Copycat Preview

The moment I saw a game where you played as a cat, I was there in an instant. No doubt, Copycat (Spoonful Of Wonder) has been one of my major highlights of Steam Next Fest, and it’s a cute narrative-driven adventure about a cat who was adopted by an old woman named Olive after her previous cat, Dawn, ran away.

Taking on the mantle of the new Dawn, you decide what they will look like. Personally, I would adopt all of them, but in this case, I chose a black and white cat who closely resembled my childhood cat, Nelex, who was also adopted from a shelter.

So, with this in mind, I jumped into my adventures in Copycat. Dawn is distrustful of Olive at first, having had poor experiences with a previous family. While there isn’t much detail, it’s presumed from Dawn’s thoughts that she was a gift for a child when she was a kitten before being tossed away out of boredom. Naturally, Dawn believes that she will leave at one point, but as you progress, you find that it’s a lot more difficult to survive outside when you can’t even hunt a butterfly.

So, with this in mind, I jumped into my adventures in Copycat. Dawn is distrustful of Olive at first, having had poor experiences with a previous family. While there isn’t much detail, it’s presumed from Dawn’s thoughts that she was a gift for a child when she was a kitten before being tossed away out of boredom. Naturally, Dawn believes that she will leave at one point, but as you progress, you find that it’s a lot more difficult to survive outside when you can’t even hunt a butterfly.

Personally, I liked how you truly embrace the joy of cat mode as Dawn knocks items off the table, steals food, and is an overall menace. Olive is patient, and while her daughter, Mae, disapproves of her looking after a cat, Dawn can be a source of comfort.

The demo appears to focus on the budding relationship between Olive and Dawn. As Olive is ill, Dawn can choose whether to leave her or remain a source of support. The struggle is clearly shown in the demo, and considering it’s fully voice-acted as well, it’s a nice touch. Dawn even gets a narrator, which is particularly amusing, as it all comes across as a David Attenborough-esque nature documentary.

The developers, Spoonful of Wonder, are only a small team of three, and this is their first game. However, you would not have assumed this from their short little demo. I was engrossed by the story and the gameplay itself. They recommend you use a controller to play it, and I agree. Using my DualShock controller, I found it easier to utilise the controls, while it could get confusing at times, as the control signs often shifted between Xbox and DualShock inputs. I had to remind myself where the Xbox controls would be on my PlayStation 5 controller.

Overall, though, it wasn’t a major issue. I’d played on Xbox before, so it’s not like I was unaware. However, it would help to have it clearly signed, but again, it’s only the demo. I have no doubt that Spoonful of Wonder will keep this in mind when making the full game. There was nothing game-breaking, the subtitles were clearly read through, and the voice acting was wonderful. The only visual issue that I recognised was when jumping in the garden; there was a moment where Dawn remained in the air in a steady pounce. But it sorted itself out quickly enough.

If you’re curious about Copycat, then try out the demo for yourself. If you’ve always wanted to be a menace, meow, jump, and run around as a cat, then you’ll be in for a treat. Don’t forget to add it to your wishlist on Steam, too, to ensure you keep up with any news on the release date!