The best cat games that let you live your feline fantasy

Best cat games: the cat in Stray running from robots.
(Image credit: BlueTwelve Studio)

When it comes to the best cat games, there is a wealth of opportunities to either explore the world as a four-legged friend or collect a whole brood of your own kittens. That's right, there a plenty of feline-friendly titles out there, so if you thought that Stray was the only kitty game, boy, were you wrong.

From some of the best adventure games to the best feel good games around, we've tracked down 10 of the most pawfect cat games for you to give a whirl right now. Games where you can play as a cute and cuddly cat are just getting more popular, and we have no doubt that our list below will grow as more new games head our way in the future. But for now, we've made sure that our ranking is packed with the must-play cat experiences available for every gamer to check out today.

So, grab your mouse toys and look out for growling dogs because here are the best cat games out there for you to leap into, whether you're looking for Nintendo DS classics to more recent offerings.

10. Nintendogs + Cats 

Nintendogs + Cats, one of the best cat games

(Image credit: Nintendo)

Developer: Nintendo
Platform(s): Nintendo 3DS

It's a decade-old 3DS launch title - and cats will never forgive Nintendo for giving them second billing in the title - but Nintendogs + Cats is still one of the best cat games ever made. Its adorable recreation of three kitten breeds (standard, oriental, and longhair) gives you your choice of fuzzy pals to befriend, and if you play with 3D enabled, it really does feel like you're staring through a little window into their home. Unfortunately, you can't teach the kittens tricks or take them out on the town like you can with their puppy counterparts, but they will sneak off and bring you gifts every now and then to show you that they really do care. None of the gift possibilities are dead birds or mice, but it's OK to sacrifice realism every now and then. 

Read our Nintendogs + Cats review.

9. Catlateral Damage

Catlateral Damage, one of the best cat games

(Image credit: Chris Chung)

Developer: Manekoware, Fire Hose Games
Platform(s): PC, Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch

If you're into the idea of playing as a cat, you're eventually going to want to start knocking things off the table. That's the whole idea in Catlateral Damage: leap around procedurally generated environments in search of the most breakable stuff, then break it. Occasionally a special event will pop up where you can chase and catch a mouse or something like that, but ultimately it's all about that sweet destructive satisfaction. Catlateral Damage is good fun to play as a standard flat-screen experience, but it's even better if you play in virtual reality with full motion controls for an even more immersive asshole cat experience.

8. Gravity Rush

Gravity Rush Remastered, one of the best cat games

(Image credit: Sony)

Developer: Team Gravity
Platform(s): PS4 (Remastered), PS Vita

What the heck is a game about a girl who can control gravity doing on a list of the best cat games? I'm so glad you asked, because the answer is a two-parter: one, she gets all of her powers from a mysterious space cat whose coat is the color of the cosmos and who is your constant companion in the game; and two, you may not play as a cat, but you do play as a Kat. Seriously though, the bond between Kat and Dusty is a key part of Gravity Rush's story, and it never gets old watching Dusty wander around whenever you stand idle for more than a few seconds. Gravity Rush was clearly made by people with a deep and abiding love for cats in their hearts.

Read our Gravity Rush review

7. Gato Roboto

Gato Robot, one of the best cat games

(Image credit: doinksoft)

Developer: Doinksoft
Platform(s): PC, Nintendo Switch

What if Samus Aran was a cat, but still did pretty much all the same stuff? Then you would be playing Gato Roboto, a retro sidescroller that pairs its unabashed Metroid-inspired action with stylishly lo-fi pixel art and music. Intrepid ship's cat Kiki must continue her human's mission (since she's kind of the reason he's trapped on his ship) by curling up in a suit of power armor and blasting through caverns full of hostile creatures - but she'll also need to pop out now and then to make the most of her feline agility and smaller profile. Gato Roboto is a brief and minimalist Metroid-style experience, perfect for when you need a little more cat action in your life.

6. Neko Atsume: Kitty Collector

Neko Atsume, one of the best cat games

(Image credit: Hit-Point Co.)

Developer: Hit Point Co.
Platform(s): Android, iOS

No list of the best cat games would be complete without the definitive kitty collecting game on mobile devices. Neko Atsume is a supremely simple experience: you set out toys, treats, and furniture in your yard and wait for cats to show up and help themselves. That's it! The joy is in "collecting" all of the different varieties of cat that roam through your neighborhood, then using the gifts they leave behind to purchase even more cat-luring goodies, expanding and renovating your home to make it more cat-attractive, and so on. There are even special rare cats that you'll need to create just the right circumstances to see. Neko Atsume is the kind of game that becomes a part of your daily routine, and who wouldn't want to have more cute cartoon cats in their routine?

5. Night in the Woods

Night in the Woods, one of the best cat games

(Image credit: Infinite Fall)

Developer: Infinite Fall
Platform(s): PC, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, iOS

Night in the Woods is about coming home, finding it has changed, not being sure how to feel about that, and - this is most important for our purposes of laying out the best cat games - a game where you play as a cartoon cat. I mean, sure, everybody's some kind of anthropomorphic animal in this world, and nobody ever makes a big deal about it. The last thing Night in the Woods wants to do is lay out a deep lore backstory for why everybody's animals in this crumbling rust belt town. However, it does feel very true that Mae - a deeply conflicted character who occasionally indulges in breaking stuff for the sake of breaking stuff - should be rendered as a cat. 

