REVIEW

Cat Quest Review

by Jake Stewart, August 5th, 2017

Cat Quest comes off as a simple mobile game, which it is. Cat Quest was simultaneously released on Steam, iOS, and Android. Yet for a mobile game, it adapts very well to a PC, and feels much deeper than you’d find with most mobile games. Packed with adorable artwork, a charming world, and a pretty decent combat system, there’s plenty to enjoy with Cat Quest.

The storyline is pretty generic, but sets the stage and gives enough motivation to keep moving forward. The evil cat Drakoth has your sister, and you must defeat him and his band of dragons to get her back. Cat Quest draws some inspiration by naming your character Dragonblood, and the only hero capable of slaying the dragons. As the story develops, a surprising amount of backstory is revealed, and is definitely more interesting than I expected it would be.

The protagonist cat is pawsitively adorable, but remains silent during the game. Instead a floating fairy, which is basically the cat version of Link’s Navi, does all the talking for you. Character interactions are lighthearted, and usually contain a cat pun at LEAST every other sentence. As cheesy as they are, I felt that the constant cat puns just added to the charming nature of the world.

The thing that surprised me most about Cat Quest was the scope of the world, it has the most content I’ve ever seen in a mobile game. Tons and tons of dungeons are placed around the world, side quests are constantly available around you, and the main quest is always running in the background. From the main story line alone, you can easily squeeze out 8 or so hours including the necessary grinding. To finish all of the optional content, you could easily double the playtime. The dungeons do begin to feel samey after a handful of them, but the side quests always have some sort of interesting plotline and characters to keep them engaging. Most of the side stories take place over multiple quests, and I found myself going back to the same lines out of sheer curiosity for what would happen next. For example, following a side questline trying to help a group of wizards find their missing leader, or appeasing a cult of cannibal cats.

The gameplay takes place over an isometric view of a landscape, set up almost like what you would find in a paper map. Navigating the world is clear and simple, but is expansive enough to reward exploration. There is plenty of dungeons and towns to discover, all leading to some short adventures. Aside from the huge main capital, smaller cities dot the map and usually contain a bulletin board to embark on side quests for that surrounding area. The side quests often felt more compelling than the main story, without much reason to care for the main character’s sister, I found the bite-sized stories to have much more interesting conflicts.

Combat can be fairly tactical, and requires you to pay close attention to your moves. With a standard melee, and a slew of magical attacks in your arsenal, the game offers you plenty to work with. Magic attacks have different directions and areas of effect, with varying degrees of effectiveness depending on the enemy.

From healing yourself, to a circular attack of fire, or a line of lightning, magic will come in handy in every single encounter. Most fights will have you constantly dodge rolling around the map, while occasionally taking a shot at the enemy before rolling away from their retaliation. While the controls and concept of the combat is very simple, it remains difficult enough that you aren’t able to mindlessly slash your way through every fight.

Progression is dictated mainly through the equipment found during your dungeon crawling. The armor selection is very expansive, giving you plenty of different options to help fit your play style. Some armor increases magic, health, attack, shielding and more. Each piece of armor is well designed and very cute, and earning an entire set gives you a nice sense of pride as well as a very stylish cat.

Armor is usually a pretty cliché style of any given class, such as mages having big wizard hats, rangers with their sleek feathery hats, and heavy iron plating for knights. Unfortunately, I found myself reluctantly holding onto a piece of armor simply because I liked the way it looked more than the upgraded version. The ability to transmogrify a piece of armor to look like another would be a very much appreciated addition. Along with armor, you will earn coins throughout your ventures, which can be used to upgrade and unlock magic attacks.

Ultimately, Cat Quest is a very enjoyable experience and is much deeper than one might expect from a game of this type. The main quest often lacks any compelling drive to progress, but the side quests more than make up for that. Combat is simply yet tactical, and the upgrade system feels very rewarding. With an expansive world and content, the modest asking price feels like a steal for this title.

Cat Quest is a must-play for casual RPG fans. With great visuals, a relaxing soundtrack, interesting world, and fun combat, Cat Quest is absolutely worth the cost of admission.