Cat Quest III

Genre: Open-World Action-RPG

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in Cat Quest: The Fur-tastic Trilogy along with Cat Quest and Cat Quest II.)

Cat Quest III, released in 2024 on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, takes this series of family-friendly Action-RPG onto the high seas for an Open-World piratey adventure that opens up the game’s world giving players a level of freedom we’ve never seen before in the series… at a price.

Unlike many Nintendo Switch games where I say something like that, it’s not the graphics or performance that takes a hit. Cat Quest III is a gorgeous game, combining 2D and 3D elements bursting with color in a beautiful world made to look like a map come to life, this time going even farther than its predecessors with lovely water reflection effects and some nice lighting. This is paired with some decent cinematic music typical of the pirate genre.

At its core, the gameplay here is mostly the same as the prior two titles too, with simplified RPG-style character progression on top of some satisfying combat. This is joined by a new ship mechanic where players can summon a vessel to ride anywhere there’s a port, and disembark anywhere there’s land you can tread on. This comes with new sea battles, and the ship itself can be upgraded too, giving this game even more depth while still keeping it accessible.

The ability to hop into your ship and cross any body of water really frees up the game too, opening things up so you can go pretty much anywhere, and here is where the game gets itself into trouble. Where other Open World games scale enemies to keep the challenge level steady across the board, or indicate in some way or another when you’re venturing into an area with a challenge level you’re not ready for, Cat Quest III doesn’t seem to do anything of the sort, letting you fumble into areas far beyond your current level or abilities without even a hint that you’re in over your head.

This became clear when I ventured into a dungeon with tough enemies that took a while to take down, followed by a boss that was untouchable half the time, using seemingly unavoidable attacks, and then the other half the time my attacks only seemed to chip away at him. After dying a few times in ways it didn’t seem like I could reasonably avoid, I left the dungeon to try to find something else in the area to do, only to get absolutely thrashed by the next major enemy I encountered. It seemed that I had wandered into an area I wasn’t ready for, and that the game didn’t clue me into until I had been futilely struggling through it for a while.

It is due to this lack of clearly indicating the massive difficulty spikes as you enter areas that have them that makes me say this is the first game in this franchise I cannot in good conscience call a family-friendly game – it may be cutesy and cartoonish, and absolutely filled with adorable animal puns, but this kitty has vicious claws that will frustrate younger and less-experienced players.

It is also due to this uneven difficulty that Cat Quest III is my least-favorite game in the series so far, despite the beautiful presentation and wonderful sense of freedom the ship mechanic adds. If the cost of this was the series’ wonderful accessibility and relatively easygoing nature, I think the cost was too high. And to be clear, this is still a good game with a lot going for it. But it does feel like a misstep in the series.

tl;dr – Cat Quest III takes the great Action-RPG gameplay of the earlier titles and adds Open-World seafaring elements. While liberating, these elements also cause wild difficulty spikes and make it difficult to gauge when you’ve wandered into an area where you’re out of your depth. As a result, this game loses the wonderful accessibility of its predecessors. There’s still a lot to love here, but this time that comes with its fair share of flaws.

Grade: B-

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2024 Game Awards:

Winner:

Most Disappointing – I was really looking forward to the third game in this series, after the family-friendly take on a Diablo-style Action-RPG we had in the first and especially second games in the series. Unfortunately, this game’s ambitious Open-World elements completely ruin what was so great about this game, introducing massive difficulty spikes that not only make this a game that isn’t really appropriate for younger and less-experienced gamers, but make it less fun for even more experienced players. I just hope that if and when we do see a fourth game in this series, that the game’s creators course-correct and address the massive problems this game had.

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