Game: Hidden Cats in Spooky Town
Genre: Hidden Object, Puzzle
System: Steam (Windows)
Developer|Publisher: Nukearts Studio
Controller Support: Full
Price: UK £2.99 | US $3.99 | EU € 3,99
Release Date: October 20th, 2023
Review code provided with many thanks to Nukearts Studio.
Hidden Cats in Spooky Town is a hidden object game that’s all about cats. These adorable felines are hidden all over a Halloween town, and you need to find them.
The Hidden Cats Series
I was pretty excited when I saw a Halloween-themed version of Hidden Cats come through the LadiesGamer’s site. LadiesGamers has covered three of these Nukearts Studio’s Hidden Cats games before, and I was even the reviewer for one of them. Those are:
Let me tell you, the Hidden Cats games have come a long way. While the first of these titles had the same beautiful artwork, the user interface and polish of these games have improved greatly over time. As someone who has played most of these games now, I can tell you there has been a massive rise in overall quality since the first game was released.
That all being said, I was stoked to check out a new one of these Cats games. So, how does the Spooky Town version stack up against the others? Let’s find out.
The Gameplay of Hidden Cats of Spooky Town
The way all the Hidden Cats games are is pretty identical, with a handful of changes. There are several hidden cats in the black-and-white, coloring book-style art for the town. There are some objects that move through the scene, but nothing is hidden behind any objects in the main game.
Hidden Cats of Spooky Town follows all these basic rules. As you find all the cats in a little section of the map, the color fills itself in, letting you know there are no more hidden cats or special characters to find there. At the top, you have the number of cats left to find, settings, and the number of hints left.
There are two different collection modes for this one page: Easy and Advanced. Easy gives you access to more hints, but Advanced has many special cats. These are either based on real-life cats or cats dressed up in little Halloween costumes. For each set of these, you find in the picture, bonus levels are unlocked.
The Bonus Levels of Hidden Cats of Spooky Town
Instead of being a whole town, the bonus levels you can unlock are usually rooms or smaller areas. There is only one level of difficulty, but there are always many cats to find. Some of the objects in the room wiggle or move a little, and there is always a fuzzy little feline friend behind it, waiting to be clicked on. Once every single cat is found, the color fills itself in and gives you a good look at what the room actually looks like with all those ghost cats.
The bonus levels add a lot to the game, giving it more length and a change of pace. I think it’s a clever addition to the title, and it makes the $4 USD cost a little more reasonable. The total length of Hidden Cats of Spooky Town isn’t long; you can finish everything there is to do before two hours is up, but it’s enough time to delve into the little colorful cat-themed worlds the developers have built.
Conclusion
I really like these games, and Hidden Cats of Spooky Town especially. The art is lovely, the game is relaxing, the music is nice. It’s overall a pretty clean experience. I only had one small issue while playing: some of the Hidden Kittens on moving objects have kind of small hitboxes, making them hard to click on as they ride away in a balloon or car or whatever. I think that just a tiny bit more wiggle room in those particular hitboxes would make a massive difference in how good this game feels to play.
To be honest, that was the only issue I had with Hidden Cats of Spooky Town. I love this little game, and I look forward to whatever beautiful artwork comes next from these very talented artists.
Final Verdict: I Like it a Lot.
