Secret Paws – Cozy Apartments Review (Xbox Series X|S & PC)

Say what you will about hidden object games, but it honestly doesn’t get any “cozier” than cube-shaped cats and pixel-crafted dioramas. It’s a combination that works, as is it a well-oiled duo that you can’t help but adore. Take Secret Paws – Cozy Apartments, for example. Oh, it might not reinvent the wheel with its hot take on feline subjects, but it does capitalize on a concept that has been proven to be a successful one time and time again. It doesn’t take much to absorb the wholesome energy from this indie vessel, either, as it is, quite simply, a game that wants you to succeed.

Secret Paws proudly wears its heart on its sleeve as a simple, self-contained collect-a-thon that deliberately prioritizes laid-back puzzles and homely aesthetics over strenuous legwork and unnecessary hairballs. With as little as a bouquet of cubed dioramas and a collection of furry companions, Secret Paws aims to bring you a relaxing experience that can soothe the soul and lighten the load on itchy trigger fingers. It might not do anything to build on that, but to give credit where it’s due, it does make good with its promise to deliver oodles of coziness by the truckload.

If you’ve played a hidden object game before, then Secret Paws – Cozy Apartments ought to come across as a fairly familiar experience. Similar in design to the previous entries in the Secret Paws series, it primarily involves scrubbing through various spaces, interacting with the environment, and highlighting a subject. In this case, you have cubed kittens with tiny whiskers and mushy paws — but in an apartment complex, as the title blatantly implies. But other than that, it’s the same basic setup as Cozy Offices, in that you spend your time searching for cats that, quite frankly, have no intention of making your job easier.

With the aid of a swivel tool and a useful hint system, the task seems all rather straightforward: to rotate each room, and to carefully unearth various cats that inconveniently position themselves in the strangest of places. As you complete a list and fulfill the room requirements, you simply move on to the next area and, well, do it all over again. The cube-like kittens pile up, and the apartments gradually begin to look a little cluttered. It’s a simple concept, and if we’re being honest, one that doesn’t do a lot to reimagine the hidden object genre. But, as the saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. It just so happens that cats, of all things, are the most unbreakable of the bunch.

With somewhere in the vicinity of a thousand cats to unpack and add to your collection, Secret Paws – Cozy Apartments packs a weighty punch that can keep you grafting and scrubbing through the crags and crevices for hours. While it might not offer a lot more than what it displays on its tin, it does conjure up plenty of creative hiding spots and challenges. And when I say challenges, I’m mostly referring to the fact that cats, being as nimble as they are, have a tendency to hide themselves in the most peculiar of places. But frankly, that’s all part of the journey — the process of glossing over the tiniest nooks and crannies in search of that ever-elusive feline friend.

Secret Paws – Cozy Apartments is just as much about interacting with the environment as it is about gazing at it like an open book. Given that you can dabble your fingers against most of the items that pop up in each of the dioramas, the game offers just enough for you to work with. For example, you can open draws, boxes and windows, as well as unravel clothes, items and other pieces of furniture. And to be honest, that is what you spend most of your time doing here: clicking items and rotating the room with the hopes of finding a squishy cube. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it certainly makes for a cozy pastime that can keep you smiling from ear to ear. For a short while, at least.

If you’re a fan of hidden object sagas like 100 Hidden Cats or Cats & Seek, then the Secret Paws series ought to feel like a solid choice for helping to wax those feline-based desires of yours. Again, it doesn’t add a fresh like of paint to an existing formula, but it does hold its own as a cute and well-rounded hidden object experience that just feels great to sort through. Sometimes, that’s enough to keep you going.

Verdict

Secret Paws – Cozy Apartments fits snugly into the hidden object sphere as an effortlessly adorable, albeit somewhat familiar diorama-based game that, in all honesty, might have the same feel as most of its kin. Though, that isn’t to say that it’s a fundamentally bad game. On the contrary, Secret Paws is as equally clean as it is wholesome, as is its approach to entry-level puzzle solving and charming aesthetics. Oh, it’s still a hidden object game that favors the usual suspects, but  then, as history has often shown time and time again, it doesn’t get any cozier than cats. Secret Paws simply leans into that familiar market in an effort to give its players exactly what they want.

Of course, if you happen to have the time to spare and the coin to part ways with, then I’d say that Secret Paws has more than enough lovable qualities to justify the purchase and keep you entertained for a short while. At the end of the day, what more could you want from a hidden object game?