Brianna Fox-Priest
July 31, 2024 
Games that speak to us on a personal level tend to become our favorites. As a long-time game player and reviewer, I’ve poured many hours into countless games, but Little Kitty, Big City immediately captured my heart. As someone who had a sweet and chaotic black cat and lived in Tokyo last year, the thought of roaming the streets of a sandbox version of Tokyo as a cute cat is everything I wanted in a game.
Little Kitty, Big City asks what our feline friends would do if they got to explore outside. The answer? Clearly, cause a little mischief. Playing as Kitty, a tranquil nap on your owner’s balcony leads to a tumble to the big city below. Without a clear path and enough stamina, you must help Kitty find their way back home. There is a lot to explore in order to return home. Your neighbors’ backyards, a Japanese convenience store, and urban construction sites; just don’t forget to wear your trusty hard hat, which magically gets the patrolling construction worker to leave you alone rather than pick you up and shoo you away from the wet concrete.
Impressively, Little Kitty, Big City is the studio’s debut game. Everything about LKBC is as cute as it is satisfying. I seldom get annoyed by minor bugs in indie games, so the need for an “unstick me button” doesn’t bother me in the slightest. Listening to feedback is more important and that’s exactly what Double Dagger Studios did in this occasional sticky situation.
While I couldn’t experience life in Tokyo with my own sweet, black kitty, Little Kitty, Big City filled that void for me. What I imagined my chaotic “Mochi” would get up to in the cozy and busy streets of my small neighborhood in Shinjuku, I got to simulate with the carefree in-game Kitty. I was extremely happy to see the accuracy of the environment and Kitty’s personality and vocal chirps. It’s clear to me that some of the team spent a lot of time in Tokyo and with cats at home. From the onigiri-packed conbini, to the corner shrines, tight alleyways, and JR Line whizzing by, I was able to be transported back to my second home. It was an exciting nostalgia I hadn’t felt since I lived in Tokyo.
As you navigate the map you come across new pals who try to bargain favors with you in an effort to help you make the climb to your home. The game is big on side quests like kitty is on big stretches. So it’s easy to distract yourself with all the shinies on the horizon. Based on testing many falls, head bonks into walls, and tripping humans on “accident,” I can happily report that curiosity does not harm the cat. The most stress you’ll see Kitty in is when you step in a puddle or come across a large cucumber in a back alley.
Getting to daydream about what could have been while playing Little Kitty, Big City has been the greatest gift of this experience. Thank you, Little Kitty, for letting me remember the good times with my own kitty and the adorable gameplay, I think she would have loved watching me play.
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