Cat Cafe Manager is a simulation and strategy game developed by Roost Games and published by Freedom Games. The story starts off with the main character moving from the City to a small town called Caterwaul. The main character’s grandmother, Nain, lived in Caterwaul and owned and operated a cat café. As is typical for these sorts of games, the main character decides to continue Nain’s work and opens their own cat café.
In order to acquire more items for the café, such as cats, furniture, food, and employees, the main character must help fix the local cat shrine. Without spoiling too much of the game, this shrine plays an important role in the town and story.
In addition, there is a mysterious cat named Grimalkin. This cat is all black and acts as the unofficial guardian of Caterwaul. Grimalkin appears throughout the game to provide background information, such as why there are so many cats, how the cat shrine appeared, and so on. The objective of the game is to increase the Delight of the humans in Caterwaul and repair the cat shrine.
Moreover, there are five primary side characters. The first one the main character meets is Bonner. He is a sailor who knew Nain and is married to Gavin, the town librarian. Throughout the course of improving the cat café the player character meets Carla-Lalla, Mateo, Finley, and Arwel. Carla-Lalla is a witch who enjoys working with animals but whose mothers want her to become an official witch. Mateo is a young entrepreneur who works with Hawkable Acquisitions, the company that creates trouble for Caterwaul and the main character. Finely is an aspiring artist who wants to be more like her older sister. Finally there is Arwel, who considers himself the rebel of the town that enjoys cooking and good food.
Over the course of the game, each of these characters becomes a regular of the café. All five have different stories. These narratives are told through dialogue and tie into the main game.
Consequently, to run a cat café requires cats. At the start of the game, the main character runs into three stray cats. The player chooses which of the three cats they wish to adopt, and that cat becomes part of the café. To attract more cats, the player must purchase cat lures from Carla-Lalla’s pet store and place the lures into the cat bowl outside the café. Occasionally, the player will be notified that stray cats have been attracted to the lure. If the player interacts with the cat bowl and cats, they can gain the trust of at least one of the stray cats. Whenever enough trust is earned, the player can choose to adopt that cat. The maximum number of cats the player can attain is nine, although more can be acquired if the player gives their cats away to people within the town. This can be done by interacting with the billboard in Caterwaul.
In the beginning, the game slowly introduces the controls to the player. For the Nintendo Switch, the left joystick allows the player to move in certain directions. Particularly, left and right and up and down. The Y button is utilized heavily in this game and is primarily for interacting with other objects, such as people and cats. The right Z button gives the player access to a menu that allows them to level up cats and employees, enter Caterwaul, examine the billboard within Caterwaul, and more. If the player ever needs a reminder of these mechanics, the plus button brings up Grandmother’s Journal, which provides these helpful hints and more.
Furthermore, the animation style is reminiscent of the 1990’s to 2000’s era graphics. This is not a negative aspect of the game. Instead, this makes the player feel nostalgic. The colorful, two-dimensional visuals stand out, whether it is a cat, one of the numerous pieces of furniture, or one of the townsfolk.
Because of the story, characters, and graphics, I rate Cat Cafe Manager a 9/10.
Cat Cafe Manager launches April 14 for PC via Steam. You can wishlist it right now.
I am a college student studying English at Michigan State University. My first video game was Icewind Dale I for the PC and I’ve been playing games ever since. Whenever I’ve had a particularly difficult day, games such as The Sims help me unwind. Some of my favorite games include the Bioshock, Fallout, Mass Effect, Wolfenstein, and latest Tomb Raider series.
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