Cat Museum Review: Not Cat Fancy, Cat Freaky
Cat Museum is a 2D adventure game that’s narrative-and puzzle-based in nature where you explore the titular, oddball museum with an iridescent cat in tow. But the name is something of a misnomer, really... I mean, sure, there’s a cat and a museum of sorts, but it’s not really a museum where felines are the main focus? And at first glance, I expected something warm and fuzzy akin to Milo and the Magpies, but the overarching themes of this experience are exactly the opposite—that is, macabre and dismal.
This game is the latest release from Taiwanese indie developer, 751 Games, who previously created the puzzle-focused title Life Gallery, which also had something of an overall grotesque worldview. That same aesthetic is definitely carried over with Cat Museum, as its landscape contains a ton of surreal creatures and locations that are in stark contrast to the title's lovely color palette and fanciful milieu.
Right off the bat, there are grotesque manifestations featuring insects and human body parts that pulse and twitch as if they were still alive. But the cats are cute, so enjoy this sharp contrast while you can because unsettling the player most certainly seems to be the bread and butter of this indie game.
And unlike 751 Games’s Life Gallery, which was a point-and-click experience akin to an escape room, Cat Museum is a side-scrolling style of adventure game. Most of the gameplay comes down to tapping the left and right edges of the screen, waiting until you see an icon that is displayed as you approach a searchable point or an object that can be operated, and then tapping the icon to search or operate said object. The main narrative thrust of the game is to solve the overarching mystery of the museum (which I won’t spoil here), and you’ll explore different places to gather clues and information to solve the mystery. Easy peasy.
To be entirely frank though, Cat Museum seems purposely designed to keep you from ever getting stuck on its straightforward challenges, and this is a good thing in my mind. I’ve been tortured by way too many “moon logic” puzzles in my gaming lifetime. The brainteasers found here are intuitive on the whole, and honestly, from the outset of this game I felt that somehow I understood how to solve this mystery. That is to say that the puzzles never felt like they were adding to the grotesqueness of this game, and while the outlandish tones can be unforgiving, the puzzles certainly are not.
With the exception of one puzzle which I had to look up to solve (no in-game hints found here, unfortunately), it is very easy to plow through Cat Museum in a few hours. From an exploration perspective, this is wonderful. It keeps the visuals from losing their shock value and provides momentum to carry you through the whole thing quite easily.
That said, the one barrier I ran into while playing was a doozy (again, won’t spoil it here) and disrupted my flow through the experience considerably. I'll also say that Cat Museum could have done some more narrative legwork to tie up or spell out the conclusion a bit better. I'm a big fan of stories that leave things up to the player to interpret, but not when the conclusion being implied is so indefinite that it just leaves you scratching your head in utter confusion.
And while this title is creepy, it is not what I would call out-and-out horror. The overall atmosphere is similar to what’s found in the gothically sublime Fran Bow, the Rusty Lake games, or even the Forgotten Hill series: eerie and surreal. However, when compared to such ghoulish works, Cat Museum is far sharper in my estimation. The bizarre representations are not just used as spice, but the whole narrative construct is grotesque and dark—vibes that indie games typically pull off best.
Let’s get to the cats now. That’s why a good many of you are here, right? The fact that the cats in this title are super cute is the main charm of this work—the overall draw of it. The glowing cat that serves as the main character's companion is adorable, and his/her intuitive meowing is also endearing. Other than my buddy cat, the cats found throughout the museum are also charming. There’s a particular event in the game where you are tasked with rubbing a cat's belly, which is an irresistible treat for cat lovers both young and old.
Ultimately, Cat Museum isn’t a game for everyone, but it is certainly a god-tier game for the players who appreciate both weird peculiarities and felines. I was quite spellbound by its dedication to off-the-wall art design and swift pacing—something you don’t typically find in the adventure game genre. I would have loved to see a little more refinement in the puzzle design or perhaps some convenience features to prevent any downtime and a tad more substance to the narrative payoff, but the tone and presentation of Cat Museum's bizarre adventure is still plenty satisfying as it is.
SCORE: 4 STARS OUT OF 5
PLAY IF YOU LIKE:
• Fran Bow. You're a fan of the stange and unusual if you've played Fran Bow. Cat Musuem and Ol' Franny definitely share the same vibes and overall creepy feel.
• Also, as mentioned in the review itself, two titles that are serials of sorts: Rusty Lake and Forgotten Hill. These also have cool, unsettling art styles and narratives that keep you guessing until the conclusion.
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