Published by PLAYISM, CATO: Butter Cat is a brilliantly fun 2D platformer now available on Switch and PS5. With 200 levels, mini games, secrets, and boss battles, there is a lot of toast-jumping in this $11.99 digital download.
The gimmick behind this stupidly cute platformer stems from the merging of two unlikely characters. The cat cannot jump but can wall climb and fit in narrow spaces while a piece of buttered toast can wall jump and hop laterally. However, when combined, the cat wears the toast like a giant hat and is granted a hilarious infinite space jump. It sounds silly on paper but even more so in practice but do not mistake this unlikely merger for low quality. Playing as toast shouldn’t be this thoughtful and humorous.
Dozens of bite sized stages force the kitty and bread to work together to reach the exit. To impressive amazement, each world contains a unique theme with each stage offering something different. It is well paced and the difficulty remains somewhat casual; this is not one of those precision platformers where reflexes need to be paramount. There is much more puzzle platforming here. Local co-op is also available if you wanted to bread hop with a friend.
The control is just as fluid as the endearing pixel art. The responsive, simple, intuitive control scheme is spot-on, never frustrating, and any mistake is your own fault. Visually, the expressive pixel art is well done, something that PLAYISM has established with many of their titles. In short, presentation-wise, this is a quality 2D pixel-based experience.
CATO: Butter Cat is one of those games that is best going in blind, so I don’t want to spoil anything further here. It is a charming, ridiculous, creative platformer, in which it is easy to see the devs poured their hearts. Small, indie games like this are a bright spot in the modern era of endless roguelites, simulators, and Survivor clones.
SCORE: 8/10
Not As Good As: The Adventures of Cookie and Cream (PS2)
Better Than: most other games released on the eShop this week
Wait For It: the new Yoshi platformer on Switch 2
By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com
X/Twitter: @ZackGaz
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