A recipe for breaking the internet, Cloud Cats’ Land features none other than cute lil’ felines at the helm. This game from PurrMurrMeow Games will be a blockbuster for the characters alone, that is, until players get played as this is a rather tricky puzzle game. Classed as a point and click, it’s in no way comparable to the classic games like DOTT (referenced in the game) or the more recent The Drifter. It’s almost like a hidden object game, but through repetition, it is the epitome of point and click logic.
Equipped with an inventory of items you find along the way, you will combine the most absurd items, which often make no sense at all, and then, at other times, pause for a moment or two, realizing just how expertly crafted they are. Cloud Cats’ Land doesn’t pretend to be anything other than a cute yet challenging puzzle game and is very self-aware throughout.
You play a cat, a calico, I believe, that is separated from their owner, a captain of a dinky vessel. Shipwrecked after encountering a leviathan, your job is to locate your owner/pal by solving a series of surreal puzzles that follow their last steps. Crumpled notepaper is left behind, revealing very cryptic clues as to the whereabouts of your friend and occasional hints for the puzzles. However, they are so often out of the box that they only make sense after solving a puzzle. Even then, they aren’t always clear.
Instead, you’ll fumble around a beautifully illustrated land with cat cameos that allude to items they want to progress to the next area. Nothing is too clear, so you often have to guess at what the expectation is, followed by frantic clicking through your inventory. Again, some make sense, but to honour the point and click genre, Cloud Cats’ Land really knocks it out of the park in terms of weird, yet very amusing concoctions.
The art style is very nice throughout, but first impressions resembled a cheap mobile game that was all looks and no substance. After completing the opener, that soon changed my opinion as I was engaged from start to finish. Aside from the fact that this review was ‘due’ today, I had managed to complete it within 24 hours (about 8 hours to complete, though it’s not a race, chums). As satisfying as it is to progress through each of the five chapters, Cloud Cats’ Land is not without its frustrations, and that’s predominantly due to the puzzles or lack of guidance on what to do next. On the flip side, there are only a handful of scenes per chapter, and the solution is always there without having to backtrack multiple scenes. I certainly hit the wall a fair number of times, including the very end.
On the surface, this looks like a kids’ game, and while it is safe, it’s not without some in-jokes and wordplay, though not in your face. Perhaps I’m just a vulgar person, but after one puzzle, I was greeted with ‘No puss would ever refuse my seed’. Aside from spitting out my drink, I did spot quite a few of these, and they certainly added to the fun without being crass. As for visuals? There’s nothing grotesque, so you could play along with your family. Just don’t react to bush and pussy references, eh?
Cloud Cats’ Land is a decent point and click adventure that wouldn’t usually be my choice for the genre, but I was pleasantly surprised. Beautiful illustrations, some slightly cringey cuteness here and there, occasional head-bashing puzzles and ‘what do I do next?!’ moments, yet overall entertaining, engaging and… another word beginning with ‘e’…? Not exciting, per se, but let us go with exceptional, as it’s the first game of its type that I’ve seen through to the end and actually enjoyed.
