While it might be February, it hasn’t stopped Nukearts and Silesia Games bringing us Hidden Cats in Christmas. We understand there was a bit of a delay with the PS5 port which explains matters in terms of timing. And we guess that a small publisher is a little more hand to mouth in that regard, so bumping this to next December isn’t all that viable.
If you’ve played any of the other Hidden Cats games you’ll know what to expect. This, once again starts with one big level where you unlock all the other substages. Once you’ve beaten them, you unlock the final level.
Across its eight levels, there’s 853 cats yielding a decent pence per cat ratio for your £3.29 on the PSN store. The two or so hours you’ll likely play this are well spent.
Nukearts have listened to feedback somewhat by including the same consistent mechanic throughout. That being areas of the screen being coloured in when you’ve found all the cats in a certain area. It used to be limited to the marquee level, but now it’s applied throughout.
If anything, it’s a bit too generous. You could get away with it being just that half of a level, instead of the way it’s implemented. A tiny sector makes things that bit easier. Though in the grand scheme of things it’s no biggie, these games are about relaxation so it’s not really an issue. The levels themselves are beautifully illustrated as is always the case for Nukearts, so we’ve no complaints at all.
In conclusion, Hidden Cats in Christmas is another solid hidden cat game, just a little unfortunately timed with regard to releasing this month. The refinements make for a great relaxing experience, perhaps blunting the challenge a little bit. It’s still good, so get hunting. We’re perhaps getting a bit burned out with hidden cat games, we don’t know.
+ Good value package with eight levels
+ Good number of cats
- The refinements while welcome perhaps are a bit too generous
- Maybe the hidden cat thing has run its course, for us at least