There’s never been a better moment to be a video game player who loves cats than now, and Little Kitty Big City may have just about summed up everything it means to be a cat.
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, GeForce Now, Microsoft Windows
Initial release date:Â 2024
Developer:Â Double Dagger Studio
Mode:Â Single-player video game
License:Â proprietary license
Genres: Adventure game, Indie game, Simulation video game, Platform game, Casual game, Adventure
Publisher:Â Double Dagger Studio
You enter Little Kitty Big City and are greeted by a cute black cat with the largest green eyes you have ever seen. Naturally, as cats do, danger finds them practically right away. After spending some quiet time relaxing on their owner’s window, your cat ends up falling to the city streets because they are too hungry to get back up. Soon after, you come across a resourceful crow who feeds you fish to help you regain your strength. From that point on, you can follow the path to realizing your dream of going home. However, there’s a lot to discover in the city, so perhaps going home can wait a little while?
A few diversions are worth bringing your attention to, even if you can easily focus on obtaining the fish and going home after playing Little Kitty Big City in this respectably sized open-world city. You’ll get to meet a range of creatures in need of your assistance, including ducks, chameleons, and other cats. All of their requests have quite distinct goals and produce adorable, frequently humorous outcomes that go well with the laid-back vibe of the game. For instance, the chameleon notices that you are playing hide-and-seek with him, and the duck will ask you to locate his distracted ducklings in different places, such as an arcade. The majority of these missions will require you to solve some kind of problem, most of which have an obvious solution, but given the tone of the game, I didn’t mind it too much. I just want to have fun and assist this dog in finding his tennis balls; I’m not playing this game to rack my brains trying to solve a challenging puzzle.
Being cat-sized makes the game’s relatively tiny city area feel much larger than it is, even though it may not be particularly huge in comparison to most other games. You’ll be able to leap and scale buildings as your cat, reaching some breathtaking heights. Maybe you’ll find a new quest, lots of “shinies” that you can trade in for hats at capsule machines, or maybe it’s just a nice place for your cat to slumber. The game’s only problem is its erratic leaping controls, which are exacerbated by the fact that each new fish you eat increases your cat’s stamina meter in the vein of Breath of the Wild, enabling you to reach higher altitudes. To leap, you can either tap the button or hold it down for a “precision jump,” which lets you aim your jump and shows you where it will land with an arch. This works well most of the time; but, occasionally your cat might not automatically mantle onto a ledge, or you might have attempted to jump something improperly, both of which would have left you tumbling back onto the city streets. Returning to your starting point normally doesn’t take too long, but in certain areas of the map, it might be a little annoying because it needs more precise controls than the game has.
Putting aside iffy platforming, there’s nothing quite therapeutic about enjoying cat mischief; you can scale balconies to tip over potted plants and watch them explode, or trip over people and steal their lunch or phone. Additionally, you can accessorize your cat with an array of charming headgear, ranging from a wizard hat to a watermelon head, which can be discovered sporadically across the game’s universe or amassed at random via the city’s numerous capsule machines. It’s a fantastic method to inspire you to stroll around the entire city in search of fresh hats. Every element of the game bears witness to the fact that its creator is a cat lover and enthusiast.
Review Overview
Gameplay – 88%
Story – 80%
Aesthetics – 90%
Content – 85%
Accessibility – 82%
Value – 87%
Overall Rating – 86%
Very Good
Summary: Playing a game designed specifically for cat lovers on a chilly afternoon is Little Kitty Big City.