Copycat Review — Two Cats is Trouble

Copycat is a narrative-focused game that tells the story of Olive and Dawn, an older woman and her nearly adopted cat, respectively. After a case of mistaken identity, Dawn must fight to regain a place in a home she has just come to accept, putting players through a heart-wrenching story told from a cat’s perspective. While the story is certainly the focus of the game, and cat lovers should get a kick out of how the game lovingly portrays the perspective and antics of a mischievous kitty, the game feels a bit light on the gameplay side of things and can at times teeter on the side of boring.

If I’m being a little honest, I’m becoming a bit tired of cat games.

It feels like a trend that started after the release of Stray, a game people were very hyped for, thanks to the novelty of it putting players in control of a cat. Said novelty began to wear off after I’d played more than a few games with the same concept. I do, however, still see the appeal that they have in the market; People love cats—hell, I love cats—and the idea of a cat-centric video game has also opened up developers to tell stories from the perspective of cats, which is without a doubt a creative concept and writing challenge and one that Copycat does well with.

Copycat begins with Olive, an older woman in what I presume is Australia (I’m bad with accents), adopting a cat from a shelter. Olive has come to try and replace her cat Dawn, who ran away after an incident that put the elderly Olive in the hospital. She replaces Dawn with a physically identical cat, henceforth known as Dawn, in hopes that it’ll feel like she never lost her cat in the first place.

Dawn comes from a troubled home and takes some time to adjust to the idea of having a family again. Seeing herself as a wild cat, much of the early game is spent coming to terms with her new surroundings, embarrassing herself as she tries to hunt, and realizing that she can, in fact, trust Olive.

Just as Dawn has learned to adapt to her surroundings and admits that she loves her new owner, tragedy strikes, and Olive is sent back to the hospital. During the confusion, Dawn is thrown outside by Olive’s frankly cruel daughter and has her position in the house swapped with the original Dawn—the cat that Olive lost in the first place. Determined not to lose her new family and home, Dawn must find a way back inside and into Olive’s life.

As far as stories about cats go, it’s pretty interesting. As I’m sure any reader would be thinking right now, the obvious conclusion would just be, “Well, I guess I have two cats now,” but from the perspective of a cat, who has the limited worldview of, well, a cat, and especially one with a past of abuse and abandonment, it becomes a pretty compelling narrative.

You can tell that the developers of Copycat love cats, as they emphasize their cattiness. Dawn’s personality as a mischievous and curious kitty is told well through cute moments that many cat owners should be pretty familiar with. I was especially fond of knocking things over and, of course, trying to paint through every room in the house. It didn’t take me long to get the achievement for meowing 100 times either.

While the narrative and cat personality are compelling, Copycat struggles in areas that would make it feel like, well, a game.

Oftentimes, the game can feel like it’s on rails, pushing you from narrative beat to narrative beat with hardly more than a button-mashing minigame in between. Sometimes, the game is quite literally on rails, as it places you in segments where you can only move in a guided direction without turning or making any player-driven decisions, but you are given the ability to press and hold the W button so that it doesn’t totally feel like you’re in a cutscene.

Said minigames are used as little distractions from the constant guidance through the narrative and never really consist of much gameplay. They take the form of cat moments, having you knock over vases or catch a butterfly or something along those lines. They always consist of you pushing a specific key or set of keys when prompted and could almost be compared to quick time events, except without the need to actually make the timing of the prompts.

The controls for moving the cat feel pretty cat-like, with good long leaps and the ability to hang off furniture and ledges when you don’t quite make a jump. However, I feel like the controls can feel a little loose, like you’ll often run a little longer than you wanted or jump a little further than you intended. This I think will mostly come down to personal feel when playing the game.

All in all, Copycat is a decently intriguing narrative from a cat’s perspective, written by people who love cats. If you also love cats, you’re likely to get a kick out of the game’s cat-centric jokes and feel the emotions the story wants you to feel. That being said, it’s a bit light on gameplay, and the tendency to forcibly guide you through the story can be a little boring. If that’s something you don’t mind or if you’re really into cats, I would still say to give the game a try.

Try Hard Guides received a PC review code for this game. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on our Game Reviews page! Copycat is available on Steam.