Cat Story Demo

Designing a platformer is not very difficult from a technical point of view, especially nowadays with all the custom tools available to developers and a variety of samples to help them along. On the other hand, it’s quite the challenge to create the proper atmosphere and polish the gameplay mechanics in such a way as to make the experience both fun and challenging at the same time.

Cat Story is a 2D retro platformer with adventure elements and cute graphics in which your goal is to help two friends work together and get back home. The gameplay is a lot like in a classic platformer, in the sense that you have to jump, deal with enemies and avoid traps, but there are a few adventure elements to diversify the experience as well.

In essence, the two main characters are a cat and a rabbit, both of which get lost and must do everything in their power to get home safe and sound. The action takes place in the Cascadian Caverns, an interesting city full of weird contraptions and even weirder characters. Don’t expect too much emphasis on story and characters, on the other hand, since this is still a platformer at its core.

There are a few puzzles to tackle along the way as well, plus a couple of dialog sequences that provide you with details on the story. The puzzles are not particularly difficult, but at least they help you avoid boredom and repetition, which is the plague of every platformer. You are also free to explore the levels as you see fit, although it’s obviously not as exciting as in Skyrim to do this.

In regards to the graphics quality, the developers managed to create a style of their own, even if they actually combined ideas from a variety of classics, including Donkey Kong and Cave Story. Cascadian Caverns is a unique setting, and you can tell from the demo that the place has a story to tell. The soundtrack needs more work until the final version is released, but everything else is in order.

When it’s all said and done, Cat Story is worth a try from every platformer enthusiast out there, especially if you are also a fan of adventure games. Thus, if you want to see Cat Story in its final form, you can help the developers and back their Kickstarter campaign.