Game Review: Copycat (Xbox Series X)

Are you a cat person? This question is really important if you choose to play Copycat even though some of its emotional depth comes from the more human side of things.

Developed by Spoonful of Wonder and published by Neverland Entertainment and Nuuvem, Copycat is a simple, narrative-driven adventure game that deals with heavy themes around age, abandonment, and loss. It can be extremely compelling, but it can also be extremely dull, especially from a gameplay perspective.

Players taker on the role of Dawn, an older cat adopted by an elderly woman named Olive. From the moment we meet Olive it’s made clear that she might not be in the best health, but she has a lot of love to share and is kind of lonely.

Dawn doesn’t want to be a house cat though, dreaming of being an apex predator, and just bidding her time to escape. Or at least, that is what she tells herself. Yes, the cat you play as has internal dialogue. Eventually, and over time, she slowly warms to Olive and the house, figuring this life isn’t too bad at all. Until, one day, everything changes.

Promising more than it delivers, in my opinion, Copycat’s story is initially compelling but starts to fall apart as it goes on. What is supposed to be poignant starts to become cheesy and a latter point decision by Olive is downright awful, to the point that it changed my entire view on the person. I won’t spoil it for you, but it’s an outrageous moment that left me scratching my head.

None of this really matters though because Copycat’s biggest flaw relates to something no one can ignore, and that’s the lack of gameplay. Narrative driven or not, it’s quite surprising just how little there is to do here. Some brief ‘free roam’ sections with little to do, a ton of QTEs, a bit of ‘endless running’ and that’s about it. It’s so limited, and what it does offer is rarely good. Especially as the controls for Dawn aren’t great either.

I normally don’t mind narrative-driven games, and I’ve enjoyed plenty that others have disliked, but Copycat just rankled me. I wanted to like the story, but couldn’t, and I wanted to feel something potent, but was left with nothing more than irritation. It doesn’t help that, for a game this basic, it overstays its welcome. Which, considering it can be wrapped up in around two hours, is laughable.

Visually, it’s unimpressive too, with very few memorable musical moments as well. Nothing that I would call bad, especially as I didn’t really notice bugs, but nothing noteworthy either. It’s all very basic, which for a two-person development team, is what you should probably expect. Except, what I then expect is a story that hooks me in, hits emotionally hard, and leaves me feeling like I’ve been through something important. That’s not what I got.

Also, we’re in agreement here, right? Olive is the villain, right?