Little Kitty, Big City Review (Switch)

It’s always a great sign when you finish a game and you just want more. That’s exactly what happened to me with Little Kitty, Big City (abbreviated to Kitty). Double Dagger Studio’s game is a great exploratory adventure in what makes a cat… a cat. Kitty resonated with me on a personal level as I was reminded of my former cat companion and her little quirks. Indeed, it shines at these whimsical little details. In this sense, players will find it resembles Untitled Goose Game more than Stray.

Kitty impresses with its wonderful sense of exploration, charming art style and presentation, addictive and mischievous adventures, and generally polished Switch technical implementation. Nonetheless, the light story and abrupt ending, often challenging camera, sometime imprecise jump controls, and lack of multiple save slots per playthrough detract from this enjoyment.

With all said and done, you would be hard pressed to find a game that tugs at your heartstrings the same way Kitty does. This is a gem of a game made with irresistible passion that will give you no choice but to admit deep down that you may just be a cat lover after all.

Little Kitty, Big City is a very light fun-spirited story. You assume the role of a little cat that gets lost from home. Your aim is to find your way back home—that’s it! On the way, you will make friends with stray animals, explore the wonderfully-crafted Japanese city, tackle cat-chievements (achievements, but for cats!), and wear some downright funny and fancy hats.

The premise entirely serves the gameplay and exploration since the story is almost non-existent. If you expect a richer more complex and environmental cat-story similar to Stray, you may be disappointed with Kitty. Its story wraps up quickly, as well. It took me about two hours to make my way back home. The ending is also abrupt and I wished for a bit more from its story. For example, I would’ve liked to know more about the relationship between Kitty and its human companion. However, the game allows its players to take their time and complete optional cat-chievements at their own leisurely pace even after the conclusion of the story. I recommend players don’t rush through this. I took my time as well and 100% completed Kitty within five to six hours.

The cast of 15 stray animals you meet is charming and all given distinct personalities, including lazy cats, a super-smart tanuki, a witty beetle, and more. They are funny and provide great social commentary on the state of the world. These animals give you to-do tasks, ranging from stealing a donut from one of the faceless human NPCs to finding lost ducklings and retrieving them for their concerned papa duck. However, finding most of these animals is entirely optional to the player. In this case, it is worth seeking them out for the variety of tasks they give you and the fun interactions. This engaging cast and accompanying smart writing really makes the world feel lived-in and contributes so much to the fun of Kitty, even if the main story may leave you wanting for more.

The name of the game here is “exploration.” Little Kitty, Big City is a fun and addictive romp through the sandbox world of a nameless Japanese city. This is in great part due to the well-designed environments and traversal mechanics, which are the fundamentals that Kitty shines best at. There is always something to do and find waiting around the corner in this sandbox city because the intuitive layout and design encourages players to want to explore everything. Importantly, the game has faith in its players as it gives them free rein to explore and does not hold their hand to guide them on any pre-determined paths.

Fun traversal mechanics are there to support this exploration. Ground and vertical traversal mechanics are generally well-implemented. On the ground, Kitty can run, crawl through tight spaces, jump, and use its paws to cause mayhem (trip NPCs, destroy nests, catch and release birds, push flower pots over edges, and more). This is the first form of traversal players encounter and for the most part these mechanics are used well. Nonetheless, I hoped to see more stealth elements being introduced when crawling. Since stealth crawling is only used to catch and release birds, it often feels like an afterthought. More varied stealth mechanics involving human NPCs, dogs, and others could have brought more gameplay diversity and even an element of tension since combat is not featured in Kitty.

Vertical traversal is then introduced to the player by means of climbing and jumping on various objects and platforms with the aim of climbing buildings as high as possible. The jump button becomes your friend and sometimes your enemy. That’s because jumping in this game is very frequent and more complex compared to Stray. Players will have to press, hold, and aim their jumps onto trickier platforms. This is where we can see some challenges to vertical traversal. The aiming of the jumps is sometimes unreliable, especially for smaller platforms and longer, trickier jumps. This is worsened by the tricky camera that follows Kitty. The camera may sometimes clip through the environment, especially when it comes to maneuvering Kitty within tight spaces or near objects and platforms. This is infrequent and depends on how the player controls the camera. Fortunately, Kitty has no problems in making shorter and quicker platform jumps, which is what players will spend most of the time doing. Nonetheless, the traversal does not feel as smooth as one would like.

These core mechanics are backed up by other additional systems. There is a stamina climb system that gets unlocked incrementally when Kitty consumes fish, which allows climbing access to the highest rooftops. There is a collect-a-thon system present when collecting shinies (various small items used as currency for acquiring hats), bird feathers (used as currency in exchange for fast travel), and cat-chievements to keep things engaging. Kitty features a fast travel system to facilitate quick transitions between various areas of the city, which is especially welcome if you are in a hurry.

To round-up the cuteness of Kitty, players can also explore the city to find and buy 42 hats to impart some much-needed feline swagger. While I am not generally a fan of these mechanics in other games, Kitty’s fun collect-a-thon elements combined with its gorgeous world made me want to explore every nook and cranny! Plus, the hats are just great (my favorite is the magician’s top hat).

Little Kitty, Big City’s presentation is beautiful and feels very much at home on the Nintendo Switch. The cel-shaded art style imparts a coziness to the environment where players feel welcome. The design of the animals are wholesomely accomplished and the pictures in this review do them justice. Human faces are rightfully blanked out to remind you that this is indeed a feline adventure. Our Kitty protagonist benefits from just the right amount of cuteness to make you want to take innumerable photos.

The world design is a standout. As someone who has lived in Japan, the detail is outstanding — from the accurate traffic light alert sounds to the layout of the konbini and the many vending machines. I even spotted a representation of one of my favorite cars — the Toyota Supra. The game is also sprinkled with throwbacks to other games, including an arcade playing Street Fighter II on their screens. There is a lot of passion and care for making this world feel lived-in. I commend Double Dagger Studio for pulling this off with confidence and style.

Technically, Kitty runs well on the Switch. There is only one loading screen that you are met with and this is at the beginning of the game or when you load the save file. Thereafter, you are free to explore this world without further loading. This is often unheard of compared to other multi-platform Switch games, which need multiple loading screens to get you through the story. I haven’t encountered any game-breaking issues and the framerate on the Switch is generally stable except for a few drops when Kitty is roaming the rooftops and the world below is rendered.

While the presentation is generally outstanding, there are a few minor gripes. There are infrequent clippings of Kitty through the environment, objects, and NPCs as you explore around. Players are also limited to just one save slot per playthrough, which means you will have to overwrite your save. These limitations may slightly detract from your overall enjoyment.

Little Kitty, Big City is not a perfect game by any means, but it just may be the right amount of purrrfect given the heart and love that it exudes.

Kitty is a great game that shines due to its wonderful sense of exploration, charming art style and presentation, addictive and mischievous adventures, and generally polished Switch technical implementation. However, the light story and abrupt ending, often challenging camera, sometime imprecise jump controls, and lack of multiple save slots per playthrough detract from this enjoyment.

If you are not a cat person, Little Kitty, Big City will soon have a word with you about that!

Little Kitty, Big City releases today on the Nintendo Switch, Steam, GeForce Now, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One. It can be purchased on the Nintendo Store for $22.49 at a limited discount.