COPYCAT REVIEW: A Strong Start, But Fails to Land on Its Paws
After the release of both Stray and Little Kitty Big City, many gamers are still itching for another foray into the feline world, and whilst Copycat provides some cat gameplay for you to enjoy, and a strong first half, it unfortunately does not land on its paws.
THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR COPYCAT. REVIEW CODE PROVIDED PUBLISHER FOR PURPOSE OF REVEIW
First things first, Copycat at its core is a narrative-driven game. Following the lives of ‘old duck’ Olive, and her newly adopted cat Dawn,we see from the get-go, that Olive is facing some sort of illness. When the lovely Shelter Employee checks if she is ok, there is a stiffness to Olive’s reply. “I said I’m fine”. It is clear whatever is wrong, Olive is trying to stay ignorant of it.
We as Dawn sit in the backseat in a crate, as Olive drives us home. Here, when Olive begins to sing, I decided to meow along with her, getting an achievement. I understand it is such a small detail, but I do love when players are rewarded for doing little things like this. When we arrive home, this is where the game begins.
The game is mostly a third person experience, as we control Dawn around the house, completing mini QTE activities along the way. I have seen some comments on the feeling of the controls, however I had no complaints during my playthrough on the Xbox Series X. Quickly however, the gameplay lends itself to the simple fact that whilst you are a cat, the game is not about this. You can run, jump, and meow. Those who played Little Kitty Big City, don’t expect any possible paw-shoving shenanigans (unless it is within a QTE).Speaking of QTE’s, these are the game’s bread and butter. From ripping up toilet paper, to scratching at futons and trying to defeat that dastardly Mr.Feathers, this will all be done via a series of button presses/mashes. The gameplay serves as a device, in which the main focus, the narrative, can be played out through, I was a slight bit disappointed in this decision, however what gameplay is here is serviceable and provides some fun.
Through the QTE’s however we learn more about Dawn. Dawn holds a pre-conceived idea about what it is to be a ‘wildcat’. And she fully believes she is one, down to the British, nature documentary commentator in her head. It is clear however as the game progresses that her notions on what a Wildcat is are almost childish in nature. At night she dreams she is a Panther hunting giant rabbits through a grassy orange field. In the day she sharpens her claws on the futon after seeing a Tiger do the same on a log via the TV. She hunts butterflies (terribly may I add), and in one of her dreams becomes quite literally a ‘Big Cat’, turning into a ginormous Panther. Although Dawn slowly opens up to Olive throughout the game, these ideas stay with her, joined by her constant, somewhat mocking, commentator. Of course, all the above only proves the opposite, that Dawn is in fact, just a cat. But with what Dawn has seemingly been through, she too wishes to remain ignorant to that fact, paralleling Olive in this regard.
Copycat’s first act is actually incredibly strong. As we learn to trust Olive more, thorugh failing to hunt buttflies, deciding to stay to ‘train more’ at being a wildcat, we finally allow ourselvs to be pet by Olive. She reveals that her old cat, also named Dawn, ran away, and that in adopting us, she wished to return to normal. Agreeing with rmaining ignorant to our own struggles, we allow the charade to continue. From here we hear conversations between Olive and her daughter, Mae, who Olive has been ignoring. Only upon Olive’s return from the Pharmacy, where she collapses by the front door, do we learn what she has. Emphysema. A form of COPD. After this attack, things only get worse. We learn through rooting in the kitchen bin that Olive has no intention of listening to her daughters advice about moving to a retirement home. One night, Dawn walks in on Olive in the bathroom, collapsed on the floor with a bottle of pills spilt. This could be implied to be either anothe COPD related collapse, or perhaps an attempt on her own life. It is clear Olive is not doing well,as the next day, she doesn’t get up from bed, and after raiding the kitchen for cat food, and trying to get the nurses attention through the door, we are awoken by flashing lights. Paramedics. Olive has had a COPD episode, and Mae has come with them after a call from the nurse.
COPD is a devastating illness, and it has affected my family personally. In 2023, my grandmother passed from COPD. I was not there when it happened, but talking with my father after, he just said to me “I’m glad you weren’t. It was awful.” He looked tired after months looking after her. My grandfather had lost so much weight from the stress, his clothes didn’t fit him properly any more.
Upon returning from the hospital, Mae grabs us and throws us out the house, having an almost comically evil hatred for cats (we will get back to this). Climbing up the house to Olive however, we see Mae at a desk, crying. In Olive’s room, Mae walks in. She declares “enough”, and as Olive sleeps, grabs a nearby pillow, looking to smother her mother in her sleep. She can’t do it, and breaks down. This hit me hard. The question of ‘how much suffering can someone deal with?” always comes up, but with cases like COPD, as I have seen personally, it can also be “how much can you watch someone you love suffer?”. I felt sorry for Mae in this moment, and even related to her.
Sadly however, it is from here that the narrative of the game takes somewhat of a dive. As Dawn waits for the opportunity to be let back in, we spot a cat in the road. Actual Dawn. Olive runs out to save her, thinking she is us, and takes Actual Dawn inside. It is understandable to me that Dawn, being a Cat, does not understand what is happening in terms of the complexity of human thought and emotion. What turns from ‘Olive you have the wrong cat’ swiftly becomes a doubtful ‘I am still family, right?’, doubting the love that Olive promised to provide her with when signing the adoption papers.
