100 Find Kitties: Pirates

100 Hidden Cats: Pirates is a cute game, but sadly I cannot recommend it to most people as it is egregiously short, though there is a bit more to that claim. As far as this game goes it is a standard hidden object game. Nothing is hidden behind other objects or other mechanics, so it is as bare bones as it gets. And being that other games are better priced for the amount of content on offer and have more mechanics added to them, I just don’t think I can recommend it unless you just want the easy achievements. I completed the game around the 10-15 minute mark. As a positive sidenote though, I also played Hidden Cats: Thief which the developer also gave me a month later (sorry that it took me a bit to get to both of these), and I am happy to say that there are numerous improvements to the experience (go read that review, I do recommend it, buy it instead if you have to choose between the two). I am always pleased to see developers progress and create better products moving forward, and it deserves to be rewarded. It looks like in each hidden cat game the developer has made they have added more to the experience each time which is something I cannot say for other games that developers have given me. As such my curator blurb will be informational rather than negative and if you are the kind of person willing to give the little guys a dollar to move forward, I would still say that the purchase is worth it in that way. As for the sound design the cat sounds are very stand and quite cute, and the music is limited but better than expected for a game like this. When I went into the game I immediately noticed the menu theme and liked it quite a bit, the MIDI accordion sound has that sea shanty feel and it was well composed, so I kind of just chilled in the menu for a bit just to listen to it. Though perhaps it is just me having a soft spot for that type of sound. Artistically I like the style, it has been consistent through the other games the developer has made, and it looks good. It intentionally has a bit of a rough style, there is no compression artifacting, and it is quite cute. I enjoy the pirate theme as well. I did notice though that (at my 1440p resolution at least) there is a seam in the crossbones pattern on the left-hand side, but I only noticed it by accident. Overall, I hesitate to recommend this game, but it is not the worst I have seen either. But the dev has some heart and seeing as how they are adding more to each game it is clear that this is not just shovelware, if you have a desire to improve you are clearly not just looking for a quick buck, you actually are trying to make a better product. As with all of these really short games, it is important to point out to developers that creating a longer game benefits you as well, I am not just being harsh for harshness sake. With Steam’s refund policy there is always the potential that people can complete your game and then immediately refund it, getting the full experience and bringing you no profit. Players should not do that and supporting small developers is a passion of mine, so hopefully people will avoid that, but it is a possible issue. Nonetheless thank you for the cute experience.