Game: Cat and Ghostly Road
Genre: Adventure, Puzzle
System: Nintendo Switch (also on Steam (Windows), PS4 and Xbox)
Developer|Publisher: BOV | Sometimes You
Age Rating: EU 7+ | US Everyone 10+
Price: US $9.99 | UK £8.99 | EU € 9,99
Release Date: March 6th, 2024
Review code provided with many thanks to Sometimes You.
Cat and Ghostly Road: a Short Casual Puzzler
I am no lover of cats. They scratch, bite and give that peculiar look that they can see into your future; at least, that’s the experience I had with my grandmother’s cat. But enough of my childhood trauma. I am much more accepting of the flurry felines in video game form, in fact, one of my favourite co-op games is Cat Quest 2. So, how does Cat and Ghostly Road fair? Well, it’s a short and sweet casual point-and-click adventure that may make for a nice gaming weekend. It has some nice artwork and music but doesn’t offer much new to the genre.
Returning the Favour
You begin the game playing as a cat struggling through the snow. After passing out from exhaustion, you are rescued by a kind artist who takes you in and restores you to health. Not too long after, an evil spirit steals the artist’s spirit, leaving him incredibly ill. So, the cat takes it upon themselves to wander into the spirit world and rescue the artist. It’s a very simple premise which appears to recapture old folklore.
I can’t say for sure if a specific story directly inspires the game since I have little knowledge of East Asian mythology. But I really liked the world created here. The story won’t blow you away, but it does touch on simple messages about bravery, how one good deed leads to another and the consequences of greed.
A Beautiful Picture
The experience is further enhanced with a very detailed art style that is very pleasing to the eyes. I truly felt I was walking through hand-painted pictures. I experienced the spirit realm in its most beautiful, vibrant settings with blossoming trees and ambient noises of rushing water and relaxing music. But I also saw the darker side of some truly terrifying demons and lonely environments devoid of life, with the white cat being the only true spark of light.
My only critique of Cat and Ghostly Road’s presentation is that the game doesn’t offer any further lore or codex about the world. It’ll occasionally have brief moments of description about a spirit you encounter or a new area you visit, but I honestly wanted to know more. Guess it’s off to the library for further reading.
Point and Cat
The gameplay is a very casual point-and-click adventure. You control the cat on a 2D plane, but you can use your cursor to pick up or interact with objects in the environment. Often, you need to combine items in your menu and then simply use the completed item in the right place to progress further. Though I hit the odd wall here and there, I found I could get by doing the old-age troupe of trying every item in my bag everywhere until something worked.
Environments are generally quite small, so you don’t have to work with too many variables. Two unique hooks the game uses include the ability to see spirits with your special cat vision and you can later turn yourself into a standing humanoid cat. Once again, if you get stuck switching one or both of these forms, it will highlight where you need to go next. Cat and Ghostly Road will sometimes throw the odd mini-game at you, but the core focus is a casual point-and-click. This game is not going to stress you out, making it much more appealing to a casual crowd. The game won’t take much longer than 3 hours to complete at most.
Controls
The controls on the Nintendo Switch are a bit disappointing. The game makes no use of touch controls, which feels like a missed opportunity. You control the cat’s movement with one analogue stick and the cursor on the screen with the other. It feels a bit of a slog doing it this way and not as smooth as using touch.
Something that’s also a bit odd is the game does not show you the mapped controls in any menu. You’re given mild tutorials at the start on combining items but no info on button prompts. By playing around with the controls, I had to figure out for myself how to use cat vision, change form and activate a hint button, which highlights areas of interest on the screen. It feels like a retro game you purchase without the manual. It’s not too hard to figure it out, but some players, especially casual players, may still appreciate a screen about the controls.
Conclusion: A Quiet Night In
Cat and Ghostly Road is a beautiful looking point-and-click that’s short and keeps its challenge in the mild setting. It doesn’t reinvent the formula, making it feel much more appealing to casual players looking for a straightforward game to enjoy over a few nights of playing.
As someone who doesn’t love this genre or cats, I still find myself liking the game. I loved exploring the spirit world, and the game inspired me to look into reading more about this type of mythology, even if the game doesn’t choose to take the time to do that. This cat is okay in my book.
Final Verdict: I Like it
