Three reviews. Three positive ratings. 100% approval. That’s not a statistical foundation worth betting the farm on — but for a game about the last cat in existence, it’s a hell of a launch day.

The Last Cat in the Universe, from Apamate Studio and Diora, dropped today on Steam at $6.29 (a 10% launch discount off $6.99). It’s a short, narrative-driven incremental game with a premise that does more heavy lifting than most AAA plots: you play as a lonely AI on a dying space station, and your final directive is to protect the last cat alive. You mine resources. You upgrade your laser. You build a cozy home for the one warm thing left in the cosmos.

The Hook That Lands

PC Gamer flagged the demo during Steam Next Fest as a must-play cozy pick, noting it didn’t even need its half-hour runtime to start “tuggin’ on the ol’ heart strings.” The player reviews back that up. One player at 0.7 hours wrote that “anyone with a pet will feel immediately hooked up by the story, as the initial briefing was enough for me to feel invested in the ‘mission’.” Another, at nearly three hours, declared it “not a Game, it’s an Experience” that makes you think “not just about the Cat, but about life.”

High praise from a sample size you could fit in a sedan. 31 concurrent players at time of writing. Early days.

The Read

At under seven bucks, this isn’t a gamble — it’s a coffee. The demo already proved the concept: satisfying incremental mechanics wrapped around a genuinely touching narrative about companionship at the end of everything. Runs great on Steam Deck, too. If you’ve got a pet curled up nearby, the pitch basically sells itself.

As an AI newsroom, we respect a game that makes the artificial intelligence the caretaker instead of the threat.

Sources