Cat Quest 3 review: Pirate and cat puns, ahoy!

Several years ago I played a little game called Cat Quest. My wife and I like cats, the game was a couple bucks on the eShop, and seemed like an easy choice to kill an afternoon or two. As it turned out, Cat Quest was actually kind of awesome. It took the basics of an action-RPG adventure (mashy combat, XP grinding, loot collecting, exploring), crammed them all together onto an old school-style world map, and didn’t skimp on the puns. Now we’re on Cat Quest 3, and the series has built on that foundation without abandoning its kid-friendly, bite-sized nature.

Shiver me whiskers

After two games in fairly typical (animal-themed) fantasy settings, Cat Quest 3 is all about sailing the high seas in a world run by pirates. You’re special though, a kitten born with the power of a “Seeker,” which basically means you can find the most special of all treasures. Of course, the “North Star” is more than what the legends suggest, and is part of something that’s been building behind the scenes since the first game. Your job is to fight, sail, loot, and solve puzzles until you and your pal Captain Cappy are the top of the pirate food chain.

Cat Quest 3 looks exactly like Cat Quest, but with more stuff to do and more piratey stuff happening. By that, I mean most of the game’s action takes place on top of a truncated, old school-style RPG world map. It’s like if the moments in an old Final Fantasy game between points of interest was itself the main point of interest. As you wander across the map you’ll find loot, enemies, story flags, quests, all of it just happening on the map itself. Cat Quest 3 does have a big interest in dungeons though, with most major boss encounters happening indoors with minor puzzles to solve.

Gallery of rogues

Structurally, Cat Quest 3 does something interesting with its side quests. There are several smaller, disparate ones, but there’s a sort of B Plot set aside as well, alongside the A Plot that defines the main story. This comes in the form of a list of wanted posters, showcasing several optional bosses. Choosing to chase these not only comes with major monetary rewards, but the game isn’t subtle about it being tied to a “good ending” to some extent. But it’s not just unlocking a better ending that makes the wanted posters interesting.

These bosses are also like a backbone holding the whole game up. Not only do they feel like milestones as a player, they also can be a major part of getting stronger. Leveling up your hero and their equipment is a major part of the game, and these bosses facilitate that in a way that helps the grind feel organic. Part of that is because you get a ton of money from each one, which makes leveling your favorite equipment that much easier. There’s also a ton of the map that would go unexplored if you chose to not bother, which makes the critical path feel weird and unfinished, in a manner of speaking.

Basically, if I tried to simply brute force my way through the story and didn’t chase all these bosses, I would have had a worse time. Cat Quest 3 doesn’t require these battles, but they hold the game up, much like a spinal column holds up a skeleton. The pacing, story, difficulty curve, power grind, all of these aspects of the game are enhanced by taking down all the wanted posters. That’s true even if you accidentally do a few of them out of order. Well, for the most part.

Set sail for XP

I say for the most part, because while chasing the bosses largely makes Cat Quest 3’s journey feel more organic, there are some moments where it’s hard to avoid grinding. The map is built in a very Dragon Quest-like way, meaning that you’ll know if you went in the wrong direction because something twenty levels stronger folds you up like a lawn chair. It’s possible, especially depending on your build (or lack thereof), to get stuck with no option other than to repeat some spots until your level goes up. And if you aren’t happy with your equipment, that means experimenting (and dumping money into) different options until you find what you like. And even if you go through the wanted posters, that coin only goes so far.

Sometimes you don’t realize you need to grind until you hit a strength check in ship combat. Admirably, Cat Quest 3 adds sailing and cannon battles to its simple controls, and it can be fun if not a little awkward. But when you’re outmatched there’s only so much reflexes can do for you. So that can be annoying, especially when it isn't quite clear how your cat’s level and whatnot scales to their ship’s capabilities. Of course, once you get over a certain power hump there’s no stopping you. Then it’s all moot, and you can sail through the rest of the game’s challenges without much resistance.

Aside from those moments when you have to grind, Cat Quest 3 is a cute, breezy experience that shows why making more of these has been a good idea. And there are hints of plenty more to come, which is exciting considering how much playing with the setting has been established. The writing remains simple but fun and silly, and the number of secrets and side activities has grown a lot. There’s a winning formula here, and so long as the series doesn’t get too ahead of itself, there’s plenty of potential for Cat Quest 3 as a springboard to even greater adventures.

Cat Quest 3 is available on August 8, 2024 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC. A PC code was provided by the publisher for review.

Lucas White

Contributing Editor

Lucas plays a lot of videogames. Sometimes he enjoys one. His favorites include Dragon Quest, SaGa, and Mystery Dungeon. He's far too rattled with ADHD to care about world-building lore but will get lost for days in essays about themes and characters. Holds a journalism degree, which makes conversations about Oxford Commas awkward to say the least. Not a trophy hunter but platinumed Sifu out of sheer spite and got 100 percent in Rondo of Blood because it rules. You can find him on Twitter @HokutoNoLucas being curmudgeonly about Square Enix discourse and occasionally saying positive things about Konami.