Yikes, another smartphone game already. Neko Atsume: Kitty Collector (available on Android and iOS) is the second game now that I first heard about on The GamerCat, an online web comic that I like (the other was Cookie Clicker, haha).
Anyway, Neko Atsume is about as silly as Cookie Clicker, and similarly mindlessly enjoyable. In this game, you just have the simple objective of attracting cats to your yard with food and "goodies", i.e. cat toys such as a paper bag, toy mouse on a rod, and variously shaped and colored cat beds. Each cat has a distinct appearance and name, and you can take pictures of them. The cats leave behind currency in the form of silver and gold fish, which you can use to buy more goodies, to attract more cats, and so on. There are a number of "special cats" to attract with specific goodies, such as the suave Señor Don Gato, and you can expand your yard and also redecorate it in various styles.
Snapping pics of visiting cats is compulsive, and the game is free to play, and has been added to the list of games I check regularly but only for a minute at a time. I feel like I've seen most everything the game has to offer and I don't see myself spending any money on this, but this was definitely worth a download and I suspect I'm going to continue playing for a good while. Its super cute style (which feels distinctly Japanese) and lighthearted music is compelling, and all of its super cute parts sum up to a near-perfect relaxing time waster.
Live out your crazy cat lady fantasy with these Neko Atsume links:
-Official English site
- Entry on Wikipedia- A good walkthrough, although it's about the Japanese version, so the names of things it references aren't exactly the same as the English game
- Apparently there's a dog version also