Copycat

I was hoping for a cute and heartwrenching game about belonging, as experienced through a creature that knocks things off every surface possible. The gameplay was fine. The voice acting was great. Being able to mew at the press of a key was excellent. But where I was expecting to be hit hard in the feels, I was instead filled with a mix of depression and rage. The message is clearly sent that no matter how badly someone treats you or how many times they reject you, you should keep going back to them over and over because "that's what love is". Uh, no. That's what a cycle of abuse is. We don't let people be horrible to us over and over because we're obligated to keep trying until they finally love us back. Absolutely no. If you want a brief amount of cute followed by a lot of sadness and shock and horror which all slowly grows into fury, then I guess maybe this is the game for you.

Tried this game on a whim, wasn’t expecting much and then it wrecked me. It’s a slow burn, gentle and quiet, but the story? Powerful. Emotional. Real. It made me cry more than once. The themes of identity, loss, and trying to find your place in the world hit way harder than I expected. At some point we would feel like we are a stray cat too. Don’t go in expecting action. Go in for the feels. It’s a simple game with a big heart.. 10/10 - I love it.

Damn, cute cat, sad story. Did cry. FUCK OLIVE and FUCK HER DAUGHTER

Such a cute and sad story of adopting pets. This was such a treat to get to play for my community!

It's rare for me to write a review, especially a negative one. I really wanted to like this game and had high hopes for it: based on existing reviews at time of purchase it has "Very Positive" status, and the game's description as "a poignant narrative-driven game" is right up my street. However, I found myself incredibly disappointed with the overall play experience, which is why I can't recommend it. PROS: - The cats are excellent: the modelling, texturing, animation, and audio. - Overall, it's a well made game for such a small team. As a game developer myself, I have to appreciate that. - When you're allowed to just explore, it's quite a nice, relaxing experience. My favourite scene was exploring the neighbourhood, where you can go and meow at all the neighbours' doors, climb various trees, have a look in bins, and just generally take in the environment. It was the longest I went without cut-scenes or loading screens, despite it not actually being a particularly large area. - There is an interesting and important narrative, but it feels obscured by a bunch of other stuff (see below). CONS: - The bug is quite buggy in a number of ways. The camera is all over the place, clipping through walls, the ceiling, and other objects in the world. I also encountered a number of collision issues: the cat's feet would clip through the ground, at times I was able to stand on empty space, and climbing often involves awkward clipping of various body parts (which is a real shame considering how good the animations are!) However, the most frustrating bug for me was the audio: primarily during the introduction but also in other areas, certain audio would get stuck in a loop, VO wouldn't trigger correctly, then I'd end up with a bunch of VO lines all playing over the top of each other, completely out of sync with the subtitles. - The tone of this game is very confusing. It's trying to tackle some sensitive and emotive topics, and in many places attempts to use humour to do so. However, I'd argue that that's a very difficult thing to pull off, and I don't think that Copycat is successful. Instead, you just end up with with confusion and jarring emotions that undermine the story that's trying to be told (this isn't helped by the annoying and pretentious "Nature Expert" narrator, who I genuinely feel the game would be better off without). As an example, (potential spoiler for the very early stages of the game, but not really...) you start the game by being adopted by an elderly woman who's clearly not very well. But the game encourages - or in some cases requires - you to wreck her house and make her life a misery: knock her possessions off various surfaces, steal her food, spread paint across the entire house, and attacking her (when you first emerge from your cage, you have two choices: scratch or bite - I didn't want to do either!) It's like the game is encouraging schadenfreude, and all the while you're presented with world-space text representations of the cat's thoughts which reveal that you're basically a complete jerk. In fact, I wouldn't say any of the characters are particularly likeable. This felt rather tone-deaf in relation to the actual narrative, the situations I should be immersed in, and the characters I should be empathising with. When I reached the end of the game, I genuinely didn't know how to feel or what to think. I'm still not sure whether the ending was intended as a happy one... - Something else that disrupts the narrative is the fact that the game is comprised of a lot of very short scenes - many of which are quite abstract in nature (I had no idea what was going on some of the time!) - in which you do very little and have next to no autonomy whatsoever. Loading screen, move a bit along a linear path, maybe do a mini-game (see my thoughts on these below), then another loading screen. Okay, so narrative games don't necessarily need to give the player a lot of autonomy, and can in many cases more closely resemble interactive movies. I'm fine with that as a concept. But here you're presented with a bunch of pretend choices (such as the aforementioned scratch or bite in the early game) that have no long-term impact at all, really it's just a choice between two buttons. At other times, you're just doing silly/strange things that don't contribute to the story at all, and aren't especially fun either. - So, the mini-games. There are a handful of mini-games throughout this game, most of which get repeated, none of which are much fun. They basically boil down to timed button presses, akin to quick time events. There isn't much to them, they're a bit random, and don't really allow you to demonstrate skill or any kind of progression. There's no consequence to messing up (as far as I can tell, other than failing to meet the criteria for Steam achievements). CONCLUSION: Overall, Copycat left me frustrated. It's a game with a lot of promise that just ends up being a weird mess of some good ideas and intentions mixed in with some odd design decisions and meaningless filler. In among that, I feel the key narrative message gets lost, or at least fails to hit home (pun intended!) with the impact that it should.

