Happy Pet Review (PC)

Black Mirror’s The Throng has taught me all but two important lessons about virtual pets: never leave them to fend for themselves for extended periods of time, and always keep on top of their basic needs to help them thrive and evolve. The things is, even real pets aren’t as demanding as virtual pets. Heck, I recall the Tamagotchi era, and how those pocket-sized pets would often bark demands at you even during your sleep, if not for a treat, then for a momentary signal that you were still as interested in caring for them as you were when you unwrapped them. I thought I was over all of that, and that idle companions were no longer as present as they were back in ‘04. But, Happy Pet has proven that the Tamagotchi era isn’t, in fact, over.

It’s an incredibly simple concept: a small feline friend accommodates a small portion of your desktop, and through a series of squeaky noises and heartfelt gestures, asks that you, the keeper of said friend, do as your told. And by that, I mean feeding it, cleaning it, playing with it, and, of course, talking to it. Therein lies the purpose of the game: to complete your duties as a pet keeper in an allotted time and earn coins. If you can successfully fulfill the requests in a designated section of time, you accrue points to help your pet grow and prosper. If, however, you fail to keep tabs on their needs, then—surprise surprise—you lose points. It’s the case here, then, where you have to balance your time with theirs, and do all in your power to obtain enough points to make a difference to their progress.

I’ll Be There For You

To acknowledge the elephant in the room — yes, Happy Pet is a sleepless idle title, meaning, even if you do decide to log out and go about your life, the companion here will continue to do their own thing and badger you until you come back to clean up after it. A bit of a double-edged sword that—the fact that you can, rather annoyingly, lose points if you fail to return during crucial moments in the game to keep certain sliders at their toppling points. The fact that you can also lose points, and with that, dial back the odds of ushering your pet into a better place, for not remaining on the ball, is also a bit of a pain in the neck. Yet we digress, because where there’s a pixel-perfect kitten to adopt, there’s a loyal keeper who will happily play the role and not ask questions.

As luck would have it, catering to this on-screen pal of yours isn’t exactly a burden. Or at least, it isn’t, so long as you’re actually paying attention to their needs and devoting enough of your time to their affection. With that, there are only a few basic options to choose from, meaning that it really is the case of having to click on the right tab as and when needed, and watching the points add up over a set amount of time to prove your loyalty to the act of pet ownership. And yes, there is a leaderboard to prove your commitment — because of course there is.

Needs Must

Gameplay-wise, there isn’t a whole lot going on here. Scratch that — there isn’t anything going on, minus, perhaps, the odd chat box that occasionally appears on the screen to offer you an ultimatum of some kind. For example, you could be presented with two choices, with one of them allowing you to take more time responding to certain requests, and the other giving you more requests, but with less time for you to respond. It’s at times like these you can slightly alter the process and tailor it to suit your tastes — not by much, but by a noticeable amount, I’ll admit. But other than that, there isn’t a lot for you to do here.

The annoying thing that bothers me the most here is that Happy Pet isn’t always, well, happy. In fact, the game makes a habit of forcing you to feel bad for not spending enough time with your furry friend. There are sad, sad eyes that you must face each time you return, and a depressing quotation from the heart, most of which serve only to tug at your heartstrings and lead you to believe that you’re an incompetent fool without a soul. It isn’t that bad, but you get the idea — if you don’t spend enough time clicking the right buttons and proving your worth via the online leaderboards and in-game points system, then the cat will let you know about it. The thing is, even my own cat isn’t this judgmental. Can’t fault a good old-fashioned pixel art pet-keeping simulator though, eh? Those darn puppy eyes.

Verdict

I’m all for the idea of feeding a pixelated pet every once in a blue moon to keep their toothy grins from falling apart, but even I have to draw the line and put my foot down when those brief encounters transition into bottomless burdens. I’m not saying that Happy Pet isn’t cute and lovable, but it’s the point system, the lack of incentives, and the judgmental eyes that make it so you constantly feel the need to cater to a virtual pet’s each and every attribute to prove your worth. At some point here it becomes less of an adorable idle clicker and more of a weight on your shoulders—a cumbersome inconvenience that you could quite easily do without.

The silver lining here is that Happy Pet can, in all fairness, be placed somewhere on your desktop while you continue with other administrative exercises. But again, even when it’s hovering over you and dangling in your peripheral vision, you still have that voice looming in the back of your head—an irritating echo that reminds you that there’s more to be done, and that your duties aren’t quite as important. Perhaps that’s just me, and maybe it’s that post-Tamagotchi phase that I went through that’s invoking some old memories here. Even still, we have to ask ourselves that all-important question: at what point does the mindless act of feeding a virtual pet stop being fun, and more of a pointless chore? A lot to think about with this one, then.

Of course, if you enjoy simple idle clickers that don’t rely on skill or luck, then you ought to enjoy the simple act of talking to a cat for a few hours in this pixel-centric litter box. For the record, though, cats can be stupidly obsessive and melodramatic.