They Killed Your Cat

John Wick, but you're the one with the gun

They Killed Your Cat casts players as Cooper, a man working through a corridor full of masked attackers after the title event, armed with a shooting system built almost entirely around manual input: reloading, and depending on the settings, walking and even blinking are all things the player has to do by hand rather than have automated. One reviewer laid out the premise and the appeal plainly: "This game is very similar to the famous movie we all know. In the movie, John Wick creates absolute chaos after his dog is killed. In this game, we control the main character named Cooper. Our goal is simple: We eliminate everyone who killed our cat or helped. I think this is a great concept for an indie game. It is simple, straightforward, and fun." The same reviewer praised the depth of the customization on offer: "The game lets us customize our control setup in very detailed ways. For example, you can choose if only the reloading is manual, or you can go full realism where even breathing and blinking are controlled by the player. Honestly, it is a very creative idea, and it creates a highly unique gameplay dynamic. It is challenging but also very entertaining."

Reviewers who liked the game tended to zero in on how good the actual act of shooting feels once you're fighting the manual systems instead of the enemies. "Extremely silly - especially the full manual mode - and yet delightfully crispy gunplay. Slamming that magazine in and charging the weapon just in the nick of time to snatch a headshot on an oncoming enemy? Absolute cinema," wrote one, The same reviewer added, "A lot of folk are complaining that it lacks 'content', but I think it precisely stayed it's welcome, and was in fact just on the cusp of over-staying in that final encounter. Worth every penny, in my opinion."

One hallway, repeated

Set the manual-input novelty aside, though, and a large share of the review base — including plenty of reviewers who still recommend the game — describe the actual level design as barely there. One of the more detailed negative reviews broke the entire experience down into a loop: "This game is straight cheeks. Such a cool concept ruined by the same stagnant gameplay loop." That reviewer then listed the loop step by step — walk down a white corridor, find ammo, kill a small group of enemies, reach an alarm panel that summons a horde, hold a chokepoint, open the next door — and summed it up as something that repeats "for the whole game." Another reviewer arrived at nearly the same conclusion after being sold on the trailer: "You watch it and immediately think, 'alright, this is going to be pure chaos, fast paced action in tight spaces, maybe even a weirdly original story considering the title.' Then you actually play it and realize most of that excitement was way too optimistic," though they added, "The thing I appreciated most was probably the weapon handling, which gives the game at least a bit of personality."

Multiple reviewers also flagged that the game hasn't moved much since launch. "very fun concept but there's max 40 minutes of content and with no updates in almost 6 months, it's SEVERELY lacking content and i'm starting to lose hope that there will be any soon," read one, calling the moment-to-moment play "a constant loop of nothingness."

Unarmed enemies and an abandoned premise

A recurring, more uncomfortable complaint is that the people the player is fighting don't behave like a threat so much as a target range. "It feels like they wanted to name it 'Active shooter simulator,' but knew it would only get a very specific (insane) type of Steam player. There is no story. No objective," wrote one reviewer bluntly. Another described the tonal mismatch directly: "The enemies are practically unarmed... You can spray and pray with no penalties, no civ kills, nothing," while a third said plainly, "It feels wrong shooting unarmed people though. If they were armed, it would feel like a fair fight". Several reviewers who otherwise enjoyed the gunplay made the same observation about the story evaporating after the setup: "Fun game, despite having very little lore at the start, you can imagine how you would react for what they've done to your cat and laughed it off like its not a big deal. A story mode would be great," one wrote, essentially asking for the narrative hook the title promises but the game never really cashes in.

Verdict

They Killed Your Cat has a genuinely clever hook in its manual-everything control scheme, and when reviewers talk about the actual second-to-second feel of reloading under pressure, the praise is consistent and specific. But the game built around that hook is thin: one hallway, one alarm, one horde, repeated with cosmetic variation until the credits, populated by enemies whose lack of threat undercuts rather than sells the revenge fantasy. At its low asking price it's a fair pickup for players who just want to feel the gunplay gimmick for an hour or two, but it plays more like a polished proof of concept than a finished game, and reviewers who wanted a story, or even much of a level design beyond a single recurring corridor, are right to be disappointed. Whether it grows into something more substantial will depend on updates the developer has so far been slow to deliver.