Little Kitty, Big City (Game Pass) | Review

Little Kitty, Big City is finally here.  Releasing day one into Game Pass for Cloud, Console, & PC. You are a cute cat who falls from his apartment perch and has to work his way back home.  Unlike Stray, there’s no bait and switch here: it’s 100% kitty cat-focused all the time, and it is delightful if a tad bit short.

The City

Little Kitty, Big City is a real short game.  You can easily beat it in two hours if you mainline its eventual main quest.  That requires you to find four fish to eat, each of which gives you one stamina bar for climbing.  You’ll need all four to get back home and I’m sure a speed run of the game could finish in 30 minutes easily enough.  The joy of the title comes from its exploration and side quests.  There aren’t a lot of them, with a 100% possible in 2 or 3 hours if you go your fastest.  I wouldn’t recommend that though, as the game is such a chill vibe with fun controls and humorous writing.

The main gameplay loop is using your ability to jump and climb to find shinies.  These are bits of metal you’ll bring to a crow, at first for the main quest and eventually to unlock hats!  The game has 45 or so hats that let you customize your cute cat however you want.  The only “upgrade” system is the fish/climbing one.  Everything else is for fun and optional and it’s the heart of the game.

There are a couple of sidequest chains available that add a bit of flavor to the end of the game if you complete them.  Outside of that, you can pounce on birds to get a feather, which you’ll give to a Tanuki to access their magical transportation network.  There are hat and hat machines located all over the city and once you complete the game they’ll be on the map, making a full clear easy-peasy.

The Gameplay

Little Kitty, Big City nails a fun version of being a cat.  The right bumper is your run button, while the left bumper is for crawling.  You’ll need to crawl to sneak up on birds (who you trap for a second but never kill) or to fit through tight spaces.  A is for jumping and can be held down to aim where you’re going.  The game feels great and they give you enough leeway on jumping and mantling that climbing was rarely a chore.

Your cat hates water so it is the main path-blocking mechanic. Figuring out how to get around it, pulling objects with your mouth, or climbing around buildings is fun.  It’s not too deep so the game’s short runtime felt appropriate.  I hope they add more side quests as they were fun to do and I hoped to find more.  Once I had completed them and rolled credits I immediately jumped back into the city and started hunting down the remaining hats.

Sites and Sounds

The game is under 2 gigs on the Series X and with how small the city is I get it.  Human characters look basic, with no real facial features.  Your main cat and the other animals strewn about town look great and I love the animations for your cat.  I felt like a feline with a lack of a shoulder blade, surprisingly slinky power, and a bit of doofiness when I messed up.

The music matches the “can’t die” chill vibe, lots of piano and smooth jazz beats are mixed with animal noises and human grunts.  There’s no talking but there’s a lot of writing and it’s great.  It’s as G-rated as it gets, full of puns and unless you’re a monster it’s worth reading every time.  I didn’t run into any bugs playing on Xbox, with Quick Resume working perfectly.

Wrapping Things Up

Little Kitty, Big City is a short and sweet experience, much like this review.  Full of charm and heart, it’s well worth checking out Day One on Xbox Game Pass whether you’re a cat person or not.

Little Kitty, Big City (Game Pass)

Played on

Xbox Series X

PROS

• Catphics
• Meownds
• Kittenplay

CONS

• Too Meowrt

7.5 out of 10

GREAT

XboxEra Scoring Policy

Available on

Xbox Series | Xbox One | Switch | Windows PC | Steam

Developer

Double Dagger Studio

Released on

April 9, 2024

Publisher

Double Dagger Studio

Price

N/A

See on the Xbox Store