Video Games | Nintendo
Cat Quest II is a Near-Purrfect, Pun-Heavy Action RPG (Switch Review)
The first thing that grabbed my attention when I played Cat Quest II was not the eye-poppin’ visuals (which are an optical feast) or the adorable cat and dog sound effects used as conversational markers. No, what allured me immediately was the developer’s total dedication to cramming as many puns as possible into their game. You literally can not go a dozen seconds in CQII without being punned in the face.
You will be chuckling often to the whimsical jokes overflowing within the game — an open world action RPG in the vein of Torchlight or Dragon Quest. But are the plentiful puns enough to make CQII a worthy addition to your game library? Read on to find out.
Cat Quest II (available on PC, Switch, PS4/PS5 and Xbox One) is a sequel to Singapore-based The Gentlebros’s well received original, released in 2017. Although there is some backstory overlap with Cat Quest I, players don’t need to be familiar with the first game to go far in the sequel. Cat Quest II stands just fine on its own, plot-wise. Both CQ1 vets and new players will find the gameplay mechanics easy to learn and quickly adaptable.
CQII takes place in a medieval fantasy land populated by two segregated animal societies: the green, woodsy cat kingdom of Felingard and the canine Lupus Empire set in a dry, hostile desert. Naturally both the cats and dogs are stuck in a long, tiring war of attrition and there is little love lost between the two demesnes.
The game’s main plotline has your fuzzy duo traversing both lands in search of a magical artifact called the Kingsblade, uncovering the mystery behind its suspicious disappearance. In CQII’s endearing subplot, your heroes will also assist in ending the cat and dog conflict by facilitating a much-needed peace between the two sworn animal enemies.
Your feline and canine protagonists will progress in a rudimentary RPG system via combat, experience tokens and quest completions. I found that CQII will advance more smoothly if it is played with completionist goals in mind. Since finishing quests net the most experience points, I can’t recommend enough knocking out as many sidequests as you can before tackling the main story. Doing so will minimize grinding and ensure your play-through has a natural, organic flow.
One of the more player friendly features in CQII concerns level vetting. Each quest, cave, dungeon or boss fight on the world map is visually bannered with a minimum player level. That is the game’s advised threshhold for engagements. Knowing how your heroes measure up against the game’s challenges helps guarantee you will not wander into unwinnable situations.
Another design feature mitigating the difficulty of the level is the quest compass. Any active mission’s waypoint is automatically included on the game world map so the player is never at a loss as to how to proceed. While this makes pathfinding seamless, it sometimes serves to dissuade exploration.
Pressing [X] will instantly switch between the cat and dog so the player is never confined to one main character. Both animal heroes are designed to be identical aside from their appearance and vocal effects. Configuring your dog and cat fighters are total role play decisions.
In my playthrough, the kitty was “tankified” — accessorized with the heaviest weapons and armor, vanguarding as the main offensive threat. For tactical balance, I delegated the dog for mage/support duties, buffing its arcane weaponry and loading the pup up with clerical spells.
Combat in Cat Quest II is real time action. Your cat and dog heroes can be equipped with either traditional weaponry or magical staves, and each animal can ready up to four special buffs or spells. While there are only a finite number of enemies in the game, they can be difficult to manage if you ignore their obvious weaknesses. As a rule of thumb, blue monsters are weaker to fire weapons/spells and red enemies can be dispatched more easily with ice. Although rare, CQII’s boss fights serve up a more nuanced obstacle — especially when you are forced to confront bosses fortified with multiple waves of reinforcements.
The ability to switch heroes on the fly, especially amidst combat, is a critical gameplay option. Your buddy’s AI is surprisingly competent. He/she will use whatever special attacks/magic equipped when necessary. This is especially helpful when healing is required at crucial moments during battles.
Your furry heroes will encounter a delightful array of amusing NPCs. Your protagonists’ main companions in CQII are Kirry the kitty fairy, Hotto Doggo (the frankfurter-obsessed weapon master) and the cheeky blacksmith KitKat. The latter two are essential to your mission as they are the only NPCs capable of upgrading your equipment.
While there are a lot of cats and dogs to meet, dialogue is strictly one-sided. There are no conversational menus or options and characters generally do not react to your actions or events in the game.
A large chunk of CQII’s charm can be found in the game’s writing. The Gentlebros carried over the tongue in-cheek meta-awareness established in the first Cat Quest. Characters will occasionally reference the fact that they are inside a video game. Heck, the developers themselves make cameos (see screenshot below) offering sidequests and an endgame trial-by-combat gauntlet.
CQII on the Nintendo Switch runs smoothly both docked and on the go. Framerates are crisp and I did not experience a single glitch or bug in my play through. As mentioned above the game showcases a clean, crisp cell-shadish visual template and CQII’s vibrant colors pop off the screen with noticeable flair.
The background music however, is limited and a tad repetitive. I counted only several individual songs on the soundtrack and a few get old real quick. The ubiquitous Indiana Jones-like overworld theme is so unavoidable it may (nay WILL) invade your dreams.
The UI on the Switch is a breeze to master. Navigating the map, inventory and mission screens are simple, one-two button pressing procedures. There is no autosave function but CQII relies on special grey statues scattered throughout the land for save stations. Thankfully there are more than enough of these statues in the game, making progress savings a cinch.
Is Cat Quest II a fun game? Absolutely. Its casual gamer-friendly difficulty and streamlined quest designs are far outweighed by its playability and magnetic charm. The story and dialogue are rich with witticisms and wordplay, and the characters are impossible not to love. It is a perfect pick up and go adventure well suited for the Nintendo Switch.
PROS
- So many puns
- Superbly written with endearing dialogue and a likeable ensemble of characters
- Ridiculous amount of loot, weapons, spells and customizable abilities
- Gorgeous visuals and cute animal noises
- Solid and varied mix of sidequests keeps gameplay fresh
- Runs great in both Switch formats and without any stutters or glitches
CONS
- Combat is fairly easy, especially in the endgame
- Repetitive, limited music
- Quest compasses hinder exploration
