Critter Café Hands-On Preview: Your pet can finally start helping with the rent

As you might be able to tell from my Floatopia and Tavern Keeper previews, you'll probably be aware I've taken on a fair few cosy games over the course of Gamescom. I'm not usually one for cosy games, but as they did give me a chance to relax amidst the fast pace of a regular Gamescom day, I can't say they weren't welcome.

Alongside playing Deathsprint 66, I got to see what else Sumo Newcastle were up to, and as Deathsprint 66 game director Andrew Williams told it, there definitely seems to be a Barbenheimer situation going on at the studio. On the one hand, you have the ultimate death racing simulator in Deathsprint 66, and on the other you have one of the cutest games we've ever seen in Critter Café.

Critter Café sees you rescue mythical beasts from anomalies opening up in your quiet town, to bring them to a safe haven while also having them work the odd shift at your café. It's worth noting that you're not just nabbing these creatures and forcing them to give you free labour. When they're not on the job, the critters live in their own spacious habitat, where you can play with them, feed them, and just let them go about their business. I imagined it as the ultimate break room, and couldn't help but chuckle as I conjured images of a tiny bird-like creature with beans for eyes puffing on a cigarette, counting down the minutes until it was back on shift and chatting about a holiday to Corfu.

When your critters aren't chilling on their own, you can find them in one of two places. Either an anomaly or an island. Let's tackle the anomalies first. This is where Critter Café becomes more of an adventure puzzler, as you'll be given a simple but fun set of obstacles to overcome with the tools at your disposal. As we were at the beginning of the game, we were given a hammer with which to crack some crystals and move rocks into place, allowing us to venture forth and track down a new critter. Before you get into an anomaly, you'll have to find it in the cosy town that your café is located in, giving you the chance to get to know your surroundings a bit more and make use of your whimsical running animation.

Heading to the café, your critters will mostly be used for special events. Certain groups will look to rent out the café for the night, and will have certain requirements of the critter they want to see. Perhaps they'll want a long tail, or stripes, or a certain colour. You'll also have to match the furniture and décor to their wishes. In our session, we had a group of people wanting a movie night, so we set up a platter of popcorn and other snacks, as well as sorting them the green sofa they desired. It's simple, but Critter Café doesn't want to demand too much of its player, instead preferring to give them a much more wholesome take on the hospitality industry. You won't find any customers tapping their watches or tutting because you forgot the fifth side they added in their giant order.

When you're running the café during the day, you might not even have a critter on hand, and will instead just be taking part in one of a few minigames to grab cake slices, cups of tea, and other little nibbles for your customers. Again, while you do have a time limit on getting stuff done, there's no real penalty for only dealing with a couple of customers. Also, if you mess up one of the minigames, again you won't be facing the shaking fist of a customer. It's more about rewarding the positive than punishing the negative, which certainly fits the cosy atmosphere of Critter Café.

Rather than just lean on the idea of what if cat cafes had mythical creatures instead, Critter Café has a lot of legs to stand on. It is part life-sim, part adventure game, part creature collector, and all of those parts come together to make an interesting whole. It'll be interesting to see how much depth those mechanics have as you put hours into Critter Café, but for the short time we got with it, it played as intended. Wholesome, cosy, and whimsical.