I thought Cat Quest 3 wouldn’t be for me. I was very wrong

Video games that try to thread the needle between younger and older audiences have a tricky job. Games like Detective Pikachu Returns can find themselves walking a difficult tightrope act as they waffle between which age group they want to cater to. That can result in an imbalance between simplistic writing and complex gameplay or vice versa. While the idea of courting a wide age range is appealing, it’s not an easy task.

That’s why I’m impressed by Cat Quest 3 so far. On its surface the pirate RPG certainly looks and sounds like a straight-up kid’s game. It has an adorable art style and a script full of easy feline puns. And yet, I found myself deeply engaged as I played through a lengthy demo. Deep RPG systems had me so locked in that I was surprised when I hit the end of my time.

Why was a game that seemed so geared toward young players speaking to me? That’s because Cat Quest 3 has a more nuanced audience in mind: players who are young at heart.

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Sail away

I was unfamiliar with the Cat Quest series before starting my demo, so its setup initially caught me off guard. I’d always assumed it was a fairly straightforward 2D platformer, but that’s far from reality. Instead, Cat Quest 3 sets players loose in an overworld that resembles ones found in classic RPGs. One quick glance and you might assume it’s a retro throwback with turn-based encounters. That’s not the case either. This is very much the kind of book that you can’t judge by its cover.

While the threequel might be surprising to newcomers, Cat Quest fans will find a familiar formula here. I’d drop into my demo with just a sword and start slashing enemies, grabbing treasure, and growing stronger with each level up. It almost feels like a small dungeon-crawler at moments, as I slash through “Pi-Rats” and collect valuable gear from chests. I’d quickly get a main objective as I was told to track down a specific treasure, but I was free