What a beautiful game! I love animals so much, I am constantly thinking of how I can help them and how I wish I could care for every animal with out a home <3 This game so beautifully and delicately tells the store of pets who have been mistreated and/or displaced. This is a serious topic and not everyone wants to talk about it, but I think this game talks about it in a way that expresses the importance of family, homing pets, and treating them well! Thank you for such a lovely experience. I am hugging my cat tight <<33

I say I recommend this game...but it's somewhat conditional - the gameplay is pretty simple and forgiving. It's really more focused on the story it's telling...and man, is it an emotional and occasionally very depressing one. It doesn't hide that part of it, though, at least. Like it warns you straight up that you're gonna get some sad content out of this game. I do regret pucking the cat that looks like mine. I need to cuddle him now. It's pretty short but the story was deep and emotional. A casual game and I do think it's worth the playthrough if you can handle the emotional damage.

i finished this game in one sitting like i saw other reviewers suggest. the story is beautiful. some chapters didn't run very smoothly despite my very expensive computer, but it didn't impact my gameplay too negatively as it didn't last very long. i hope everyone plays this game at least once

I took on the game open minded, and it was nothing I'd ever expected. The story was really sweet, rich and a little dark/sad. For that reason I would recommend it. :) But... The controls however killed the experience for me. It was a total turnoff, that I wasn't able to play through the (inter)actions in the game. I played on PS controller. The controls where flickering between PS and x-box, in the story with multiple time-limited actions, so it wouldn't accept any of my actions. VERY annoying.

Although I didn't cry, this game was an emotional rollercaoster! It really speaks volumes to your heart and soul.

I'm not crying you're crying! Copycat is a roller-coaster of emotions game that'll give you about 4+ of entertainment. Lots of people have mentioned there are topics of abandonment, desertion and neglect not only towards animals but humans too within the story. So Copycat might be difficult to play by some folks. Honestly, I despise when people treat there pets like discarded pieces of trash, and me and S/O have raised, fostered and taken care of many animals abused in crappy environments, mostly kitties though. So this story really rings home. But that's enough sad talk, let's get down to the good stuff and discuss pros and cons! Pros * IT'S A GAME ABOUT CATS, any game about cats is going to do well! * The developers do a great job of storytelling while you play, but also about respecting your time as a player. * The game gets to the point fast. I like there's not a lot of time wasting. * You can probably 100% Copycat's achievements in one go through, there's a couple of them that are a challenge but nothing too bad. * Pretty impressive game for a two person team of developers. I am often a harsh critic of small teams because I think people have a tendency to give them a free pass when it comes to their games. They use it as an excuse for why the game should be praised, when clearly it's a mediocre game made by a small dev team. Small teams like this should take note, sometimes a great story is all you need for a game to be a success. You don't need all the bells and whistles. Cons * No real replay-ability * Graphics are so-so * Saw quite a few glitches, nothing game breaking though * Game didn't run particularly smooth * Copycat might be slightly overpriced at $14.99 USD for a game that you can probably beat in less than 4 hours (without all achievements) * Many games are a little too repetitive Overall the game I think was a huge success in my opinion, mostly because the story is well told from the perspective of a cat. It's not quite on the same page as the game, Stray but it's different so it doesn't need to be. I think that the majority of people who purchase this game will be cat lovers which means they probably won't bat an eye about the full price of $14.99. But if you are on the fence about the short playtime, get it on sale. Otherwise my cons don't outweigh the pros for Copycat. Congratulations Spoonful of Wonder I think your game is great and I can't wait to see what else you make. Two thumbs up for Copycat!

