By Saniah Etienne 

Despite having a cat allergy, I love cats! I even feed the stray cats in my neighborhood. Naturally, when choosing a game to play and review, Copycat was the pick of the litter. As a child, I actually loved cat games. I remember playing Neko Atsume: Kitty Collector and Talking Tom, as well as a game about a cat whose only objective was to destroy household items and wreak havoc. These were all lighthearted in nature. Copycat, however, is far more story driven and emotionally charged than those childhood favorites. 

You begin by playing as an elderly woman named Olive as she picks out a new cat to bring home – because  her first cat has run away. Olive brings a tuxedo cat named Dawn home and the rest of the game evolves from Dawn’s point of view. 

Dawn is very recalcitrant at first, hating the idea of being a housecat. During some interactions, the only options the player has is to back away or bite Olive. Dawn’s days consist of tracking paint through the house, knocking over furniture, and eating Olive’s steak dinner when she isn’t looking. And the one person encouraging this behavior is called the nature expert. The nature expert (whose voice reminded me of Steve Irwin) encourages Dawn to be as disruptive as she can, to escape, and embrace being a wildcat. But eventually, Dawn begins to warm up to Olive and becomes increasingly attached. One day, Olive has a medical emergency and her daughter Mae attempts to kick Dawn out of the house. In a strange turn of events, Dawn ends up being replaced by the original cat who ran away. 

The main objective of the game is to get Olive to understand the mistake she’s made and allow Dawn back into the house. Unfortunately for Dawn, this task is far from easy. She begins by trying to get back into the house through the windows using parkour, the gameplay of which I did enjoy. 

But at this point in the game begins to get really dark. In one scene, Olive’s daughter Mae is crying, looking at papers that I assumed to be medical bills. Afterwards she goes into Olive’s room while Olive is asleep on a pillow. It’s never explicitly said but it seems as if she is trying to smother her but doesn’t go through with it. At this point I was quite confused as to why I was playing as a cat yet dealing with topics like animal/elder abuse, and murder. And this question would linger for the rest of the gameplay. I eventually began to be overwhelmed by how hard Dawn’s life was. 

Throughout, there are dream sequences. Some were simple, like Dawn catching rabbits as a feral cat or doing obstacle courses. The simple dream sequences were a little long. It sometimes felt like Dawn was just running around aimlessly. Other dream sequences were really loaded. Dawn would run around and hear Olive’s daughter screaming verbally abusive phrases, even calling Dawn a useless parasite. 

In one sequence, after Dawn attempts suicide by standing in front of a moving car, she goes through recreations of the abandonment she’s faced from all of her owners. I was conflicted as to whether the emotional weight of the story was a strength or weakness. It creates a game that is more than just a lighthearted cat simulator by wrestling with heavy topics like abandonment and belonging. But it has its effect. The idea that “home is where you are needed most” actually really resonated with me during this transitional phase of my life in which I am soon leaving town for college.

While the game is thematically complex, the gameplay and controls are quite common. For example, when Dawn has to fight other cats, you simply have to press a combination of buttons before time runs out. The “fighting” is just the other cats flying backwards; it doesn’t really happen in real time. The visuals could have been a lot more detailed. The graphics seemed very familiar but I could not quite put my finger on it. I eventually realized that the graphics reminded me of an advanced Roblox game–especially the dream sequences. 

I loved the soundtrack! The piano music was somewhat dreamy and melancholic, mirroring Dawn’s longing for a stable home. The sound design adapts well to the gameplay and player experience. When Dawn is running around destroying things, the music speeds up and becomes intense. When she gets caught, her heart beat becomes audible which evokes the feeling of vulnerability. 

Copycat stands out because you are playing as an animal, but still experiencing a profoundly human story. The questions asked are deep: Where actually is home, and what does it mean to belong, to be part of something? If you’ve ever spent time searching for answers to those questions, Copycat will resonate with you.

Saniah Etienne is NYVGCC’s newest intern. She attends The Lab School in the Bronx and will be an undergraduate at Howard University starting this summer.

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