fight with melee, ranged, and magic assaults. Initially, the melee fight feels a bit of lackluster, as you initially solely get a fundamental slashing transfer and a dodge roll. It feels positive and serves its goal, nevertheless it’s positively not as attention-grabbing as a extra animation-based fight system that you just’d discover in Darkish Souls or the newer No Relaxation for the Depraved. Nevertheless, with the Cat Quest 3’s a lot youthful viewers, maybe that is for the perfect.
Whereas finishing aspect quests, dungeons, and caves, you’ll discover higher gear, weapons, and trinkets. As you accumulate higher tools, the fight begins to open up a bit extra. Melee weapons behave in another way relying on their kind, whereas spells add a pleasant little bit of selection whenever you need to do some harm from afar. Maybe essentially the most attention-grabbing gear kind is Cat Quest 3’s trinkets. These every grant a particular capability and in addition increase your important stats. They appear like a great way so as to add selection to your construct. It makes essentially the most sense in co-op whenever you’re working to enrich one another’s talent units.
Speaking of stats, Cat Quest 3 has well being, assault, magic, and armor stats that you would be able to improve with gear and by leveling up from finishing quests and defeating enemies. Your ship even has its personal stats, with weapons and upgrades you may change out on the fly. It’s too early to inform how all of it will coalesce to serve the sport as an entire, however I did get pleasure from my time experimenting with its motion RPG parts thus far. I hope to see extra construct selection and kinds at launch.
All in all, I loved my restricted time with Cat Quest 3. Whereas it doesn’t supply essentially the most refined story or complicated fight system, it left me excited to sail the open seas of the Purribean. By far, my favourite side of the sport is its rewarding exploration and lovely and delightfully whimsical feline-inspired visuals (regardless of getting in a bit heavy with the cat puns). The RPG-esque stats system and potential for attention-grabbing gear go away me intrigued by the sorts of builds I can create as I get deeper into the sport. I’ll have to attend and see the way it will all come collectively when Cat Quest 3 formally releases in August.