Copycat - 3/10 Completion Time - 3 Hours A narrative driven game with a not so great story. An elderly woman, Olive, suffering through health issues, loses her cat. She decides to head to a shelter where she adopts a “copycat” named Dawn, a cat who looks identical to her currently missing cat in order to fill the void. At first, the cat is incredibly shy and hesitant - hiding under things and not coming too close to the woman, but after time, they grow a bond together. Olive’s daughter, an awful human being in more ways than one, purposely abandons the cat outside. As luck would have it, Olive’s original missing cat returns home. As Dawn attempts to return home, Olive essentially abandons her, telling her she cannot take care of both cats. Olive then abandons Dawn in the woods, alone and scared. At this point in the game, we are wandering through the woods and the city, all to work our way back to Olive…Why? The way the developers wrote the game summary, felt like this was supposed to be an emotional journey where you were rooting for Olive and Dawn. Nothing is farther from the truth. In fact, the ending was so incredibly disappointing, I was actually angry. [SPOILER] Olive was actually rewarded for her behavior by welcoming Dawn back and taking care of both cats. So the reward for treating not one, but two pets, with no care for their emotional or physical well-being is to force them to be where they are “needed”? Another SPOILER as well as a trigger warning…at one point they actually had Dawn sitting in the middle of the road contemplating ending her life by voluntarily getting hit by a car…The overall messaging in this game was awful. The 3 points I gave this game were solely for some of the gameplay, but overall I do not recommend this game at all. I am rarely ever this harsh in game review, but I was left completely disappointed.

I was excited for this game, but the story sucks. I can't believe we went back to the woman that abused/abandoned us to die in the forest. Don't reward bad behavior!

This is a cute game. It is a bit sad and sadly many people do this. But the determination the cat had to find Olive was sweet. I have had a cat for 10 years that had passed from cancer and another one that is 10 years old that is still kicking. I had them both at 2 months old. I could never leave them. So this game had a lot of meaning. So, thank you.

Played this just so I could feel something, and boy, did I feel everything. Quite possibly one of the most hurtful things I've ever been a part of. Really stunning visuals. Really fun little tidbits throughout. I loved this, even if it hurt me.

Fun game with a lot of cool gameplay ideas and concepts but never commits fully enough to any of them enough

Game was very nice and cute. My daughter loved playing it and I had a blast watching her do it. I would get bored easily if I played myself, but it was a great experience for both of us (and outlet for her mischievousness). Word of caution/advise: It is more of a story than a game, but a fun gamestory nonetheless

I played the demo of the game and have just finished the main story, for a 2 person team it is an incredible job, i adored the story and the gameplay was easy except for the fact i played on keyboard and mouse (Yes i know its not recommended but i did anyway) the only difference i could see was in the fight scenes where it was very hard to push all those buttons in such a short amount of time but yes im aware thats my fault xd. Anyway this was an amazing game with awesome graphics and story good job devs!

I'm going to start off by saying I absolutely loved playing this game. The gameplay was a little confusing at first because it was glitchy for me (not sure if that's the game or something wrong on my end so not going to really take that into account since it really wasn't that bad) but you pick it up pretty quickly so it's no problem. As far as the story goes... 10/10. Wrecked me. There's so many thoughts and feelings in this game that I've also experienced in my life so to see them and experience them in the way the game makes you, it hits hard. After I got done with the game, I literally just sat and sobbed to my husband about the whole plot lol, and I am usually not *that* emotional. TLDR: Great game, makes you super emotional but in a good way imo.

As a cat girlie when I see a cat game I have to play it and this one was on the top of my list to play. As a story driving game about a cat wanting a sense of belonging and a "home". I loved the story, even though at times I was upset how things unfolded, in the end I loved how it all came together. This story can be emotional so make sure you have tissues and your comfort kitty in your lap while you play. Game was a little glitchy at times but have to say the voice acting was great, of course the story was too. Not a hard game to play and it can be done all in one sitting if you have the time. I finished on about 2 hours or so. I also like that we can pick our kitty in the begging which was a nice touch. All in all if you are looking for a story driven cat based game I would recommend this one. But like I said things can be a little heavy in the story so make sure you are okay with that before playing and have tissues ready. But also have your kitty near by for snuggles or wrap yourself up all cozy. I hope they make another cat based game in the future.

