After playing two good but unspectacular cat games in the past few years (Stray and Little Kitty, Big City), I started to stereotype cat games. If I’m playing as a cat in your game, I started to feel like I knew exactly what to expect. Cat games resemble… cats shockingly. They’re cute and quirky. And much like taking care of a cat is a bit lower maintenance than taking care of a dog, they tend to be pretty easy.
Then I played Cat Quest 3 and came to a new realization. Cats have claws, too. And while Cat Quest 3 does have the charm and quirkiness you’d expect out of a cat game, it’s not afraid to punish you either. This isn’t just a video game for cat lovers to go “aww” at. This is actually a somewhat hardcore open world RPG, and whether you are a cat person or not, this is a game worth digging your claws into.
Cat Quest 3 Is Basically a Soulslike (This Isn’t True… But Also… It Kind Of Is… If You Are Really Liberal With Your Definition Of Soulslike)
After a little story cutscene intro that was well done visually but relatively uninteresting, Cat Quest 3 unleashes you into its open world. You can explore on foot or by sea (this is also a pirate game) in search of the “North Star” treasure. There is also lots of other loot to be found in both the open world and in the many dungeons scattered across each of the continents in the game.
The first thing that surprised me when I started getting into the gameplay is that the game was not telling me exactly where to go. You can find hints with certain markers, but Cat Quest 3 plops you into its open world and basically just says “go explore”. This was a very welcome surprise. The open world is not huge, but it feels like just the right size. Each continent also tells you how many different treasure chests you can find on it. So, while you have a lot of freedom in Cat Quest 3, it’s never overwhelming or frustrating in any way.
There are a nice mix of activities on each continent. Sometimes, there are enemies to fight so that you can unlock a treasure chest. Sometimes, there are simple sidequests. There are dungeons to explore on almost every continent, and there are occasional light puzzles to solve. All of this combines for pretty varied exploration that I found consistently enjoyable. Perhaps the most surprising thing about this structure is that there is no level scaling in the open world. Cat Quest 3 gives you a lot of freedom, but it will also absolutely kick your ass if you go to the wrong continent before you are ready. I loved this because it made the RPG elements infinitely more rewarding. It was very satisfying when I went to a continent that I was too weak for a few hours before and suddenly was able to whoop some ass.
The exploration of the game also stays consistently rewarding throughout thanks to an excellent currency system. I play a lot of RPGs these days where I feel like I’m never in need of money as long as I do some side quests along with the main missions. This is not the case with Cat Quest 3. While the game does have a fair bit of equipment that you can find and equip, the main point is more to find equipment that has a perk you like, and then stick with that and level it up as much as humanly (catly?) possible. Because of this, I always had use for every single piece of gold I found throughout my time with the game. I was always eager to level up my equipment, as doing so is obviously vital. Even at the endgame, I never reached any max level for any equipment. I loved how every single thing I did in this game felt meaningful in some way because I always had ways to get stronger from the start of the game to the finish.
If You Think About It, I’m Sure Cats Don’t Have Elaborate Combos When They Fight In Real Life Either
It’s great that exploring the world and getting stronger to take on better foes is so rewarding because the actual art of fighting foes is one of the weaker elements of Cat Quest 3. I’d say it is exceedingly competent but also exceedingly unexceptional. You have 4 basic options in combat, a melee attack, a ranged attack, magic, and the dodge roll. The good news is that the sound design and animations are strong for all of these, so it all feels pretty good to use. The downside is that it is just way too basic to stay compelling throughout. The ranged attack in the game can take a while to reload, and the magic recharges with ranged and melee attacks. So basically, you are going to spend a lot of time up close and personal doing melee attacks. There aren’t really any combos or anything special you can do here, so the formula ends up being to button mash melee attacks, roll away, then use some of your ranged/magic attacks, rinse and repeat.
You have infinite use of your dodge roll, which means that a good strategy is to mindlessly spam that move to get away from attacks, which was kind of disappointing as it takes away the strategy that having at least some limits on the roll can add. Enemy variety is also kind of mediocre, so you’ll get used to seeing a lot of the same attacks over and over. The aforementioned animations, sound design, and satisfying RPG elements still made it fun to plow through weaker foes. But tougher foes could be a bit of a repetitive slog.
The game’s ship combat fares pretty similarly. You only have a few different attacks you can use, so fighting on the sea can be a bit repetitive. Navigating the ship is a little trickier by design as you’d expect from any game with sea combat, so dodging attacks was at least a bit more interesting since you don’t have any move you can just spam to get away. Much like the on foot combat, the sound design, animations, and RPG elements make it satisfying enough, even if it is unexceptional overall.
We Really Need A Meow Button In Cat Quest 4
Cat Quest 3 does nail the charm and aesthetic elements much better than the combat. The world is vibrant and fun to explore. The cats are cute, as you would imagine, and the game throws endless puns at you. Honestly, I’m a notorious spoilsport when it comes to puns, but I’m sure most people playing this game will like that element well enough.
One of the more unexpected elements of the game is that the story actually ties into the first two games, which I didn’t play. So I didn’t really understand the significance of certain story events, but by the end of the game, I found myself legitimately interested in where they might take the story for Cat Quest 4. That’s a pretty big win, as I expected to completely discard the story in this one.
The story grabbing me at the end was one of many surprises during my experience playing Cat Quest 3. It made me think to myself… “am I a cat guy now?” I don’t think I am. But cats have more to offer than I realized. Yes, cats are cute. Yes, they are quirky. But also, they can absolutely fuck you up if they want to. It’s a lesson I won’t forget. Thanks to Cat Quest 3, I won’t stereotype cat games or cats going forward. Maybe if the next game surprises me with a 9/10 rating I’ll even have to go adopt a cat too.
Score: 8.0/10
Big Nerd Gaming 
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