Cat Quest III

A beloved series goes to sea, at a smaller scale

The Cat Quest series has built a loyal following over two prior entries by taking straightforward, accessible action-RPG combat and wrapping it in a relentlessly cheerful, pun-saturated fantasy world starring cats (and, in Cat Quest II, dogs as a second playable protagonist). Cat Quest III keeps that fundamental charm intact while sending the series in a new direction: a pirate theme, an open ocean to sail, and a hunt for the fearsome Pirate King replacing the prior games' more traditional fantasy-kingdom framing. Critics responded warmly to what's here, landing the game at 81 on Metacritic and 82 on OpenCritic's "Strong" tier, with specific praise for the charm, visual presentation and a combat system reviewers consistently credit as more fluid and responsive than Cat Quest II's. The recurring qualifier in that same critical coverage, though, is telling: multiple outlets specifically noted the game "didn't significantly stand out" within its own series, a polite way of flagging the same issue Steam's own reviewers would go on to describe in far more specific, quantified detail.

What actually improved

It's worth being fair to what Cat Quest III does well before addressing the scope question, because the improvements are real rather than illusory. Combat feels tighter and more responsive across the board, a genuine mechanical upgrade critics and players agree on without much dissent. The pirate setting gives the series a visual identity distinct from the more generic fantasy trappings of the first two games, and the open ocean, while a source of some specific complaints detailed below, is a legitimately novel structural addition rather than a reskin of prior content. The writing retains the series' well-loved sense of humour, and the game remains one of the more approachable, family-friendly action RPGs available, with local split-screen and Remote Play Together co-op carrying over intact from Cat Quest II.

The shrinkage, quantified

Where Cat Quest III's reception gets genuinely specific rather than merely disappointed is in exactly how much smaller it is than what came before. Multiple detailed reviews independently put numbers on the gap: one cites 24 dungeons and 28 side quests in Cat Quest III against what several returning players describe as roughly double that count, or more, in Cat Quest II. Completionist playtime is another commonly cited figure — around 10 hours to 100% Cat Quest III, against roughly 16 hours for the same completion target in Cat Quest I and II, according to multiple independent reviewers making the identical comparison. That's not scattered anecdotal disappointment; it's the same specific claim, with similar numbers, appearing across reviews that clearly weren't coordinating with each other.

The price context sharpens the complaint considerably. Cat Quest III launched at NZ$31.95, compared to Cat Quest II's original 2019 launch price of NZ$18.49 — a genuine, verifiable increase of roughly 73% for a game multiple detailed reviewers say offers meaningfully less content than its predecessor did at a lower price five years earlier. Several reviewers make exactly this connection explicitly, arguing the game should be priced at half its asking cost or less to match its reduced scope, rather than treating the higher price as a simple inflation adjustment. It's the kind of specific, checkable value argument that's harder to dismiss than a vague "felt short" complaint, and it's echoed closely enough by critics' own "didn't stand out" framing that it reads as a real, broadly shared observation rather than one disappointed corner of the fanbase.

A handful of more specific mechanical complaints round out the picture: the new ship, which replaces the free swimming traversal option from earlier games, draws mixed reactions — some reviewers find it either overpowered against ground-based enemies or, conversely, cumbersome and unfun to actually pilot, while the lack of fast travel means players lean on the ship for basic map traversal in a way several reviewers say pads playtime with transit rather than adding meaningful content. At least one detailed review also argues the story reads more as connective tissue setting up a hypothetical Cat Quest IV than a fully self-contained narrative on its own terms.

A pattern worth naming plainly

It's worth stating the specific shape of this complaint clearly, because it's a different kind of problem than most sequels run into. Cat Quest III isn't broken, isn't buggy in any notable way, and isn't disliked by the people playing it — its 94.7% positive score on Steam is genuinely strong by any normal measure, and the vast majority of that positive sentiment comes from real satisfaction with the combat, tone and pirate setting rather than grudging tolerance. The complaint here is narrower and more specific: a sequel that quietly reduced its own scope while increasing its own price, reviewed against the exact yardstick its own franchise established. That's a fair thing for returning fans to weigh heavily, and a much less relevant one for anyone coming to the series fresh with no expectations set by the previous two games' size.

Verdict

Cat Quest III is a well-made, charming action RPG on its own terms, and critics were right to credit its combat improvements and pirate-themed presentation with real, specific merit. Where it falls short is a comparison its own marketing and series lineage invite directly: against Cat Quest II specifically, it offers meaningfully less content, at a meaningfully higher price, by numbers multiple independent reviewers arrive at separately rather than a single outlet's complaint. Newcomers to the series, unburdened by that comparison, are likely to have a genuinely good time. Returning fans should go in expecting a shorter, pirate-flavoured side adventure rather than a true successor to Cat Quest II's scope, and should weigh the higher asking price against that smaller scale before buying at full cost.