written 7/12/2026, updated 7/12/2026
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My first time ever playing this series was a demo of the 2nd game. I didn’t immediately buy it, but the game was intriguing, so when the trilogy went on sale this year (2026), I decided to buy and play it. After completing all 3 games, I was overall dissatisfied with the 3rd. What follows is my honest opinion about this trilogy and an exploration of some references.
SPOILER WARNING: I will be divulging story details in this writing
Impressions
Cat Quest I (2017)
Dev: Gentlebros
Publ: PQube
Synopsis: You, a Dragonblood, start off in a small boat where your sister has been kidnapped by Drakoth, the main villain of the game. You explore Felingard alongside Spirry (who is hinted at originally being Mauth, the first cat taught by Aelius to speak), fulfilling quests, exploring dungeons, killing monsters, defeating dragons, learning spells, gaining powers (water walking and flying), and listening to animal puns, all the while powering up to rescue your sister. Drakoth pesters you along the way, goading you into gaining strength. As you adventure, the real story unfolds, and you learn about Aelius, one of the “Old Masters” depicted as a shadowy humanoid body shape, created the Dragonblood to fight back against the dragons in the Dragon Wars. They succeeded, but the other Old Masters realized the danger that Aelius had created, so they trapped Aelius in the Zero Dimension. Drakoth goads you into becoming powerful in the hopes of opening a portal to free Aelius. In a twist, you later find out that your sister was never real, just a construct created by Drakoth to force you into powering up, AND that Spirry, your lovable catpanion spirit, was working for Drakoth all along! The game ends with a bit of a cliffhanger, as Aelius does, indeed, escape the Zero Dimension.
Impressions: Aside from some little gripes, I very much loved this game! It was cute, creative, and the story was moving. The fighting dynamics were fun, each powerup offered a welcome improvement, the side quests ample and funny. The map was just large and varied enough, and, similarly, the monsters were amply difficult and interesting. And the easter eggs! There were only two gripes I had about the game: the side quests were basically all fetch quests… which in and of itself not a big deal. The problem I had was the constant running back and forth across the entire map. It got better after the powerups, but still… In the game’s defense, they also built in the exact gripe to the dialogue. The 2nd gripe was originally a boon for the game: All 3 games are chock-full of puns in the animal vein (e.g. pawtastic, pawtner, etc.). While at first it’s cute, I eventually got annoyed with it across the entire trilogy. It’s a minor gripe but added some degree of annoyingness. While you can’t actively upgrade any of your equipment at the blacksmith (it’s all random), you don’t really need to as the game takes care of it for you, and this is therefore not a true gripe.
Conclusion: Highly recommended (play #1 before #2), cute, creative, solid game!!
Cat Quest II (2019)
Dev: Gentlebros
Publ: PQube
Synopsis: In Cat Quest I, Felingard is inhabited by all cats, though the existence of dogs and rats are discussed (there was even a dog masquerading as a cat to try and cause chaos). Cat Quest II introduces dogs into the mix right away as you play a cat and dog duo of royal blood, called into the world across timelines to try and fix the current situation. Together with Kirry, your new spirit guide, you work with returning NPC Kit Cat the Blacksmith (hinted at being really old as she knows all kind of old stuff), and her rival Hotto Doggo the Japanese Weaponsmith to fight and explore your way through Felingard and the Lupus Empire. The goal is to defeat tyrannical Lioner and Wolfen and end the war sapping the inhabitants of their energy and livelihoods. The 2nd game offers many optional bosses, more easter eggs, even more side quests and dungeons, mildly differing fighting dynamics (with the 2 characters swappable on the fly), larger, more varied map, and overall, a larger scale game. In the end, you find out that Lioner and Wolfen are YOU because you were summoned from a parallel timeline to fix this one with your camaraderie versus their never-ending strife. Along the way, you find out that Aelius is yet again the real villain, and this time he is the active main bad guy you have to defeat to beat the game. He is depicted not just as a shadowy silhouette of a human, but a more defined humanoid with a large, evil eye on his forehead. At the end of the game, you both are able to summon the true Kingsblade with your friendship, defeat evil Aelius eyeball, then get sent back to your time with no memory of any of the events that transpired… though there was an ominous reappearance of Aelius after you had supposedly defeated him, hinting towards a continuation of the story.
