Game: Quilts and Cats of Calico
Genre: Puzzle
System: Steam (macOS and Windows) (also available for Nintendo Switch)
Developer|Publisher: Monster Couch | Monster Couch, Flatout Games
Controller Support: Full
Price: US $ 17.99 | UK £ 14.39 | EU € 17,99
Age Rating: UK 3+ | US E
Release Date: March 5th, 2024
Review code provided with many thanks to Monster Couch.
I wrote a demo impressions article of Quilts and Cats of Calico back in June 2023, and now I have the honour of covering the full release of the game. So, let’s dive right in and see what the full game brought to the table.
The Gameplay of Quilts and Cats of Calico
Quilts and Cats of Calico is a puzzle game that combines quilting and sewing with a love of felines. You match patterns and colors of fabric scraps to put together the perfect quilt, gaining as many points as possible to defeat the other quilter. While the demo focused on just this aspect of the game, the full release of Quilts and Cats of Calico has added a lot more to explore.
There are two main modes of play in Quilts and Cats of Calico: free play and the story mode. Free play allows you to play against one or more computers or real people, allowing you to choose your pattern layout and then compete to get the most points. This is similar to how it was in the demo, although new patterns have been added to the four that were present in the demo.
Since the game has not fully released, there really weren’t real people to play with, but it was wonderful to see how fun the gameplay of the PvP sewing battles still was. The addition of a new goal gave a lot more variety in making your own quilt and having it be a little more unique. Overall, I was a little disappointed that it seemed like there was only one new pattern to try, but I’m not sure what else I expected. There are only so many combinations of A, B, and C that you can put together.
There is also the story mode of Quilts and Cats of Calico. You get to move around this quilted, cross-stitched map that is absolutely adorable, meeting people and taking on whatever challenges they bring you. For the most part, they will try to get you to line up patterns, get a certain number of buttons or cat badges, or defeat an NPC in one-on-one quilting. The story is filled with interesting and diverse people, each with their own little stories to tell.
Part of the demo I really enjoyed was the ability to earn additional points by lining up patterns and colors to get patches or buttons. Each color and pattern combination has a button, and each cat has a pattern in a certain layout they are looking for. Well, in the full game, you can design your own cats and give them their own patterns you can try to earn! I made a copy of my furry child, Kaalia, and gave her a little sushi outfit. Look at how cute this is:
As I am writing this, my fuzzy little bugger is lying next to me on the couch, snoozing in a position that will look fairly familiar to anyone who has seen the logo for this game:
It’s a delight to see a game that was created by someone who seems to love cats like I do!
The Pros of Quilts and Cats of Calico
I mean, you can pet the cats on the levels. That’s a pretty big pro.
The addition of the story levels gave a lot more life to Quilts and Cats of Calico. I was surprised at how challenging and interesting some of the puzzles are. For many of them, you need to get X number of buttons while only putting like colors next to each other, meaning you’ll have to fumble around with the quilted pieces a couple of times before you figure out exactly how they need to line up. Or you need to get a certain number of points with a limited amount of tiles. Winning many of these is a massive challenge, and you feel good after finishing them.
Quilts and Cats of Calico is extremely polished. The music, sound effects, cat movements, and other movements are all very clean and well done. When you place a tile, you get to watch as the game sews it on with an animation that is gorgeous. You can tell that a lot of thought went into each movement, each thread, and the motion of sewing buttons or patches on. It is a beautiful and satisfying game to play.
It also manages to be extremely supportive of the LGBTQ+ crowd as well. Many of the buttons are themed around queer flags, such as the one above. The little gray, white, and yellow flag is a recreation of the non-binary flag. There are also characters that are queer, from Matthew having a husband to a non-binary character that uses non-traditional pronouns (ze/zir).
These characters weren’t weirdos or outsiders or stereotypes but just normal people leading normal lives inside the little town you travel across. It feels like real representation rather than something shoehorned in by someone who doesn’t really care about LGBTQ+ issues and lives.
The Cons of Quilts and Cats of Calico
There isn’t much to say here; there is very little about Quilts and Cats of Calico that I disliked. My main issue with the game is during the story mode puzzles. Most puzzles only have one way to solve them, and sometimes you just have to work through it by placing tiles and getting it wrong a couple of times. But you can’t move tiles once they are placed, and there is no backup button that I could find, so you have to start over each time you mess up. This made some of the puzzles really frustrating as I realized toward the end that I have to inch a tile over one, meaning I have to start the whole thing over.
Now, it makes a lot of sense in the PvP or PvE not to be able to back up moves or move tiles around, but there is no reason not to have something like this for the story mode; it’s a solo mode where you solve puzzles. You have limited tiles and only one or two specific answers; it would be nice not to have to start the whole thing over every time.
Conclusion
Overall, I’m super happy with my time with Quilts and Cats of Calico. I haven’t finished the game just yet, but I can tell I’m pretty close to the end. I love the puzzles; I love making my own cats and taking on NPCs in quilting challenges. I’m super happy that I got to see the final product; it did not disappoint.
Final Verdict: Two Thumbs Up:
