Available On: PC, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
You can never go wrong with including furry friends in a video game, but featuring them as the main stars can be tricky. No one wants to see a cute cat get hurt! The folks at indie studio Double Dagger Studio know just how to balance the zaniness of cat-dom with a safe but fun space to explore.
Is it a catastrophe? Read on for our Little Kitty, Big City review!
Cat and the City
In a high-rise apartment in a Japanese city, a black cat accidentally tumbles down (unharmed of course, cats always land on their feet), becoming lost in the city.
On their quest to return home, our feisty feline can aid over a dozen other animals (domesticated and wild) to complete various fetch quests. A father duck has lost his ducklings. A raven wants to collect shinies. A tanuki requires feathers to utilize their magical fast-travel sewer network.
Little Kitty, Big City is basically one big collectathon as you run, jump, and climb around your relatively small slice of urban playground.
The world is incredibly charming, and free from danger. Our kitty can engage in cute little emotes, playfully harass people, and steal random objects, for not reason other than just being a cat.
Although playable on the PC, we highly recommend playing this 3D adventure game with a controller. Kitty runs and jumps with ease, through precision pouncing can take a bit of practice.
Climbing is a bit more of a challenge, and the biggest roadblock in returning home.
Climbing quickly saps kitty’s stamina (not unlike Link in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild). In order to expand our stamina, we’ll need to complete certain quests and acquire fish. Only by finding all the fish and getting full stamina can kitty complete the big climb and return home (where you can promptly leave and continue exploring, if you want!).
Hat in Paw
The main quest takes only a few hours to finish. The city is fairly small, especially with fast travel. The bulk of the game is spent earning achievements and hats.
Achievements are fun to hunt for, such as finding all the napping spots, knocking over dozens of items (those poor potted plants!), and destroying old bird nests. Xbox and Steam versions have 39 achievements, which is huge for such a tiny game. Though it makes the poor trophy-less Switch version that much more inferior (in-game achievements exist, but they lack the client-wide oomph).
All versions can enjoy earning hats for kitty to wear. Hats are found in the wild, used as quest rewards, and can be purchased with shinies at special vending machines. They include cowboy hats, bunny ears, shark-heads, and all kinds of fruit and vegetable-themed attire. They’re just as adorable as you think.
Still, it would be fun to customize our cat with more than just hats. Why not full outfits? And why not a chance to change kitty’s fur or type? It may not be realistic, but neither is talking-animals and sewer-teleportation!
The Rating
Little Kitty, Big City is rated E for Everyone by the ESRB. Basic reading skills are needed to understand the animals, and 3D controls can be challenging for very young and first-time gamers. Otherwise this is a relaxing 3D adventure game that can be enjoyed by all ages.
The Takeaway
Even if you’re hunting for every hat and achievement, Little Kitty, Big City is a little on the short side. It left us wanting more of everything: more city, more customization, more skill progression, more quests. It’s a good complaint to have, as the underlying structure is there for a wonderfully cozy cat game about exploration, adventure, and cutely clowning around.
