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Cat Quest II Captivates Co-op Catventurers With Simple But Mewanced RPG Gameplay
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS
Genre: Light role pawing action with drop-in and drop-out co-op.
As someone who never played the first Cat Quest, I went into this game thinking it was going to be just another very easy family-friendly lite-RPG that would be suitable for short sessions with your pups and kittens.
To my surprise, I was only half correct. Cat Quest II is definitely family-friendly but it does pose a sensible level of challenge.
First of all, let it be known that you don’t need to have any knowledge of the first game to enjoy this sequel. There are a few refurrences here and there but not getting them won’t ruin your experience.
In Cat Quest II, you’re put in the paws of two ancient kings, one cat and one dog, who have been revived to reclaim their thrones from oppressive usurpers. The main storyline does have its fair share of twists and turns, but don’t expect it to provide you that “Oh I can’t wait to see what’s next” level of motivation.
On the plus side, every moment I wasn’t playing the game had me feeling excited to see what other cat and dog puns were waiting to be discovered through the game’s dialogue. If you loved the cat puns in the first game, then you’ll love this game even more because now they have dog puns too! The game’s developer The Gentlebros really knows how to throw their fans a bone.
I would describe the RPG gameplay of Cat Quest II as “simple but not easy”. You’re expected to fully use only three actions in battle: attack, dodge, and cast spells. The challenge comes from learning the attack patterns of different enemies.
A lot of basic enemy attacks are telegraphed through a red circle that indicates where they’ll hit while enemies who can cast spells will form more elaborate danger zones.
Growth and progress in Cat Quest II are more about managing your equipment rather than min-maxing stats. There are only three main stats in the game: attack, magic, and defense. Health is tied to attack while magic damage and mana regeneration are tied to magic.
This item-stat relation makes it easier for non-RPG fans to enjoy the game. Whoever equips a melee weapon will become the tank and melee DPS because their higher attack stat gives them more health. Wielding a staff means you regenerate mana quicker and some staffs even have healing bonuses, so you naturally become the support and healer. A very simple system but it works.
Being an RPG, it’s only appropriate for Cat Quest II to be littered with sidequests and due to how mechanically simple the game is, 90% of them are just fetch (boy, fetch!) quests. Fortunately, quests that you get from the kittizens and pupfolk will rarely take more than 10 minutes to complete. It’s not too bad of a deal because you get a decent amount of EXP, good loot, and most importantly, more puns.
Let’s talk about what every fan of the first game and every parent reading this review wants to know: how’s the co-op?
In a muttshell, it’s pretty damn fun.
One of my frustrations about playing solo was that the companion A.I. often died and didn’t know when to use the right spells. That’s why I consider co-op to be the best way to enjoy this game. Being able to work together to exploit elemental weaknesses and properly apply buffs and heals allowed me and my sister to have a pawsome time playing this game.
Spells and equipment cannot be shared so it prompted me and my sister to re-plan our builds whenever we got new loot. One of us would always be a melee damage dealer who could cast one or two elemental spells while the other would be a mage who would deal damage from afar and be the healer.
Going into the technical aspects, I played the game on PC and all I needed to do was plug in another controller (I used a Dualshock 4). My review copy didn’t come with rebindable keyboard controls but they will be available in the launch version. Still, the keyboard controls were very easy to use. Do note that the game doesn’t support online co-op on PC and as far as I’ve read, the same goes for consoles and mobiles.
You’ve seen the screenshots I put up in this article. It’s painfully obvious that this isn’t a game that demands a lot graphically. The game is played in a perspective similar to most isometric RPGs. Just take out all that brimstone and blood and replace them with bright and beautifully coloured grasslands, forests, oceans, and so on.
Though I must warn you that the design of the dungeons get repetitive even just after two hours of playing the game. That point aside, everything about the visuals is acceptably cute and colourful.
There’s no dialogue in this game, by the way. As in, no voiced dialogue whatsoever. You’ll hear some meows, barks, and other sounds from nature but you won’t find any character uttering words. Dialogue is only available in text form but they only pop up outside of combat so don’t worry about missing any of the puns.
Despite putting about 7 hours into the game, I don’t really remember any tunes from the soundtrack. There’s definitely music in the game but nothing memorable. Sound effects from attacks, spells, and enemies are typical of what you’d get in a mobile game which shouldn’t be surprising since this game is also released for mobiles.
Cat Quest II is a good co-op RPG that can be enjoyed in short sessions with a close friend or family member. The simplicity of the game’s combat coupled with its little RPG nuances makes it an interesting experience for both casual gamers and fans of the genre.
If you enjoyed playing solo in the first Cat Quest (well, there’s no multiplayer in that game anyway), I think you’ll like Cat Quest II. Being able to switch between two characters who each have their own equipment and spells can still be pretty exciting if you know how to balance things out.
I definitely don’t recommend this for those of you looking for a deep RPG adventure that will have you browsing Wikis to set up overpowered builds. If you get this game looking for that kind of experience, you’re barking up the wrong tree.
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