Cats in Time

Playing Cats in Time was for me an absolute joy. I did love Manic Hyena’s Hidden Paws games, and in all honesty I am a big fan of 3D diorama games, so I expected to be quite fond of Pine Studio’s Cats in Time too, but the game simply exceeded my expectations not only because it takes the best from both worlds, but also adds a lot of entertaining puzzling to the obvious exploration aspect.

Each level is a beautifully crafted 3D diorama in which you’ll have to find 10 cuddly cats. They are usually trapped deep inside the central building of the level, and in order to reach them you’ll have to solve various puzzles and open secret doors or other boxes / containers. The difficulty is fairly easy and constant throughout the game, since most of the puzzles are very clear and intuitive. Normally you’ll have to either input a correct sequence (with the code being displayed somewhere visible in another part of the level), or play with some levers / move tiles to specific positions. They’re very fast to solve, taking mere seconds and only a few iterations. It’s the kind of puzzles you’d expect to find in a hidden object / escape room game, but in their easier versions. Additionally, there’s a pretty nicely done hint system that shows you exactly how to solve a puzzle, in case you’re lost. And using it does not affect the achievements in any way (on the contrary, there’s one achievement awarded for using a hint).

There are 28 levels in total and aside from collecting all 280 cats, there are some additional collectibles to find – “postcard pieces”, which are well hidden and thus much more difficult to spot. Gathering all cats and postcards enables access to a secret level (assuming that you can crack the code for it). One full playthrough takes a fair amount of time – around 5h-6h – because of the hundreds of mini puzzles to solve.

For those that don’t enjoy the puzzling experience at all, the game offers an alternate mode (“Kid Mode”), where the dioramas are fully solved, with all the cats visible in the open – you’ll only need to click and collect them. In this mode you won’t have to find postcard pieces either.

Due to it’s lovely art style and accessible difficulty, Cats in Time is very suitable for younger audiences too. There is no timer, no stress at all, and it’s overall an extremely fun, enjoyable and wholesome experience for a very decent price.