Cat Quest 3: this pirate adventure has enchanted me and my kids

I knew I had to play Cat Quest 3 as soon as I saw the first trailer. The design is just devastatingly cute. Packed with cuddly kittens, the open-world RPG series won a place in my heart back in 2017. The first game and its 2019 sequel saw players travel through a fantasy medieval setting. This time, you get to cruise around as a pirate in a dreamy island-hopping adventure. Sabre-wielding privateers, fluffy cats and co-op mode? Sounds perfect! Not only for me, but also for my two kids. Cat Quest 3 is just as much fun as it looks.

In the game, you take on the role of a nameless «Hero» cat. Accompanied by a blue, phantom-like creature named Captain Cappey, you travel around the Purribean. You’d better get used to the puns quickly, because the game’s brimming with them. As someone who’s regularly guilty of cracking dad jokes, there’s plenty for me to smile about.

Cat Quest 3 has a level-based world. Your little pirate ship’s able to move freely around the entire map right from the start, though many areas are still too challenging at that point. At that stage in the game, all it takes is one cannon ball to the bow for your boat to sink. With this in mind, I start off by exploring the archipelago of Purrvana. I’m on the hunt for the legendary Northern Star treasure, my ghostly companion floating by my side. This is the central mission that guides you through the game. Most of the time, however, I just follow my nose and dock wherever something grabs my attention. There’s certainly no shortage of things to capture my interest.

A holiday paradise – not just for cat lovers

Cat Quest 3’s 2.5D world is an absolute dream. I can’t get enough of it. Hardly anyone can pull off this sort of design as well as studio Gentlebros does. From the Caribbean-inspired world (where I’d happily book my next holiday) to the design of the imaginative enemies, the game has me in an almost constant state of amazement. One minute there’s a colossal rubber duck sailing past, the next you’re attacked by orange octopuses wearing eye patches or ghostlike metal-head pirates blocking the entrance to their club fortress.

It never gets boring. There’s a new threat lurking in every bay, suspicious rock formations hinting at buried treasure and glowing obelisks beckoning you to discover their secrets. The oddball characters you meet along the way also help create a sense of atmosphere. They’re the heart of Cat Quest 3, and give the game a lot of personality. The first characters I run into are in the port city of Purrvana. There’s Mama Milka, the muscular tavern owner who gets you to hunt down some feared pirates. Then there’s Kidd Cat, a cute kitten who upgrades your equipment.

Most of the inhabitants you meet are tied to intriguing stories. Take the one in the tower on Lovepurr Island, for example. It’s here you meet Clawford, a ghost who’s unable to rest on account of a doomed love story. To help him, you need to find diaries scattered in caves all over the Purribean. It’s only once you’re able to tell the right story that you can break the curse. Well, that and dishing out a few blows in the inevitable battle that follows. Almost everything you do in the game involves fighting, after all.

A combat system with depth

When island hopping, I send every ship I come across to the bottom of the sea with fiery cannonballs. On land, I duel countless enemies. Sometimes out in the open, sometimes in caves and sometimes in towers or fortresses.

For battles, you have a melee weapon, a ranged weapon and various spells at your disposal. There are swords, shields, axes, pistols, wands, ice storms, lightning attacks and more. On top of that, there are amulets and pieces of equipment allowing for an astonishing number of combinations. The headgear and jacket of a slain vampire cat deal damage to enemies when you’re healing yourself. They go perfectly with the healing spell, a fixed part of my repertoire. These countless combos, rather than turning the combat system on its head, inject variety into the game. Plus, the outfit design is fantastic. I’d happily wear all of it at once.

You unfortunately can’t change the appearance of your pirate ship, but there are upgrades for it. They’re a bit more linear and give you HP or extra capacity for special cannonballs, including electric, magma and ghostly varieties.

Finding an efficient battle strategy is quite the task. The game may have a childlike design, but the difficulty is far from child’s play – at least when it’s set to Normal. I didn’t try easy mode. Fortunately, there’s a generous number of checkpoints, so there’s never any real frustration. I just struggled with certain bosses. Mostly because they force you to hear/read the same dialogue over and over again. It’s worst when you reach the Pi-Rat King. I had to click through almost ten screens of his bodyguards’ chit-chat and endure his two-act monologue before I had the chance to whet my blade in battle again. For the love of all that is holy, please let me skip that stuff!

Still, the battles don’t require a whole lot of tactical skill. Dodging at the right moment and using spells regularly usually does the job. This uses up magic crystals, which increase in number as the game progresses. You can refill them by performing standard attacks. Different weapons also produce different dodge manoeuvres. For example, you can only roll through flames if you’ve equipped the fire wand.

You can make the game easier – better, even – if you play it with a buddy. As was the case with Cat Quest 1 and 2, Pirates of the Purribean also has local co-op. It’s perfect for inexperienced gamers like my children, aged four and six. Battles in co-op mode are slightly harder to follow, but it’s definitely easier to vanquish your enemies with a fellow player than going it alone. Sure, my youngest shoots his pistol completely in the wrong direction. However, in doing so, he draws enemies towards him, giving me the chance to heal myself and dish out blows unchallenged. The enthusiastic high-five he gives me at the end of a battle confirms he’s happy with that strategy too. And if somebody does kick the bucket, all you’ve got to do you is cover your fallen comrade for a few seconds before you can continue.

_Kepler Interactive provided me a copy of the game. It comes out on 8 August on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series and the Switch.