Cats are Liquid (0)

Overview

Cats are Liquid is a 2D platformer game made by Last Quarter Studios for , , and . It was first released on and the Google Play Store on December 7th, 2015. The version was released on July 25th, 2016.

Gameplay

Main Game

Cats are Liquid is a 2D platformer where you plays as a cat that can turn into liquid. The goal of each stage is to get to the end of the room, marked by a white door. Each level has obstacles that can either hurt the player (orange objects) or can be destroyed or pushed around. The player has 3 lives. Once the player runs out of lives the room is either reset, or the player gets teleported to a checkpoint if it was activated before dying.

The main game has 90 levels, spread across 9 different worlds.

At the beginning of the game the only thing the player can do is move, jump and turn into liquid. Turning into liquid allows the player to go under small cracks in the walls. It also increases the player's speed significantly.

In World 2 the player is given the ability to "float". Using it the player can move slowly upwards, but it also reduces the horizontal speed of the player to a near halt.

In World 4 the player is introduced to a square the game later reveals is called "Companion". The Companion is immune to everything and cannot die, but can only move left and right. Because of the limited move set, the player has to carry the Companion through most of the levels only summoning it when it's needed. It's the only one capable of pressing buttons, something that needs to be done to progress. Every time the player summons the Companion the timer in the top left corner starts ticking down from 100. If the counter reaches zero, the room is reset.

In World 6 the player is given the ability to summon bombs. The player can use these bombs to break specific walls. The bombs don't hurt the player or other enemies.

After World 7 the game starts taking away the abilities previously given to the player. In World 7 the player loses the ability to float, in World 8 the Companion is taken away, and in World 9 the bombs. This leaves the player with only the basic move set from the start of the game.

Every 10th level is a neon level. Neon levels are completely pitch black so that the player can't immediately see the walls or the floors. Other items are clearly visible. The rooms have to be navigated using the cats own light to see where there are walls and drops.

Level Packs

Companion

The Companion level pack is has completely different gameplay compared to the main game. Throughout the entire level pack the player controls the Companion, introduced in World 4 of the main game. Every level in the pack has a timer, usually around 30-40 seconds, in which the player has to complete the level. All levels also have checkpoints that add 15 extra seconds to the timer when activated.

The level pack is divided into phases. The boost phase, the jump phase, and the ghost phase.

The boost phase has the player boosting over gaps to avoid falling. The jump phase removes the ability to boost and replaces it with jumping. The player can only jump directly upwards and cannot move while jumping. Movement is regained when the Companion lands. The ghost phase again removes the ability of previous phase and instead gives the player the ability to temporarily turn into a ghost. Turning into a ghost makes the Companion immediately stop (even mid-fall) and unable to move. Nothing can hit or interact with the Companion while it's in ghost form.

The Reset

The Reset has the same gameplay as in main game.

Story

Main Game

The plot of the game revolves around the cat who has been locked in the rooms by the owner. The cat desperately wants to get out but there doesn't seem to be an end to the rooms. Starting out as quite casual and relaxed, it slowly transitions into something darker as the player progresses.

Scattered across the game are purple cats. They're usually hidden slightly off the main path, or behind walls where the player isn't able to get to. The meaning of the purple cat is never fully explained, but in the neon levels it's hinted that the purple cat was once a part of the same group as the cat the player plays as.

In the neon levels the text is in a different font, implying that another person(s) is talking. Through the text in these levels, it's revealed that the cat was once a part of the same group as the purple cat and the people talking. They mention a friend of that cat who died before the events in the game. They also mention multiple times how being in the rooms is not good for the cat ("Staying in a world where death has no consequences doesn’t help.") and that the cat should stop and leave immediately. In the neon level of World 8, its revealed that the voices talking are the cat's friends.

Level Packs

Companion

The events in the level pack take place before World 4 of the main game. The text in the levels is told through the Companion's perspective.

In the first level the Companion says it was created to "help the cat", but before it could do that it had to be tested. Through out the level pack it's made clear that the purple cat is the one controlling the environment the Companion is in, and that the it was created by the purple cat.

The Reset

The Reset level pack is set both before and after the events of the main game. The cat has started the reset and the world is slowly reverting to its original state.

While the reset is happening there's another person talking to the cat, indicated with a different font. The voice mentions the purple cat and how it's behind everything. The voice is later revealed as the cat's dead friend.