Review: Little Kitty, Big City is a purrfect cozy game with a lot of heart

My heart was invested from the first glimpse of Little Kitty, Big City. I went into this with high hopes and even higher expectations. While there were some graphic glitches, the entire experience was a joy from beginning to end and I can’t recommend it enough.

I swear, it’s good and I’m not just biased to a little black kitty in silly hats. Even though I totally am. 

Little Kitty, Big City

Little Kitty, Big City starts by showing you as a little black cat, sunning in the window of a several-story building. Unfortunately, your goofy little self tips over the side and plummets down to the ground. Fortunately, with some luckily placed objects and an unwittingly helpful crow, you manage to get to the ground safely.

Now that you’re on the ground, you’re going to have to figure out a way to get back up to your apartment building, but there are obstacles in your way. 

Firstly, but most importantly, you don’t have the stamina to climb back up. So, you need to be on the lookout for some tasty fish that will help fill up your stamina bar. Sometimes, the fish just need to be found, but in the case of the first fish, you have to barter the crow that helped you to get it.

For the low, low price of “25 shinies”, the crow will trade you your first fish. Here’s where you really get let off the rails. Across the city are random shinies like springs or bottle caps; they’re easy to distinguish because they sparkle. 

However, your path isn’t clear-cut. There are areas flooded with water that you won’t want to cross, so you’ll have to figure out workarounds. Not only can you jump up onto things to gain new vantage points, but you can scuttle under fences and even pull items out of the way. 

Along the way, you’ll meet a host of characters who ask for your help with various things. For instance, you’ll meet a social media beetle who wants you to steal a phone and a duck father who needs help finding his ducklings. But, most interestingly, you meet a portal-making raccoon who will help you quick-travel around the city. 

Little Kitty, Big Danger

You’ll spend a lot of your time looking for shinies, but it’s only the first 25 that can be used to trade for fish. The rest of the shinies are better used in gacha/capsule machines placed randomly around the city (which seems to be based in Japan) that will dispense cute new hats for your furry friend.

Once you’ve gotten your first fish, your world opens up to be just a bit bigger. Now that you have some stamina, you’ve gained the ability to climb ivy! This lets you access places that were previously closed off to you. 

As you’re exploring, humans are going about their day all around you. Some of them will acknowledge you and give you pets, but most of them ignore you. That is until you trip them and steal their items. Humans carrying food items won’t give chase, but if you steal a phone, be ready to run because they won’t like that. 

Between finding all the hats, helping animal friends, and unlocking countless achievements, there’s a lot packed into Little Kitty, Big City. Unfortunately, it is on the smaller side, so I only really got to enjoy it for about two days which amounted to about 10 hours of gameplay. 

Luckily, this game is free with an Xbox Game Pass subscription and it’s a no-brainer to try it out there. But, you may have to consider your options since it’s a $25 game that will only serve you for a few days if you 100% complete it. Personally, I think it’s worth it because I had so much fun. 

The graphics are absolutely darling and the narrative design for the animals is top notch. A lot of interactions had me laughing. 

Big Kitty, Little City

In a perfect world, I’d give this a 10 on all fronts. But, we do have to touch a bit on the glitch in the room. For how good it all is, there were a few graphic-related bugs. Mostly, I only encountered them while climbing. I would land in a place where I clearly wasn’t meant to be and fall through the building. 

This happened twice. The first time, I was able to find a gap in the facade and get out, but the second time, I had to start back from the last save. Luckily, the game autosaves every few minutes, so I didn’t get stuck. 

My best advice is if you can’t get out, quickly restart your last save so that it doesn’t autosave in a spot you can’t get out of. 

I experienced so much joy playing Little Kitty, Big City and I can tell that the team put a lot of heart and soul into the title. 

I loved getting to play it and if you’d like to play it as well, you can get it for $24.99 on Steam, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox. However, if you have an Xbox Game Pass subscription, you can play it for free. 

If you want other games that gave me the same cozy vibes, then you can check out my highly loved Smushi Come Home review.