About This Game Cats have always been the link between the world of Yav and the world of Nav, and for this knowledge they were awarded nine lives. What will it cost for one of them - Cat Bayn - to make an exception and change the balance just once on behalf of the young sorceress Alesta’s mother? Mysterious creatures from Slavic myths carefully keep their secrets in the magical forests and dense thickets that have become home to boggart, kikimora, anchutkas and mermaids. In the whirlwind of the adventure, their secrets will be revealed, hidden paths will become visible and the road between worlds will be intertwined.Ancient tales come to life in a large open labyrinth of gloomy marshes, Slavic villages and centuries-old forests;To help Alesta in fierce battles with the dangerous mythical beasts come the summoned creatures – familiars who have served the sorcerers from time immemorial. Choose from a variety of familiars with unique abilities;The world is filled with characters whose destinies are in your hands - the completion of many side quests will determine how this adventure will end;Respect for all traditions of the metroidvania genre allows you to return back in search of secret paths and acquire new skills. The danger of the adventure is emphasized by the possibility of saving only in certain places; Fascinating battles with bosses, who have come from Slavic tales and tell us their unique history;Elements of role-playing games, allowing you to customize the characteristics of Alesta to your individual style of playing.The game was developed by one person – Slava Gris who combined his art skills with his knowledge of programming to bring Catmaze to life. The soundtrack is provided by Expecte Amour. a09c17d780 Title: CatmazeGenre: Action, Adventure, Indie, RPGDeveloper:Redblack SpadePublisher:Redblack SpadeRelease Date: 24 May, 2018 Catmaze License I loved catmaze. It is a game with bugs to be sure and you don't know if an attack button is going to stop working at any point,(this can be fixed by saving). But what makes it a unique experience is that I actually felt I had gone on an adventure. My hero deveoped as a person instead of just growing more powerful. They helped people who didn't feel like their only perpose was to wait around until I showed up to help them. Everyone was developing, everyone was learning things and improving. It is a game that warms the heart in a way I only used to expect from reading children's books.5\/5. Catmaze is a great metroidvania with beautiful pixel graphics, an unusual setting of Slavic mythology and an amazing soundtrack. In this game I wanted to explore every nook, to find all the secrets and to speak with every character - every one of them is unusual and interesting. If you buy Catmaze you will plunge into the world of magic and spend a lot of hours in there. Unambiguous recommendation to purchase. p\/s Momodora fans should to buy three copies!. These past few years I've been neglecting to write reviews of the great games that I've played on Steam, which is not something I'm proud of. This game however, is the game that has made me break free of that. This game starts off being a really nice treat but becomes an even greater joy the more progress is made. [SPOILER FREE REVIEW]-Story-I think this is a great place to start when talking about this game. As you probably know from reading the store page, this is a Metroidvania styled game, which has you roaming about a wide open 2D world that focuses on exploration and gaining new powers. For a game like this however, it's surprisingly plot heavy and serious. The basic narrative is that Alesta is on a simple quest through the local plains and forests to find the right ingredients for a remedy that will cure her mother who had recently fallen ill. This starts off as being a cute little adventure with a nice drive, but a major and dark twist happens which then sets the true story in motion. This being a spoiler free review, I can't say what this twist is, but it makes the adventure fit into a much bigger scale and makes Alesta's true depth of determination shine through the more the story continues.Another aspect that love about Catmaze's narrative however is the world building. At many points along the way you encounter characters that turn out to have much more depth than you would have thought, even if they're just some strange child that asks you to find a certain herb for them. Many of the twists get pretty dark as well, leading to a very deep and engaging story at times. Since this game has a lot of additional side quests in it, you don't actually have to interact much with all these characters, though that leads me to my next point....This game has multiple endings to it. I got the best ending when I played, which I believe is obtained simply by...well, earning it. If you go out of your way to try doing what you can to make various people's lives better, the favour get returned in such an amazing and beautiful way! Again, partly why the narrative succeeds with this game is not just the quest that Alesta is on, but also the world building methods, and I really did feel immersed ad engaged in this story!Also, cats. You probably guessed it since it's in the title, but cats do play a part in this game. It's clear that the creator of this game is a (fellow) cat lover as the cats you encounter here and there are seen as mystical beings from another realm. Checkpoints\/savepoints are even in the form of cat fountains, and sometimes a cat will appear to clue you in on a nice item here and there.