Catmaze Review

Do you love games that use classic myths as the base for their story? Catmaze is based on Slavic mythology and tells the story of two worlds, Yav and Nav, and how they are connected through cats. We meet Alesta, the young wannabe witch who lives with her mother. Her mum has been sick and coughing a lot lately and Alesta wants to help her feel better. Seeing the determination in Alesta, her mum thinks she is now ready for her first magical task. She will head out west with her familiar who will help protect her as she is young and inexperienced in battle. Alesta’s familiar is a bat named Lad, he helps out in battle so you don’t have to use up all of your magical powers when you are weaker and first starting out.

Alesta’s mum says that every house is supposed to have a spirit that will protect the house itself and its owner; this is called a Domovoy. She thinks that theirs never came as it was scared of the evil spirit that is making her sick. So she sends Alesta out on her first task as a witch to head west and find the Plakun-grass that grows outside of the village. If they have this special grass they can summon a Domovoy to protect their house.

Standing in your way is an army of mushroom-type enemies. Borovik has taken over the path that leads to the swamp and he has sent his mushroom servants to patrol the area and deal with anyone who tries to enter. Luckily for the player, the mushrooms telegraph when they are going to attack so you can try to avoid being hit. Though I found the collision detection to not be great in Catmaze, there are times when you take damage and you weren’t touched by an enemy. There is also a part later in the game where you have to deal with a wolf and the controls are just bad, luckily it’s a very short section in the game. It is also frustrating when enemies drop items that will bounce away, usually into pits where you can’t retrieve them. The bosses are usually pretty huge and harder to defeat, but I found that trying to get behind the enemy and stay as far away from them as possible was one of the most effective ways to defeat them. 

Catmaze is a retro-looking metroidvania title, there are a lot of areas to explore and discover on your map and most of them you will have to travel back to as you power up and learn new abilities. Magical cats will lead you to treasures that are hidden in each level, waiting for you to discover them. If you ever get lost while playing be sure to follow the cat as they will show you the route you have to take. The music here is whimsical and cute, but the sound-effects are pretty forgettable. Don’t let the cute visuals and music fool you, the story in Catmaze gets amazingly dark at times. There is one part, in particular, that was really pulling at my heartstrings; I definitely wasn’t expecting a game like this to be so deep! You come across children lost in the forest trying to find medicine for their sick parents, there is plenty of tragedy in this game, not just the story of Alesta who manages to remain optimistic throughout. I found there were quite a few funny parts that helped break up the dark moments. These were probably not on purpose, but since Catmaze is translated from a Russian game, there are times when there is a weird word choice. I found these to be more entertaining than annoying as it reminds me of my grandfather whose secondary language was English. I enjoyed these silly translations, they always made me smile. Who wouldn’t smile when Alesta calls someone a “Silly Goosie”? 

It was fun finding the different types of familiars that you can use to attack the numerous mushroom themed enemies that try to attack you. I think I ended up switching between three of them as I found they were more useful than the others for attacking. You can have two different familiars equipped at the same time, one is for melee attacks and the other for ranged attacks. If you use a ranged attack it will use up some of your magic points. These are easy to recover by collecting purple orbs or heading to the store that Alesta’s aunt owns where you can buy potions and power-ups. Her aunt also sells items like amulets that will make you stronger and give you new abilities like the power to break down stone walls. If you collect white orbs that enemies drop you will get stronger, but if you are hit by enemies you will lose them and become weaker. The game gets more difficult as you progress so be sure to check in with your aunt frequently to see what new items that she has in stock for you.

Catmaze is a short game clocking in around 10 hours to get a happy ending, but it was fun to explore this huge world full of a variety of different looking areas and meeting a variety of interesting characters along the way. If you are a fan of metroidvania titles, or enjoy playing games with a deep and interesting story, Catmaze is a game that you should check out. I especially loved seeing cats all over in the world and saving my game at a fountain with cool cat carvings on it!