Domestic cats are mammals of the family Felidae and genus Felis. They began living alongside humans about 10,000 years ago, valued for their ability to hunt mice. However, cats have never been fully domesticated—even the most well-behaved, cuddly, and affectionate cat retains its predatory wildness deep down.
They instinctively knock water bottles off high places. They instinctively pounce on laser pointer dots. They don't see you as their owner, but rather as a strange-looking, harmless bipedal creature who is likely useless at catching mice—so they occasionally leave their prey by your pillow. You open your eyes to find an unfortunate rodent staring at you with unblinking eyes.
Cats rarely appear as "partners" in games or films, certainly much less than dogs, humanity's other favorite companion animal. You've surely heard of "one person, one Dog.exe" or "three men and a Dog.exe," but rarely "one person, one cat." Even when cats appear in games, they are usually protagonists, such as in Stray or Little Kitty, Big City. (Palicoes from Monster Hunter don't count; they're practically beastmen, not cats.)
This is because cat behavior is so unique and independent that they either become the absolute center of attention or appear as companions and accessories. Forcing cats to act like dogs, obeying commands and fetching items, would strip away their essence, turning them into something else merely wearing a cat's exterior...
That would be too boring.
But this doesn't mean cats are inherently inferior to dogs as partners or companions in games. With proper execution, walking with a cat can work well. At Bilibili's "Play First" event a few days ago, I played a game centered on this theme—Cat Begins.
If you ignore the "cat" aspect, Cat Begins is a very, very ordinary action game.
The square and triangle buttons correspond to light and heavy attacks, respectively. Both have single combo chains with no derivations like "square-square-triangle." The fifth hit of the light attack combo deals high damage and stagger, while heavy attacks require full charging to achieve maximum effect.
Besides light and heavy attacks, the game features a standard archery-style ranged attack. Light attacks have short combos, and holding the aim button charges the shot. Perfect dodges have generous timing windows, and after upgrading the dodge skill tree, they grant three seconds of invincibility, giving you enough time to charge a heavy attack right in a monster's face.
Oh, and the game has an Offset system. After unlocking specific skills, a single dodge can maintain combo continuity.
Basically, it's a super-simplified framework of a modern action game... just very ordinary.
However, the addition of the companion cat "Mio" brings significant changes to this standard action system. Mio has three forms: small, medium, and large. In medium form, resembling a Maine Coon, she is elegant and agile, ideal for harassing enemies from above. In large form, resembling lions or tigers, she excels at breaking defenses and tackling tough foes, and even allows the protagonist to ride on her back.
Players can summon Mio to attack enemies at any time by pressing LT or RT. If summoned at the end of light, heavy, or ranged combos, you can trigger a "Combo Attack," dealing massive damage to enemies in a wide area. Players also benefit from these combo attacks; for instance, a light attack combo allows the next light combo to start from the third hit, saving significant time on animations.
All actions requiring Mio's presence continuously drain her stamina. While the protagonist has infinite stamina, Mio's is limited. Once depleted, you must press Y to recall Mio to your side, reverting her to her small form to recover stamina by leaning against the protagonist. During this time, you not only lose a combatant but also lose access to combo attacks, leaving you at a disadvantage until Mio recovers...
To be honest, although the developers tried hard to include clever details in Mio's movements that only long-time cat owners would appreciate—such as using paw swipes for light attacks, leaping onto airborne enemies to scratch them, and rolling on the ground when attacks miss—the addition of Mio only brings the combat system to a "somewhat interesting" level. The single weapon model and weak interactivity still make Cat Begins feel predictable as an action game.
But... what if Cat Begins isn't just an action game?
Besides action elements, puzzle-solving and exploration are also major components of Cat Begins. According to the producer, these three aspects hold nearly equal weight in the game.
Furthermore, the puzzles in Cat Begins don't rely on mechanisms provided by the "puzzle surface" as traditional puzzle games do. Instead, the solutions to almost all puzzles lie within the player from the very start—you just don't know it yet. That's right, the developers aim to incorporate "knowledge locks" similar to those in Outer Wilds, Bomb Rush Creeps, and Leap Year, attempting to integrate "cat" elements into them.
For example—imagine there's an iron fence in front of you with a button behind it that opens the gate when pressed. But you're locked outside the fence. How do you solve this?
You might think, since we mentioned Mio can change size anywhere, why not just have her shrink to slip through the fence and press the button for you? The problem is, Mio is a cat. You can't just press a button like in Fallout 4 to make Dogmeat go exactly where you want. The situation remains stuck.
At this point, you notice that aiming ranged attacks projects a beam of light toward the crosshair, which can serve as a flashlight... And the moment you turn on the light, Mio pounces.
Cats pouncing on light spots makes perfect sense.
Thus, the earlier puzzle has a logical solution: You step out of the cave, shine your flashlight on the button across the fence, and Mio immediately dashes over to press it, raising the gate. The key to solving the puzzle was in your hands from the start; you just didn't know it yet. This is the experience the developers hope to convey—they aim to recreate the sense of sudden realization they felt when first playing Outer Wilds, integrating it into puzzle-solving, exploration, and combat.
It's clear that Cat Begins has ambitious goals, and the developers have found an interesting hook in "cat behavior." To humans, cat actions are often puzzling—grooming, kneading, hissing, chasing, yowling, knocking things over... If the developers can successfully integrate each behavior into the game systems, Cat Begins might truly have the potential to become the next great knowledge-lock masterpiece.
However, the knowledge locks shown in the Cat Begins demo are somewhat shallow, and the methods for guiding players to discover knowledge are debatable. As mentioned earlier, "noticing that ranged aiming emits light" is explicitly told to players via on-screen tutorials, significantly diminishing the satisfaction of "discovering and utilizing knowledge yourself." It lacks some of the spark expected from knowledge-driven games.
Meanwhile, the character progression and upgrade systems currently shown in the game are quite sparse. Character building is limited to a single skill tree, and skill points are obtained simply by grinding enemies rather than through exploration or puzzle-solving. This raises some concerns about the feedback loop for exploration and puzzles—unless the puzzles are clever enough to motivate players to explore simply because "the puzzle is there," the lack of meaningful upgrades and rewards could make this aspect feel unrewarding.
Of course, exploration rewards don't necessarily need to be tied to material goods or stat boosts. Allowing players to discover "knowledge" during exploration that enhances combat, exploration, and puzzle-solving is also a viable approach—just like discovering how lighting works and how to guide Mio in the cave. If such designs permeate the entire game, it could provide a satisfying experience.
Overall, many designs currently shown in Cat Beginners are quite immature and rough, but the ideas and potential within are commendable. If the developers can implement these ideas in interesting ways, Cat Begins could become an excellent exploration of knowledge-driven design in domestic games.
If these ideas don't fully materialize... at least the cats are genuinely cute. There aren't many games themed around "walking with cats," so for cat lovers everywhere, it might still be worth playing.