MagiCat Reviews

MagiCat had been loitering on my wishlist like a shy cat waiting for a treat. When it finally dropped to 90% off, I figured—why not? Straight into the cart, it went. I downloaded it, booted it up, and was immediately greeted by pixel art so cute it melted my gamer heart. I’m a sucker for anything pixelated and adorable. The music didn’t grab me right away, but somehow it sneaked into my brain and set up permanent residence. Each area even comes with its own boss theme—a delightful little touch I didn’t expect. Is there a story? Kind of. Mostly it’s animals yelling gibberish at each other. But if you’re someone who lives for lore, New Game+ drops the animalese and gives you a proper plot. So yes, MagiCat has a story—eventually. The default controls work fine, and thankfully, you can remap them. You jump, shoot magical bullets, and dash—basic stuff. There’s a clever mechanic where you earn more points for not using the dash, which I assume is meant to separate the platforming gods from gremlins like me who panic-spam dash and hope for the best. No shame. Just gems. Completionists, good luck—some are tucked away so well, you’ll be scouring levels for an hour. A guide might just save your sanity. Surprisingly, I ended up loving Time Attack Mode more than the regular stages. Maybe it’s the thrill of pure speed. Maybe it’s because I could dash with reckless abandon and no one could judge me. I did run into some input delay, which ruined a few runs. Worse, the game occasionally crashed in random spots. It might be my setup, but in a precision platformer, it’s still frustrating. On the bright side, the dev is still actively patching bugs and fixing issues. If you run into a glitch, let them know—they’re on it. I really appreciated how each level introduced a new mechanic. But more levels don’t always equal more fun. Later stages can feel like pixelated pain chambers—escape rooms designed by someone with a personal grudge against joy. For extra challenge, I tried the “No Damage Taken” boss fights. Let’s just say... it was a journey. Enemy variety technically exists. You’ll mostly face slimes, bats, and bunnies—sometimes with helmets, laser goggles, or in different colors like they’re in cosplay. You’ll see them so often, you might start giving them names and personalities. (“Gerald the bat, we meet again. How’s the wife?”) I get it—sprite budget and all—but still, a sentient sandwich or grumpy toaster wouldn’t hurt. The difficulty curve is a bit unpredictable. Sometimes a level is tougher than the boss. Other times, the stage before felt way harsher than the one after. The pacing is weird, but not a dealbreaker. You’re free to choose which level to tackle and which skill to buy from the shop, so in a way… it’s kind of your fault, huh? Final Thoughts: A pixel-perfect mix of charm, challenge, and chaos. It’s cute. It’s clever. It will humble you. If you love cats, puzzles, or platformers, this one’s for you. Just... pace yourself. One level a day keeps the rage quit away. Probably.

So this is an odd game. I think it's like fine enough at the base, but it kinda whittles down until it's just not a fun experience. The controls aren't great. Moving and jumping are alright, but it doesn't have any noticeable coyote time so if you fall off a ledge you are screwed (some level gimmicks make this happen a lot). And then the hover mechanic doesn't just work after you press jump a second time, it is like timed from when you leave the ground for some unknown reason. And not really related to the movement, but you do take knockback from being hit which just leads to a lot of annoying deaths. Now the catch 22 with this is, the checkpointing and respawn mechanic make it almost trivial to actually beat levels. If you have any patience, you are basically guaranteed to beat the game. But it's not that fun to play like this quite honestly. Basically everything you unlock adds to this too, all new mechanics mean you don't have to actually deal with the level gimmicks basically. And that's sorta the biggest issue, the level gimmicks. Each level has a new gimmick ranging from, okay, interesting, and just awful. So you ways get something new, but at the same time you don't really get to engage in any mechanic for a long time. Also each level has a boss and you basically see them all after like, 10 levels. So there are a lot of repeats with slightly different mechanics. These also are a random gimmick and vary in quality. The best thing about this game, oddly enough, is probably the map. You unlock things to alter the map like destroying pieces or building blocks and it's honestly quite fun. It almost makes me wonder what a puzzle/adventure game from these devs would look like. It's not a terrible game by any means, and there is fun to be had, but as time went on I just wanted it to be over.