Heist kitty: Review

This game was reviewed on PC.

Reviewed by:  Oskar van der Vliet

Heist kitty is a multiplayer focused sandbox game that will be released for PC on June 15th of 2023. It is developed by LetMeowt Games LLC, with two other cat based titles under their belt, both reviewing well. It is being published by Excalibur Games. You play as a cat in an open world city who is given various tasks to help guide your exploration and enjoyment of said city. I will do my best to review this title objectively but keep in mind that the intended experience is a multiplayer one, and has a single reviewer with a game code that's not something I am able to do. 

Firstly, the game is pretty visually charming and has an overall unassuming but polished look. I enjoy the game's low poly aesthetics quite a bit and everything fits pretty well. It's got a silly soundtrack that fits the tone of the game very well. Its overall aesthetic sort of speaks for itself. As a game clearly inspired by the likes of goat simulator I do certainly appreciate some attempt to differentiate themselves from that and give the game more visual identity.

As for the gameplay itself I feel very mixed. On one hand a lot of the direct gameplay feels pretty nice and polished. Controlling the cat is nice and speedy, the camera feels nice, there's an enjoyable climbing mechanic that really opens up the world to feeling actually full rather than empty streets. You are able to swipe and spit, as well as make use of a number of different items that you can find throughout the game. All of this feels clean, if not a little janky but in a way that feels charming and slightly more deliberate rather than anything else. The problem is that the various objectives you are tasked with are usually pretty boring and samey. Collect these items, go here, hit this, kill them. Most of the charm found in the visuals or writing completely vanishes. I really can't imagine playing this with a group of friends and finding any enjoyment out of the missions given by the game. Which would only leave you to the sandbox, which is not inherently a problem. Once again making the comparison to goat simulator, there aren't really missions in that game that one needs to follow, a majority of the gameplay is exploration based and finding all the different secrets and goodies hidden away by the devs. But unfortunately this leads me into my second complaint, where I don't feel the world has the same depth that goat simulator does, not even close. There really isn't anything to find or to warrant exploration. Even the most simple reward a game like this could offer being currency or xp is found much easier in the primary quest areas. There's no reason to go out exploring and there's not much interesting going on in the primary quest, so much of the gameplay structure just feels aimless.

A lot of this has been negative so I do want to cover some positives. Again the aesthetic is charming, and while it's nothing revolutionary, the writing also has some flair and cute moments. I keep coming back to this word but I feel the best way to describe the games positives is charm. I just wish the charm translated to the gameplay like it so permeates everything surrounding that core.

To cap this off I will remind you that this is a multiplayer game that I played solo. I am sure a lot more fun could be found if played with friends, but that kind of applies to everything really. The gameplay structure doesn't really feel like it would support multiplayer without relying on the players to find their own fun. With so much up to what individuals can get out of it, much more than a regular single player game, it is very hard to rate, so focus more on my words then the number but I'd give it a 3 out of 5 stars. My review is largely critical but don't take that to mean an absence of positives, rather an absence of my ability to cover those positives in any depth, it all speaks for itself. 

Reviewed by: Oskar van der Vliet