-Gameplay-The most vital aspect of any game, and this game does it very well! Admittedly the controls and physics aren't the best, but there's still pretty high end as far as indie games go. The controls do feel very responsive and Alesta does feel like she has weight to her which is pretty damn important for any game where moving places is constant. The game starts you off nice and simple without too much danger to worry about, though does pick up the pace once the story really gets going. Fortunately you gain various familiars (animal spirits that fight alongside you) to attack in various ways to suit your preferences and situations, so while the game gets harder you still feel a good sense of control with how you tackle challenges.As I've said previously, this game has exploration as a key part of its genre, and the world does feel very big and open, and will often branch into many different paths. Many paths you can explore right away whenever you want, while others will tease you with a path you cannot cross such as a large pool of water. As for actually completing the tasks you want to do, the game marks your map with a "?" on where each event or known item will be. This game could have been ruined without this feature, but fortunately you get a good pointer on where to go to make progress even if you haven't yet been to those areas, and usually there will be many "?"s marked on the map to provide many options on what to do any when to tackle them. As with many Metroidvania games, exploration and curiosity will be greatly rewarded with great powers, whether it be more health, mana, allies, wearable items etc. There's a surprising amount that you end up collecting in this game and that made it so satisfying for me to 100%! Obviously as more of the world because available, the more you'd have to run about to revisit places you want or need to go, but you have a friendly harpy(?) as a teleportation service so it's all good.Another important thing worth noting about the gameplay however...is that it's challenging. If you run out of health points, that's a Game Over, kicking you back to the title screen and undoing your progress since your last checkpoint. While many would feel anxious about this, I for one love this. It gives the player and incentive to actually try and feel rewarded after completing a legitimate challenge. It's sad that it's a rarity nowadays but I'm thankful that this choice was made with this game. The difficulty itself, while not easy, is nothing ridiculous or stressful either. A key part of the challenge comes from certain boss battles, which get surprisingly intense at times. If struggling, you have easy access to health potions and whatnot. And as said earlier, changing familiars or even equipped items (such as attack\/defence\/speed distribution amulets) can help you adjust to various challenges.Overall the gameplay is very solid and was easily a major hook for me, keeping me happy and satisfied nearly throughout the entire thing. Things only got frustrating for me when a few bugs happened, but fortunately those were rare even if they did get nasty.-Visuals-The game uses a pixel graphic art style for the most part, and it looks really nice in my opinion. The most major quality in this category is easily the backgrounds and scenery, as the arrangement of colours and shapes looks beautiful! Some of the character portraits look a little lacking when compared to others though most still look really nice, and it's still really good to see the characters in greater detail than what the pixel graphics could normally provide.I usually don't focus much on the visual aspect of games as gameplay is far more important, but the game has such a nice art style to it and it feels nice to be able to stop and admire my surroundings in a game. Therefore the visuals are definitely worth my praise!-Sound-I care a lot about game having great soundtrack, and this game really excels in that! Everything from the calming forests near the start to the cold harsh mountains near the end, it's all memorable and joyful to hear, and fits right in with wherever you are. This game also does something in particular that I really love, that being a Variable Mix. There's only one example of it to my knowledge, but a major character late in the game is so hard to reach partly because of his singing, which for added effect is heard in perfect time with the music when you get close enough. It's a little detail that goes a really long way!As many people mention, the music doesn't loop properly for some reason, though that's only a minor setback. One of the boss battle themes also feels a little out of place for some battles, but it's still a good tune. Honestly I'm likely to buy the OST for this game soon!-Overall-Catmaze is like buying yourself a treat from the chilled deserts section and and then being shocked by how disproportionately good the quality is compared to your expectations. It's a great game that deserves much more recognition, and I'm really thankful this game caught my attention. I definitely recommend this if you love adventure games with beautiful pixel art such as this!
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