CAT CAFE MANAGER
PC / Nintendo Switch
9/10
Cat Café Manager is exactly what the title says. Developed by Roost Games, Cat Café Manager is everything a cat lover could ask for and the best pick for everyone after a long day at work. It brings me joy to say that this is the best indie game I’ve played in 2022 yet. Want to check out the other games we have reviewed this year? Go right ahead!
The game is available on the PC (Steam and Epic Games) and Nintendo Switch, now launched globally.
Made with passion, immense hard work, and polished with constant community feedback, Cat Café Manager has made a place in my heart. Excited to read ahead? Let’s dive in.
The Tale of Caterwaul Way
The story takes a very wholesome approach: you decide to go back to Caterwaul Way where your grandmother once ran a Cat Café. It is time to take responsibility and bring back your Cat Café to its former glory.
However, with time, the city and the people have changed. You need to start from scratch and build everything from the bottom. Big corporations are trying to take over the city, but you need to rebuild your café with strength and love so that no one can compete with your hard work and cute kittens.
You will find different types of people in this town. You will come across Witches who love their green tea and Artisans wanting nothing but Ice Cream and Milkshakes. Punks are the best of the customers who love nothing but a pint of beer and Businessmen will often visit to stress out in the comforts of your café. Ravagers will be your first visitors wanting nothing but a glass of fresh water and kittens to pet, but Fishermen will also stop by for a good old Salad.
Your task? Cater to all their needs and let the cats do their job right. But that doesn’t mean you get to stand around doing nothing. As your café expands, so will the needs of the customers. This requires you to unlock more recipes, stock up on more items, hire more staff, clean cat litter and upgrade your furniture to allow your customers to feel better. There will be a lot happening at once, so be prepared, take a deep breath, and I’m sure you got this.
But wait, before you start off thinking it’s just a test of your management skills, right off the start a strange cat will approach you, and will actually speak to you. She will task you with restoring an ancient cat shrine to its former glory. You’ve always felt a special connection between cats but it’s much more. Why are you tasked with this? Who is this mysterious cat? What is she doing in Caterwaul City?
Well, there’s only one way to find the answer. See you in your cafes soon!
Are you Management Ready?
Cat Café Manager deal with currency in a very creative manner. Each type of customer will pay in a specific currency. If you invite punks over, they will pay you in resources for building and expanding. If you let witches come more often, you’ll be able to buy more food and groceries for your kitchen. Similarly, Artisans will pay you in jewellery, allowing you to buy exquisite furniture and items.
Overall, you can get paid for Jewelry, Fish, Fabric, Resources, Gold and Potions. You’ll also earn experience points to level up your cats and staff.
Each resource has its own value and you can prioritize your need accordingly. You are allowed to advertise to only a specific community and hence earn only the items that the community provides. The control is in your hands all the time and you can run between markets all the time, participate in serving to speed and allow more customers.
While the game can go as fast as you want it to go, I would highly recommend you to enjoy the pace and live the moment. The game does not forcefully make everything grind, instead, you’re given the freedom to proceed at your own pace. After training your cats, you can let them get their forever homes and allow more cats to join your café. While I never gave away any of my cats because of separation anxiety, it would be highly advisable for you to give them their homes, since this way you can welcome higher level and more versatile cats.
The café stats are entirely based on the items you use. Some furniture has classes like – Magic, Bar or Artistic. Each of these items increases the stats of your café and yes you can mix and match any of these as per your choice. However, these items are expensive and you need to wait and make a lot of customers smile before you can get this furniture.
Lastly, the only way to grow is to complete shrine projects. After completing each project, you will be able to hire more staff, have more cats in the café, unlock better items for the café and much more. So, make sure your shrine projects are always active.
Ready to Fall in Love?
Cat Café Manager has hit every right spot to be one of the most beautifully crafted indie games of all time. It has been drawn beautifully, coded bug-free and put together so well, that you will be hooked for hours. It runs smoothly and does not require a heavy system to play on. Better yet take the game out with you on the Nintendo Switch System. The one and only flaw that I felt was how short the story part was for the game. The narrative brought life to the entire game and I wished it was longer and had more depth in it. My playtime when the story officially ended was 6 hours, but you can go as long as you like running your café since it is endless. Nevertheless, looking forward to the DLCs!
Cat Café Manager is a great management simulator with cats to care for and cuddle anytime you wish to. Expand your café according to your rules and shape it into your perfect dream café. Have a perfect kitchen with a variety of food on your menu. And finally, make your café the heart of Caterwaul Way.
I will give Cat Café Manager a brilliant 9/10. A big congrats to the entire team behind this game!
