Little Kitty, Big City Review — Paws To The Wall

Have you ever wanted to escape the hustle and bustle of your day-to-day life? Break away from the 9 to 5 and instead nap under some sunbeams or knock things off a shelf? If you said yes, I must admit that’s a pretty weird fantasy. It also means you’d probably love Little Kitty, Big City.

The debut game of indie studio Double Dagger Studio, Little Kitty, Big City, puts players in the paws of an adorable little black cat lost on the streets somewhere in (what I believe to be) Japan. After falling out of their owner’s window (and landing safely in the trash, of course), our titular little kitty is on an epic quest to get home as soon as possible. Well, eventually. There’s plenty of trouble for a mischievous cat to get up to along the way.

Little Kitty, Big City is a game similar to Untilted Goose Game, in a genre I would call “animal misadventure simulation.” Taking on the role of our lost little cat, you parade and parkour around a delightfully colorful and stress-free atmosphere (so long as you don’t step into a puddle) that encourages players to get up to no good and give in to their inner cat.

The game does a remarkably good job of making you feel like a cat. That is, after all, sort of the entire point. It does this fundamentally, with parkour segments and level navigation that force you to think like a cat and take unexpected, feline-like routes through the city. The gameplay empowers you and encourages you to hop on counters, stalk and pounce on unsuspecting birds, and knock things off counters in your kitty quest to get home and create as many adorable problems as you can on the way there.

The game also expertly captures the mannerisms of a cat. All of the little animations that play as you bump into walls, crawl under gaps, pounce about, and climb up anything you can stick your claws into feel expertly designed with a mix of real feline mannerisms and cat meme culture in mind. The game is made for the cat lover, who isn’t afraid to dip into the goofier side of the world’s silliest creatures to appeal to our soft spots for these furballs.

Perhaps one of the most unexpectedly good aspects of Little Kitty, Big City is the game’s sound design.

When you think of a ‘cuddly cat game,’ the first thing that comes to your mind might not be an expertly crafted soundscape. However, that’s just what you’ll get, and it plays a shockingly important role in the fantasy of being a mischievous cat about town. Every little purr and murr from our titular kitty makes for an adorably sweet ambiance, and the little sounds of objects being knocked over, little cat paws thumping on countertops, and the subtle scratching of claws on wood make for an immersive experience that is also just delightfully nice to listen to.

Far from just a silly but realistic cat simulator, Little Kitty, Big City isn’t afraid to dip its toes into the ridiculous. During your quest, you’ll run into a litany of interesting characters, amusing dialogue, and whacky scenarios befitting a cat’s journey. 

And yes, all the aforementioned interesting characters talk about animals and their business in the human domain. From a crow who misleads you about the value and nature of “shiny things” to a cartography duck, there are many great characters in the game, and more than I imagined there would be. My favorite of which is the Tanuki, an inventor Racoon who seems to have their hands dipped more in magic than they do science.

Each of these characters came with their own little stories and objectives, which is where the heart of the game really lies: The side quests. Help a beetle find (aka steal) a smartphone to take pictures for their influencer cat boss. Knockover sordid monuments meant to taunt catkind (jars of jam) so that the Mayyyyyoor can help you find your way home. These little quests make for fantastic little distractions and reward our kitty with valuable tools to progress, be they the ability to meow or actual interdimensional teleportation.

Of course, when you’re not finishing side quests for other animals or just going out of your way to shove people over and steal their smartphones, the game encourages you to explore with several collectibles hidden around the map. Namely, hats and adorable little cosmetics you can stick on your cat to make them even cuter than they already were, if such a thing is even possible.

Little Kitty, Big City is simple in its premise but flawless in its execution. If you saw a certain game starring a cat protagonist released in the last few years and thought, “This is nice, but I wish it focussed more on being a cat and less on the apocalypse,” then Little Kitty, Big City is for it. Superbly charming and utterly cute, it’s hard to criticize such an adorable, fun-filled romp of a game.

Try Hard Guides received a PC review code for this game. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles in our Game Reviews page! Little Kitty, Big City is available on Steam, Xbox and Switch.