If you know your Cat Quest, probably all I need tell you about Cat Quest 3 is that it’s more of the same, only this time with pirates. Which is to say, it’s a treat. But if you’ve not yet played developer TheGentlebros’ pun-obsessed series of super-casual, ultra-streamlined open-world action RPGs, I guess I have some explaining to do.
The original Cat Quest released back in 2017 and was immediately heralded as a very good thing by people with exceptional and accurate taste. The pitch is pretty straightforward: what if an expansive open-world action-RPG but with all the faff taken out? You’ve got your adventuring, your exploration, your combat, your questing, your dungeon-crawling, your levelling, plus heaps of treasure and endless gear – only pared right back as far as is possible without the whole thing collapsing in on its own insubstantiality, then polished to a sheen.
Cat Quest 2 did the whole thing all over again in 2019 – this time with dogs and two-player co-op – and five years on from that, we’ve got a third outing that shakes up the familiar formula a little by covering half the map in water, handing you a boat, and then festooning everything with pirates. Strip away the tricornes, jaunty shanties, and other nautical flourishes, and Cat Quest 3 admittedly isn’t that much of a departure for the series, but, honestly, who cares when it remains such a delight to play?
About Author
