Welcome to EXPlay, (Explain & Play) the review series where we care not for scores but tell it how it is when it comes to every game we get our hands on, whilst also taking the time to include some lengthy gameplay, to give you the reader, the chance to shape your own impressions and views whilst watching and reading. In this installment, we’re covering Little Kitty, Big City by developer Double Dagger Studios.
Little Kitty, Big City: (The Explanation)
The way we typically run our EXPlays at Miketendo64 is that Jack, Mike, or I (Jonathan) play the game, record at least 30 minutes to the open hour of gameplay, and write about their experience. Sometimes, a game grips us, and in this case with me, that hour zooms by and either more footage is captured, or other games get backlogged due to a game being awesome. Little Kitty, Big City is one game that had been on my wishlist since first seeing it in a Direct and hearing about it more from the developers over the course of the last year or so.
I am no slouch when it comes to casual games that introduce a cat protagonist and in some ways antagonist. When a game adds in a variety of other colorful and humorously-written and witty side characters I am all-in. Little Kitty, Big City opens up with you, as a cat, startled from your apartment napping spot high above the city falling several levels to the streets below. From there you need to gather your senses about your surroundings and find your way back to the top.
You first encounter a crow, who aided in your soft fall to the streets below, is now willing to help you get back to your home, but for a price. You must find shinies in the world in the form of small trash trinkets like bottle caps. Bottle caps are strewn throughout the world, but also can be acquired by recycling soda cans you find littered throughout the streets. By finding shinies and paying the crow you will learn a valuable lesson in video game design mechanics that feel natural for the gameplay as well as subtly teaching you to recycle.
Later on in the game the crow will also trade you shinies for gacha balls from vending machines found throughout the world to unlock new hats for your cat to wear. These hats range from the silly to the adorable and add just the right amount of reward for the simple task of finding shinies and trading them in. Each hat comes with a particularly “Jonlike” dad joke pun in the description, some of which had me laughing out loud. I also took mental notes of these descriptions to add them to my own puntastic list of cringe worthy one-liners.
Another typical gameplay mechanic, fast travel, is doled out by a Tanuki you save from an unfortunate ‘head stuck in a pipe’ scenario. Your new found friend offers you portals, in the form of manhole covers into the sewers to help you pop in and out of places quickly. Unlocking these fast travel spots requires a feather, which can be gotten by pouncing on bluebirds you find within the streets and alleyways. To pounce on a bird you need to crawl slowly towards one and hit the B-button at just the right time to jump on said bird and land a devastating grab, your kitty only needs to catch and release the bird to receive a feather. Pouncing on birds plays out in a slow-motion scene that feels like dramatic flair from an action movie.
An exploration game where reaching the highest apartment building requires a bit of jumping and traversing narrow walkways and balconies. To ensure your kitties safe travels in the high places you need to swat at potted plants, jars, and other obstacles along the way as any normal cat would do. Swatting items left and right is done by pressing your left and right triggers. To reach high areas, indicated by ivy vines growing on the sides of buildings, your kitty will need to find and eat fish to gain energy. (Think Legend of Zelda shrine orbs for stamina) Fish are found throughout the map in several unique ways. One fish I found was in a grocery store. I had to jump up into the fish freezer and steal a fish all while avoiding the store employee and water spots on the floor. Eating a fish gets you one energy paw and so far I have found four fish allowing me to reach higher heights along the building skyscrapers.
Speaking of water, there are areas throughout the city, which seems to be dealing with a pipe burst and flooding issue. This water mechanic keeps your kitty from going to some places, as well as builds in a natural end of map area around the city blocks the game takes place in. From time to time you will need to find small openings in walls or move a box or potted plant in the way to open up alternate routes to get to new areas.
Little Kitty, Big City also has a checklist of achievements for the game. These achievements include helping characters you meet like the aforementioned crow, unlocking hats, stealing fish, getting caught stealing fish, and more. During my game time, I came across a person painting in their backyard or a freshly poured concrete and just by naturally being curious and walking around through the paints to the canvas or through the concrete I unlocked an achievement. Sometimes just doing ‘cat things’ is all you need to do. If you think a cat would do something and you try it, there may be a satisfying and oftentimes hilariously punned achievement that you will unlock.
Visually, Little Kitty, Big City has a cell shaded style that captures the fun and humor within the game. I thought the various people you encounter and animal characters you come across were all well made and well animated. I did experience some clipping and had one or two bugs that caused me to restart from my last save, but I didn’t lose much, if any, progress, due to the game’s generous always saving nature.
If you can’t tell by my lengthy EXPlay game capture and write up, Little Kitty, Big City is a charming and sweet indie title and among four or five indies I played this year for Miketendo64 that I would say is a must-play. If you like exploration games, cats, humor, and just all around fun games, Little Kitty, Big City is for you.
Overall, my time with Little Kitty, Big City has been fun. At the time of this review I am about 50% completed with the task and achievements list with around 40% of the cat hats found via shinies trading. If you are looking for a game that might take a few sittings or a long weekend and anything in my EXPlay entices you to purchase, you’re in for a treat. This game has more than enough ‘Pawsome’ things going for it and supporting this small dev team seems like a pretty cool thing to do.
Little Kitty, Big City: (The Gameplay)
Game Specifications:
Developer: Double Dagger Studio
Publisher: Double Dagger Studio
Platform: Nintendo Switch (eShop)
Category: Adventure, Simulation
No. of Players: 1 player
Release Date: May 9, 2024 (EU & NA)
Price: $24.99
File Size: 1.6 GB
Nintendo.com Listing
