PUSS! review for Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One

PUSS! is, unquestionably, one of the strangest games I?ve ever played.

I mean, the gist of it is pretty straightforward: you?re trying to help a cat escape another dimension. To do so, you help it rush through a series of very short levels whose order constantly changes, and if you touch a wall, you start the level over. And, naturally, since you?re a cat, you have nine lives.

But put that into practice, and it gets weird very quickly. PUSS! is drenched in dissonant music and vibrating neon colours. The levels don?t just change order with every playthrough, nearly all of them involve mazes or paths whose shape and direction are constantly moving around. You have to move quickly to get through those shifting paths — because, again, you die when you touch the wall — except the controls have very little precision, so you?re basically just hoping for the best at all times.

Also, in keeping with the game?s title, there are cats of all shapes and sizes everywhere.

I?ve never done any drugs, but I get the feeling that this is what people mean when they talk about a bad trip.

Because PUSS! is so odd, it feels like calling it ?good? or ?bad? is missing the point. This is the kind of game you should play when you really want something totally different, and you want your senses assaulted the whole time you?re playing. It is what it is — and even though I?ve always hated that phrase, it?s the most appropriate way to describe PUSS!

teamcoil provided us with a PUSS! Switch code for review purposes.