Cat Simulator 2016

[Time to completion: 5-10 minutes]

Fun fact: in the past two years, there have been at least one game with 'cat simulator' in its title. What's not to like? It's certainly fun to speculate on cats' motivation for their inscrutable behaviour, and since domestic cats live in such proximity to humans, it does make one wonder what they think of us, as a species.

In this cat sim, the titular cat is a lazy domestic cat looking for a spot to nap. It's broadly branching, largely relaxing and self-aware: 'good' and 'bad' endings are indicated as such (although is there really a bad ending, if you're still a cat at the end of it?); there is even a list of AMUSING things to do, as in some parser games. A short, pleasant diversion.

A short, silly little game about being a cat looking for a place to rest. You are rather picky with your spots, a cat of your stature can't just sleep anywhere, y'know? It's an amusing exercise in anthropomorphism, imagining what the reasoning behind typical cat behavior is. If there is one thing I had a problem with is having good and "bad" endings in a game where the stakes are pretty low and it basically boils down to "uh oh, you found a... less than comfortable place to rest." That's still pretty funny though.

This game was one of the author's first games, and it is small and simple.

However, it matches my ratings system well. It achieves emotional impact in that it makes you think of being a cat very well. It puts you in the mindset of the cat and all the actions are things my cat does.

It's polished in its smallness, and the interactivity work well, as it doesn't feel like lawnmowering to play and the links are placed well, better than many longer works.

It's also descriptive, and that's 4 of my 5 stars right there.