Impressions: This game was VERY enjoyable! Would I say more than the last? Eh… it has improvements upon the 1st game, but I don’t know if I enjoyed it more. I’m going to say I enjoyed it about the same as Cat Quest I ‚and am satisfied with the improvements and differences of the game. They improved upon the far-flung fetch quests, the map is similar, yet different, the introduction of temples made the game more fighting-focused than the 1st game, and the scope of the map was larger with the addition of the Lupus Empire and therefore plenty of new and old monsters. Minor puzzles (mazes) were added. There were less side quests, but the ones there were better thought out. Given the nature of the on-the-fly-swapout of the main characters, there existed a layer of strategy not found in the 1st game. The developers added little interesting/funny elements like a rabid fan club for Hotto Doggo that you have to beat up. With the pros, come the cons which I have more of this time around simply because it’s more complex. First, my original punny gripe remains. Second, Kit Cat. Not only was her “Southern Accent” extra annoying this time (too forced), but they added a small layer of sexuality non-existent before. Your cat character along with other NPCs are enamored with her the entire game. Considering all other characters except for Hotto Doggo are your generic NPCs, her newly sexy visage (she was merely cute before, and now sexy in her old age?) I guess is attractive to others? Third, Hotto Doggo. Aside from Kit Cat with her “southern accent,” everyone else is pretty generic. Then Hotto Doggo shows up and is… Japanese? When no one else in the entire Lupus Empire is…? It’s random and rather annoying. Fourth, while I may have missed something during the game, Kirry himself isn’t really ever explained. Who is he, exactly? Gripes as they are, these are very minor and had no real impact to the game.
Conclusion: Also highly recommended. Makes improvements and expansions upon the first game. Great sequel.
Cat Quest III (2024)
Dev: Gentlebros
Publ: Kepler Interactive
Synopsis: As a baby, the Pi-Rat King destroyed your ship and family, and you are the only one to survive. You eventually wash up on a shore and taken in by Captain Cappey who raises you into a young cat. Turns out the unique symbol on your head marks you as a Seeker. Your pirate spirit friend is on the search for the North Star Treasure which is supposed to grant any wish. As a young pirate, claw/slash/magic your way across islands on your pirate ship to secure all treasure as a good pirate would. Aelius pops up once again, trapped in the Zero Realm with… several others like him? There’s a benevolence alongside the ominous, there. In the end, it turns out that Captain Cappey is actually your father and is searching for the North Star Treasure to regain his life to be with you. However, the North Star Treasure is actually a perverted artifact made malicious by the greed of those who seek it. Aelius ends up reviving Cappey who gave up his life to save you from the North Star, and succeeds in acquiring the 3 artifacts he has sought across the 3 games. The Zero Dimension peoples allude to the “Apawcalypse” and the game ends.
Impressions: If the synopsis was noticeably shorter, that’s because it is, and basically sums this whole game up. While the first 2 games had many great elements, there aren’t as many this time around. I did like the character variety where the original games had generic NPCs, this game’s characters are all unique (apart from the monsters) and therefore have added depth. There are some interesting and very different elements in the game such as localized retro graphics, more world puzzles, and challenging monsters with rewards. The ship controls are very smooth and well-done, and in general there’s a quickness to the fighting that’s similar to the other games. And that’s about all I liked about it. GRIPE TIME!! Right off the bat during the intro, I already had a foreboding, sinking feeling when I heard… Voice Acting... unless it’s a large studio the inclusion of voice acting usually signals BAD because resources for the game had to be used for that. To be fair, there’s not too much and they could easily have just used some of the developers, but I generally dislike voice acting as a whole (the only exception is when it’s amazing or necessary for a game). Then came the game perspective: where the other games were a top-down map, this was both 3⁄4 and 2D side scroll when you get into some dungeons. I guess it was to accommodate the sailing portions, but it completely changed the feel of the game. Minor, but still