The game starts with a cat standing next to a campfire. As you move around the location, you will notice several cat shaped silhouettes that represent locked characters. These characters are unlocked by progressing through stages or reaching specific milestones, such as defeating a boss or surviving a certain enemy wave. The exact requirements are not shown directly, but you can check the achievement descriptions for more details. When you unlock a character, a message appears telling you that the character has shown up somewhere on the map.
Each character has different values across eight stats, including health, fire rate, number of projectiles, speed, and more. These stats are always visible on the left side of the screen. The downside is that you cannot directly compare characters unless you switch between them and watch the stats change. This is only a minor issue early on, since you eventually become familiar with the characters and learn which ones suit your playstyle and which are less effective.
Sadly, most characters feel pretty useless, and you’ll probably stick with a nice character unlocked by entering a secret code. Because there are no permanent upgrades, your choice of character matters a lot, although you do unlock a shop later that let you buy one item before the start of a new run. There is little else to do on the main map, aside from a new portal that unlocks later. Your only option is to head toward one of the three portals that represent the stages. These must be unlocked in order by completing the currently available stage.
The gameplay follows the standard survivors formula. You move your cat around the map while auto fire handles nearby enemies. Aside from the occasional tree or rare detail, the map is almost completely empty and surrounded by a border. This prevents you from escaping enemies by running endlessly in one direction.
Defeated enemies drop experience points that are pulled toward you from a generous distance. You do not need to walk directly over them to collect them, but this is not a game where you level up every few seconds. Once you gather enough experience, a screen appears offering a random selection of three perks, and you must choose one. While picking strong perks like extra projectiles or companion attacks is important, the game relies heavily on luck.
Perk choices cannot be rerolled, so you may be forced to choose between options that do not help you much. Early on, getting either movement speed or damage is crucial, since without one of them you are unlikely to survive more than a few minutes. Enemy difficulty scales with your level rather than time, which means faster and stronger enemies appear very quickly if you level up without gaining useful upgrades.
Negative perks make things even more difficult. In particularly unlucky situations, all three options can be negative, which can effectively end your run. There are also one-use perks you should avoid, such as magnet, bomb, or effects that put all enemies to sleep. But since perks stack, you can create some broken and very useful combinations.
If you manage to survive the first few level ups or unlock a stronger character, you will likely make good progress. One positive element is the random power ups that spawn somewhere on the map. Just like characters, you need to explore the map to find them, since there are no waypoints to guide you. The map is not very large, but this can still become annoying. Power ups are permanent for the run and can grant bonuses such as extra health or increased weapon range.
The main objective of each stage is reaching level 25, which spawns a boss that must be defeated. After that, you can continue playing for as long as you want. This is very doable, since reaching the boss usually means you are well equipped for an endless run. The main annoyance is that the boss respawns after a short cooldown, and there is little incentive to keep going, aside from reaching level 100 to unlock a new character.
After completing all three stages, a new portal unlocks that leads to challenge chests. These apply modifiers to stages, such as nearly invisible enemies, extremely small arenas with limited movement, or being restricted to a single health point. Sadly, the objective is always to survive over 25 waves, sometimes more, but the modifiers make luck with perk selection even more important. These challenges are optional bonus modes, but those aiming to earn every achievement will need to complete them all.
