Join a pair of cats as they walk through a traditional summer Japanese festival.  Play mini-games, earn prizes, and collect furniture and items you can use to decorate your own village. Kimono Cats is available on Switch and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.

On the main screen of the game, you’ll see the cats as they walk through the festival.  There are bubbles at the top of the screen with icons in them, and you move around a dart below and can press a button to throw and try to pop a bubble.  If the icon in the bubble represents a mini-game, you’ll play one usually based on some type of Japanese festival activity.  Try and catch as many fish as you can with a paper net.  Play a simple Taiko drum rhythm game.  Memory match patterns on fans.  And much more.

Sometimes, your cat companion will ask for a certain thing.  If you can pop the bubble with that icon in it, you can earn extra points.  Just be careful not to pop something bad or gross or you might lose points.  Points you earn by giving gifts and playing mini-games fills up a meter that nets you presents.  These presents can be furniture, buildings, and other items you can use to decorate your own little village.  People on your Switch Friends list who have the game can visit your village and you can see theirs, too.

You have a limited amount of darts you can use to pop bubbles, but I never really had much of a problem with running out.  It’s so easy to get more darts by popping bubbles, using a metal detector in your village, and winning them.  Plus you get more darts daily.  You can also earn two different types of currency. One lets you buy furniture and items in a shop.  And the other one will fill a meter and when it’s full, you can move onto the next level, which is a new town with a festival.  New levels add new mini-games and other bubble icons to pop.  Aside from the game being a little bit too simple and repetitive, I found Kimono Cats rather fun and addicting.

Kid Factor:

Kimono Cats is rated E for Everyone with an ESRB descriptor of Crude Humor.  One of the ‘bad’ bubbles you can pop has a brown swirl poop icon in it.  And if you give your cat companion gross food, they will sometimes do a barfing animation.  Reading skill is helpful for some of the text, but not necessary just to play.  The game might even be considered educational as it shows activities from another culture.

Tags: Game Reviews