I thought this was going to be a bad game from all the graphic glitches but... I LOVED THE END PARTS. Dawn, Sunrise, Olive, and Mae.

Great game - fairly digestible, easy to play, and great story line. Excellent work.

Just sat down and played the game from start to finish! Took roughly two hours, and I am glad I played it! It was a mix of heartbreaking and heartwarming, with a really pleasant soundtrack. There were a few more mature themes that I certainly did not expect in this type of game, and a couple of them didn't exactly fit all that well I think? Either way, it was still a really good story.

Wow. This game really really did something to me. I cried about 4 times. The graphics are AWESOME the story is so so so so so good and the fact that you can make so many decisions is awesome. Im truly impressed and I will definitely play again to choose different options. Its so emotional and well made I really really recommend this game if you like story games and cats!

I really enjoyed the story of the game and the ending I got. I thought it was a good length, not too long or too short. I might replay it again in the future and make different choices to see the other ending.

A very dull, boring experience. Not the kind of game I thought this was going to be. It's basically just an on rails game with uninteresting dialogue choices that all seem to have the same outcome. Much better games like this are out there

It's not a fun game. Very hand hold-y and shallow as can be, with some very bad quality control. The story is fairly basic and easy to follow too. At what looks like a 3 hour play time for most players, this makes the overall value of this title, even at 50% off, not worth it. I would have bought at about 75% off but honestly, I don't see the appeal in a game like this unless you like walking simulators and poorly sequenced button mashing.

Adorable and touching story, but absolutely hate mae and olive for throwing out and abandoning the cat. Still great game though

This is a very narrative driven game. So you dont have a ton of different choices you can make. The story is emotional and if you're an animal lover, or someone who has experienced anything similar to what happens, it may make you cry. The movement can be a bit funky at times, such as when trying to climb/parkour, but overall pleasant. The biggest break in immersion for me was the car ride when you aren't in a carrier. ive never seen a cat sit in a car like that and be that calm x3 Otherwise it was a great game, love games like these. I enjoyed the use of different game environments throughout the story to add more gameplay while still getting a cinematic atmosphere for the storytelling aspects. Like the 2D sections walking on the fence/hedge, the 3D section of the neighborhood, house and backyard, and the subway surfer style running sections. I wasn't as into the combos for the fighting portions as they were long and felt like you didn't get enough time to even read, i understand wanting ppl to do them fast though because its a suspenseful/stressful part of the narrative and i appreciate that it gives you plenty of redos x3 because i messed up those combos a lot. I did like the meow combos for fights though, i thought that was clever, to incorporate the intimidation noises in that way. The dream sequences were fun to, and helped add more gameplay, though they did feel a tad bit out of place with the style i think it still worked well enough.

Loved this game - brought some tears, laughs, and appreciating my own kitties a little extra. It was quick to run through, but well worth it for the experience and story line

This game is so sweet and heart warming. Of course, parts of the game ripped my heart out and stomped on it, but regardless, I really enjoyed the ending and the story overall. The graphics were beautiful but one thing I would change is the opportunity for potential different endings. I am not a game dev in any way shape or form but I think having multiple endings would attract people into playing the game more than once, trying to get all the endings under their belt. Overall, I would 100% recommend this game to other people, its so cozy and sweet.

unfortunately bugs, glitches, and ugly don't outweigh the decent story for me

broke my heart :( voice acting is just not it, controls are ok (at most) but the movement mechanics are exceptionally bad and animations are mid. story is heartbreaking in a beautiful way. for being a short story game, it delivers. would only buy on sale though.

