Cats Hidden in Georgia Review (PC)

It seems that the beauty in simplicity is in the hand-drawn locales of a cat-centric society. Travellin Cats’ beloved object-finding series, Cats Hidden, is back yet again, and with a brand-new chunk of the world wedged beneath the limelight, to boot. That’s right, Cats Hidden in Georgia is alive and kicking over on Steam, and it brings with it a treasure trove of fresh black-and-white portraits for players to scrub through and pluck clean of all their daringly mischievous feline friends.

Cats Hidden in Georgia marks the return of the old-as-time genre of object-finding—a simple yet thought-provoking category that’s been spinning yarns for decades — centuries, even. The question is, how does Travellin Cats’ series tweak a blueprint that’s arguably more widespread than the common cold? Let’s talk about Cats Hidden in Georgia, as well as the world of which it brings to life.

Hidden Is An Understatement

For those who’ve yet to pour a few dozen hours into the grueling process of deciphering feline friends from folks, Cats Hidden is a bread-and-butter episodic search-and-find game, and one that—you guessed it— features a wide array of cats as its primary suspects. Your goal, in a true object-finding fashion, is to scrub over the crags and crevices of a wide-open world comprised of hand-drawn backdrops, all of which depict some of the most iconic landmarks in the game’s chosen setting, and locate, well, cats.

Cats Hidden in Georgia isn’t a difficult game, nor is it a game that’s built around the rules that, if you can’t solve something, then you’re destined to fail, regardless of how much effort you put into it along the way. In fact, it’s the polar opposite: it’s a simple game that asks only that you slide through the chalky biomes of a Georgian landscape, and point out the hundred cats that occupy certain pockets of the world. And that’s it.

Gameplay in Cats Hidden in Georgia is as simple as highlighting a certain area on a map, and clicking on one of hundreds of cats before moving onto the next, all whilst working through a clean and simple checklist. There is, thankfully, a zoom option—a scope that allows you to take a closer look at certain set pieces and other points of interest in order to identify all of those, well, sneakier pets. And believe me, when I say, it’s an option you’re going to want to utilize — as dozens of the cats in question are questionably more difficult to spot than others. That’s half of the fun, though, right — burning blisters into your eyeballs for the sake of earning brownie points? If that is the point, then, you know, mission accomplished.

Effortlessly Therapeutic

Cats Hidden in Georgia is clearly a very good-looking game, made all the more aesthetically appealing by its clever use of depth and complexity. Not that this comes as much of a surprise, mind you, what with the series’ earlier episodes also being hand-drawn jewels in their own right. What makes it all the more impressive is the fact that, a hundred hidden cats aside, everything is crammed into one enormous level. It’s a work of art, clear as day, and so, even if the gameplay is on the light side, its sheer beauty is a boon in itself, and definitely something avid fans of the art scene will appreciate, for sure.

If you are making a return to the series after the Hidden Cats in Paris episode, then you ought to heed our warning: Georgia is a slightly tougher setting to tackle. Sure enough, the idea is still as simple as scrubbing the deck for a hundred hidden cats, but due to the art style being a little thicker than in previous installments, it can be somewhat tricky to differentiate cats from a bog-standard item out on the sidewalk. Even still, it isn’t all that difficult to crack. In fact, if you’re something of a prodigy in the art of seeking, then you should, with any luck, have the entire checklist crossed and fleshed out in an hour, maybe two at most.

Verdict

It goes without saying at this point, but if you are a fan of search-and-find games (or cats, in general, for that matter), then you’re probably going to get a kick out of Travellin Cats’ latest iteration in its acclaimed saga. The only thing I will say, though, is that Cats Hidden in Georgia, in particular, isn’t one of the easiest in its series. In fact, as far as virtually searching for the kittens goes, it’s arguably one of the toughest, made all the more complex due to its high attention to detail and intricate art style. Add the fact that you can only zoom in to a certain degree, and it does make the overall process slightly more unforgiving than the series’ earlier episodes.

When all’s said and done, Cats Hidden in Georgia is a simple yet elegantly hand-drawn game that’ll make for a perfect stocking filler for anyone with the heart and patience to flick through it. As with any game of its kind, it isn’t the lengthiest, but where it lacks in durability, it most definitely makes up for in countless other ways — its art style, being the defining feature, for sure. And so, for as little as a dollar, you can’t really go wrong with what its creators have put out on display here.

While Cats Hidden in Georgia might not be to everyone’s liking, that isn’t to say that the series’ earlier installments won’t be worthy in their own right. If, however, you’re looking for the timeline’s toughest chapter to date, then you needn’t search any further than the horizons of good old-fashioned Georgia. On the other hand, if you’re after something that’s slightly more forgiving, then you should consider one of the series’ earlier chapters — Cats Hidden in London, for example.