I am a big fan of the Cat Quest games, I really thought 2 was a truly great little rpg adventure. It built upon the first game excellently and I expected much of the same to have happened in 3.
I was mostly happy with this next entry in the journey of the seekers. It did lack in what made two so great though. If nothing else the continued endless cat puns in the games continue to my childish delight. You gotta give it to the developers on that one they are never short of a on the nose joke or purposeful ramming in of a cat reference whenever they can.
You can tell how far the small development team has come with the graphical upgrades of the game itself. It is by far the best looking game in the series I mean I think it helps the last entry was like 5 years ago if not bit longer. Its a wonderful looking 2.5D art style which I think helps encompass the aesthetics of the series better then a regular game would. And it plays exceptionally well, I didn’t stumble into any issues whilst playing, no stutters or frame drops.
This entry positions you in the place of the Purribean as a swash buckling pirate, as always you are a silent protagonist and the spirit companion does all the talking. You however lack the option of swapping to a different character as before in 2 where you could play as a Cat or a dog. As a pirate you control your own ship, which makes for what I’d guess to be a larger world then before with the sea travel. This also helps give a bit of a better sense of world building within the in game universe. But I’d argue the land mass as a result is diminished and the very small island you come across lack much to do. Resulting in a smaller feeling game devoid of life. You have a hub area where you can upgrade your equipment and spells rather then having a couple dotted around. Again pulling your main activity into one area rather then giving a reason to explore.
There is very few dungeons in this game which is an odd choice considering how many where in the previous entries which was about 80 if I can remember correctly.. Along with the way you upgrade your armour and equipment. You’d think with the option of ship blue prints as well there’d be a need for a good amount of dungeons not just the what I’d guess was about 20 or so dungeons in this one.
The story felt shorter and wasn’t as interesting as before either, it didn’t particularly build upon the whole apawcalpyse overarching story until towards the end. There didn’t seem to be as many enemy types, mini bosses or even big boss fights. Everything seemed muted and the game took a good few hours less to 100%. There wasn’t much in the way of end game content not much to mop up, there was a couple bounty posters to collect which you’d get a chest for once defeating the boss and turning it in at the tavern.
I’m unsure if it’s just quality of life upgrades over the years but combat felt easier and levelling up seemed to happen nearly every couple encounters or every big fight. There was no real reason to go out of your way for other battles even though each main island was level scaled. Magic seemed a bit more redundant outside of the lightning attack. All magic can be maxed out at level 3 as well. There wasn’t a whole heap of armour, melee weapons and even less guns. And as long as you stuck with your build so if you wanted higher magic, or strength even more health as long as you kept the items level about the level your character was you’d never struggle. It felt easier then 2 which isn’t necessarily a detriment but even on the middle difficulty setting it just wasn’t really an issue at any point.
Overall I’d rate this game a healthy 7/10, Positively Tasty.
This is a very, very fun little RPG game filled with charm and whimsy which has nestled itself wonderfully in it’s own quirky little world. It’s inoffensive and does what it sets out to do. For me I’m just a little disappointed with the seeming lack of content when compared to 2. I just thought it all fell a bit flat, a short story with not enough boss battles. Not enough dungeons, all equipment was lacking. And the Ship part of the game should’ve been expanded more. More explorable islands with more dungeons would’ve done wonders for this game. I want number 4 to be closer to number 2, a higher variety all around. A slightly longer more in depth story and a more realised world to explore. By no means does it need to be a 40 hour epic but a solid 10-12 hour non stop game packed with all the best features of the three games before. However overall I do thoroughly recommend this series if you want something to tide you over for a few play sessions.
Released 8th of August 2024 on Sony Playstation 5.
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