Have you ever been playing a game and gotten to the point where you know you can approach the final boss and finish the game any time you want to, but are having so much fun that you don't want the game to end? That's where I was with Cat Quest, a light, relaxing RPG developed by Gentlebros and released in 2017. This is a game I picked up on the Playstation 4 based only on the title and cover art. It took me a while to get around to playing it, but the comfort food RPG gameplay and addictive feedback loop were just what the doctor ordered for a relaxing winter playthrough.
 
I don't think I can give a better elevator pitch for this game than the developers themselves did. From the game's official website: "This is a game heavily inspired by Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy and Skyrim. It aims to provide a streamlined and concise open world experience. Think of it as the overworld of Final Fantasy, the combat and exploration of Zelda, and the open world of Skyrim all in one package!" In the game, you play as a cat trying to rescue his kidnapped sister. All the NPCs are cats and the game is littered with cat puns (see what I did there?).




Keeping the developers' blurb in mind, what I love about this game is the simplified version of the gameplay loop taken from classic rpgs. The game has everything you'd expect if you've played a classic rpg; loot, leveling, an overworld with towns and dungeons, optional boss battles, secrets. All of it is here, but more streamlined. For example, there is a magic system, but mana is only replenished by doing melee attacks (and saving the game, I'll get to that in a second). This creates a great rhythm for the action-based combat, where you'll lay down area of effect magic spells, then hack a little bit to replenish your mana, dodge roll out of the way of the enemy's attack, then repeat the process. Another example are the towns. Effectively, each town consists of a quest board and an inn. You do not enter the inns, you merely press a button and your health and mana are completely replenished and the game is saved. It is extremely elegant and smooth.
 
Another cool thing about the game is that the side-quests are thematic and each set of them tells a side story related to the town they are in. From helping to feed the townspeople to lifting a curse off the king himself, the side quests will keep you intrigued and bouncing from town to town looking for quests you can do (they increase in difficulty with each one you do so you have to level up a bit in between each one).
 
There are many secrets and a lot of loot in this game. Like other aspects of the game, the loot is simplified in that you can pull weapons and armor from chests in dungeons, but instead of getting a new item each time, many of them will level up the equipment you already have, increasing its stats. I will say the game gets kind of broken as you hit the higher levels and acquire some of the secret items, but it's in a good way, the game becomes more fun as you run roughshod over enemies who used to kill you in one hit. By the time I wrapped up the story, I had cleared many dungeons and taken down a few super challenging optional bosses. Putting off finishing a game to do optional activities is the best sign that you're playing a classic. I highly recommend Cat Quest to anyone who likes rpgs.

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