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I Am Cat

Incazelo

I Am Cat is a virtual reality sandbox adventure game, released in full on December 5, 2024, by New Folder Games Ltd. The game focuses on physics-based interaction and role-playing, putting players in the paws of a mischievous cat. Its core mechanic involves an arm-based locomotion system, similar to Gorilla Tag, where players use their hands to move, climb, and leap. The game encourages chaotic behavior like knocking over objects, scratching furniture, and stealing food, rewarding it through quests and interactions with other animal characters. The initial game world is Granny's House, a tutorial area filled with interactive elements. Following its full release, the game expanded significantly to include new biomes such as a cluttered garage, a bustling butcher shop, a large garden, and city streets. These environments introduced new Non-Player Characters (NPCs) like a stern Butcher, a mischievous Dog, and a wise Grandpa, each offering distinct environmental puzzles and cat-specific missions. The development of I Am Cat by New Folder Games Ltd, a small team with roots in mobile gaming, employed a rapid prototyping philosophy. They prioritized fun and core mechanics over visual polish, a strategy that led to the game's viral popularity through social media platforms like TikTok and YouTube. While praised for its freedom and immersive cat perspective, the game has received mixed reviews, with some users pointing out occasional "janky" movement mechanics and concerns about AI-generated art in promotional materials. The mobile version also faced criticism for its heavy reliance on advertisements. The "First Time on the Street" in I Am Cat marks a significant turning point. It shifts the player’s experience from the confined domestic setting of Granny's House to a vibrant, cartoon-styled metropolis. This transition is immediate, with the cozy interior giving way to the sights and sounds of an urban environment, signaling a much larger playground. The visual contrast is striking, with the game’s pleasant 3D graphics rendering towering buildings and paved roads, inviting exploration in all directions. Upon stepping onto the street, players discover a fully interactive zone brimming with new points of interest. The environment includes places like a butcher shop and a vegetable garden, along with busy roads filled with traffic that demand cautious navigation. Unlike the familiar floors of the house, the street introduces genuine peril. A key antagonist in this new zone is the Dog, a formidable obstacle that contrasts with Granny’s milder reprimands. The Dog represents a more primal threat, forcing players to employ the game’s arm-based locomotion to escape or find higher ground. This injects a new layer of stealth and traversal into the gameplay, encouraging vertical thinking—climbing fences, jumping onto awnings, and scaling walls to remain out of harm's way. The gameplay within "First Time on the Street" is structured around a series of quests that fully embrace the chaotic essence of being a cat. These objectives are designed to encourage exploration and interaction with the new physics-based environment. Common missions include simple tasks like "batting five dandelions" or "destroying five flower pots," which act as tutorials for outdoor physics interactions. More surprising mechanics, like gardening, where players might be asked to "grow extra fruits and vegetables," offer a calmer contrast to the usual destruction. Finding specific items like a birthday cake challenges players' scavenging skills, and interactions with the Butcher, such as attempting to steal fish or meat, add a heist-like flavor to the exploration. Exploring the street also ties directly into the game’s economy. Completing these street-level tasks and causing general mayhem earns players "fishy coins," which can be spent on an expanded wardrobe of cosmetic items. This gamification of mischief provides a sense of progression, rewarding players for every act of vandalism or successful escape. In conclusion, the "First Time on the Street" experience in I Am Cat effectively transforms the game from a domestic physics sandbox into a broader urban playground. It successfully raises the stakes by replacing the enclosed safety of Granny’s rooms with the dangers of traffic and hostile dogs. By combining the game's signature chaotic physics with new objectives, New Folder Games has crafted a varied and immersive expansion that fulfills the fantasy of feline freedom and solidifies the game's identity as a comprehensive simulator of a cat's many adventures. More - I Am Cat: https://bit.ly/40cjK8U Steam: https://bit.ly/49WsH9I #IAmCat #TheGamerBayLetsPlay #TheGamerBay