So I Tried… Ultra Mega Cats Demo

Each edition of So I Tried… I will try a game that I have never played before. Will I find something new to love? Will I find something new to despise? I'll take a full half hour, no matter how bad it gets or how badly I do, to see if this is the game for me. This time, we played the Ultra Mega Cats Demo as a part of Steam Next Fest!

What I Thought It Was

When we make our traditional delve into the co-op bounty of the Steam Next fest, the amount of information we have per game is minimal: usually, someone spots a cool-looking demo, we all agree on it, and that's it. In the case of Ultra Mega Cats, I was more out of the loop than usual, so I honestly had no idea what I was getting into!

Based on the name alone, I figured this would be some kind of meme game with jokey characters and possibly a ridiculous plot to go with it. Since it has cats, I assumed it would involve either fighting mechanised rodents or maybe ruining a poor, unsuspecting owner's home in the name of Ultra Mega Cat supremacy. I was promised the game had a fast-paced combat system, so I was happy enough, regardless.

What It Actually Is

Ultra Mega Cats turned out to be a co-op roguelite action game in which we play the titular fantastic felines. In a world dominated by rats, hamsters, and small birds (called it), our main cast are some of the last cats standing and were used as brainwashed killing machines by the vile creatures they used to hunt. Now freed from this control, they seek to rescue others meeting the same fate and returning balance to the stars.

In the demo, we were given a choice between two ultra cats, BBKat and Kagero, and then let loose to take on the forces of squeaky evil. Every time you set out on a run, you can pick between three power-ups to start with, ranging from passive boosts to changes to your secondary attack. The run itself consists of combat arenas, in which you’ll take on varied foes with different abilities in small, closed-off zones, and rest stops, which appear between the skirmishes. Once you reach one of these stops, you are given a new power-up and the opportunity to buy more with the coins you have earned.

The characters themselves were nicely varied, with BBKat being slower but having the ability to put up shields and Kagero utilising a cybernetic bow and arrow. Though we had some trouble staying alive in our time with the game, there did seem to be a nice synergy between the ultra cats. The enemy designs were also imaginative, if deadly… I wasn’t ready to fight bomb-carrying mecha hamsters.

Will I Keep Playing?

Based on the demo, Ultra Mega Cats seems like an entertaining game to spend a few hours on. The fast action, interesting hero powers, and character synergy are great, and while I do think I’ll check it out later, I don’t think this is quite the game for me. I dislike having to optimise my build in games and frequently pick powers, skills, or weapons on a whim more than on any 5D-chess shenanigans. As such, I got the feeling that I’d very much struggle in the title, as we were struck down quite often by our tiny adversaries. It’s possible we just had some bad runs, as the nature of roguelikes is bound to result in them every now and again, but so far, I was not sold.