Catmaze (2018)

Catmaze's successes make up for its limitations. The visuals sometimes look amateurish and the metroidvania design isn't impressive, but it's lean and well-executed. Even though it's a bit slow, the combat offers some good moments, with challenging bosses. The most important thing for me was the story, which surprised me by stitching together Slavic myths into a great adventure full of characters, layers, nuances and secrets.

Catmaze can be described as a fairly simple 2D action platformer befitting its genre. It features all the correct tropes and design aspects, and it has just the right amount of challenge to keep things interesting. The Slavic mythological backdrop of the game most assuredly aids in keeping the game unique in presentation; making it feel more like a fairytale video game than “just another” Metroidvana title. While not exactly innovative, it acts as a truly enjoyable experience – which is what matters most.

Cat Maze is an entertaining romp into a magical world of potions and animals. Initial frustrations paved the way for an enjoyable adventure, with plenty to discover and a fulfilling story.

Catmaze is a metroidvania with a deep fantasy story and a huge open world to explore. It has a few issues with collision detection, but it is still fun and worth checking out. Whatever you do, follow the cat.

Summing up Catmaze initially feels like a pretty by-the-numbers 2D adventure game which ticks all the right boxes. I decided to rate it a little higher though because I just found this adventure a little more memorable than others. This was helped by the unique use of familiars to attack you and cast magic spells. The presentation has a certain magic to it which really sucks you into the fantasy setting. I then became more impressed once I heard this game was developed by one person. It seems like not a week goes by when we don’t see a release of another 2D adventure game but I’m pleased to report Catmaze is one of the good ones well worth your time.