Neko Atsume: Kitty Collector (for iPhone)

Neko Atsume: Kitty Collector (for iPhone)

Editor Rating: Good (3.5)
Neko Atsume: Kitty Collector (for iPhone) - Neko Atsume: Kitty Collector (for iPhone)
  • Pros

    Numerous, adorable nekos. Cute, hand-drawn aesthetic. Clever game mechanic.
  • Cons

    Limited cat interactions.
  • Bottom Line

    Neko Atsume: Kitty Collector is an odd but utterly charming iPhone game about leaving stuff in your lawn for stray cats to play with.

Let me tell you about an iPhone game called Neko Atsume: Kitty Collector. As you do in Animal Crossing, you buy and place furniture, but it's not for your benefit. As you do in Pokemon, you (kind of) gather many unique creatures, but they'll be cats. And as in Candy Crush, you'll want to keep playing, but the game won't let you. This strange, utterly charming title is unlike any game I've ever played, on a phone or otherwise.

Time to Check-o my Nekos
Though the game has been available in Japanese for some time, a recent update has added a localized English version. The game is free in the App Store, and I had no trouble installing it on my iPhone 6.

Neko Atsume defies the typical video game convention of engaging with the game while it is running. Instead, all the action in Neko Atsume happens when you've closed your phone, moved on to a different game, or quit the game entirely. Call it a postmodern deconstruction of video games, call it an entirely accurate cat simulator, call it whatever you want. The result is a game that doesn't demand your attention, and that you can safely ignore for hours (or even days!) at a time.

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The game consists of your house and yard, the objects you scatter around your property, and the adorable cats (nekos) that come to visit. While the idea of feeding and entertaining stray cats might at first seem odd, you'll quickly be won over by the game's gentleness and charming, hand-drawn graphics.

Neko Atsume: Kitty Collector (for iPhone)

Your interactions with the stray cats that have gathered in your yard are limited to watching their simple, soothing, looping animations and taking photos of them with the camera tool. Photos are saved to your Catbook, which serves as a record of all the cats you've observed thus far and teases cats you've yet to see. Cats that haven't visited your yard are marked with a question mark, cats that have visited but that you've never observed have darkened faces, and cats you have observed appear in full color.

This system invites comparison to both Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, in which observation fundamentally changes what is observed, and Schrödinger's famous thought experiment involving the waveform of a cat. What is a cat? Can we ever truly perceive the totality of a cat? These existential questions remain, even after playing the game for weeks, but one thing is certain: These nekos are precious, and I will work for their happiness.

Neko Atsume: Kitty Collector (for iPhone)Flipping through your Catbook, you'll notice that most cats are variations on the same basic design. But each cat is unique, however, with its own markings, name, and preferred toys. Some of this is recorded in your Catbook, some of it you have to figure out for yourself. Catbook entries also include a personality and power level. Shadow, for example, enjoys the ball of yarn and is a level 50 with a "peculiar" personality. Ramses the Great is a Riddler with a power level of 230. Truly, these cats contain multitudes.

The toys, which consist of everything from paper bags to massive climbing structures, attract different cats, so changing up the arrangement of your yard is encouraged. You purchase cat toys with the silver and gold fish that cats leave in exchange for your hospitality. Cats won't appear unless you leave food out for them, but thankfully the plebeian "Thrifty Bits" catfood is available for free. A plate of fresh sashimi will cost you five gold fish, one of the few instances in which the game's fish-based currency system makes sense.

The game does allow you to purchase gold fish with real money, but the largest in-game investment is a yard expansion that costs 180 gold fish. Having played the game for two weeks, I am very close to expanding the world of my nomadic nekos without having spent a cent. But if you wanted to pay to expand your yard, you can get 200 gold fish for $2.99. 

This is a far cry from the money-grubbing tactics of games like Angry Birds Go!. Instead, it's much closer to Simpson's Tapped Out, an excellent game that doesn't require in-game purchases and takes a funny, self-aware approach to the bizarre world of microtransactions.

In addition to fish, cats will occasionally leave you tokens of their affection called Mementos. These can range from ancient relics (such as an elegant staff) to actual garbage (assorted seeds, wet matchbooks, cicada husks). The game also has a unique system for delivering ads. Occasionally, a cat appears at the top of an in-game menu. Tap him and you'll be asked if you want to view the brochure (read: ad) that the cat has brought you. Yes, Mittens. Yes, I will look at what you have brought.

A Powerful Neko
Neko Atsume is a strange and earnest game. It's not really a virtual pet simulator, though it has those elements, and it's not really a tappy money-trap like so many other mobile games. Its charm and gentleness make it most comparable to an Animal Crossing game, but it has far more modest aspirations.

I have no idea how long Neko Atsume will continue to hold my attention. Like a cat, I am quite fickle. But for now I relish my minute-long breaks spent looking at my yard of tiny, round, cats. So if you'll excuse me, I need to see if I have enough fish to finally buy that cowboy hat for my nekos.