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No matter what happens in the world one thing can be considered as an absolute: Cats rule the Internet and all forms of digital media. “Cat Quest” is open world action/RPG adventure game that’s full of cats and feline related puns, as well as dragons and fun gameplay.

The story of “Cat Quest” shares a few similarities with “Skyrim” but the stakes are on a personal level for the Dragonblood, the main character. The objective is to save his sister by defeating the dragons under the control of the generic bad-guy Drakoth while enduring word-play and adorable cat memes.

“Cat Quest” is self-aware of what it is and doesn’t take itself too seriously most of the time. There are events, though, where the tone does become somber.

“Cat Quest” doesn’t mess about when you start the game, but then you’ll discover that this game has cat memes.

Between exposition given by your guardian spirit Spirry (he speaks for you as well), the main story, and the side quests’ arcs there is also lore on the Dragonbloods in the form of monuments. You’ll have to do some exploration, but any unchecked monuments will have a mark to make the search easier.

The only grips about these monuments are that each one is one sentence long and there’s no indication of order, so it’s hard to follow certain lines of lore.

The gameplay in “Cat Quest” is some good old action RPG adventuring, as you dodge roll out of attack zones, maim with melee weapons, and conjure magic when fighting monsters, bandits, and dragons. Enemies will either be weak to one method of attack or will need a combination to dwindle their HP down. Nevertheless, regardless of the complexity of the targets, the Dragonblood stats are simply Health, Mana, Melee, and Magic.

It takes time for some enemies to cast their spells, but you can just cast yours right away and dodge right out of there.

It’s easy to follow, but you’ll need the perfect gear for this cool cat, which can be customized to your playstyle if you have the right pieces. There is a variety of equipment with special stats to choose from, with some gear giving you armor that will act as a regenerating shield before the monsters messes with your fur. There’s no bonus for equipping complete sets, so you can mix your equipment to your heart’s content.

Acquiring and upgrading equipment is unconventional compared to other games in the genre: scattered around Felingard and in Kit Cat’s Blacksmith are chests that contain gear, but they act more like loot crates where they randomly generate a weapon or armor piece. There are also Golden Chests that contain unique equipment but these are expensive in the shop and work the same way the regular chests do.

With all the gear and spells you collect and level up during your adventures you’ll have plenty of options for your playstyle, more so in New Game Plus.

Thankfully, the perk to this is that any duplicates you get will level up the gear in your inventory, even by several levels. Plus, the side quest to get the Gold Key to unlock hidden Gold Chests has a recommended requirement of Level 1, so that should be a breeze by the time you get there.

Unlike equipment, spells can be specifically purchased by the player. Entering each Arcane Temples across Felingard will unlock new spells to buy and upgrade, each level costing more than the last. However, as the Mages say, Gold makes anything better. There’s no need for micromanaging since everything levels up as you travel Felingard to do quests and slay dragons.

When you kill a dragon with a Level 2 cat faster than it takes to fight one in “Skyrim”, you know this pussy is the one that will do the wrecking.

The main story mostly has you follow the quest arrow(s) and complete the task that Spirry mentions, though sometimes you’ll need to take up side quest related to the story. That’s not to say there are a few optional side quests.

In fact, there are several side quests that you can take on, which “Cat Quest” encourages you to partake in for fun adventuring and power leveling. You can only do one side quest at a time but the main quest will be put on pause, which is a nice way to prevent any interruptions as you focus on adventuring.

And when all is said and done there’s still more to do, or do over again but with different methods. There is the usual “New Game Plus” that allows you to restart the game with all your previous progress for powering through everything with one whack and accomplish max leveling on everything. The other new game option, “Mew Game”, lets you customize how you want to play though “Cat Quest” again with different options to make your experience unique or harder.

Cats will just crawl into any place they can find, even if the recommended level is three or twenty levels higher.

The presentation of “Cat Quest” is that of a colorful storybook design. The overworld of Felingard is literally a map with settlements, dungeon/ruins entrances, and other structures as popped up objects. There will also be occasions where dotted paths and glyphs will be drawn on the overworld, adding some humorous self-awareness.

The cast of “Cat Quest” have paper aesthetics as you would see in “Paper Mario” and “Scribblenauts”, minus the stationary powers. Naturally, there are lots of cats in the game, from peasants to a buffed mayor, and our orange furred player cat gets the special Mark of the Dragonblood on the back of his head.

Some cat enemies share designs from others like the mages and rogues, but the vanilla villain Drakoth is a fuzzball that’s decked in as much cool armor as the Dragonblood is. As for the rest of the baddies, they resemble bestiary inspirations that you might recognize, though it’s hard not to notice a dragon when you see one.

cat quest drakoth the most generic villain

Drakoth may be generic but he has some stylish armor going for him. But is it in the Dragonblood’s size?

From the moment “Cat Quest” starts you can tell the soundtrack has adventure as its theme, though there are some tracks that play somber and serene tunes. The music is great for an adventure RPG like “Cat Quest” although they reuse a couple of tracks like the Arcane Temple music for emotional scenes. Nevertheless, it’s not really that bad as it does work truly well for the scenes.

In short, “Cat Quest” is a really fun adventure/RPG action game, but at times it felt like I’ve been powering through it. With how the side quest power boosts your EXP, I felt overpowered during my first playthrough at times. However, if you like having a power fantasy with cats you can play the game again on “New Game Plus” or change things up with “Mew Game” for some challenges. So in overall, “Cat Quest” is a fun game that’s worth getting your paws on.

Pros:
+ Fun adventure with cats, magic, and dragons
+ Storybook like graphics
+ Post game options for continued power leveling fantasy or challenges

Cons:
– Feels like you can power through the game too easily
– Little indication of order with the monuments’ lore

Gameplay: 4/5
Graphics: 4/5
Sound/Music: 4/5
Controls: 4.5/5
Replay value: 4/5
Story: 3.5/5

tgg grade 5 out of 5

Verdict: 5/5
”Cat Quest” is a great open world action/RPG adventure that you can play without worrying about micromanaging and just focus on the adventure. Furthermore, once you’re done with it you can play it again to show that cats rule. And if that’s not enough for you then maybe the knowledge of there being a “Cat Quest II” next year with co-op gameplay will make you a cat person (dragon magic not guaranteed). To think this game was going to be a sexy dancing game.

Title: Cat Quest
Developer: The Gentlebros
Format: PC
Genre: Action Adventure RPG
Resolution: 1680 x 1050
Release date: 2017-08-08
Difficulty: Varies
Spent time: 4+ hours
Average grade internationally: 82.14% Gamerankings.com
PEGI/ESRB age rating: PEGI 7+/Everyone
Price: $12.99