Developer: Devcats
Platforms: Linux, PC (Reviewed)
Genre: Casual
Publisher: Devcats
A Planet Full of Cats is developed and published by Devcats, an indie game studio that are known for their cosy, cat-themed games. Something that makes them unique is their amazing focus on the wholesome, relaxing experiences and their support for animal welfare causes. This game must be their most amazing project yet, which is continuously building on their Cats series.
Unlike the other games, this one has a stronger narrative, as this story takes place on a mysterious cat planet which is deep in space, and you play as Judy, a feline bounty hunter, tasked with investigating why a colony of cats has gone silent. As you explore, you uncover many different ancient secrets and strange events that are affecting the plant.
The core gameplay is finding cats in the environment, a point-and-click game that has combined a bit of exploration into it. As you explore the different levels while unlocking different powers that help you progress in the game, such as x-ray vision, gears and other tools. This game definitely made sure to stand out and be different from exploring, unlocking, finding objects, revisiting the levels and discovering more cats. Even when you think you are done with a room, you always end up finding more levels. Adding depth and progression, which the earlier games lacked a bit.
The controls are simple with point-and-click, from the mouse and side scrolling, everything is extremely accessible and definitely amazing to play to relax and have fun with. This game is definitely more involving and exciting than the previous one.
The game’s strongest aspect definitely has to be its fully hand-drawn cartoon-style visuals. This includes things such as the environments, objects, and cats that are filled with immense detail through such fine line work. The setting is truly brought to life, from the different alien forests to the underground visuals. Overall, the vibe is amazing with its cute, futuristic and visually busy looks. The music and sound of the game have an ambient atmosphere, a relaxing soundtrack that helps match the exploration and discovery. It’s subtle and definitely not distracting. It is able to complement the gameplay by creating a calm but curious mood, rather than tension.
Overall, I truly enjoy Devcats games, and this one was beyond what I had expected. I played several of their previous games and was not expecting such a great evolution. The main issue I encountered was that my achievements were not registering, which was causing issues with the game and its progression, thinking I was stuck. After 2 hours, the achievements had finally loaded, and I was able to progress through that stage. I loved the boss aspect of the game and how it locks you into place, completing the boss-finding tasks. A Planet Full of Cats has a much deeper gameplay, and I love it. Sometimes it did feel a bit confusing as to what to do next, as there were so many rooms and ways to go, but you eventually found your way.
A Planet Full of Cats is a big evolution from their previous games; it took a simple concept of finding cats and has turned it into a relaxing sci-fi exploration game with real progression, which is perfect for all types of players, whether it’s casual, fans of cosy games, or people who enjoy using their brain a bit. It’s a charming and surprisingly deep indie game that successfully evolves the hidden object genre into something way more adventurous and memorable.
Overall: 9/10
This is S & S. We are world game explorers. We play games. We have played over 10,000+ games! We travel, we write reviews AND we play more games!!!!
