When looking back at classic adventure games like Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda , there’s a few things that come to mind. There’s the swashbuckling action, complex puzzles, and far-reaching exploration, and even surprisingly deep lore all wrapped up in a whimsical fairytale aesthetic. The Cat Quest series, from Singapore-based team the Gentlebros, doesn’t really have any of these qualities.
It has a facsimile of them, with a watered-down approach to combat, treasure hunting, and questing that check off all the boxes of what you’d expect from a fantasy action-adventure, but everything is scaled back — streamlined to the point of braindead ease. But that’s kind of their charm. 2017’s Cat Quest and 2019’s Cat Quest II function like the broadest, most simplistic idea of what a role-playing game can be, and mostly appeal to children or newcomers.
Great for families playing together on a Saturday afternoon, they’re also surprisingly effective distractions for adults looking to completely tune out and mindlessly go through the motions of gaming for a checklist dopamine fix. But the newest game in the series, Cat Quest III (out Aug 8), does things a little differently by taking the franchise’s five-year break to finally evolve. At least, a little bit.
Whereas its predecessors were basically baby’s first Zelda devoid of any meaningful challenge or demanding much thought for anyone over the age of 10 to complete, Cat Quest III infuses some much-needed depth to .