We first reported on The Last Cat in the Universe earlier this month when publisher Flynn’s Arcade announced it was heading to Nintendo Switch. The game has been developed by Apamate Studio and was originally released on Steam earlier this year. The Last Cat in the Universe will release on Switch on October 29th, 2026, priced at $6.99 with a discount during the launch window. We’ve been playing this cute pixel art incremental title and are delighted to bring you our review.
First off, we wanted to say that it’s uncommon for a video game to move us to tears with its story, but The Last Cat in the Universe is a very moving game, especially if you love animals. We won’t spoil the story here, but the game begins with a cat stranded on a space station with only a robot helper to look after it. What unfolds is a heartwarming story about friendship, humanity’s fate, and the will of life.
The game has two main sections: inside the space station, where the robot looks after the cat and keeps it entertained, and the other, where the robot must mine for resources to keep the space station going. Those familiar with incremental games won’t need to be introduced to the concept, but for anyone who hasn’t experienced one, we will briefly explain. You perform the same tasks over and over; with the resources collected from performing the tasks, you can upgrade your equipment to gain access to even more resources. This cycle continues in increments until you wield almighty power to perform the initial task quicker and easier.
The main task in The Last Cat in the Universe is played out on an isometric board with different layers representing the depth of the mining. Perform well, and you will mine many levels in the round. Once we’d finished the story mode and upgraded all the equipment, we almost managed to hit 150 layers and felt the game tops out at that number. Finishing the main story should take between 2-3 hours, depending on how much time you spend in the space station with the cat. Every time you reach a layer milestone, say 30 layers or 40 layers, the next chapter of the story opens up, and with it extra things to add to the station.
While the game is incredibly repetitive, as is the nature of this genre, the reason to keep going is to keep building your mining equipment to see how powerful it can get, and of course, to see the fate of the cat who is sadly all alone in space. We can say that seeing the main game through to the end is very worthwhile, and as already mentioned, moving in places. Playing The Last Cat in the Universe made us think about our own lives and place in the universe. It’s deceptively deep for such a straightforward budget title.
We also really enjoyed the gameplay loop and found that we didn’t have to spend much time in the space station, as reaching a new mining layer would ultimately give us a little more of the story. The balance between narrative and achieving goals has been executed wonderfully here, and it’s refreshing to see an incremental game with such detail in progression and story; it’s very rare in this genre. We hope this may inspire other developers in the scene to think about adding more depth to the standard mechanics.
In terms of presentation, The Last Cat in the Universe is well thought out. The visuals for the mining sections are interesting and full of effects, especially once you unlock all the equipment. However, the special part of The Last Cat in the Universe is the lovely relationship between the service robot and the kitty. It plays out wonderfully on screen, with humour and compassion, as well as practical functionality given the budget nature of the game.
Overall, we recommend The Last Cat in the Universe to anyone who has enjoyed the incremental genre in the past. This is a cut above others on the market, due to the story layer and overall length of the game, which feels just about right. Gamers who don’t enjoy repetition in their games may not get it, but those who love a charming narrative with real heart would be able to overlook the basic nature of the gameplay. We loved this game, and want to thank Apamate Studio for unexpectedly moving us.
