You can ride a cat and recruit a cat cult in this adorable cat café game

I played a bunch of games at GDC a few weeks ago, but my absolute favorite was a whimsical, adorable game called Calico, which is about magical girls (think Sailor Moon) running a cat café. 

You see, cats are great, and in this game not only do you run a cat café—hang out with cats, pick them up, snuggle them, put them on your head—you can also ride a giant cat, encounter a mystical space cat, and recruit a cat cult. 

I don't know if the cats are actually in a cult, per se, but they were marching in a circle around a tree in the woods when I encountered them. When I picked one of them up, the rest started marching behind me in a line; my own little cat cult. 

The build of Calico I played at GDC was still very early—some cats would clip through walls, some animations were a bit janky, and a lot of systems still needed building (the release is currently scheduled for 2020 or later). But what I played was fun and undeniably cute. I love simple, slice of life-type games like Stardew Valley and the upcoming Ooblets. Calico looks to hit that same target audience—the game's main task is to rebuild the town's cat café and fill it with cute and cuddly creatures. (Oh yeah, the game's not limited to cats. There's also dogs, raccoons, red pandas, and all sorts of other small furry friends.) But really Calico is just about spending time in this world, this town of magical girls, and hanging out with cats. 

Calico launched a Kickstarter today to fund the remaining development. As of this writing it's more than halfway funded. 

Bo Moore

As the former head of PC Gamer's hardware coverage, Bo was in charge of helping readers better understand and use PC hardware. He also headed up the buying guides, picking the best peripherals and components to spend your hard-earned money on. He can usually be found playing Overwatch, Apex Legends, or more likely, with his cats. He is now IGN's resident tech editor and PC hardware expert. 

Latest in Life Sim
A female Zoi making two hearts with her fingers.
Following 24 hours of Denuvo-based backlash, Inzoi is taking a surprising step and removing it entirely: 'We want to sincerely apologise for not aligning more closely with player expectations'
Schedule I drug deal going down
Forget REPO, Monster Hunter Wilds and Assassin's Creed Shadows, Steam's current global top seller is an early access game about managing a drug empire
Inzoi
Ultra-realistic life sim Inzoi has officially shoved Hollow Knight: Silksong and Deadlock out of the way to become Steam's most hotly-anticipated game
Two people talking in the street
Inzoi's 'Smart Zoi' AI system sounds great on paper but seeing it in a live demo didn't exactly wow me
Inzoi
Inzoi's attempt to do everything has left it a shallow imitation of The Sims, and I'm not sure it understands what makes those games so special in the first place
Inzoi - A Zoi stands in a neon yellow and pink room wearing polkadot pajamas looking shocked
People expecting Inzoi to be some sort of Sims killer are going to be very disappointed
Latest in Features
kingdom come deliverance 2 thunderstone quest
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's masterful quest design can be summed up by one wonderfully weird search for a magic stone
Blue Protocol players dancing minutes before the game closes forever
What will we do at the end of the world? If MMOs are any indication: mostly what we already do, plus a lot of dancing
Sphene applauds in Final Fantasy 14's patch 7.2 story.
I'm not yelling 'we're so back!' yet, but Final Fantasy 14's patch 7.2 story could be the first sign the MMO is returning to what made it so critically-acclaimed
Several tight-wearing superheroes surge towards the camera in a heroic fashion in City of Heroes.
One year later, City of Heroes' officially recognized fan server has me praying it's the future of dead MMOs
Immortal Pillars expansion for Age of Mythology: Retold
Age of Mythology Retold's new Chinese pantheon expansion takes a bold stance on updating an old game: Just make good new stuff
Ragnarok Battle Offline
After punishing my graphics card with Monster Hunter Wilds, I've returned to the rock-solid frame rates of my old hunting grounds: Windows XP