After sending Switch gamers on a gripping cat-venture back in 2017, developer The Gentlebros are back once again with an all-new quest for cat-loving gamers to head on. Cat Quest II comes with a twist though – this time around you’ll have an ally… a DOG. Shocking, right?
Cat Quest II’s tale is based around an ongoing war between the empires of cats and dogs, with the player taking on the role of the rulers of each empire (a cat and a dog, naturally) as they look to cease the battling and bring peace to the world. Obviously, there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes, but that’s the tale in a nutshell.
The narrative is silly and fun throughout, with the developer sparing no effort in including charming jokes, pop-culture references, and an abundance of cat and dog puns. The script itself is genuinely funny though and it’s hard not to have a smile laced across your face as you navigate the world and interact with all of its peculiar inhabitants.
Much like its predecessor, Cat Quest II has simple gameplay mechanics that most players will be able to get to grips with immediately. You mash one button to attack, can unleash a variety of magic attacks with another, whilst a swift dodge-roll to evade attacks is easily done too. Balancing out all of these actions is vital to your success in the game, with certain enemies more vulnerable to specific attacks and area-of-effect attacks clearly marked for you to try and get out of the way of. There’s a good range of different gear and magic attacks to use too, each of which bring something different to combat. Then you’ve got typical action-RPG tropes such as levelling up, quests to complete, and dungeons to clear – much like the other aspects of the game, they’re all presented in a simple manner than proves to be fun and accessible.
For the most part, Cat Quest II feels a lot like the first game – especially from a gameplay perspective. Sure, it has a bigger world and new weapons and attacks to use, but there’s nothing too significant that makes Cat Quest II feel like a huge evolution over the original formula. That’s not necessarily a bad thing though, especially when you consider how fun the first game was. Sure, it has its moments where it can feel a little repetitive, but the quirky narrative and fun quests ensure that the roughly ten-hour runtime never feels boring.
One interesting addition this time around is the character-swapping, with the player able to switch between both the cat and dog hero on the fly. When you’re not controlling the other character, the AI guides them along to give another helpful pair of paws in combat to help you out. Each character can be kitted out with different gear and magic abilities too, so swapping between them can give you the upper hand over enemies with different vulnerabilities.
Whilst swapping characters and having the AI help you is fine, the best way to experience Cat Quest II is with another player in local co-op. Besides the fact that the simple nature of the game lends itself well to long slogs or short bursts of action, the aforementioned humour and the way you can work together co-operatively makes the experience all the more enjoyable. It’s a bit of a shame that it’s limited to local co-op only, but it doesn’t stop it from being the best way to experience Cat Quest II.
Summary
Cat Quest II is a charming action-RPG experience that offers fun gameplay and a genuinely funny narrative, whilst the accessible nature of the game makes it easy to pick up and play or for younger gamers to enjoy too. It’s also got local co-op included this time around and playing together with a buddy is undoubtedly the best way to experience this feline quest.
It’s worth noting it isn’t a big evolution over the first game though and the action can be overly simple and repetitive at times, but thankfully it doesn’t stop Cat Quest II from being another enjoyable release for Switch gamers to get stuck into.
Developer: The Gentlebros
Publisher: PQube
Platform(s): Nintendo Switch (Reviewed), PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
