Ever wonder what would happen if you took Harvest Moon, Rune Factory, Or Stardew Valley and replaced all of the humans with cats? Me neither, until I played Cattails Become A Cat on Steam. It’s on sale right now for the winter steam sale, the biggest sale of the year, for a few more days.
So what is Cattails? I’ve only begun playing the game today, but it’s advertised as being “Like Stardew Valley But With Cats” and near as I can tell so far, that’s a very accurate description. It also reminds me of the children’s book series “Warriors” about various cat clans and lives of cats.
You begin the game by naming and coloring your cat (that’s your playable character) – You’re then thrown into a story scene of a little girl adopting you from a shelter, only later to have her mother dump you on the side of the road. That’s where your journey begins.
You meet another stray cat who guides you through learning the controls of the game. She teaches you to hunt, forage, and use your skills and inventory. She leaves you after asking you to choose a cat colony to join.
There are three options, the friendly forest cats, the fierce mountain cats, and the strange mystic cats. I picked forest cats because it seemed the best for beginners.
You have an empty little den, but later you can customize and decorate your den. You go to sleep, and save your game in your den each day.
To stay alive in the game you must hunt and forage, and sometimes fight other cats. You have to eat to stay alive.
There are seasonal events and special scenes throughout the game, similar as they say to Stardew Valley or Story of Seasons or Harvest Moon or Rune Factory, etc.
And so your life as a cat begins!
For $5.99 in steam’s winter sale, you too can experience life as a cat in Cattails Become A Cat.
Overall Score: 60/70 86% B “Very Good Game For Girls”
Geeky: 4/5 – these Stardew type games are pretty popular right now. The controls seem solid, gameplay solid, graphics retro indie style like Stardew. I think this one will appeal to gamers of either gender as long as they like retro indie sim games and aren’t too worried about “next-gen graphics”.
Sweetie: 5/5 – These simulation games are always a hit for girls, but this one especially so because of the cats.
Gameplay: 10/10 – Once you learn the controls and play a little bit it’s pretty easy. There are 3 difficulty levels, and I’m admittedly playing on “easy” on my first playthrough. There’s a lot of customization and personalization, and the farming/foraging/hunting/fighting as a cat aspect is very unique and fun. The seasonal events remind me a lot indeed of Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon as advertised.
Graphics: 7/10 – The characters all being other cats are very cute – I want more customization options for my own cat. I want to have stripes. I want him to look like my cat in real life. Right now there’s only solid colors. So I deducted points for that. Also note this game has an intentional retro/indie vibe – if that’s not your thing – this isn’t for you. But I like retro and indie games so “fine like this” :).
Story: 6/10 – I’m not far enough in it to say for sure, but games like this usually don’t focus much on story, and focus more on gameplay, and that seems to be the case here so far. It’s not a terrible story – and the whole cat thing gives it a unique angle, but it’s not a narrative driven game because it’s meant to be open world and focused on exploration and living and creating your own story.
Characters – 8/10 – all of the characters are cats! so cute. Again i’d like to see more customization for the main character, but otherwise, am pleased.
Music: 10/10 – Actually… I’m LOVING the music in Cattails it’s so peaceful and whimsical. I am definitely leaving the sound on while playing this one. The game has been running idle in the background while I type this, and although yes, the tracks are short, and loop, it’s not bad, because the music is so good.
Voice Acting: N/A – no voice acting.
Replay Value: 10/10 – You live your life as a cat, the way you want. That’s the point, so yes, there is huge replay value here. You join different clans, meet different NPCs, see slightly different stories, but even beyond just the clan thing, you customize your cats skills and attributes and that directly effects gameplay in many ways. So yeah I’ll be playing this again too.
Overall Score: 60/70 86% B “Very Good Game For Girls”
