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We Need to Talk About Catly
Catly is one of many games announced at The Game Awards and it's been causing quite the stir ever since.
At first glance, this cute cat game captivated so many but it also left us asking: but what is it? People were intrigued, myself included and I'll admit to going and wishlisting the game because when I see cats, I just get so excited. And in this time of cozy MMOs hitting the scene, of course one featuring cats is the next logical approach.
The first thing to really catch me off guard though was the steam listing itself. Now, when I looked the other night it was different and now it's been shortened. I wish I had screenshotted the original one, but the edited will have to do for the time being.
The text reads: A Cat Open World, with Beautiful Cats. Hyperrealism, Actions, Cuddle, Speed, Islands, Fashion, Dreams, Snow, Robots, Plants -- all with and via Cats.
Please bear in mind that when I transposed it, I kept all punctuation and capitalization as it is in the post. The continuous capitalization immediately made me think of a Wish Listing, especially given how many seemingly random buzzwords there are in the description. Instead of telling me what the game will be about, I have a bunch of descriptive words strung together. Not to mention the strange phrasing of Actions instead of Action.
It feels like a giant red flag and it only gets stranger from here.
Now I will admit that when you scroll down the game is explained a bit more. And it does actually seem to be more than just a Wish Listing. But I don't understand why this isn't in the initial description because, as you'll see, it makes a lot more sense. However most people aren't going to scroll down after seeing a description like that. They're going to skip.
Even with the description here making more sense I still have questions about what "Run to the rescue with cats peace will follow" means.
I sent the game to my friend, laughing about how cute it was and how even though it was a bit sketchy, I was still invested because cats. And he pointed out something wild. This game is considered similar to Sons of the Forest.
For anyone who might not know, Sons of the Forest is a horror survival crafting game. It's part of a series that I really enjoy but the game has no cats (Thank Heavens), isn't cozy, nor is it an MMO. It's a horror game and a good one at that.
It could be that the action and open world tags are what link the two, but I still feel there are better choices to compare it to than Sons of the Forest.
Even giving it the benefit of the doubt since sometimes Steam links some strange games together, there's still more red flags to discuss.
I scrolled down further and saw something that caught my eye. Instead of the news and announcements discussing updates about the game or any sort of progress, the last two are both for products.
The first link goes to their website which seems to have preorder information available for what I think will be in game cosmetics for both the humans and cats. Meanwhile the second link goes to an app. I couldn't tell whether this app was for Catly itself or for something just tied to the game. Either way, both of these appear to be additional products, not anything about game progress.
This is such a red flag because still people are being kept in the dark about what this game is and it appears now to only be a future cash grab. And while I have no problems with companies making products for their games, to be teasing this stuff before even showing off a solid concept... it gives me a bad vibe.
Yet this last thing is potentially the worst vibe yet.
Many have been speculating (with good reason) that Catly is just AI generated. And with images like the one below and any of the ones included in this post, it's hard to think it's anything else.
And I'll be honest, looking at the art I definitely get that vibe as well. The above image is directly off their website and it just feels off. The way the cat's proportions are wonky and how its fur seems to blend seamlessly into the carpet. These photos don't look right and there's something off about every single one of them. Below are a bunch of screenshots taken from their current Steam listing. Each one of them feels like AI art.
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The entire game so far seems to have this uncanny feel to it and it makes me wonder if the gaming industry is trying to push it to move further into AI. While there is a lot of consumer backlash, many companies want to us AI to cut costs on certain things. But as yet another consumer, I can tell you right now that we know. While sometimes this AI art can captivate us momentarily, it doesn't take long for us to come to our senses and in my unprofessional opinion, this feels like AI art. The way the shading is done, how all of the cats look just a bit uncanny, and how they seems to blend into themselves and the backgrounds at odd moments. It all adds up to something suspicious.
The biggest red flag is that the AI that is most likely being used isn't even being disclosed on the Steam page. Oh, and it also seems to have a gacha system if this is anything to go by. There are so many red flags wrapped up in this game and not being properly disclosed or attempting to hide the disclosures.
Despite all this I have kept Catly on my wishlist. This is because I want to see the development updates and don't want to be on a mailing list. Given all the red flags, I think it would be near impossible to get off said mailing list and I don't feel like doing that to myself. So for now it sits on my wishlist and I'll be checking in on it to see if they ever show any content updates and not just more products they hope to sell.
But before I go I do want to offer one small, possibly unhinged conspiracy theory.
What if Catly is doing this as a marketing strategy?
Please don't click away immediately. I swear I'm going somewhere with this.
This trailer immediately caught the eyes of so many, the odd description had people even more confused, and the art looks like such blatant AI work that it's practically undeniable. But I'm here to deny it and offer a different idea to just consider for fun. Even if it turns out to be incorrect, which it most definitely will, sometimes it's fun to just theorize.
What if Catly took this approach to get people talking about their game. That bio was written a very specific but easily replicable way. I'm sure I could write something similar for this blog if I took five minutes. The art style of AI can be replicated by other artists. Essentially create something beautiful and then add some imperfections and blending issues to it. And currently all of the products that are being pushed can't actually be bought. All of these things are eye catching and even lead to the creation of this post. So could it not be a marketing experiment as the game is being worked on?
Probably not, but it's still a fun theory!
I will continue to keep an eye on Catly and wait to see when they let the cat out of the bag! Does this game catch your eye? Are you curious, excited, or already tired of hearing about it? Let me know in the comments!
💛 Memento
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