Cat Quest III: The Little RPG That Grew Up

There’s something special about watching a developer grow alongside the games they create.

I played the original Cat Quest and followed it up with Cat Quest II. The original Cat Quest surprised the heck out of me. Mainly because I'm more of a dog person than a cat person. Who knew an action-RPG about cats would be so awesome! (Don't tell DeeDee I said that.) When Cat Quest III set sail, I knew I’d eventually be climbing aboard. And after finishing the third and final adventure of the series, I came away really enjoying my time with it.

But something also became clear to me. Cat Quest III isn’t a huge leap forward for the series. It doesn’t dramatically reinvent the combat, completely rethink exploration, or make me wonder how The Gentlebros came up with all these crazy new ideas.

Instead, it feels like something else. It feels like the clearest expression yet of what these developers always wanted Cat Quest to be.

A Purr-ate's Life for Me

If you've never played a Cat Quest game before, imagine an action RPG stripped of most of the things that can make RPGs intimidating. You explore a colorful world, complete quests, fight enemies, find better equipment and level up your character, all while enduring an almost irresponsible number of cat puns. Every game in the series is incredibly approachable and easy to jump right into. While there's things like attack and defense stats, nothing is overwhelming for the player.

While the first two games are pretty well routed in a fantasy setting, Cat Quest III trades the traditional fantasy adventure for the high seas. You explore the Purribean Sea as a purr-ate searching for the legendary North Star treasure, sailing between islands while dealing with the Pi-rat King and other pirate crews looking for the same prize. And that's about as much of the story as I can remember, and all you really need to know. (Yikes, that was three cat puns in that one sentence.)

You also don't need to play the previous games first. There are connections longtime players will appreciate, but newcomers can comfortably start here. Honestly, the story wasn't what kept me playing anyway. It's pretty generic, and shortly after finishing the game I realized I'd already forgotten a surprising amount of what actually happened.

What I do remember, though... is the adventure itself and all the battles and swashbuckling along the way.

Claws, Cannons and Combat

Combat has always been simple in Cat Quest, and that's still true here. But this might be my favorite version of it. You can equip both a melee and ranged weapon and quickly switch between them during battle. It's a relatively small addition, but having that extra option makes fights feel more varied. It certainly leans into the whole pirate theme, that is for sure. Combat still happens in real time where you can attack, cast magic, and dodge roll at the press of a button.

Like other games in the series, finding duplicates of a weapon or gear piece levels it up and makes it stronger. Equipment also changes your character's appearance, which is a nice touch and makes finding new gear a little more exciting than simply watching numbers go up. Though I fell into that classic trap of having some amazing gear that made my cat look a little ridiculous, so I think a cosmetic only option or something would have been cool, but that's not a knock on the game. That's just personal preference. Can't stand when my character doesn't match.

Anyway. Then there's your pirate ship. Yes, you get an actual pirate ship almost immediately. You can sail across the world relatively freely, fight other ships and upgrade your vessel as you progress. Being able to see an interesting island in the distance and simply sail toward it fits this game perfectly. Just don't assume "freely" means "safely." Nothing stops you from wandering into an area filled with enemies considerably stronger than you, so tread carefully in new areas.

That said, the game is generally pretty forgiving, with frequent checkpoints contributing to an almost cozy feeling at times where you're just wandering around looking for loot. Unless, of course, you're like me and decide to attack something significantly above your level just to see if you can take it down with your skill alone.

The Purr-ibean Life

The pirate theme might be my favorite thing Cat Quest III brings to the series. The bright islands, ships, treasure and nautical atmosphere give the game its own personality, and the soundtrack deserves some recognition too. The pirate-inspired music is ridiculously catchy and had me ready to abandon my responsibilities and pursue a career on the high seas.

Like the games that came before it, exploration also remains one of the game's biggest strengths. There are islands to investigate, caves to explore, treasures to uncover, and side quests scattered around the world. Cat Quest III is very good at putting something interesting just out of reach so you feel constantly compelled to find a way to reach it. When I did find an interesting treasure or figured out how to gain access to an area previously locked off for me, it felt rewarding in all the right ways.

I do have one complaint when it comes to exploration: There is no quest log. Side quests are marked on the map, but if you take an extended break from the game or get distracted by something else for too long, good luck remembering exactly what you were doing. I lost track of several quests because of this. For a game so focused on freely exploring its world, having somewhere to review active quests would've been incredibly useful.

You've Got to Be Kitten Me

If you've played the previous games, you already know what you're getting into when it comes to the humor.

Cat puns. So. Many. Cat. Puns. At this point, I've played three of these games. I've accepted my fate. And that's actually representative of Cat Quest III as a whole. There really isn't anything here that dramatically changes what this series is.

The original Cat Quest established the formula. The second game expanded upon it, most notably with co-op. And now Cat Quest III adds things like ranged weapons, sailing, and ship combat while polishing what was already there. It's the sort of game that's easy to dunk on for not continually innovating. But I think I'm okay with that, though. Like a good cheeseburger, I know what I like and I don't need to have it reinvented all the time. And I have a feeling the developers felt this way, too.

The Cat's Out of the Bag

Three games into this series, I think I've come to appreciate Cat Quest for reasons beyond the games themselves. As I went through my journey, spending tim with each game, I felt like I saw the The Gentlebros learning along the way.

The first game established this charming little action RPG about cats, that somehow appealed to a dog person like myself. The second expanded the idea. And the third feels like the developers finally understood exactly what its creation is supposed to be. There's something endearing about that.

Cat Quest III doesn't pretend it needs to become some enormous, complicated RPG. It doesn't abandon the silly humor or completely overhaul its mechanics because everything needs to be bigger in a sequel. Instead, The Gentlebros continued refining their formula. And I really felt the care that went into it.

That doesn't mean the game is perfect. I wish the story had left more of an impression on me. I desperately wanted a quest log. And after playing all three games, I can't point to many things here that feel truly groundbreaking for the series.

But I'm not sure they needed to be. Cat Quest III may not represent the biggest leap forward for Cat Quest, but it might be the clearest expression of what The Gentlebros always wanted the series to become: a charming, approachable action RPG that's easy to pick up, fun to explore, and smart enough to never overstay its welcome.

Sometimes a sequel doesn't need to reinvent what came before. Sometimes it's enough to watch developers get better at doing what they clearly love.

And after going on three adventures together, I think these cats have finally found their purr-fect form.