The best Cat Quest yet!
I have been a fan of the developers at studio The Gentlebros, I have played and enjoyed every entry of the Cat Quest series. As a cat dad (Yes, I am a cat dad) I think cats are cute, and as a fan of action/RPG games; seeing the title Cat Quest instantly pulled me in. Here we are, years later and set to embark on the third adventure in the series, instead of roaming around the land this time players will sail around the Purribean, plundering and of course questing across the land.
Cat Quest 3 continues the action/RPG tradition of the past games but adds lots of improvements. In the 3rd outing players aren’t tasked with saving the world, or uniting a kingdom instead they are searching the Purribean as a pirate captain. The quest this time around has players searching for the long-lost mythical treasure – the Northern Star. The player cat will have to contend with the Pi-rats; who under the command of the Pirate King; have infested the Purribean and also are searching for the treasure, oh and trying to kill you.
MSRP: $19.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, Switch, PC
Price I’d Pay: $19.99
Everything feels fresh and new in this latest entry, gameplay is still side-scrolling combat when on foot and in dungeons but the addition of navel combat shakes up the formula and is a lot of fun. The ship is fully controllable on the open seas and thankfully is easy to control. As players level up, they will unlock slots on their ship which can augment health, cannon reload speed and lots more. Weapons are usually found in treasure chests throughout the land and also given as rewards for quests. Even hopping on and off the ship is easy to do, and if players find themselves stranded, they can summon their ship at any of the docks across the land.
The newly added ship combat is a blast but the developers also overhauled other systems in the world, for one the combat feels a lot tighter this time around when attacking and dodging enemy attacks. One of the big things they’ve added is the ability to swap between a melee and ranged weapon. There is a large selection of swords, daggers and even wolverine claws for melee choices and for ranged you will find pistols, rifles and magic wands. Yep, there are magic wands that can blast fire, ice and more and each has impressive combos in attacks.
I already talked about the overarching narrative in Cat Quest III which is a lot of fun but the Purribean is chocked full of side quests that were humorous as well as fun to play. One of the them will see cats looking for pages of a love story about two cats that was pretty touching. Another has players gathering up what seems like harmless research for a fellow cat, but without spoiling anything; looks can be deceiving. And just like what is arguably the best pirate game out there in, Assassins Creed Black Flag; Cat Quest 3 also has bounties and legendary pi-rat lords that are hiding around the map just waiting to be felled.
It wasn’t all good winds and clear skies though; I did have a few issues with Cat Quest III. For starters there were a few times that the game didn’t make it clear what I was supposed to do to progress the story. I am not sure if this is by design in order to force players to explore the world but I was killed a few times because I ventured into waters where level 60 ships awaited me. I was able to escape thankfully without losing, the lesson here is to be careful when you exploring in Cat Quest 3. This isn’t a huge deal, and honestly Cat Quest 3 plays so well its hard to find any glaring issues about it.
If you can’t tell, I loved Cat Quest 3; as I said I was already a fan of the series and this entry is its best. The Gentlebros is a small team of 8 developers but playing Cat Quest 3 you wouldn’t know it, there is even a local co-op option available to players. (I wasn’t able to test this but I have played the past games in co-op with my kids and it was a great time). The greatest thing about Cat Quest 3 is its simplicity, any level of gamer is able to pick this game up and jump in as its combat systems and exploration are easy to grasp and once you get sailing it’s extremely hard to put this one back in drydock.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
