Copycat

Copycat is a lovely game that I would recommend to pet-lovers. It's an emotional story and may be difficult for anyone with experience of family abandonment, rejection and suicide. I would recommend carving out 2h to play all the way through with whatever you need for full immersion (headphones, lights out etc) if you can for the full experience. Things to be aware of: - This is a small indie game made by just 2 devs with a completion time of about 2h. - The game is narrative-focused with a mix of gameplay styles, including some levels with free exploration, others with platforming, others as running games etc. - The game gives you choices as you play, but I would need to replay to find out if these choices are meaningful! Positives: - Visually lovely, especially the night time levels. A lot of care has been put into crafting environments and animating the cats. - As a cat, you can do a lot of pleasing cat things: scratch the sofa, unravel the toilet paper, jump in the box, knock things over, etc. - The story is well-written and deeply emotional. Keep a box of tissues nearby and have your pet on standby for cuddles when needed. - I appreciated that the story wasn't black and white. It's easy to hate on certain characters for their behaviour, but the game also shows you why characters are behaving the way they are so while you may not agree with their choices, you can see where they're coming from. - The narrative effectively utilises a lot of 'show, don't tell' with appropriate amounts of dialogue, narration and captions. - The voice acting is nice, especially Mae. - The use of the nature documentary narrator as Dawn's narrator, the big cat/domestic cat comparisons and the dream sequences were unique and clever storytelling methods which were well executed. - Variety in gameplay kept the game feeling fresh. - The game felt like the perfect size. It told its story, was well paced, and didn't feel like random extras had been shoved in just to lengthen it out. - Variety of cat meow sounds. - At no point was the game ever too difficult. You can play through the full story even if you're not good at games. Negatives: - Frequent load screens. These were short so it wasn't an issue, but it did sometimes interrupt the flow of the story and there were one or two points where I had a load screen, a few seconds of gameplay, and then another load screen. - The shifts between first/third person, the camera being fixed in some levels but freely movable in others, and the jerking around of the camera to highlight things at times gave me a bit of motion sickness. - As with many narrative-driven games, it did feel at times like the gameplay had no impact on the predetermined script. For example, does it matter if I line up the paw in the circle when hunting, if I can only catch the bird at a certain point in the story anyway? TL;DR emotional, narrative-driven indie game with a mix of gameplay, artfully constructed. Genuinely very impressive for only 2 devs making their first game. Clearly talented devs and I will be following their future work.

Нехай кожна кішка у світі матиме дім, де її люблять

Home is not where you live, but where you most need to be (I changed it a little). A heartbreaking story that can raise awareness. Since I’m not a gaming connoisseur, so I normally prefer not to review games. However, I’d like to comment on this game from a different perspective: its potential to raise awareness. It can inspire empathy, especially in someone who might otherwise abandon their cat or dog, or when they encounter a stray animal. It has an emotional story about people’s indifference to the promises they make and even to the feelings they themselves experience so deeply. In the country where I live, unfortunately, taking animals away and abandoning them somewhere far from home is even considered an accomplishment by some. The child they meet at the picnic talking about the father who abandoned them; Olive’s passion for life and the fact that, despite enjoying most of her days, her daughter cannot bear her illness and attempts to kill her; Olive abandoning Dawn and walking away from her responsibility despite the promise she made and the contract she signed when adopting her… Ultimately, Dawn’s inner monologues represent the fragile nature of human beings. It would have been better if the camera angle could be adjusted.

Bueno, primero que nada, yo me encontraba una tranquila tarde de agosto, cuando abrí mi pc con la intención de jugar a algo. En ese transcurso, no encontraba nada que me convenciera, hasta que me topé con Copycat. Como es obvio, decidí comprarlo, y posterior a ello me pasé todo lo que quedaba de mi tarde jugándolo hasta completarlo. Ahora bien, la review en cuestión: Se que a nadie le importa, pero soy estudiante de Psicología, a poco de recibirme (y también una amante de los gatos), y el juego me llamó la atención desde un principio ya que prometía una narrativa interesante tocando temas tal vez algo sensibles y profundos (es más, al comienzo del juego, aparece un cartel con advertencias al respecto sobre la sensibilidad de algunos temas y los cuidados a tener en cuenta), lo cual yo por dentro pensé: "será para tanto?", plot twist: sí lo fue). En fin, ahora que lo he completado, puedo decir que es 100% eso, es un juego corto pero muy profundo, con una historia intensa que (al menos a mi), te hace conectar y vivenciar muchas emociones y sentimientos a lo largo de la trama (escribo esto con muchos pañuelos descartables esparcidos a mi alrededor). En resumen, sí, lo super recomiendo, y aplaudo a esos dos desarrolladores que crearon tan hermoso juego ♡

Um jogo lindo que eu recomendo para qualquer um, simplesmente joguem

They weren't lying when they said "bring the tissues." A tearjerker that deftly explores the feeling of belonging, purpose, and empathy. Absolutely worth it at full price.