Topic: Summer Game Fest Preview: Little Kitty, Big City

[lolmonade]

The indie cat sim sandbox features a city littered with things to do.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/preview/63976/summer-game-fest-preview-little-kitty-big-city

Little Kitty, Big City by Double Dagger was featured in a recent announcement in a Nintendo Indie World event, and we had the opportunity to sit down and get a hands-on preview of the feline-focused platformer.  You are a house cat who was dozing too close to an open window ledge and tumbles onto the ground, needing to find their way back home.  The introduction had some great expressive moments backed by a jazz piano piece reminiscent of the sounds you’d expect over the New York City skyline.

The cat has a move set that has the function and means to cause trouble.  Swiping can do things like knocking over pots or cans as well as tapping a person.  The kitty can also pick up things with its mouth, crouch, run, and jump.  The jump button can be held down to create an arc which gives a view of where the jump should land.  Double Door knows what makes a cat feel like a cat in terms of how its body can curve, claw its way up a wall, and run along narrow walkways.  

Tying that fun cat feel with the open city is where the magic happens.  The city acts as a big sandbox, with little direction given beyond the starting tutorials.  Littered around town are small missions to tackle, among them activities like “knock down 10 plants” or collect 25 shinies” (shinies in this case being coins, nuts, bolts, etc.).  These missions encourage a lot of exploration, which inevitably leads to new discoveries that distract you from the objectives, like following someone’s path, finding a new animal character to talk to, or pouncing on birds.

All of the pieces meld together really well, and the experience is very low-key and lighthearted.  The toy-filled playground of a city seems like a lot of fun to play in, with the potential for a special experience if everything comes together.  Little Kitty, Big City by Double Dagger Studios will release on the Nintendo Switch next year.