click the screenshot to download the demo

Caspian: 9
This is possibly the most sickeningly cute match-3 game I’ve ever seen, wrapped up with the most sickeningly brilliant presentation I’ve ever seen. Seeing a game done like this reminds me why our own games don’t make any money. Talking of money, I can’t understand why PiEye have released Kitten Sanctuary at under $10 – it’s a premium title. If you don’t own a match-3 and you want one, this is the game you should be buying at any price. There are enough little metagame additions to the core match-3 mechanic to make for a nice, fresh and original game. It’s the BreakQuest of the match-3 world. Everyone else had better just give up on their own titles.

If you’ve got a little girl somewhere in your household and need a bit of peace and quiet, plonk her in front of this for an hour or two. She’ll be able to buy all sorts of silly toys for her rescued kittens and it’ll keep her busy for some time.

Kayla: 7
In an attempt to make the dreaded domestic cat seem ‘cute’, the developers of Kitten Sanctuary decided on making the little abominations into cuddly kittens that need rescuing from–of all things–aliens. It’s set up as a cascade-style game, where supplies for your cats are presented and you have to match them with two similar tiles, both to earn points and supplies that keep your rescued cats happy. The game itself is simple, and there’s no real sweat-on-brow challenges here…just mindless fun to keep you occupied for a few hours. Music within the game became somewhat repetitive after a few rounds, which caused me to delve into my computer and find some better tunes to amuse myself with. The plot is original, sure, but the oddity stems into the ridiculous. I have no idea why there’s a cat sanctuary, or why in the world aliens want to steal the aforementioned cats, but they are. I learned to deal with it. Overall, the game is best suited for the younger crowd. If you’re interested, try the demo out first before spending ten bucks on Kitten Sanctuary.

Mike: 9
The graphics and presentation of this game blew me away. While the gameplay is typical match-3 fare, the premise is incredibly original and the polish miles above most indie games. The game adds some nice metagames and tamagotchi style caretaking in the kitten sanctuaries. All in all a fantastic game if you’re not totally bored with Match-3s. Even if you are bored of match-3s, Kitten Sanctuary is worth a peek.

Sam: 7
Kitten Sanctuary is a Bejeweled type “match three” puzzle game, where you have to shift tiles around to make matches of three or more tiles, with the occasional help from power-ups. In this case, solving puzzles frees sickeningly adorable kittens from traps laid by aliens on an island populated solely by adorable kittens. Each puzzle unlocks a new kitten, which will frolic and play on the screen while you’re solving the puzzles. The blocks in the puzzles are supplies for the kittens that you have to collect to keep them happy, or coins that you can use to buy toys, decorations and extra supplies. I don’t think I’m the target audience for this game, but ignoring the kitten theme, the puzzles are amazingly easy, even on the “Tricky” difficulty. On the default difficulties, the next available move is shown before you even have a chance to look for it, making playing the game a matter of clicking where the game tells you. The puzzles get a little more difficult, but I never felt like I had to hurry. And if I failed, the only punishment would be losing a kitten, and that’s not much of an incentive. There’s not much to do with the cats – you can play with them, but this just involves waving the mouse in front of them. I’m afraid even a devoted cat lover would lose interest after a short while. But, the game is very polished, with rich sounds – completing a combo feels rewarding. If you really, really love kittens and you haven’t played Bejeweled or Puzzle Quest, or you want more of the same type of gameplay, this might be for you.

Average: 8.00

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