Review: Neko Atsume

Neko Atsume is a free-to-play app available for Android and iOS devices. Released in 2014, it still maintains a devoted player base and still receives regular updates that add new content. Neko Atsume is a game of Japanese origin - Neko Atsume literally translates to “Cat Collection,” which is a pretty accurate description of the objective of the game - which is to collect cats.

You begin the game in an empty yard, and must lay out food and treats to attract stray cats to visit you. You can also lay out toys, cushions, beds and various playthings to entertain the cats and encourage them to stick around for longer. Cats who enjoyed their stay will subsequently reward you with either silver or gold fish, which can be used to buy better quality food and treats and new items for your cats to play with.

Neko Atsume is the epitome of casual gaming - the majority of the time you “play” it, you're setting out food and items for the cats - then leaving for a while to wait for them to assemble. This literally involves exiting the app and doing something else. So as you periodically check your yard, you may find cats have appeared and are playing, sleeping or just hanging out.

This is where the collection part comes in - you can snap photos of the various cats and fill up their respective photo albums. Once and cat has visited several times and feels a friendship with you, he or she will present you with a memento - another collection you can slowly fill up.

Eventually you will be able to expand your yard to allow for more items to be placed and more cats to visit - and this larger yard can then be customised in various styles, such as remodelling it into a Japanese zen garden.

In addition to the regular cats of varying breeds, there are also a handful of cats that are considered rare, and will only be attracted to certain items. These cats tend to parody pop culture and celebrity icons, such as the cat who wears a baseball jersey, Joe De Meowgio or the cowboy cat, Billy The Kitten.

The art style is adorable - one of the most recognisable features are the cute little crosses the cats have on their bums - and the way cats squeeze inside glass vases or nestle comfortably inside cardboard shopping boxes is sure to warm the heart of any cat lover.

For a game that is severely lacking in actual gameplay and interaction, Neko Atsume is bizarrely addictive. You'll find yourself compulsively checking your yard, experimenting with different combinations of food and toys to attract the rare cats and bragging to your friends that you actually managed to snap a photo of Frosty.

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