Surprisingly, I’m not new to playing as a cat in a platformer, albeit my previous experience was more dystopian sci-fi. Only Way is Down by Jilted Generation Productions takes it to a more realistic place, with a small side of silliness that often falls flat.

Starting firmly on the ground in a bustling city, the cat’s nap took a harsh turn when the box they were resting on was lifted via crane to the top of a construction site. This is no place for a cat; the ultimate goal is to get back down.

From the start, I was a smidge confused by the game’s tone. From the Customise Kitty menu, I was able to set my cat type, hair colour, and fashionable accessories like the in-game collectable headgear. My favourite customisation was the Chonkiness scale, which ranged from “No Chonk” to “OH LAWD HE COMIN.” When it got to the actual gameplay, the small chuckles turned into growls of frustration.

The view of the cityscape was beautiful, and the instrumental music, which ranged from mellow to upbeat, set a lovely scene. The cute little meows of the cat brought some comfort. Once I got into motion, though, I didn’t feel quite so relaxed. This is a challenging game for animal lovers; I learned the hard way very quickly that the cat wouldn’t always land on its feet. More often than not, they tumble off surfaces and land with an audible thud.

The default setting for fall animation is “rag doll”, which seemed like it would be portrayed in a fun light, given ragdoll physics are usually hilarious. In this case, it was disconcerting; I quickly changed the setting to “fade”, but my cat bursting into particles didn’t feel much better, especially with how often I fell.

The game plays as a 3D platformer, where the cat must balance on precarious construction beams and other materials. Misjudging and losing footing is easy, making for a slow descent. With five difficulties ranging from Casual (with infinite lives) to Normal (unsurprisingly with 9 lives to use) all the way to “No Chance” with 9 lives but absolutely no checkpoints. As far as I can tell, there’s no save feature anyway, so rage-quitting mid-run will require you to start the journey again, regardless of checkpointing.

There’s room for everyone’s preference with mouse, keyboard, and controller options. As a game that relies heavily on precision platforming, a slightly misjudged tap of the jump is enough to go tumbling down. It’s all about finding the sweet spot to jump and land on your feet. Some points felt unfair, where a sequence of tricky jumps with minimal checkpoints sent me back a long way if I failed.

I would have loved a more free-to-roam approach, with enough to climb on to find my way down rather than follow a linear path. With the repetitive cycle of one singular way forward, I didn’t feel mainly accomplished when reaching a checkpoint, but I was more relieved I didn’t have to spend so long in one area anymore.

Only Way Is Down wasn’t the purr-fect experience for me. Fun was often outweighed by frustration. While the game has some potential to be fun, without being able to find my way down with some freedom of exploration, my urge to keep going fell as often as the poor cat did. I’m cautiously optimistic with a few tweaks, Only Way Is Down can reach soaring heights, but as of right now, I just want to get out of this damn construction site that I have yet to conquer.

Written by: Yasmin Noble