Upcoming cat game Curiosity hides a challenging platformer under its deceptively chill surface

Of all the cat games that launched since Stray's release in 2022, Curiosity from The Paper Game developer iNightGaming LLC might be the most catlike, if its recent Steam Next Fest demo is anything to go by. 

Curiosity is about a cat who wants to go home. They're just like any other cat, fond of climbing things, knocking stuff off ledges, and taking naps. Unlike other cats, though, this one's apparently been playing a lot of video games, as it can wall jump like Nintendo's Mario and even run on walls like Cal Kestis from Respawn's Star Wars Jedi games. You might ask why, but the answer is "because, that's why," the same reason the local village has wooden planks leading into the sky, garden planters rotating in midair, and a cat cafe with no coffee, but some nice hats for our cat hero.

It's a platformer at heart, but one that's built to inspire, well, curiosity. The demo begins by teaching you the basics, but only if you interact with a scratch post, which you're encouraged to do just to see what might happen. After learning how to jump and get around, you notice there's a series of platforms that look like you could probably reach them if you tried, so you do, and you can. 

Curiosity teaches you that the cat can swim by ending the tutorial next to a large pond, knowing you'll dive in to see what might happen. Whether there's anything worthwhile at the end of your experiment doesn't matter. The satisfaction is in the doing, even when it's just knocking a clay jar off a ledge to watch it fall. It doesn't get much more cat-like than that.

There's a trail to follow in all this, though, and it takes you to the village's rooftops and beyond, following a line of precariously placed wooden planks and platforms. The route is initially linear, with a few hidden side paths you might find out of curiosity or if you fall by accident, and it eventually opens into something more complex once you reach the area above the cat cafe. A giant barber's pole and some plastic tables lead you to a broader area where you have to find the correct path forward or take risks and seek out coins to spend in the cafe. 

Falling is comparatively low risk, which is good, since it happens often thanks to Curiosity's rather floaty jumping. You have a cat bed that you can place anywhere as a checkpoint and you can take a nap to teleport back to that bed, but only nine times. That doesn't mean Curiosity lacks challenge, though. It requires precision, patience, learning, and risk taking that reminded me in some ways of those Super Mario Sunshine levels where Nintendo stole FLUDD from you. The difference is that Curiosity doesn't punish you for failing. You're just encouraged to keep trying.

There's a surprising amount to explore and experiment with in the Curiosity demo, and if you're keen for more, you don't have long to wait. iNightGaming plans to launch Curiosity sometime in 2025's second quarter.

Josh Broadwell

Contributing Editor

Josh is a freelance writer and reporter who specializes in guides, reviews, and whatever else he can convince someone to commission. You may have seen him on NPR, IGN, Polygon, or VG 24/7 or on Twitter, shouting about Trails. When he isn’t working, you’ll likely find him outside with his Belgian Malinois and Australian Shepherd or curled up with an RPG of some description.