Kimono Cats Review

Casual Catnip

Explore Kyoto Road with your feline companion, Miaow in Kimono Cats from developer HumaNature Studios and Apple Arcade. Woo Miaow by popping bubbles that contain events, items and carnival-style mini-games. Take a breather and decorate your cozy village with buildings, flora, fauna and other accoutrements. Part dating sim, part mini-game menagerie (à la WarioWare) and just a sprinkle of Animal Crossing, Kimono Cats presents players with a casual game worth courting.

A Long Walk

Kimono Cats begins with our unnamed kitty protagonist nervously planning his date with Miaow. Through a chibi, manga-inspired comic, players learn that he plans a long walk along Kyoto Road, the site of a series of festivals. Should they get tired, our protagonist hopes to introduce Miaow to his village, and dreams of one day settling there with her. After the introduction, players will see the pair of cats strolling along. Suddenly, our protagonist notices the bubbles floating above their heads. Players must earn hearts by popping bubbles, which cause events, trigger mini-games or give items. Most of the time, you’ll want to prioritize your partner’s desires, indicated by their thought bubbles. But any positive bubble leads to progress. After filling their heart meter, players earn a golden sandal print, which adds to the total distance walked.

However, not all events are romantic. Some bubbles hold traumatic or mischievous situations, such as food poisoning, robberies, screaming children or yōkai attacks. These events cost the player progress by depleting their heart meter. While often inevitable, a few of these unfortunate events give players a chance to avoid a bad ending by popping bubbles containing a sword or ice cream cone. If players miss their shot or hit a blue Oni mask, the negative event comically unfolds and their meters is docked.

Acts of Service

Mini-games offer players the quickest way to earn hearts, and by extension, level progress. The amount of hearts awarded depends on the score earned. Additionally, if players pop a golden paw print bubble before popping a mini-game bubble, they receive twice the amount of hearts.

Early on, the selection of mini-games feels limited, with only four or five available. However, as players unlock stages, they’ll see a larger variety. By the end of the game, I counted around a dozen different mini-games. This might not seem like a lot, but with the variety and fast-paced gameplay, Kimono Cats rarely gets boring. Players can expect typical carnival game fare, such as catching fish, Whac-A-Mole and hitting targets with balls. There’s even a Cooking Mama-style mini-game that requires players to manage grilling ears of corn.

Kimono Cats often made me think of WarioWare with its fast-paced gameplay and recurring mini-games. However, the game feels more fun to play because of its gacha-like item rewards. I stayed excited to see what I’d earn next, both from heart meter rewards and from purchasing items in the shop. Players will earn coins pretty frequently from popping bubbles and spinning wheels in other players’ villages. These coins can be used in the shop to purchase different categories of items from gacha machines, including fences/random décor, houses, ponds/landforms and businesses containing those wheels from before. Players can even buy cards to send to their friends. Additionally, you can earn discounted draws by popping coupon bubbles on Kyoto Road. These discounts give players 25-90% off a single draw.

It Takes a Village

As you can imagine, with all that discounted merch, my village filled up pretty quickly. Kimono Cats gives players an insanely large amount of space with which to create their dream village. Yet, if players find that they’ve outgrown their space, they need only to place an item at the edge of town, and viola! Your village instantly expands. While I was shocked that the developers didn’t require a fee to expand, I was a little disappointed to discover that space was eventually finite. Later in the game, you’ll probably have way too much stuff, so you’ll need to prioritize your favorites for display. That said, there’s plenty of room for at least six or seven full sets. Currently, there are around 40 different themed sets for players to unlock, containing around 200 pieces total.

Villages aren’t merely aesthetic. Players will receive extra darts from travelers who’ve ranked their space via the visitor log. They can also find darts and coins by using the metal detector located at the bottom of the screen. Additionally, after a while, your village accumulates spiderwebs and flowers wilt. Revitalize your property by tapping the feather duster, or watering can, and hovering over the afflicted items. After an animation restores the item, players will sometimes discover a present containing, you guessed it, coins or darts.

One of my biggest complaints about the game is that this mechanic often felt like a chore, especially during longer play sessions. I acknowledge that the developers needed some way to keep players from blowing through the game too quickly, but having to stop and farm darts really put a damper on things.

Love is a Verb

Kimono Cats gives players so much bang for their buck. In addition to the mini-games and swag to collect, the game boasts 15 different levels with more on the way. Later levels require more sandal prints to complete, meaning that they are rather lengthy. However, at no time did Kimono Cats fail to entertain. I loved the quick bursts of gameplay, coupled with periods of managing Miaow’s needs and cashing in my coins.

Visiting the shop became my obsession. As a completionist, I needed to unlock all of the adorably illustrative items as quickly as possible. Much to my delight, unlike most gacha games, I rarely received duplicates of items. However, first I focused on collecting the wide variety of skins for Miaow and our protagonist, putting most of my discounts toward those. With two dozen different cat designs, in a variety of gender presentations, players can choose the couple that best reflects their situation. I was delighted when I discovered this, as representation matters, even in the world of mobile games.

Kimono Cats blooms with its adorable art style, lovely premise, non-stop mini-games and vast catalog of collectibles. While some players may wish for a larger variety of mini-games early on, by the end of their Japanese-inspired journey, they’ll be thoroughly smitten.