Little Kitty, Big City

While it's cute, and plays fine on the Steam Deck, I'm puzzled on the pricing. This is, at best, a $15 game. I got it during a sale (so that was about how much I paid for it) and still felt like I was overcharged. The animals in the game are cute, the UI is easy to use, the music is nice, and the sounds are cute, but it's otherwise lacking: The controls are clunky; something I noticed straight away. There was a delay between pressing the button to jump and the cat actually jumping, and the extended jump was difficult to control and often resulted in failing and having to do a parkour section all over again. I'd often hit invisible walls, and the way the cat moved when turning around was awkward. Swatting objects was initially fun, but trying to swat something to actually get it to move somewhere was frustrating as nothing moved in a straight line. The pulling mechanic was even worse, as even if you're lined up properly, you pull the object on an angle instead of in the direction you're facing (regardless of where the camera is pointed). It didn't feel like there was a natural progression. After getting onto the street again after the painter's yard, I actually got stuck and couldn't figure out where to go because the game previously had me walking along the stone fences...so I thought I somehow had to get to the other fence (which was impossible). When I did notice the other area, the way the camera was angled caused me to miss the opening (it looked like a wall from my angle). Perhaps that was just an issue on the Steam Deck due to the smaller screen size. The area after that was huge yet tiny, and I kept meeting animal after animal who had a request for me to collect something; it felt a little too busy. I could only seem to find one recycling bin, and there were tons of cans. That playtime listed? Half of that was spent just running cans to the recycling bin. All in all, this was more frustrating than cute and chill. It's very unpolished and gives off the feel of an unfinished game. I'm not a big fan of the "making mischief" sort of games, and this one is certainly one of them (knocking potted plants down, pestering humans, etc). I absolutely cannot recommend this game, especially not at full price.