I purchased Cat Quest on a whim some time ago without any background information on it; it looked cute and was on discount so why not? On first starting it up and seeing the credits, I noticed that all the names sounded distinctly Singaporean. So I did a quick Google search and true enough, The Gentlebros is a dev team based in Singapore, where I live - a relative rarity here!
I also found a blog post from them about some of the decisions that went into making the game. One notable point they brought up early on was how they wanted to release the game on as many platforms as possible to maximize publicity and sales, and therefore any gameplay elements they included had to make sense on all the platforms. I quote: "At first, our magic system had enemy targeting. You could aim your spell at an enemy and fling a fireball at it. This worked well on PC and consoles because you could just aim at an enemy with the keyboard or controller and just press a button. But on mobile, this wasn’t as easy. ....... We wanted something that felt intuitive and only be a button press away, so we redesigned the magic system. We made it such that every spell only attacked in a very specific way. Flamepurr would do an AOE blast all around you. Lightnyan would zap enemies to your left and right, etc. This way, we removed the need to target enemies, simplified the magic system, and created something pretty unique at the same time."
I find this sentiment to be a pretty good window into the Singaporean psyche; far be it from me to suggest we have a monopoly on struggling artists, but when you have a generally conservative population and two of the largest ethnic groups are Chinese and Indian, then let's just say that us creative types will feel more eager to succeed financially in order to escape the "shame to our family" label. And when the general cost of living is so high because the entire country is one city, then even those of us in artistic fields will generally carry a tinge of pragmatism into our work.
Sometimes, as in the example of the magic system in Cat Quest, the restrictions created by this pragmatism will lead to creative and unique solutions. Unfortunately, it can sometimes also hamstring the execution of a product. While the magic system was clever, and the bite-sized nature of the missions works well in both mobile and PC mediums, a lot of the gameplay seems dumbed-down even in a casual mobile game context. Cat Quest seems so paranoid about players not knowing what to do for even a moment that it has a big helpful white arrow pointing at your destination at all times. The sidequests actually provide some nice backstory and worldbuilding, but since they all boil down to "follow the white arrow and defeat some enemies at some point", they feel very much like the paint-by-numbers filler sidequests in games like FF7 Crisis Core. All this to say, Cat Quest is very playable and pretty fun, but is frictionless to the point that I make fast progress because it's easy and not because it's compelling. It also means it's one of the most linear-feeling open world games I've ever played because you can only have one white arrow (and therefore only one quest) at once - taking on a new quest cancels the one you're currently on.
One thing that should have been a lot deeper was the equipment system - you get plenty of options for equipment but all they do is change your stats. I don't see any reason why they couldn't have added extra effects on your equipment like "increased speed" or "vampiric attacks" given that there are plenty of mobile games with far deeper equipment systems.
Which is a shame, because I think there's a lot of potential here! The visual design is cute, and while the writing is mostly obvious cat-puns, it proves to be quite good when it gets the chance to stretch its legs. One particularly humorous sidequest involves a group of soldiers revolting against the king because they're fed up with the crappy quality of the armor they're given to wear; there's a lot of buildup to the fight, but... you defeat them all in one hit because crappy armor. I wish there were more moments like this!
Cat Quest is ultimately a cute wholesome game with some really nice ideas that seems more at home on mobile than other platforms - it's casual-friendly, frictionless, doesn't suck you in but is a worthy distraction. And while not every game needs to punch you in the soul with profound themes, I do feel like there was a lot that the Gentlebros left in the tank. I wish them the very best, and hope one day they can be successful enough to make the game they truly want to without pragmatic or utilitarian considerations; perhaps the sequel? It's going on my backlog now!
I also found a blog post from them about some of the decisions that went into making the game. One notable point they brought up early on was how they wanted to release the game on as many platforms as possible to maximize publicity and sales, and therefore any gameplay elements they included had to make sense on all the platforms. I quote: "At first, our magic system had enemy targeting. You could aim your spell at an enemy and fling a fireball at it. This worked well on PC and consoles because you could just aim at an enemy with the keyboard or controller and just press a button. But on mobile, this wasn’t as easy. ....... We wanted something that felt intuitive and only be a button press away, so we redesigned the magic system. We made it such that every spell only attacked in a very specific way. Flamepurr would do an AOE blast all around you. Lightnyan would zap enemies to your left and right, etc. This way, we removed the need to target enemies, simplified the magic system, and created something pretty unique at the same time."
I find this sentiment to be a pretty good window into the Singaporean psyche; far be it from me to suggest we have a monopoly on struggling artists, but when you have a generally conservative population and two of the largest ethnic groups are Chinese and Indian, then let's just say that us creative types will feel more eager to succeed financially in order to escape the "shame to our family" label. And when the general cost of living is so high because the entire country is one city, then even those of us in artistic fields will generally carry a tinge of pragmatism into our work.
Sometimes, as in the example of the magic system in Cat Quest, the restrictions created by this pragmatism will lead to creative and unique solutions. Unfortunately, it can sometimes also hamstring the execution of a product. While the magic system was clever, and the bite-sized nature of the missions works well in both mobile and PC mediums, a lot of the gameplay seems dumbed-down even in a casual mobile game context. Cat Quest seems so paranoid about players not knowing what to do for even a moment that it has a big helpful white arrow pointing at your destination at all times. The sidequests actually provide some nice backstory and worldbuilding, but since they all boil down to "follow the white arrow and defeat some enemies at some point", they feel very much like the paint-by-numbers filler sidequests in games like FF7 Crisis Core. All this to say, Cat Quest is very playable and pretty fun, but is frictionless to the point that I make fast progress because it's easy and not because it's compelling. It also means it's one of the most linear-feeling open world games I've ever played because you can only have one white arrow (and therefore only one quest) at once - taking on a new quest cancels the one you're currently on.
One thing that should have been a lot deeper was the equipment system - you get plenty of options for equipment but all they do is change your stats. I don't see any reason why they couldn't have added extra effects on your equipment like "increased speed" or "vampiric attacks" given that there are plenty of mobile games with far deeper equipment systems.
Which is a shame, because I think there's a lot of potential here! The visual design is cute, and while the writing is mostly obvious cat-puns, it proves to be quite good when it gets the chance to stretch its legs. One particularly humorous sidequest involves a group of soldiers revolting against the king because they're fed up with the crappy quality of the armor they're given to wear; there's a lot of buildup to the fight, but... you defeat them all in one hit because crappy armor. I wish there were more moments like this!
Cat Quest is ultimately a cute wholesome game with some really nice ideas that seems more at home on mobile than other platforms - it's casual-friendly, frictionless, doesn't suck you in but is a worthy distraction. And while not every game needs to punch you in the soul with profound themes, I do feel like there was a lot that the Gentlebros left in the tank. I wish them the very best, and hope one day they can be successful enough to make the game they truly want to without pragmatic or utilitarian considerations; perhaps the sequel? It's going on my backlog now!