What I find odd about the indie space, doing something that games looking for mainstream success could never pull off, is how developers can simply lean into being weird or niche and it can still work out. Even if these games may not pull in huge numbers, they can be as quirky as they’d like, and still have hopes of pulling in the folks who are looking for something off the beaten path. Cats Away is one such title, mixing together some high seas adventure, ship-based combat that can be quite exciting at times, and a cavalcade of cats who’ll end up being your crew.

One of the game’s more unusual aspects is that in many ways its scope is pretty narrow. First, you’ll be advancing through a story with 3 young women trying to find and then reunite with their father, embarking on a grand journey full of pirates and maritime hijinks. Second, you’ll have an aspect of managing the equipment and crewmates for your ship, acquiring new feline companions through adventures, quests, or simple recruitment at various ports of call. Finally, you’ll have the ship-based combat which thankfully will keep you on your toes without necessarily being too taxing. Positioning, choosing the proper armaments for dealing with specific types of foes, and addressing things like a need for repairs will be your focus, with the action generally being handled by your crew. It can take a little getting used to, but even if the controls for giving different orders can initially seem complex, they quickly feel pretty intuitive and convenient to change, even in the middle of the action.

The thing is, that same focus to the experience can be the game’s Achilles’ heel as well, since if those collective elements aren’t enough to keep your attention for a pretty long adventure, it could run out of steam pretty quickly. Make no mistake, you’ll have plenty of new gear, upgrades, and skills that will continue to make your ship and crew more formidable, which you’ll need in order to keep meeting the challenges that you’ll face. That said, it could begin to feel like a grind just because you’ll spend so much time in the same general activity, even if the details and tactics may continue to evolve. The story is there, as well as the management aspects with your crew, but those aspects are more optional for you to dig into or skip through. The combat really is the focus.

The weird thing is, while I initially didn’t like that I was handing over so much of the control over battles to my inconsistent crew, I still did find the skirmishes enjoyable. If it weren’t for being able to change out the equipment and priorities in battle it may have fallen apart, but there’s an urgency when you’re in the thick of things and trying to adapt that I appreciate. Given that I tend to have a weak spot for experiences that are simply odd and different from what I’ve played before, I’ll also admit that I can see the appeal in it being unapologetically its own experience. Its appeal may mostly be categorized as niche, but I’d say there’s enough here to make it fun in its own right, something many of its peers can’t always claim.