We’ve explored the bond between humans and their pets in plenty of games. But how often do we get to look at the animal’s point of view? Copycat tackles the feelings of an elderly lady’s new pet cat and how its past can influence its present. But what happens when that present gets taken away unexpectedly?
I feel slightly duped. That might be a strong way to start a review, but I have to be honest. This game is not what I expected, due to its introductory text on Steam just not being correct. There is no elaborate plan, nor a jealous, stray copycat that takes our main character’s place. That tiny bit of info made me assume this was going to be a more comical game, with some hijinks to be found in trying to get rid of the copycat. Instead, this game is a pretty meditative experience, taking a look at the relationship between pets and their owners, but from the pet’s point of view. You play as Dawn, a cat with a bit of a troubled past who gets adopted by Olive, an elderly Australian woman who has just lost her previous cat, which happens to look just like you.
You get taken home from the shelter, and the first part of the game follows Olive in her attempts to win Dawn over, despite early hesitations by the new pet. This might be the most fun part of the game: you get to play Housecat Simulator. Walking around your new home, always plotting your escape but also acting as if you own the place. You knock things off tables, steal food, but also gradually open up to your new owner. In your heart though, you remain a wildcat, and in your dreams, you can be found hunting prey in the African savannah. It’s a fun contrast with the cute kitty cat who struggles to even hunt down a butterfly. Olive is struggling with her health, though, and as her family does not live close by, Dawn becomes the centre of her life. You even get a cute collar, which you can decorate to your own wishes. But, as you can probably guess, things go a bit pear-shaped after a while. When Dawn doesn’t emerge from her room one day, you go into survival mode, but it’s only when Olive’s daughter arrives to take care of her mum, that things really take a turn for the worse.
I won’t be spoiling the game here, so I’m not going into the story any further, but I can tell you this: it gets rough. The people in this game are, quite simply, awful. There are decisions that get made by just about everyone that not only feel overly dramatic but are just the worst possible decisions they could make. I get why the small development team at Spoonful of Wonder made these narrative choices, but they remove all of the nuance that comes with a delicate subject matter. The game becomes more black and white because of it, which is a shame, as the story does have some good messages hidden in there. Luckily, gameplay is a lot of fun. Walking and running around as Dawn, you really feel that this game was made by cat people. Dawn fully believes that she is The Wildcat, this ferocious animal who strikes fear into everyone and calls no place home. But in reality, she’s mostly a big doofus, who will pull off the silliest things and then just walk it off as if nothing ever happened. And I say this with a lot of love for cats, as I have my own little kitty goblin at home.
Most of the gameplay happens in third person, although there are a couple of first-person set pieces where you knock things off tables, for example. I get that the first-person view is supposed to be more immersive, but when the items you’re knocking off the table are just moving with not a single paw in sight, it’s a bit weird. Now I don’t want to be too hard on the developers for this, as they are a small team making their first game with limited funds, but when you see how climbing on things is really well animated, it’s just a little jarring when other movements are just not animated at all. The team does change things up every once in a while. Sometimes you’ll be timing your runs in these kinds of stealth sections, while at other times you’re playing an endless runner. There are even quite some quick time events included as well. Luckily, all of these variations make sense to the plot of the story, even if the endless runner parts weren’t always necessary. But it’s a fun way to liven up a game that mostly feels like the cat version of a walking simulator.
The game’s world is a lot of fun to explore as well. A lot of Copycat’s direction is linear, but there are a number of moments where you get to explore freely, and the design really is a highlight. The only thing that was lacking for me is that the neighbourhood where you spend most of your time doesn’t feel lived in. There are barely any people, and those you do meet have just one line of dialogue. It all feels a little sparse. Sadly, we also have to talk about the character models. While the cats look adorable and move as you’d expect them to, the few people that are here really stand out. And not in a good way. Their movement looks weird, and their character models aren’t the best either. It wouldn’t matter that much if it wasn’t such a stark contrast with the game’s world. Take the Africa-inspired dream levels, for example: the colours are gorgeous, and the art on Dawn and the bunnies you are chasing is a delight. Compare that to Olive’s character model, and it doesn’t feel like this is the same game.
I also wasn’t too excited by the game’s music. Despite the story lasting for about three hours, it felt like the soundtrack got a little repetitive. This surprised me, as the developers tweeted earlier that the game’s soundtrack has twenty-nine tracks. I mostly seemed to hear variations of the same two pieces of music though: this melancholy piano motif and the African-inspired upbeat hunting/dreaming music. Both of these are beautiful, however, so despite it coming across as a bit repetitive, it never got annoying. What really ties everything together neatly in this game is the voice acting. Olive and her daughter are brought to life rather well, but it’s the voice of the nature expert/narrator who steals the show. He made the game feel like a real Attenborough-level nature documentary that just happens to be about a domesticated cat. Having most of Dawn’s thoughts up in text rather than voice-acted was an inspired choice as well.
Copycat is a delightful first game by Australian-Ukrainian developer Spoonful of Wonder. It gets a lot right, and I do hope the game doesn’t get too many comparisons to Stray, as that game was made by many more people with a far bigger budget. Copycat tells a story of belonging, of loss, and mostly of love. Sure, it still has some imperfections that could’ve been ironed out, but as far as debut games go, this is a good one.
Release date: September 19th, 2024
Platforms: PC
Price:
Version tested: PC
Many thanks to the publisher for the review copy.
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