Synopsis:
Move the cats and cushions so that every kitty is nice and comfy. But there’s a twist! Cats only move left and right, cushions only move up and down.

Publisher: Hungry Sky
Reviewed on: iOS (iPhone 13 Pro)
Also available for: Android

Developer: Hungry Sky
Director: Nick Lowe
Art Director: Lauren Fletcher
Audio Director: Ben Hammersley
Executive Producer: Minh Tran

Whenever the last PAX Australia happened — it could be ten years at this stage — I played this cute cut puzzles on the show floor called Nekograms. It was released at the back end of 2021, and although I didn’t get the time to cover it then, I’m meowking (I’m terrible) time for it now. 

The premise is simple, but the puzzles are addictive as you move cats and cushions around to solve the ever-increasing difficulty of puzzles. Each cat must be resting upon a pillow to be happy. But there’s long cats, short cats, and they must rest on pillows long enough to accommodate. Pillows can move up and down, while the cats left to right. The game feels most like a sliding block puzzle game as you move the cats and cushions around the board to find the solution. Why won’t these cats get off the pillows for you and let you move things around easier? Because they’re cats, of course: adorable, annoying cats.  

There is a move counter at the top of the screen for those chasing the ability to perfect each level. You can obviously find the answer to a puzzle and replay the level, but there’s no punishment for taking a hundred moves to finish a puzzle either. Nekograms is a puzzle game designed to relax and stretch your brain muscles, not make you want to throw your phone across the room. The cute cat aesthetics match the puzzles and temp, and I appreciate it. 

Nekograms has a simple art style, and although the backgrounds being dynamic could have added to the game, the different styles of cats are all drawn adorably. The music was a bit of a letdown here as it quickly became repetitive, but maybe developer Hungry Sky assumed most people would be playing without sound or listening to their own music.