Copycat

CopyCat is a game about a newly adopted shelter cat named Dawn who has to learn about rejection, belonging, and the meaning of home when a jealous “copycat” enacts a plan to steal her place in her new household.

CopyCat is an adventure game developed by Spoonful of Wonder and published by Neverland Entertainment, Nuuvem Inc., and Spoonful of Wonder.  It will be released on September 19th, 2024, and will be available on the following platforms: PC (via Steam), Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Mac. 

The System requirements for CopyCat aren’t bad, it’s not like trying to play Cyberpunk or any AAA title. Its minimum requirements are only a 4th gen core i5 or AMD FX-8300 and 8 GB of RAM DDR 3, with a GPU requirement of a GTX 1650 or Radeon RX 5500 XT and 18 GB of Hard disk space.  Recommended requirements as listed on Steam are just a 64-bit processor and operating system. The game will retail for $14.99 U.S. and again will be available on September 19th, 2024.  

The above game description is a bit misleading and that is a paraphrase of the official description listed on its Steam page.  While you Dawn are a newly adopted cat and a look-alike does take your place in the house, it’s a bit different than that.  I won’t spoil the story, but to say it is a tad misleading.

The game opens with you controlling Olive and an older woman with health issues, visiting an adoption center, and trying to find a new cat to “replace” the one that has gone missing.  You get to choose from six cats at the shelter, and that is the cat that will become Dawn and who you will play as in the game.  I chose to play as a black cat as she reminded me of a cat, I used to have named Squeaky.  Olive takes you in and while you are resistant at first, and yearn for the outdoors and being a wildcat, you eventually learn to love Olive and you want to remain her cat.

While, you play the game and explore the house, which acts like a tutorial, you will see text around certain locations or items, this is Dawn’s inner thoughts.  Also, while you explore your new world in and out, you will have a wildlife narrator encouraging you on, and acting like a guide throughout your journey.

The story seems to pick up once you are out of the house.  You get thrown out of the house by Mae, Dawn’s daughter.  Once out of the home you try to return only to see Olive grab another cat from the road, that looks exactly like you.  Now Homeless and missing Olive, you begin a quest to reclaim your place in her home as her true beloved Dawn.

Now, that’s where I will end with the story as I don’t want any spoilers.  The game does explain what happened to the original Dawn, which is who you are named after on your quest to reclaim your place at Olive’s side.

Throughout the game, you go on missions so to speak to try and reclaim your rightful place by Olive’s side, and these missions are mostly quick time events that you have to accomplish, some are stealth, and some are just you being a cat.

In between your missions to get your spot back in the home, you grew to love, you will discover why you are the way you are and some of these come as dream sequences.  In these dream sequences, you are as you see yourself a mighty blank panther.  Now, the dreams and what you do during these dreams differ, so no one is the same, but in each one, you are a black panther uncovering your desires and history during the game. 

What I liked about this game, is while short the story is simple.  There is no main villain so to speak and I will discuss that more later, but I’m a sucker for about a cute cat trying to find her way home. 

I also liked the controls of the game except for one command placement.  This game states at the beginning that it is designed to be used with a controller for the best experience and that is perfectly fine, by me.  I know… I know… I’m not a gaming purist and to that, I say, “Play it how you want, as long as you enjoy it.”  The only control I found cumbersome was the run command.  My instinct was to press the right trigger as that felt natural, but the game wants you to use the right bumper button instead. 

I also enjoy the graphics, while they felt a little PS3 era, I don’t mind.  This game is after all an indie-developed game and not from an AAA studio, so I have to be forgiving on that front, I thought Dawn looked very cute and her looks were almost on par with the cat from Stray. While Stray at least in my opinion had superior overall graphics, Copycat’s look was fine.  I admit, that I am a story over looks gamer and can enjoy rough-looking games as long as the story is engaging, and for the most part this game's story was fine, again more on that in what I didn’t like section.

Aside from the run button configuration, the only thing I didn’t care for was runtime.  The game is honestly way too short and felt dragged out to give it the length of gameplay it has.  I was able to beat this game in just over three and a half hours and I felt this short gameplay length caused the story to be dragged out when it could have been shorter or perhaps, find another avenue for the story to go, to help Dawn get back to Olive.

The story while I liked and had characters I could relate to, being a cat dad and having multiple cats, I am probably a little biased and most likely the type of person this game was designed for, maybe isn’t a story meant for a full-length game.  I’m not sure what I would have done to make the story longer, but there had to be something to lengthen the story naturally without dragging it out.  I feel this disrupts the pacing of the narrative and is the main negative I have of the game.

Would I recommend this game to anyone?  I’m a little split on this, while I did enjoy playing as a common house cat trying to find her way home, this type of game isn’t for everyone.  While Stray had a similar story of getting home, it had more of an actual story and different aspects that built on the story and had a mystery, friends that help you, and a “villain” to overcome to find your way home.  Copycat doesn’t have a villain, and maybe it needed one or more challenges while you are roaming the streets.  You do have one stealth mission to get dog food to eat and fight the feral cats, but no big bad as I mentioned earlier.  There is someone you encounter in the game that could have been a “villain” for you to expose or overcome, but it never happens.  I don’t want to say who this could be, because I do feel it would spoil the story.  So, back to whether would I recommend this game to anyone. While split I think if you are looking for a short game to pass the time and love cats, I think you could do worse $14.99 isn’t a high cost for a short game and it does support an indie developer.  So, I say have at it, especially if you are a cat lover.  Now, if you are a serious hardcore gamer, then this game is probably not for you, and if you want to play as a cat then play Stray. 

I would probably give this game three hearts out of five.  Admittedly, I’m a bit biased, but I think it is in the middle of the road.  I think some story tweaks and a “villain” to overcome would make it a better game.