If there's one thing that gamers love appearing in video games its cats and dogs. There's a whole X account dedicated to identifying which games you can pet a dog in, games like Stray and Little Kitty Big City have developed huge followings for their adventures where players play as adorable felines. So, what could not be to like about finding as many cats, five hundred in fact, in one game alone?
Publisher Silesia Games have been releasing many "˜Hidden Cats in [insert city]' and similar titles for a while now and they've developed a huge following on console and PC, particularly amongst the ever-growing cosy gaming community. I believe that I've played every single title they've released on Xbox and have no intention of stopping any time soon. The latest release, Cats and Seek: Dino Park, sequel to Cats and Seek: Osaka, is a lovely way to chill for an evening, with the completion taking one hour to ninety minutes - including all 1,000 Xbox Achievement points or a PlayStation Platinum Trophy if that's your thing.
Gameplay
The gameplay of Cats and Seek: Dino Park and other similar games couldn't be simpler and if you've played those, nothings new here. Players are tasked with finding one hundred hidden little kitties and bonus items in each of its five beautifully hand drawn maps. If there was an easy way to explain these games to new players, it would be Where's Wally (or Where's Waldo) but swapping the red and white striped star for cats.
Gameplay is really simplistic but there's something you might need to play - strong eyesight or a good pair of glasses. It can be very difficult to spot some of the cats and I found myself squinting quite hard at times to find the last hidden cats, even with the meowing audio hints telling me I was close. There is a hint system for those you can't find and its really helpful, but for those who don't like using hints in their games it may give you a headache looking for prolonged periods.
Audio and sound
The audio of Cats and Seek: Dino Park is wonderfully cute, there are three music tracks to choose from that help set the cosy tone of the game. As mentioned above, there are audio queues that help you to find the remaining cats and the various "˜meows' never get old even when you've heard them over a hundred times.
However, the audio isn't actually required in the game. If you like games you can chill with whilst listening to a podcast or music - or like me, just chatting to my spouse - the hidden cats games are perfectly suitable.
Graphics
No one is playing cat hunting games for graphical fidelity, but if you admire hand drawn environments and people's creativity, there's something here for you. Whilst Cats and Seek: Dino Park's environments aren't as stunning as those in the "˜Hidden Cats in [insert city]' games (which are honestly, gorgeous), the design here is still great.
We all have our own favourite colours and palettes; therefore the developers have added an option to the game which lets you select the colours of your background and cats. This allows players to make the game more aesthetically pleasing to their tastes.
Summary
Cats and Seek: Dino Park is easy to recommend to fellow cat hunters, or anyone looking for a relaxed one hour palette-cleansing game. The formula is exactly the same as similar titles but the fresh environments, audio and dinosaurs make it worth the investment. The barrier to entry to become a cat hunter is very low, each of the Silesia Games published games are only a few dollars/pounds. In the UK, Cats and Seek: Dino Park cost me £2.49 on Xbox, with NA prices being a poultry $2.99 USD / $3.89 CAD.
If you like cats or a relaxing title (or Achievements or Trophies!), this is worth the price of a coffee.
Cats and Seek: Dino Park is now available on Xbox One and Series X/S, PlayStation 4 & 5 and Nintendo Switch.
