When thinking about VR games, I usually first think of either high-octane action shooters or the more thought-provoking puzzle games. But there is a genre of VR games that is able to do one thing and that one thing really well. The relaxation space is a really important space to occupy in gaming. It’s much like Unpacking or Slime Rancher, where you can zone out and just be in the space. This is where Neko Atsume Purrfect Kitty Collector fits, and it does so with charm.
Neko Atsume Purrfect Kitty Collector is a bare-bones experience, not only in terms of mechanics but also in terms of content and progression. This isn’t as much of a drawback as it might be in a regular story or gameplay-focused game. The setup is very simple. As an unnamed player, we are placed in a living room with a few marked areas for purchased goods and a few stubborn items in the environment, such as the TV remote to change the music in the room, and you can look at the newspaper to enter a code to get treats.
You can also teleport to a veranda overlooking a garden area. Here you can place a few more items, such as baskets and a bowl of cat food. This will also act as an entry point for the focus of the game – the adorable cats. As you place items, they will attract certain cats. When these cats appear, the interactive element with them is minimal, with three interactions at the centre of the whole experience.
The first is head pats, where some cats will come up to you and lower their heads or push themselves towards you. This is adorable but can be overly frustrating. More than a few times during my time with Neko Atsume Purrfect Kitty Collector, I had a cat that kept wanting to pet me while I was trying to take a picture of another cat, and it got in the way. This happened a few times to the point where it became frustrating as I missed the cute action of another cat.
The second is that you can pick up the cats. This makes the cats look cuter, but it requires both hands, so it is the only thing you can do. So, it is impossible to pick them up and take a picture of them in this pose. Finally, there is a photo capture in Neko Atsume Purrfect. This will be the main point of interest for many players, and you can set up adorable poses and actions for the cats, and you can slow down time while the camera is off, giving you plenty of time to take a photo.
“Neko Atsume Purrfect is a cat lover’s dream come true, with tons of cats to play with and take pictures of as they frolic around your yard or room.”
There is also a mixed reality element to Neko Atsume Purrfect Kitty Collector that allows you to summon these kittens into your room in real-time. This mode has to be loaded separately from the menu; thankfully, it loads pretty quickly, and the cats appearing in my room were a cute way of adding an extra layer of immersion. Eventually, though, I found myself switching back to the VR mode, which I found easier to move around in.
There is no technical end to Neko Atsume Purrfect Kitty Collector, as it is more of a relaxation experience. With over forty cats to adore, there is a lot of cat watching to be done in Neko Atsume Purrfect. It just feels like something is missing. The initial price is a lot to pay for what’s on offer, and some of the cats don’t seem to interact well with the player or the environment.
Neko Atsume Purrfect is a cat lover’s dream come true. There are tons of cats to play with, and you can take pictures of them as they frolic around your yard or room. The biggest problem with any kind of progression is that there seems to be an unnatural slowdown in earning money to buy new items. This is frustrating because it feels like the game is slowing down to make you spend more time than you want to. The asking price is just way too high for the simple yet soothing experience that comes with it.