After many failed attempts at winning back Olive’s attention, from a bird to being chased by a dog, we get to where I believe that narrative begins to suffer. After much contemplation, I still cannot understand why Olive, after confronting Dawn and stating that she knew that Dawn was Dawn, and not another stray, then picks her up, drives her to a random field, and…ditches her there. I don’t know why they did not just take Dawn to a shelter, nor leave Dawn with any supplies. I can only think this happened to push the plot forwards, to make Dawn fully believe she is not loved once again, and embrace the ‘Wildcat’ she must be. However it feels tacked on and shaky at best.
To backtrack slightly here as well and returning to Mae, she has no further character development after her attempt at killing her mother. There is nothing else of note that pushes her character away from how Dawn views her, a comically evil cat-hater, to the point that even within Dawn’s dreams, Mae laughs like a supervillian, calling Dawn a parasite, to ‘leave my mother alone’, and saying she would never be accepted in the family. Whilst this in itself is indeed frustrating, what is moreso frustrating is that it seems the world itself now has to fill the narrative of ‘people hate cats’ so Dawn can truly feel alone. This occurs multiple times. When searching for food, a cat owner is looking for their cat, standing on the porch, shaking a box of food. Surely then, she would see a lost cat and feel sympathy? Wrong. She looks down and stomps at Dawn till she runs away. This happens again later in the game, in the park, when we steal a sausage from the same woman’s picnic. Her son provides us with another, and provides us with a tale on how his father left them, and how when he is older, he will face them and ask ‘why?’. This in hindsight, is clearly setting up for the finale, where Dawn gains her ‘bravery’ after defeating some stray cats, and decides to confront Olive and ask ‘why?’, in the moment, the somber yet endearing conversation is cut short by the mother, who shoos Dawn away again, stating that she probably has rabies.
Dawn as a cat-character has an already intriguing philosophy on life that could have been explored I feel much better than it was in the second half, as the struggles and downright hatred she faces feels artificial, created only to place these ideas of being unloved and a wildcat upon them, instead of them naturally occurring. Upon the return to Olive’s home, we learn she has moved, and now out of hope and energy, not knowing what they are, Dawn sits in the road, awaiting the oncoming van, seemingly ready to end their own life.
Instead, through memories we learn the backstory of Dawn, and upon seeing a memory of Olive, we learn the game's moral.. ‘Home is not where you are, but where you are needed’. This is a bit…shakey at best. Given the treatment of Dawn by both Olive and Mae, to state that all Dawn needs to do is have an unwavering loyalty and love to Olive, after the abusive behaviour she demonstrated by ditching them with nothing, I feel this moral doesn’t fully understand the story its been placed in. We search the house, and find Actual Dawn waiting on the window sill, following them out, we are taken to the retirement home, with the game ending on a shot of Olive and Mae sitting together outside. You can choose to stay or leave. I chose to stay, and after the credits, we see Olive keeps both the cats at the home, now named ‘Dawn’ and ‘Sunrise’. Dawn has a home, and friends, and can now just be a cat. It would be a solid, heart-warming conclusion, however I wish it had a better supporting act as with the storytelling issues of the second act, the ending falls, for me, a bit flat. I felt somewhat confused as well by the end of the game, as I was awaiting character development or narrative that never arrived. Mae as a character again is just there. Seemingly, she is now ok with her mother having the cats, and if any family healing was done, this was certainly off screen. With how heavy her scene was, attempting to murder her own mother due to the stress and suffering, you would think more time would be spent delving into this, but it treats this as a one dimensional plot, or even worse, as an event which has no consequence. It is abundantly clear that this game needed to be longer than four hours. Looking back at its run, so much is jammed into here, that its no wonder there was no opportunity to further explore the family dynamic, as there was no room to spare within the runtime. This is clear with the two Dawn’s, who are only ever shown to be antagonists to each other, before suddenly becoming the best of friends at the end, with zero development at how this even occurred
To conclude, I want to mention something I have not yet stated. This was made by a two person team. Which is incredible. I understand the cliche nature nowadays of the video game journalist stating ‘indie games are the lifeblood of the industry’. But they are. Stories like this deserve to be told. However, stories like this are delicate matters, and to be told correctly, need space to grow and show development. Copycat simply doesn’t get this, and as someone who lost a loved one to COPD, I just wish more time was spent on the effects of such a horrific illness, instead of what felt like a very rushed conclusion. What is here overall is a short, narrative driven experience that can indeed be a fun cat-romp if you wish to view it as such, as it holds a lot of fun in its minigames, and Dawn’s British inside voice (I have failed to mention this within the greater bulk of this review, however this is a major plus from me, as the comedic nature of the character also lends well to his snarky and belittling nature towards Dawn) is great. As a narrative driven game however, whilst the first act introduces a strong premise, and room for character development, I feel the second act needed more space to grow, instead leaving the player with a story that sadly, doesn’t end with all its nine lives intact. I am however, looking forwards to what Spoonful of Wonder create next, as there is proof in this game that they are capable of an endearing story.
