Copycat

Despite some troubled animations and controls, Copycat plays its emotional journey excellently. As a cat owner and someone who has lived somewhat similar events in recent times, its tale of love and loss hit hard, but was a journey worth taking.

Copycat has a wonderful story to tell with great sound design and some interesting stylistic choices. The gameplay could use some work, but the experience is worth it.

It’s a well rehearsed line from cat people that you don’t own a cat – instead they own you. Unlike a dog’s unending loyalty and affection, cats occupy your house and stereotypically seem to barely tolerate your presence, unless they’re after food of course. A pseudo-psychological reading could easily be made about what kind of relationship you prefer based on your choice of pet, but that’s outside the scope of this review. Copycat takes the idea of the feline/human dynamic and flips the script to see it through the cat’s eyes and ends up being a touching tale of belonging and rejection.

With gnomes to break and dark themes to navigate, Copycat is quick and simple, yet emotional, narrative about love and loss.

Copycat is a game that tackles some serious issues, but its characters are hard to warm to and will make you angry at times. Still, being a cat and doing cat things can be fun, despite clunky controls and unspired gameplay.

For a three-hour adventure title, Copycat has something meaningful to say about mental health and relationships, yet it can be too often undercut by its rigid design, story happenings that don't make sense, and the overarching feeling that with more time, polish and backing there's an even greater game trying to burst out here. It's a pleasant and fine game for how short it is in spite of its gratuitous repetition, and deserves kudos for being adequately designed by two people, it's also in need of some significant refinement.