Review: Little Kitty, Big City Makes Every Day a Blissful Caturday

Did you play Untitled Goose Game and love it, but also wish that maybe you didn’t have to be so mean? Well, Little Kitty, Big City offers the same sort of animal antics, only with more innocent mischief and an array of additional critters that make a city feel like a welcoming, living community.

Little Kitty, Big City begins with a comedy of errors. A small cat living in a penthouse apartment is lounging outside the window, sleeping. During this nap, they slip. A series of outside interference, such as a dog barking and a crow flying by, result in the animal landing on the street below. Too sapped of strength to commit to the arduous climb back to their home, it’s up to the cat to find fish to build up stamina and return home. Eventually.

Like Untitled Goose Game, Little Kitty, Big City is a game that involves a small animal exploring a town and interacting with the individuals who love there. However, while the goose was an antagonistic force determined to disrupt the peaceful village, the cat is an innocent, well-intentioned sweetheart who wants the best for the creatures around them as they also attempt to find some fish to eat. However, in the process of doing things for others and themselves, they… basically can also end up ruining a human’s day. Think of it as this being a hero of one story is the villain of another sort of situation.

Given the kitty is just, well, a cat, there are a handful of options for interacting with and exploring the world. When you first land in the city, you can swat with your paws. This can be an effective way of batting balls places or knocking down people. You can get the zoomies, which lets the kitty run around. It’s a faster way to move around or barrel into people or objects. Items can be picked up in your mouth to take them places. You can pull certain boxes. It is also possible to jump, which can allow you to reach higher places or pounce on birds. Eventually, you gain access to a Petwork, which lets you fast travel via manholes, and eating your first fish grants the ability to climb up ivy-covered areas as long as your stamina allows. Also, as this is a world where apparently all animals, birds, and bugs speak the same language, you can converse with creatures you come across to get quests.

Which often leads to the parts of Little Kitty, Big City that bring a player the most joy. Not only the kitty, but every critter you encounter is a delight. The script is absolutely fantastic. It’s adorable, clever, and hilarious. Each animal, bird, or bug has their own personality, making it a delight whenever someone new enters your virtual life. The animations for animals, especially the cat’s emotes, are fun. While I appreciate what is there, it made me wish there were double or triple the number of supporting characters, given they are handled so well. Not to mention, every single one of them looks amazing. I love them all.

The activities are also a ball. I relished undertaking each quest. Even if it ended up being something of a fetch quest, the actions needed to accomplish it usually made it feel more special and entertaining than it would in a normal game. Especially since in some cases, you do need to think, “Okay, how can I, as a cat, get this done?” Working out how to find and eat fish, get the shinies needed for new hats, or reach a place for a reward was never boring or tedious. 

There’s only one thing that got to me and keep me from considering Little Kitty, Big City a perfect game. The platforming elements can be awkward. Some challenges involve quick moves with a human in pursuit and either small spaces or water hazards. Getting the jumping or zoomies timing just right in these moments can be a bit tricky. I also encountered some issues while scaling a certain apartment building and moving between platforms. One jump involving some scaffolding led to a major drop and lost progress, and my quickly loading a past save to ensure I didn’t end up with a save that lost a lot of work. One conversation involving some NPCs in that same building also displayed awkwardly, not showing the kitty or any NPCs and cutting off the text boxes a bit due to the positioning. Still, these are minor issues, and a patch came in after that event segment that makes me suspect that one issue could have already been fixed.

Little Kitty, Big City makes me happy. It isn’t the most addictive game I played in 2024. (That’s Balatro.) It isn’t the one I spent the most time exploring. (FFVII Rebirthtakes that title.) What it did do is bring me a sense of solace and joy as I savored the antics of an extremely personable cat and their friends. So much so that my greatest wish is an expansion that opens up even more of the city to explore and additional animal encounters.

Little Kitty, Big City is available for the Nintendo Switch and PC.