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Fight battles and run a cute café in a cat-themed gacha game - Cat Fantasy Quick First Impressions

5K View2023-08-29

Cat Fantasy

StrategyTurn-basedRPG

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SHOULD I PLAY CAT FANTASY?

Definitely check this one out if you’re a fan of catgirls or gacha RPGs. Cat Fantasy combines a high-stakes, save-the-world storyline with café management mechanics, and that mixture is incredibly addictive. Whether I was fishing, battling supervillains, or making a quick food delivery, I always had a ton of things to do. Even after I’d been playing for hours, I struggled to put it down. When a game makes me feel that way, it’s always a good sign.

TIME PLAYED

I played more than seven hours of Cat Fantasy, and it still feels like there’s a ton left for me to do. I’ve completed the first five chapters of the story, taken on lots of side quests, and spent time leveling up my café, and I don’t feel like I’m even close to running out of content. This is definitely the kind of game that can keep you busy for quite a while.

WHAT’S AWESOME ABOUT CAT FANTASY?

• Tons of content. Cat Fantasy puts you in the shoes of a detective trying to prevent the destruction of their city. For reasons I don’t entirely understand, your base of operations is a cute café. Your team has to face off against villains straight out of a Batman comic book, but they also have to run the cash register, scrounge up ingredients for dishes, and make sure the café is properly decorated.

It’s a weird mix, but it really works. During my playtime, I was constantly switching between different activities, and that variety kept the game from feeling boring. Not only is there a wide range of content, but there are tons of sidequests. I loved having so many goals to work toward.

• Fun fights. Combat in Cat Fantasy isn’t overly complex, but it’s consistently entertaining. Every character move is represented by a card, and on my turn, I could play any of the cards I had in my hand. I could focus on support cards, have my strongest character attack four times in a row, or mix and match different cards according to my needs.

Playing a card also changed the position of the other cards in my hand. When two of the same cards were side-by-side, they’d combine, creating a stronger version of that card. Strategically playing certain cards let me unleash more powerful moves. Having to focus on enemies and card positioning made battles feel more engaging.

• Awesome gacha system. Like in most gacha games, Cat Fantasy let me summon new party members via gacha. Most combatants are some sort of cat person, but there’s still plenty of variety. My team included a chainsaw-wielding punk rock catgirl, an elegant aristocrat catboy, and a mysterious swordsman who wore a traffic cone on his head.

Characters have rankings, but there are tons of ways to upgrade them and improve their skills, so even weaker combatants have the potential to be viable in battle. Best of all, every character has a fully animated, over-the-top special move. I had a ton of fun switching up my party so that I could check out everyone’s special.

• Flexible play. Cat Fantasy is filled with features that let players tailor the game to their preferences. I could increase the speed of battles or even turn on auto battle. If I opted to skip a story segment, I could read a summary of the scene, which meant I wouldn’t be lost if I went back to the story later on. These features might seem small, but they make the game feel much more inviting.

WHAT NEEDS IMPROVING ABOUT CAT FANTASY?

• Minor translation issues. Cat Fantasy is littered with phrases that might sound strange to a native English speaker, like “The advent of fortune is always a joy” or “Then you get fainted.” The writing can definitely be clunky, but it didn’t keep me from understanding the game. While Cat Fantasy has an English translation, it hasn’t been officially released outside of Asia, so there’s plenty of time for them to clean up the script and make it more polished.

• There’s lots of fanservice. Cat Fantasy has characters in sexy outfits, but there are also some more blatant fanservicey moments, like a scene where a catgirl sticks her chest in your face and asks if you need CPR. This isn’t necessarily a negative, and for some players, it might make the game more enjoyable. Personally, I didn’t have any problem with it, but players that dislike this sort of thing might find it to be too much.

[Review written by TapTap editor Ndi.]

💬 Will you juggle café management and epic battles in Cat Fantasy, or do you prefer management games that don’t make you fight? Let us know in the comments?