The cozy game market is slowly becoming a huge thing inside the videogame medium. The necessity of relaxing experiences in a period of fear for the industry has created an entire sector dominated, years ago, only by Nintendo and its Animal Crossing franchise and little japanese/indie projects, like Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley. As soon as Triple-A productions started to create delusions, lots of little heartwarming productions started to appear, with dedicated showcases and great global launches. The same thing could be said about those comedy products based on animals, such as Goat Simulator and Untitled Goose Game, where the lack of narrative is surpassed by some very fun moments and iconic experiences. Little Kitty, Big City mixes these two ideas trying to follow the path firstly opened by Stray, eliminating all the philosophical sci-fi contents in order to create great irony and great feline madness. The game has a simple effective story: a little cat jumps off its favorite nap spot on the balcony of its home and it is projected in a more complex and surprising world, arriving on the purest road. Here, between puddles and dogs, our cute creatures need a sort of guide, introducing an amount of interesting and really well-written characters: capitalistic crows, social-dependent mosquitoes, inventive tanuki arriving at sage ducks and stealth chameleons. The satire of these icons is so accessible to everyone to represent a fabulous idea and a huge incentive to arrive at the end of the game. In fact, Little Kitty, Big City shows poor gameplay, linked with a buggy amount of actions our cat can do. While it is incredible the amount of animations and little details in the movements of the protagonist, we will find ourselves stuck in a specific place or blocked between walls and zones, thinking the liberty granted to the players was excessive and the dimensions of the map were not builded up so well. A problem which also affects the technical feature, full of graphic glitch but yet a stable experience in its whole. The essence of cozy games, however, is the setting of the wonderful projects and games part of this genre. Little Kitty, Big City has, in this sense, a lot of personality. The ambiences and worldbuilding of the game, functionals for all the misdees of the fur ball, is a perfect mix of the most american inspirations set in the most japanese locations. Mini Games linked with soccer are set in oriental gardens. Electronic stores and greengrocers are part of big broadways in which the “conbinis” and the arcades are pure icons. Vertical construction sites full of swimming pools and english balconies are part of a melancholic and city pop background. This wonderful dichotomy is evident even in music, among funky urban toons and izakaya-like jazz. A work obviously derivative, full of glimpse from New York and new suggestions from the Rising Sun.

Little Kitty, Big City is a necessary breath for an entire sector. It is the representations of two rising new genres, both cozy and comedy games, with all the limitations and gameplay/technical problems of the exponents of this kind of titles. The imaginary and characters are turning this experience in a tiny object of cult, and I think this is the symbol of two different statements onto this medium: firstly the delusions brought recently by the blockbusters of the industry are bringing more people to smaller projects but capable of relaxing a tired public of players; secondly the deep love for Japan, which is crossing all kind of medias but in videogames finds it maximum exemple, in search of that kind of escape in Tokyo’s shapes which Little Kitty, Big City could absolutely give you.


Gameplay: 2,5
Game Design: 3,5
Technical Feature: 2,5
Narrative: 4
Protagonists: 5
Villains: Absent
Multiplayer: Absent
Score and Music: 3,5
Artistic Feature: 4
Atmosphere: 4
Emotional Impact: 3,5

Final Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

(Finished main story and ~70% of side content)

First and foremost, this is a game overflowing with charm. Its starts right from the first cutscene, as the titular kitty slips off their windowsill perch and rube goldberg's their way all the way down into a trash can on the street. Then you immediately get to basic cat-ing, such as

- Stealing slippers
- Knocking pots off of ledges
- Knocking paint buckets over an artist's canvas

Soon enough you get to start meeting some of the game's charming cast of critters, from a crow thats the embodiment of the trade offer meme, and a chameleon thats terrible at hiding. Everyone you can talk to is charming in their own way, each with a uniquely silly personality. But as you go around collecting shinies for the crow, finding capsules with cute hats for the kitty to wear, and generally exploring the open city block you have access to, you'll quickly run into the game's biggest weakness: Platforming.

Platforming in this game is often janky and inconsistent. When trying to jump a gap, your kitty might instead drop down from the edge. When you try to jump up to a platform above you, one the same height as the last ledge you climbed, your kitty just can't make it unless you approach it just the right way. Sometimes when making those jumps, the game might interpret your landing as wanting to slide down the wall. While some of this is a matter of execution, I do think this game should have taken an approach more similar to Stray, another cat adventure game.

Little Kitty, Big City is a game definitely pushing against its budget, which can sometimes be rather obvious. But the platforming issues and little bugs are never frustrating enough to ruin the overall experience. The game's charm ultimately succeeds in delivering a fun, kitty exploration adventure.

Adorei, mesmo sendo curto e simples. Ao que se propõe a fazer, é excelente e bem engraçadinho. Após zerar, continuei jogando por alguns minutos pra poder encontrar as roupas extras.

No fim do jogo o mapa te dá a localização dos cosméticos o que é ótimo pra você não ficar procurando por muito tempo, mas ele só informava algumas coisas, não aonde as sidequests estavam, e como o mapa é relativamente grande e sua capacidade de movimentação não é tão grande assim, não quis ficar buscando, mas provavelmente seria um jogo rápido de fazer 100%.

Finito nei termini in cui si potrebbe considerare finito un sandbox totale, considerando che la vicenda principale (riportare il gatto a casa sua, in cima a un edificio) è un mero pretesto per svolgere decine di piccole missioni all'interno di un classico quartierino giapponese. Lo si potrebbe prendere come una sorta di b-side di Stray, se non fosse che non c'è nulla di quella cura produttiva. I requisiti di completamento poggiano interamente su richieste molto basiche e dubito che il viaggio valga il prezzo in termini di tempo, anche se soddisfare la curiosità di essere un gatto che si comporta come tale, ammettiamolo.. potrebbe essere inizialmente simpatico.