Bad Cat

My first impression of Bad Cat was a warm flicker of recognition, the kind you get when a small game clearly knows exactly what it is and leans into it without apology. Burger, a round and aggressively motivated cat, sneaks through a neighbour's house with one mission: chaos. Clog the toilet with a rubber duck, swap a toy gun for a real one, ruin the dog's bed, dance smugly after each successful prank. The whole thing sits very close to the spirit of the old Neighbours from Hell series, and the community around this game says so freely. That comparison is both the highest compliment you can pay it and the clearest warning about its ceiling. The structure is a level-by-level stealth-puzzle loop. You sneak room to room, read the space, find the right object, trigger the prank before the timer runs out, and avoid the quick-tempered man, his housekeeper, and the weary dog who really did not ask for any of this. The hand-drawn locations carry a colourful, cartoon warmth that feels genuinely crafted rather than assembled from asset packs. The original soundtrack holds the mood together in that understated way small indie games sometimes nail better than larger productions. After each successful prank, Burger does a little self-satisfied dance, and that detail alone communicates more personality than most of the game's writing does. Here is where honesty earns its keep. Bad Cat is not a polished game. Object selection is fiddly enough that you will occasionally trigger the wrong item and blow a run through no real fault of your own. The controls carry a slight stiffness that some players find charming and others find aggravating. A handful of Steam reviewers note that the animations feel rough and that the jokes repeat before the game ends. The total playtime sits somewhere in the two-hour range for most people, and once you have seen the prank set, there is not much pulling you back. Eight achievements give completionists a light checklist to work through, but the structural loop does not evolve meaningfully from start to finish. Who is this actually for? People who remember Neighbours from Hell with affection and want thirty minutes of that feeling for almost no money. Younger players who have never touched that series and just want something goofy, short, and low-stakes on a slow afternoon. Cat owners who will nod knowingly at Burger's energy. It is not for players expecting mechanical depth, escalating challenge, or a sense that the developer had more to say than the runtime allows. One Steam reviewer put it plainly: it was a fun couple of hours, full stop. That assessment is hard to argue with. Bad Cat is a small thing that knows it is a small thing. The hand-drawn art has soul, Burger has personality, and the nostalgia signal it sends out is genuine even if the execution does not fully match the ambition. Approach it as a short, cheerful diversion with a loose grip on polish, and it earns its place.

Kai · Scout Team

Indie & narrative

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