Je sais pas trop par ou commencer. Ce jeux la est superbe,l'animation de "Dawn" est très bien fait,il y a quelques bugs mais rien de majeur.La musique y est bien,le voice acting aussi.Graphiquement c'est beau et l'animation du chat est superbement réalisé.Quelque Frustration surtout lors des Scène avec commande sur manette,mais rien qui empeche la progression du jeu. Ce jeu developpé par DEUX PERSONNE a été financé par le gouvernement Australien, et comme d'autres jeux du genre,on y parle d'un sujet social,sois l'abbandon des animaux de compagnies. Fort Statement sans toutefois tomber dans le ton moralisateur.Je recommande FORTEMENT a tout ceux qui aime le genre narratif. Un petit Bijou. 9/10

I usually don't do reviews, but I had to on this one. I knew what I was getting into with this game, but oh man it still hit me like a TRUCK. You really get attached to the cat character, and super into the game and story. So much love and hate all in one, so many emotions. I had a lovely time streaming this game and crying with everyone as well. I really enjoyed the story and emotions i felt playing this. 10/10

A cute but simple game about loss, betrayal and love. I personally did not fancy the mini-games. Nice ambience. Ugly humans. ------------------------------------- Play this game if: - You like cats *meow* - *PurrPurrPurr* Do Not play this game if: - You are looking for an action game - You are easily offended by stupid (ang ugly) humans - You don't like mini-games Verdict: 6.5/10

A heartbreaking and unfortunately not uncommon story for many pets. The artwork was stunning throughout, with the dream sequences being delightfully and beautifully designed.

Not sure if the developers will see this review, but thank you for making this game--Copycat. I'm honestly very willing to forget about the graphics seeing as there were only two of you when making this game, but the story you wrote was story-rich and emotional. Keep up the good work!

Good game so far but I really dislike how it forces you into being a naughty cat in the intro. I wish I could just choose not to. It feels frustrating. Like dealing with a real naughty cat.

Such a powerful story. I totaled in at around 2.7 Hours of playtime, for my first playthrough. I think this game is definitely worth it. The replayability may not be too great, but for just $15, it really is a worthwhile experience. I connected with this game and this character on so many levels, and hope to see more games like this in the future.. as for gameplay: i can agree that, at times, it gets repetitive. primarily during the minigames. but, it really isnt bad. Graphics were fine, though, near the end, certain things werent loading in. I have (i believe) 16gb RAM installed, but im on an older PC, so it seems reasonable. it didnt affect gameplay at all. Overall a great game- which suprised me, as im not usually a fan of straightforward, closed-world adventure games.

Look, for a dev team of two. It's rather well done. The story hit elements that deserve the warning, and I would still recommend it. My single issue with the game were the quick-time events. One of them having like 9 in a combo. But would still recommend grabbing this title. At the very least on a sale event.

The story I can recommend, but the gameplay is very basic and the camera controls are horrible at many locations through the game. You do not get any game in this. It is more like a interactive movie, where you have to make choises and do what the story is setting up for you to do. There is no failure state, and no meaningful difference you can make based on the story told. Still, it paints a picture many do not think about in regards to animals, and especially pets. So, for an interactive movie you can finish in a few hours I will give it a recommendation for the story and message alone.

Copycat is a short game, but it left such a deep impact. It actually made me cry! The storyline definitely captured the essence of what it feels like to be a cat in such an honest and emotional way.

It was very fun and easy to play, beat it in 3 hours so its not a long game, but very well done for only 2 people making it. The over all story was pretty nice and puts into perspective everything animals go thru.

its a wonderful game with great graphics and a well set out story line wish i could play is again not knowing whats going to happen!

The game is quite good, but there are some shortcomings that spoil the game and its story.

This adorable and highly story driven game made me WEEP happy and angry tears. The ending I got helped a lot with factoring the overall experience. As a cat owner this game really makes you think about their perspective. Overall the game play was a little tedious and kept me wanting more out of it. But, i must say for this to be the first game they developed - pretty impressive.

Overall not a pleasant experience, the game play was tedious and the story just made me angry. It's a very short game but it felt so long. It's such a shame I was so looking forward to this one but I can't recommend it.

This was really a beautifully crafted experience. If you looking for a game with a deep and engaging storyline (and, of course, you like cats), then this is the game for you. Although there are occasional action components to this game, these are mild and can be handled by any level of gamer. What's more important is the heartfelt and engaging plot that pulls your emotions in from the very start. It's a story you won't forget anytime soon.

I don't usually leave reviews for games but this one deserves it! I can't recommend this game enough it really pulled on my heart strings <3