FuristasCat Cafe by Runaway is a free coffee house simulation game. Take care of guests at your cat cafe, adopt more cats, expand your shop, and decorate. Small mini-games and story elements give this coffee house sim added depth.

Gameplay

You cat cafe opens at the start of the game. The main mechanic is to match each guest with a cat that fits their personality. There’s no messing up, however. If you mismatch personalities, you still get paid, just not as much. To collect your payment, click the heart-stamped cards (thank-you notes) left on the tables and floor.

Currencies

Note the bottom row on the picture to the left. Blue coins with a pawprint are the in-game currency used to purchase decor. The dollar bills are the exchanged currency from real money. Fish treats are the currency used to adopt new cats when the option becomes available and level up current cats. Hearts are earned when collecting the thank-you notes. When the hearts are maxed, you’ll earn a new basket – if you have an empty space for one.

Quests

Clicking the tab all the way on the right opens the daily quest log. Earn fish treats, coins, or dollar bills by completing each task, and earn an additional reward for completing the list.

Baskets

Click on the middle tab to see your available baskets. You only have space to hold four at a time, and you can only have one at a time queued for delivery. Each type of basket – basic, good, great, and so on… – takes anywhere from 20 minutes to 8 hours to deliver.

Inside the baskets are a variety of cat toys and treats. Each cat requires a certain number of treats and toys to level up. For instance, Bon-chan needs bell balls and yellow bells to level, while Loveable needs jelly meat and copper bells.

Adoption!

At every level, a new cat opens up for adoption. There are currently 27 cats. Each cat starts at level one and comes with its own personality trait. Customers will not only have a personality trait in mind, but also a minimum cat level. If a customer is looking for a level 2 cat, you can only give him a level 2 or higher cat.

As stated above, cats need a combination of treats and toys from baskets to level up, as well as a number of earned hearts from thank-you notes.

Mini-Games

While guests are in your cafe, they may be craving something from your menu. Click on blue exclamation points and feed your hungry guest. This is done as a mini-game. Drag each topping to the main plate and drag it to the person to serve it. This will award you bonus coins.

Other mini-games include cleaning up after messy customers and cats. Wipe up spilled drinks and muddy paws by scrubbing your finger over the area. Sometimes a lonely cat wants to play, and you’ll need you to rub that belly with your finger. The blue ring around your mini-game displays your progress. All mini-games award coins.

Story

There is a story in this game, but I am not sure what it entails. You, as the player, have no identity or story. All guests who come into the cafe do, though. The majority of them have a simple “Guest Pass” that states their name, age, occupation, and personality trait.

So far, I’ve met one guest with a “VIP Pass.” The VIPs reveal their name, age, occupation, one personality trait and a little known fact about them. They also have other personality traits that need to be unlocked by giving them a different personality-typed cat.

This feels a lot many cafe games where the story of the game is really the story of the people you serve.

Review

Overall, this game is super cute with a sweet art style. There are a few things that I’m not fond of.

1. Oh dear, this game is buggy. It freezes every so often and can be frustrating. Checking the app store reviews, it appears I’m not the only one with this problem.
2. Customization is… limited. I can’t tell if more items open up in later levels that you can’t see off the bat, but at the beginning, there’s only two styles of tables to pick from and only a handful of other items.
3. When you expand your cafe, you have to swipe side-to-side to view the expanded areas. With this game played in vertical format, it can be a chore. A small yellow exclamation point crops up when there’s a mini-game available in the other section, which makes it a bit better.
4. As you push on past level 5, the wait times of customers with cats increases to over an hour in some cases. The gameplay becomes less matching cats and customers and more waiting for mini-games to pop up. It’s hard to binge-play, which is how I like to play my games.

The higher the level I get, the more and more I dislike logging in just to match cats, cue baskets, and wait several hours before coming back. It’s not for me, but if you can let the freezing slide and enjoy these types of games, it’s worth a download.