Hidden Cat Outlaws

Genre: Puzzle

Players: 1

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Review:

(Note: Review code provided by the kind folks at Silesia Games)

Hidden Cat Outlaws is a family-friendly hidden object-style Puzzle game released on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch in 2025. As the title indicates, this game has players looking for cats scattered around Wild West-style scenes.

The presentation here uses cartoony hand-drawn 2D visuals in a style that seems pretty similar to the Where’s Waldo books that have inspired many of these sorts of games, with some indoor scenes that have bigger characters and a more silly hand-drawn style. There are some animated elements and a few characters walking around the scene, and clocking on these characters or the cats produces sound effects that are very clearly just some guy making an animal noise or whatever suits the character in question, something I found to be fairly cute. This is all backed by an instrumental soundtrack that both suits the game’s Western theme and has a nice relaxed tone to it that works well for a chill Puzzle game like this.

When it comes to the gameplay itself, this is mostly a pretty standard hidden object game. The cats you’re looking for are mostly out in the open, though as with any hidden object game you’ll need a keen eye to spot them. In addition to these, you’ll also be looking for three bonus objects that differ in each stage, as well as keys that unlock the aforementioned indoor scenes where additional cats can be lurking.

There are also “boss cats”. These cats, represented by a red cat face icon, are unlike the others in that they’re anthropomorphic, and clicking on one of these red cat face icons starts a minigame where you must press directional inputs as they appear. There’s no penalty for missing one or being too slow, and this seems to have little to do with the rest of the gameplay, but it’s a little bit of variety, I suppose.

Overall, this game has 15 different levels or scenes, containing a total of over 600 cats plus over 40 bonus items to find. I’d wager the average player could probably complete these in an hour, two tops, which for the $3 price tag seems fair enough.

If you’re looking for a hidden object game, Hidden Cat Outlaws won’t do anything especially novel or exceptional for the genre, but this is a better-than-average take on the genre, and I expect it’ll satisfy you enough to justify its price. Just don’t expect much more than that.

tl;dr – Hidden Cat Outlaws is a family-friendly hidden object-style Puzzle game where players try to uncover the 600+ hidden cats within a Wild West setting. There’s a nice presentation here, and a quirky “boss battle” minigame, but mostly this is a decent but unspectacular take on the genre that should be worth its $3 price tag for players who enjoy this style of game.

Grade: C+

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