This cozy new life sim RPG is just Stardew Valley but you're a cat, and it's getting purrfect reviews

There's a new cat game out that's getting rave reviews on Steam, and it's easy to see why. Without selling it short, it's essentially a spin on Stardew Valley that puts you in the paws of an industrious cat determined to build a thriving feline village, protect it from intruders, and build a family.

Like Stardew Valley, the adorably titled Cattails: Wildwood Story - a sequel to the 2017 original - has a lot going on. There's farming, exploration, item collecting to recruit new cats, interacting with villagers, and combat in the form of hunting small animals for food. There are more than 20 eligible cats for you to befriend, go on dates with, and if you like, marry and have kittens with. There's even rival cat marriages, which is honestly such a cat thing.

There's also a big colony-building aspect to the game that lets you pick where on the map you want to settle, whether that's a lush forest, sunny beach, river-side meadow, or, if you really like to live life on the edge, a volcano. From there you can expand your town by attracting new residents by venturing into mines and finding rarer and rarer resources as you go deeper.

Playing the demo, I was struck by the myriad ways Cattails: Wildwood Story caters to your unique preferences. You can speed up and slow down the day/night cycle to make things pass more quickly or at a more leisurely pace. Personally, setting the in-game timer to go by 25% faster seems perfect for the sort-of quick, pick-up and play sessions I usually rely on these kinds of games for.

You can also adjust the difficulty of battles and hunting and customize the ever-loving crap out of your den, colony, and cat, which you can make look exactly like the furry friend you have exerting their dominance over your real-life home right now. Personally, I was sold the minute I brought my rotund black tabby Milo into this irresistibly charming virtual world with me.

Thought we didn't have a list for this genre? Think again. Here are the best cat games to play right meow.

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.