On August 8th, the International Cat Day, publisher Kepler Interactive and the catventure developers The Gentlebros released Cat Quest III.
This time, our kitty adventurer set out to conquer the seas, with the third game having a pirate-inspired setting. Cat Quest III sends you to the Purribean archipelago, filled with pirates to the brim. Our silent protagonist is one of them, traveling the world in the company of a spirit companion in order to find the wish-granting artifact known as the Northern Star.
However, it is not an easy quest: pi-rats led by the fearsome Pirate King are hunting you down, intent on finding and keeping the treasure for themselves. So prepare to overcome many trials and fight with numerous enemies!
You wouldn’t expect a deep plot from a cartoony action game, but Cat Quest III might surprise you a little. During the adventure, our kitty will reveal the secret of their past, and the villain will turn out to be much more interesting than it might seem at first. Moreover, the game clearly hints at the sequel, which also promises to seriously raise the stakes.
At the same time, the connection to the previous games of the series is quite minimal, so you can play the third game without ever trying the Cat Adventure series before.
The developers decided to abandon the idea of cooperation between cats and dogs, presented in Cat Quest II. This time, the protagonists are only representatives of the feline race. Meanwhile, you will meet boars, rats, bats, and other anthropomorphic animals as foes.
Our hero is a descendant of a navigator and a seeker that miraculously escaped from a sinking ship. Throughout the game, he will search for the Northern Star, a mythical treasure that can fulfill any wish. The plot does not offer all that many interesting twists or a lengthy duration. On average, you can beat the game in 6–7 hours, including finding all the secrets and mysteries.
There are a couple of interesting but obvious plot points, good morals, and a lot of humor. And, while it is not required of you to have played previous games of the series, it would certainly help the general understanding.
In addition to the main quest chain, the game also features many side stories and tasks: catching some fish, helping with the mail, finding missing items, digging up a treasure, and so on. All these quests will help you uncover the history of the archipelago and some of its characters, and give a good reward for completion.
The game uses 2.5D isometric style, but some situations feature traditional 2D. Sometimes the graphics also acquire a special style, characteristic of the location. It is immediately clear that graphics had a lot of effort poured into it, some locations look not just awesome but rather purr-fect!
The game’s text adapts the cat theme. It applies both to the words and sounds, as well as terms and names: Purribean, pi-rats, blunderpuss, furr-ocious spells, gla-meow-rous costumes, and more. The text is also filled to the brim with references and various jokes. As you progress through the game, you will come across dozens of puns, and even the names of items and characters will bring back pleasant memories.
The battle system is quite simple, but also very diverse. You have access to the melee weapon, the ranged weapon, and spells. Every type of weaponry has a number of subtypes: swords, claws, shields, axes for melee; guns, machine guns, magic staves for ranged.
Finally, spells are split into defensive and offensive. The former can restore health and increase defense. The latter are divided into elements, and there are a total of 4 slots for you to put the chosen abilities into, which unlock as you play through the game and level up your character.
All of the above can and should be combined, creating a real pixel whirlwind on the screen that consists of various abilities that are destroying all your enemies in fashion.
Since the events of the game take place on the islands, the protagonist will get a ship to sail around, as well as a plethora of new enemies to fight. Pirate vessels roam the seas, the depths of which are hiding the destructive Catulhu.
In order to successfully resist danger, you need to improve your transport: as you grow in levels, new slots open up to install various types of cores and upgrades, such as an increase in hull strength or a damage bonus. However, the main events will still unfold on land. Almost every island contains a lot of interesting content: be it a hidden treasure chest, a cave filled with dangers, or an NPC that will send you on a quest.
Unlike the previous game of the series, you can simultaneously collect a dozen of secondary quests, and they will all show up on the map. Some of them can be completed immediately, while others would require you to level up and gear up a bit first, as well as pick up some previously unavailable tools. In any case, by the end of the story, you will probably have completed all the missions that might interest you. Note that when you get to the episode in which the game warns you of the point of no return, you should trust it and finish all yet unresolved tasks. In Cat Quest III, there will be no return to the open world after the end of the campaign.
There is no leveling of characteristics in the game, so builds are created with the equipment combinations. One armor might strengthen the protagonist’s defense, another will enhance ice magic, a third will allow you to draw vitality from your opponents and thus replenish some health, and so on.
Accordingly, you can make your feline protagonist into a tank, almost invulnerable to damage, a magician that has an emphasis on a specific element, a vampire-like damage dealer that heals faster than enemies can hurt him, and that’s not even half the list. Everything depends on your preferences, the game provides a wide range of equipment.
You can upgrade the gear at the local blacksmith for coins, while spells can be strengthened by the sorceress. The tavern owner will generously reward the character for catching especially dangerous criminals, so it is quite easy to come by the gold required for the upgrades. You won’t need to rush to the plot, it’s enough to pay attention to the side quests.
The battle system of Cat Quest III is quite primitive: attacks are combined into automatic combos, melee weapons can be alternated with ranged (blunderbusses or staves), spells have a certain number of charges that are restored on basic attacks.
The balance is quite good: it might feel a bit hard in the beginning, you can get seriously stuck on a couple of bosses, but by the end of the game you’ll become almost invincible. Enemies won’t stand still and allow you to beat on them with impunity, either: they use various melee and ranged attacks, and require attention and concentration.
Not all enemies can be defeated by brute force, some will have to be taken down with intellect! Choose the right equipment and magic, or do something unusual. When meeting the boss named The Heartpurroken – a huge spiked ball – hitting him is useless. But leading him through the labyrinth and making small spiked traps kill him is a very nice combat tactic.
The variety of enemies in the game is very large, the bosses are memorable in their appearance and require attention. Interesting arenas have been made for many bosses, each with their own attacks and magic.
