Game Review: Cat's Request

By Al

Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, XBox, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5

A while back I reviewed a game called Cat and Ghostly Road. (A review which you can find HERE.) It was an adventure game featuring a story steeped in Chinese mythology, and I found it to be rather enjoyable despite its flaws. Imagine my amazement when a follow up game revealed itself in the form of Cat's Request. Cat's Request is a sci-fi themed adventure game that recently released on all major consoles by way of publisher Sometimes You. It's not a sequel to Cat and Ghostly Road, but it plays a lot like it. It also obviously features a cat protagonist. Will this prove to be a better game overall? I guess we're going to have to play it to find out!

Cat's Request places you into the paws of Ash, a cat who is looking to find a way to get his AI companion, named Root, into a body. A horrible computer virus has begun attacking all sentient programs, and in an attempt to curb the damage, it's been decreed that all AI beings who have no body must be shut down. AI bodies are expensive, and Ash doesn't have much in the way of funds. His journey begins simple enough, but he eventually stumbles into a series of events that all seem to be tied to that mysterious computer virus. Ash turns detective at this point, and vows to help out any way he can. He still hasn't forgotten about Root though, and getting her a suitable body in time for the shut-down is still his main goal. Though I won't get more into so as to avoid spoilers, I will say that things do wrap up in a way that ties up all loose ends, even if it isn't as satisfying as it could've been. Also, since I think this is worth mentioning, Cat's Request features a world of anthropomorphic animals. I only mention this on the off chance you're expecting to find a human or two in the game, but find sci-fi Zootopia instead.

Though I don't have a lot of problems with the story found within Cat's Request, I do think that its delivery is a bit shakier than the one found in Cat and Ghostly Road. That game was separated by several chapters, and you moved forward along a pre-determined series of events. Cat's Request on the other hand makes an attempt at open world gameplay. Though some areas are closed off to you at the beginning of the game, you can technically complete most of the game's objectives in a different array of sequences. I wouldn't go so far as to say you can do them in any particular order, but you can shuffle up most of them in some way. There are even some objectives that you can ignore altogether. This means that the story is told to different players in different ways, and one might not realize that they're not getting the optimal version. There will most likely be several times where you'll wonder why you're supposed to care about what's going on in-game, and other times where you have no idea who seemingly important characters even are. It's also easy to miss the fact that the computer virus itself is also tied to Ash's quest to find Root a body. Those two objectives seem wide apart for much of the game, and I wish the narrative did a better job at tying them together. Despite all this, I found the story to be both entertaining, and even well-written. I just wish the developers had found a better way to tell it.

When most people think of adventure games, they think of point-and-click style games like those made famous by Sierra and LucasArts. Cat's Request does play similarly to those, but somehow manages to both simplify and complicate the formula at the same time. You have a rather massive inventory to manage, though not all items are important. Unlike most adventure games, you have consumable items for both you and Root, and even in-game currency to manage. Oh yeah, you can actually switch back and forth between Ash and Root at any time, though Root's actions are limited to specific areas. Puzzles are typically solved by using the correct items on people or objects within the world, but sometimes you'll have to solve a simple puzzle, or even pull out your cell phone to make a phone call. Money is needed to buy in-game items, and to travel for much of the game. As far as I know, the only real way to get money is to pick up trash at the bar, or to sell items at the pawn shop. I think the latter option can actually lock you out of some optional questlines, but the former task is so repetitive that I wondered why the game even had a currency system to begin with. Similarly, the mood system felt off as it basically meant you had to waste time buy food from vending machines so you'd be in a good enough mood to talk to NPCs or go into certain buildings. It felt like playing the worst version of The Sims, and I can't understand why it was deemed necessary to be included. I understand that the game may have seemed too simple if it was just a standard adventure game, but the gameplay additions Cat's Request makes feel like busy work.

