Singaporean developers released Cat Quest back in 2017, an adventure RPG with plenty of cute, funny felines: a lethal combination and sure-fire way to win at the Internets. As such, it received a sequel in Cat Quest II, with more of the puns and cats, as well as co-op multiplayer. Can the cats carry the whole yarn? Read on to find out.

Cat Quest II tells of a story of a world at peace, under the protection of dual monarchs, one a cat and one a dog. However, a weapon known as the Kingsblade shatters this peace, as the felines and canines fight over the weapon. The Kingsblade gets destroyed, the peace has long gone, and the world become divided into cat country (Felingard) and dog domain (The Lupus Empire).

This is where you, the player(s), come in. As the descendants of the old country, awakening as foretold by a prophecy, you are tasked to fix all wrongs. Players are then put in control of both cat and dog characters!

Cat Quest II is a top-down view adventure RPG, where the playable characters are free to roam the map. Do be careful though, as danger lurks around. If you’re sharp-eyed, you can avoid the nasty creatures and instead spelunk in dungeons and find treasure chests ripe for the looting.

Cat Quest II is quite fast-paced, so stay on those toe beans! Only one button is required to attack, but your characters have many variations of spells to utilize. Up to four spells can be equipped per character, so two characters means double the spellcasting fun!

Besides the various curious locations on the map, there’s over dozens of dungeons that you can merrily explore within the world of Cat Quest II. Some are part of the main story, while others are attached to side quests. Of course, there are extra dungeons you can stumble into that are just there for you to loot if you dare.

The dungeons follow the same general layout, scattered with traps and treasure around. Don’t be shy, nya, sniff around to your heart’s content! Just loot ’em all, since you’re the Chosen Ones after all. Sometimes chests may be protected by some “otherworldly force”, which basically means you need to defeat all the monsters within the dungeon before you can get at the rewards. Here’s a little catnip for you: dungeons can have hidden paths, at the end of which will be a secret chest. The cat and dog can have little a bonus treasure, as a treat.

If you need to know more about the dungeons, here’s a few more kibbles for you:

• Unexplored dungeons have a question mark
• Dungeons that still have treasure will have a diamond symbol
• Fully explored dungeons have no signposts whatsoever

The first Cat Quest only featured a single continent, namely Felingard and its surrounding islands. Cat Quest II expands on that with a larger map. This naturally means the inclusion of the nation of dogs, The Lupus Empire! You’ll visit it as part of the main quest, opening up more dungeons and side quests for you. As with the original adventure, you’ll be finding more companions to join you, like Hotto Doggo, a blacksmith who can improve the quality of your weapons.

On this meowenderful adventure, you’d of course need to pick up some weapons along the way! Find your usual swords, axes and maces which all work the same way as they’re melee weapons. You get a wand fairly early in, which channel your latent magical powers! The differences lie in the stats, providing bonuses depending on what you’ve equipped. You can upgrade your armours through a feline NPC named Kit Cat.

Upgrade your spells at the Arcane Headpawters, with choices ranging from thunderbolts, AoE flames, holy protection, buffs and heals. As with games of this ilk, you will need mana to cast spells, which you can refill by assaulting enemies.

Now, the best part of Cat Quest II would be its multi-player co-op. Get your fellow animal lover companion to explore the map together! Before that though, it is unfortunate that the camera for co-op play is quite unsatisfactory and starts malfunctioning should you be too far from your pawsome buddy. The save point requires both parties to interact with it, if that is something you don’t like. It makes more sense when it comes to interacting with NPCs, where both parties must be present to continue the story.

You have the option to start up Cat Quest II solo or with your pal, a setting that you can change at any point. In solo mode, the second character will be controlled by the AI. You really should try to play with a friend because, uh, the AI is, to put it mildly, bad. It doesn’t matter if the AI controlled character is using a melee weapon or has a wand: the cat or dog would be more like a lemming that tosses itself into the fire.

You can swap between the characters when you’re playing solo, but the AI is probably not going to make you very pleased. Just bribe someone with treats so that at least there’d be less hairy situations when the AI doesn’t behave the way you want it to. At least it’d be easier to strategize!

It’s not a bad game strictly on the quality of the AI, of course. You can spend hours upon hours running your padded feet across the map and just build up an entire armoury of gear as you snoop around the corners! With New Game Plus, the adventure can keep on going!

The characters and visuals of Cat Quest II have the right amount of cuteness and quirkiness, and should be inflicted upon a friend so that you both can suffer the storm of terrible, terrible puns. A solid enough action adventure RPG to chill out to, that you can get on PC Steam, Playstation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and iOS.

Cat Quest II

Publisher: PQube Limited

Developer: The Gentlebros

Release Date: 2019-09-19

iOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Steam, Xbox One

CAT QUEST II is a 2D open-world action-RPG set in a fantasy realm of cats and dogs. Under threat from a continuing war between the cats of Felingard and the advancing dogs of the Lupus Empire, CAT QUEST II tells the tail of two kings, brought together against their will, on a journey of paw-some discovery to reclaim their thrones. Play as both a cat and dog as you explore their kingdoms solo or with a friend! Quest in a world filled with magic, curious monsters, and go on a catventure like never before! Following the success of the acclaimed CAT QUEST, developers The Gentlebros return to the world of Felingard to expand on the original with more explosive spells, expanded weapon options, an exciting new character switch mechanic, and local co-op!