Unlock the Cat review for Nintendo Switch, PC

Platform: Nintendo Switch
Also on: PC
Publisher: QUByte Interactive
Developer: Minicactus Games
Medium: Digital
Players: 1
Online: No
ESRB: E

There are two good things about Unlock the Cat.

First, in the process of looking up the background details about this game, I learned that there?s actually a name for the type of puzzle that makes up this game: Klotski puzzles. Up until writing this review, I thought they were just sliding block puzzles ? so, thanks to Unlock the Cat, I learned something new.

The second is that rather than simply moving blocks around to try to free a specific one, as the game?s name implies you?re moving blocks around to free a cat. As I?ve written before, I love cats, so putting them at the centre of the game is a good way to make me enjoy it more.

Beyond those two things, though, there?s not a lot in Unlock the Cat that makes it different from any other sliding block puzzles ? sorry, Klotski puzzles. The layout is the same, and the puzzles are the same. While I like seeing cats, the ones in here are perhaps a little too catlike, in that they?re also very slow to move when you want them to. It feels like you have to drag them backwards and forwards, which, aside from feeling kind of cruel, makes the game feel slower than it should.

Obviously, Unlock the Cat isn?t terrible, since it?s a functional game, and it works exactly like every other version of this basic puzzle works. But unless the only thing stopping you from playing Klotski puzzles was the general lack of cats, there?s really nothing here that?ll make it worth your while.

QUByte Interactive provided us with a Unlock the Cat Switch code for review purposes.

Grade: C-