Months ago we had to put our cat, Jinx, to sleep. The loss still hurts. It’s harder than some of the human losses in my life. I chose to play Little Kitty Big City as a sort of tribute (Jinx was also a black cat). It looked like the perfect cat game. It really nailed the cat mechanics and it’s pretty obvious the developers are cat people. It was fun and therapeutic.
Ultimate Cat Gameplay
I played and loved Stray, but Little Kitty, Big City surpasses it as the ultimate cat game. Sure the graphics are much more cartoony, but this game just nails the charm of cats. The cat in the game visually reminds me of Jinx, but with a mix of personality from our current cat, Leo (he’s mischievous).
It actually surprised me how deep the gameplay is. There’s plenty of basic movements like crawling, running, jumping and batting things around with each paw. The animations for each is perfectly cat-like. I thoroughly enjoyed batting flower pots of ledges maybe a bit too much.
Things then escalated to tripping humans to steal their sandwiches to lure birds with. Sneaking up on and bouncing on those birds nets feathers as currency. Those feathers help with a side mission and then unlock the weird Racoon power manhole cover teleportation network. Weird yes, but a fun way to skip across the city.
Little Kitty Big City Hats on Cats
There’s also quite the hunt for “shinies” high and low. It’s actually fun collecting a bunch of these for an early mission, then to unlock hats. Yes hats are ridiculous, but one of those aww cute things that solidify a game made by total cat people. I even used a mini hard hat to trick a construction worker.
The jumping skills of the cat are put to the test in plenty of platforming puzzles in the open world city. Up high there’s plenty of hats, shinies, nests, places to cat nap and more to find. Down low there’s soccer goals to bat soccer balls through.
Rummaging through trash cans nets more shinies, but it’s hilarious that there’s also an achievement for finding and sitting in boxes. Any cat mom or dad knows the power of the cardboard box. Expensive cat beds be damned, just give them a new cardboard box and they can’t help but jump in.
The achievement for finding all such boxes still cracks me up with the name: “If I fits, I sits”. Peak cat humor. Silly fun things don’t stop there, because there’s a point to unlock emotes. Laying down and acting scared are fine emotes and all, but my favorite is the “making muffins”.
Murder Muffins
Love when my cat Leo alternates picking up and then pushing each paw into the bed like he’s kneading dough. We refer to those as “Murder Muffins” in our house since he has the claws out fully while doing it. He’s cute, but can be an evil cat. It fits.
Later into the game, the hunt is on to find and eat big red fish. Those unlock, then upgrade, the ability to climb ivy. Fully upgrading that climbing ability is the main mission in order to climb back into the cat’s condo home.
I’m sure it would not take long to focus on just that main missions, but I completed plenty of the side missions. The cat gameplay was just great fun, so I stuck around playing even after the credits rolled. It’s silly a lot of times, but fun and that’s the whole point of gaming.
Little Kitty Big City Story
The story of Little Kitty Big City revolves around the mischievous black cat falling out of it’s window. Lost in the big city, the cat seeks help from other animals to find it’s way home. Along the way, other cats and animals teach new skills to help that cat progress higher.
I helped a mother duck reunite with her ducklings, delivered shinies to a crow and played hide and seek with a gecko. There’s plenty of silly little side missions, but the great cat game mechanics almost encouraged me to tackle them all.
When I had finally consumed enough fish, I was able to make the long climb back to the cats home. It was there that the cat’s owner put a brand new collar on the cats neck. The game then allowed me to name the cat, so I called him Jinx as a final tribute to my cat I miss so much.
I cannot recommend Little Kitty, Big City enough to cat lovers. Even for people that just chuckle a bit at cat videos, it’s an absolute must play. Is it silly? Yes, but the fun was such great therapy for me that I hope it does the same for someone else.