a gripe. Battles! What I enjoyed most about the other games ended being quite boring in this 3rd installment! The battles were boring, repetitive, and offered no real challenges. All you had to do was spam the buttons for fighting and magic, and that’s it! Whether it’s melee, range, or ship. The inclusion of guns in here was interesting but didn’t end up adding too much value apart from being useful in some portions. Even bosses 20 levels higher than my own were beatable so long as you spammed stuff enough (me playing on easy). Strategy wasn’t a huge part of the equation. Then there’s the Weird Innuendo. Chalk it up to my slightly dirty adult brain, but I swear there’s a bunch of weird sexual stuff slid into the game. What am I talking about? Infinity Tower and therefore Doggy Jones both seemed so very… phallic. Cathulu has tentacles which makes sense, but some of those tentacles looked… kind of slimy and pink… Then there’s Mama Milka whom everyone loves, and gives… Mama’s Milk? She literally gives milk as rewards. I know she runs a tavern for cats and the association between cats and milk (which you really shouldn’t feed your cat, btw), but… yeah. I’m honestly surprised that she’s not some giant-boobed sexy cat (but then again, maybe there’s some original version of her that is…) and is instead a gigantic muscular one. Finally, the Story which is the biggest gripe of all. It’s short. It’s confusing. It doesn’t seem to fit the rest of the trilogy? Captain Cappey is supposed to be your dad. He escaped Purrgatory to get to you. This means that between the time he died and you washed up ashore, he defied death. He never really acts like a father at all during the game, more like a mere companion. Aelius was supposed to have escaped the Zero Dimension, so why is he back in it, and who are those other people? I thought it was only him in there, trapped by the other humans. He’s supposed to be a bad guy… or is he, because he was kind of a good guy here? It’s not clear in this game at all. Perhaps there’s supposed to be another game? Regardless, I’m confused. Aren’t we not supposed to allow him to get the 3 artifacts? The main story is very short and shallow, while the stories for the side characters Pi-Rat King, Meowtallica, Takomeowki, etc. are well-fleshed.
It can’t be a coincidence that these seem so very phallic… Especially Doggy Jones! They could have designed them so many other ways!!
Conclusion: While it’s another game in the series, I only played it for the Aelius story (as confusing as that was). Despite the obviously higher budget, the game itself fell short of the charm of the prior games. I’m not sure I’d recommend it, though it’s not bad if you forget the other games and think of it on its own. If you do that, though, you’ll see how woefully short and shallow the game is as a whole.
References
Cat Quest I
- Box Helmet, Armor, Slashy Sword — Gentlebros 1st game Slashy Hero
- Kitmas — Christmas
Cat Quest II
- Cathulhu - Chthulhu
- Hotto Doggo - He has a penchant for hot dogs, he’s supposed to be very attractive, and “hotto doggo” is a nod to his Japaneseness as that’s how Japanese people say “hot dog”
- Doge Knight — Bat man also known as “the Dark Knight”
- Excalipurr — Excalibur
- Catnip Bravo — cameo from Catnip Bravo the webcomic
- Pundora — Pandora’s Box, but with puns referring to all the puns in the world
- Dr. Jekyll - Jekyll and Hyde
- Kei-Nein Unit — K9 unit
Cat Quest III
- Pi-Rat — Rat that’s a pirate
- Meowtallica — Metallica (the crew has concerts and are lightning element)
- Takomeowki — Takoyaki is octopus-filled balls of wheat and he is a cat octopus
- Dratcula — Dracula Rat
- Purrevor Belmeownt — Trevor Belmont, a nod to the Castlevania games
- Doggy Jones — Davy Jones
- Kidd Kat — Captain Kidd, and Kit Kat from the other games. Kidd Cat is her younger brother
- Mage Bonney — Anne Bonny the famous female pirate and “bone”
- Macho Dog — Macho Doge meme
- Cathulhu — Chthulhu
- 8‑Bit Castle — retro themed tower (the joke is that the vampire rat bites his victims 8 times and therefore 8‑bit) with 8‑bit graphics and sound
- Purvanna — Havanna
- Purribean Sea — Carribean Sea
- Furtigua — Antigua, Tortuga
- Great Furrier Reef — Great Barrier Reef
- Pawman Isles — Cayman Islands
- Twin Islands — Island version of the Twin Towns from Cat Quest I and II
- Antares, Orion, Centauri, Polaris — Stars. Antares, Orion, and Polaris are some of the brightest stars with Polaris being the North Star. Centauri is the odd one out.
- Gold Tower — Midas’s curse in mythology, and a nod to Pirates of the Caribbean Aztec coins
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