I've been rather soft on the game so far, so let me go over some aspects of Cat's Request I didn't care for. First off, the open world nature of the game does hinder the core gameplay. Constantly having to feed both Root and Ash, having to manage money, and simply remembering to go can become tedious. You do have an in-game dossier that takes notes for you automatically, but it's not exactly player-friendly thanks to the odd controls. That's probably my single biggest problem with the game, the fact that there doesn’t seem to be much effort put into making it a strong console game. You have a cursor that you move on screen with the analog stick, and it's easy to forget what button does what as far as menus go. Thankfully there aren't any arcade like sections of the game, or things might've got a bit messy. It's also a good thing the game autosaves at seemingly random intervals, as I played through nearly all my first run of the game not knowing there was an in-game save menu hidden in the options. Though far from perfect, I did find the game to be rather competent as far as its adventure game mechanics go. There's no moon logic here, and everything moves fast as long as you know where to go. It's not going to shake up the genre, but I didn't regret playing it in the least.

Part of me doesn't want to be hard on the visuals in Cat's Request, but they really do leave a lot to be desired. Don't get me wrong, there are some impressive sights to see, and there are some areas that I felt came close to being awe-inspiring, but much of the game's world is filled with stiff characters and objects that feel like they might've been taken from a stock asset library. Of course I'm not saying that they actually were, but they have that look and feel to them if you know what I mean. Then there's the presentation itself that is the definition of bland. Everything from the title screen to the options menu look like they came default with whatever engine is being used, and there's not even the hint of the visual flair seen in the graphics themselves. Despite the fact that there are some parts of the game that do look great, there are just as many where it seems like the developers weren't even trying. I guess a positive spin on the whole situation can be that it ran perfectly on the Nintendo Switch, but that's a very low bar to set.

I don't have a lot to say about Cat's Request's sound design, so I'll try to keep this brief. There is some decent music here, but most of it simply exists in the background. There are even a few tracks that became grating after a while. I found this dichotomy odd, as the tracks that were good showed a lot of promise. That promise is then immediately shattered once you hear a short, repeated melody trying to be passed off as music. It really is a mixed bag, and I wonder if all the music was actually created for this game since it seems a bit all over the place. That's not it either, as the game lacks many sounds you'd expect it to have. I'm not talking about voice acting mind you, since I wasn't expecting to find that here, but it seems to be missing most of its sound effects. Many actions happen in silence, and even the ones that do have sound effects attached to them seem to be drowned out in the mix. It makes for a rather uneven experience, and I think that's slowly shaping into a running theme.

It's a shame that the very thing that makes Cat's Request unique, as in its open world structure, is also its biggest hindrance. It took me a bit over two hours to beat the game, but I'm sure I could've cleared it in half the time if I was wandering around randomly trying to figure out what to do next. While some might be faster on the uptake than me, I'm sure just as many players won't have the patience to wander blindly hoping the game randomly drops them a clue. No matter how you long you take to clear the game, the one thing I'm sure that will be universal across all players is that there really isn't much reason to play it again after you beat. I guess you can clear any optional objectives you may have missed, or achievements if you're playing on a platform that has them, but it's always going to be the same game every time. With that in mind, I still don't think its current price tag of $9.99 is all that bad. I do think it could've benefitted from a lower price point, but I've seen far worse.

While I don't think Cat's Request offers a lot for the casual player, I do think it might provide an interesting playthrough for fans of the adventure game genre. There's enough here that will entertain, and the game isn't entirely bad by any stretch. It's a decent entry in a genre that doesn't get a lot of love these days, and its mediocre bits thankfully don't last for all that long. It won't win over any new fans to the genre, but it might be a fun experience for those who already are. Grab it on whatever platform you have, and get to adventuring. See you in the next one.

Check Out Cat's Request on Nintendo Switch:
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/cats-request-switch/

---

Story: B
Gameplay: B-
Graphics: B
Music/Sound: C
Value: B

Overall: B-

Pros:
+ A fun adventure game that has a few unique gameplay quirks.
+ Though her segments become repetitive by the end of the game, being able to play as Root can be fun.
+ The story can be entertaining in parts, even if it doesn't come together all that coherently at times.
+ There are some impressive visuals scattered among the game.
+ While it's not implemented all too well, the open world style gameplay is an interesting touch.

Cons:
- It can be difficult to figure out what to do next as the game doesn't have a strong narrative throughline.
- Some of the game's visuals, most especially the menus, are bland and uninspired.
- Besides some of the music not being very good, the game seems to be lacking in most of its sound effects.
- There really isn't much reason to play this game after you beat it.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

---

Ash apparently has Cat and Ghostly Road installed at home!

#CatsRequest