4. The Sims 4: Cats & Dogs

The Sims 4: Cats & Dogs, one of the best cat games

(Image credit: EA)

Developer: Maxis
Platform(s): PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X

What good is recreating a digital version of yourself and giving them the perfect home if your cat isn't there to barf on the floor? The base version of The Sims 4 sadly doesn't include options to add pets to families, but as the name suggests, The Sims 4: Cats & Dogs expansion is all over it. You start off by creating your furred friend with a character creation suite with options and flexibility that rival its Sim counterpart, then you add them to your family and feel your heart swell. You can't control your pets directly, which is especially realistic for cats, but there are a bunch of ways for your Sims to care for and otherwise interact with them. You can even open up your own veterinary clinic as a business if you just can't get enough digital animal pals. 

Read our ranking of the best Sims 4 expansion packs to buy right now.

3. Animal Crossing: New Horizons 

Animal Crossing: New Horizons, one of the best cat games

(Image credit: Nintendo)

Developer: Nintendo
Platform(s): Nintendo Switch

While we're talking about collecting cats, we have to address the true endgame of one of the most popular games of the last few years: assembling an island of nothing but cat villagers in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Sure, there are plenty of other species of villagers to meet, and they're all perfectly good too… but cats. Plus, is it any coincidence that Raymond, the most sought-after villager in the entire New Horizon community, is himself a cat? I think not. Engineering the perfect setting for a bunch of ingrates who lounge around on all of the furniture like they own the place is also an incredibly realistic cat owner experience.

Read our Animal Crossing: New Horizons review.

2. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, one of the best cat games

(Image credit: Nintendo)

Developer: Nintendo
Platform(s): Nintendo Switch

Never before has the Mario franchise been this deeply invested in all things feline, and perhaps it never will be again. But for this one game, Mario and friends truly become the cat. Well, it's actually more like two games: the original action of Super Mario 3D World introduced Cat Mario, giving that most heroic plumber the ability to scratch, climb walls, and dive through the air with the grace of a cat chasing after another cat. But that's just a cat-petizer to the all-encompassing felinity of Bowser's Fury, a brand new open-world adventure that unfolds in a strange corner of Super Mario's world where everything except Bowser is some kind of cat. The Goombas, the shines, the trees, the architecture, the, well, cats.

Read our Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury review.

1. Stray

Stray, one of the best cat games.

(Image credit: Annapurna Interactive)

Developer: BlueTwelve Studio
Platform(s):
PS4, PS5, PC, Nintendo Switch

How could we not put the game where you play as a cat as our number one? Not only does Stray let you push things off ledges, walk through paint and leave little pawprint trails, and scratch trees until your claws are content, but there's a beautiful story underneath its furry coat. This game will make you laugh, cry, and purr, and if you're playing with the PS5 DualSense, your controller will purr along with you. Placing Stray as our number one cat game just makes sense, and we hope you get a chance to step into the furry feet of its protagonist soon. It's worth it, trust us. 

Read our Stray review.


More of a woofer? Check out our picks of the best dog games next.

TOPICS
Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.

With contributions from
Read more
Stray
10 Games like Stray to adventure through when you're done with the cybercity
Three girls face the camera with big smiles in Animal Crossing New Horizons
15 Games like Animal Crossing that are so wholesome it hurts
The best laptop games - Hades 2 screenshot of Melinoë and Hecate, flanked by shades, at the crossroads. A large cauldron sits in the middle of the image.
The best games to play on a laptop right now
The Sims 4 screenshot of eight Sims with varying facial expressions standing against a blue and green backdrop.
10 Games like The Sims 4 that will let you live a virtual life
Best simulator games: a screenshot of a plan at sunset in the game Microsoft Flight Simulator.
Best simulator games to play right now
Pokemon Pikachu
10 games like Pokemon for the discerning trainer
Latest in Games
The Elder Scrolls' Oblivion's most annoying fan holds a torch
Oblivion remake leaks suggest Skyrim's cooler sibling is making a comeback, but I'm worried a modern makeover could bulldoze over the weirdness that makes it great
Super Mario World, our number one best retro games
Super Nintendo consoles have been quietly overclocking themselves for 35 years, but it took until 2025 for the SNES fandom to notice
Monster Hunter Wilds trailer screenshot showing a young woman with long blonde hair tied back into a ponytail smiling slightly, pumping her left fist in the air
Capcom promises "lots in store" for Monster Hunter Wilds beyond just "the planned title updates," not to mention the "series as a whole"
Mio and Zoe talking by a big bubble in a city setting in Split Fiction
It Takes Two sold over 20 million copies and won GOTY, but Hazelight's Josef Fares says "all the numbers looked really, really bad" before the co-op studio became "this really big developer"
Splatoon
New Nintendo patent implies veteran Splatoon developers are behind that mystery Minecraft-like game playtested last year
Assassin's Creed Shadows screenshot showing female protagonist Naoe
Ubisoft is reportedly laying the groundwork for a new company unit focusing on its most valuable series, including Assassin's Creed
Latest in Features
The Elder Scrolls' Oblivion's most annoying fan holds a torch
Oblivion remake leaks suggest Skyrim's cooler sibling is making a comeback, but I'm worried a modern makeover could bulldoze over the weirdness that makes it great
Ayo Edebiri in Opus
The Bear star's new A24 cult thriller proves Ayo Edebiri needs to be the final girl in a horror movie
Nintendo 64 console with SummerCart64 inserted on desk with Panasonic CRT TV and Zelda: Nightmare ROM hack on screen.
I've fallen down a Zelda ROM hack rabbit hole, and this nifty N64 flash cart is to blame
The Omniflex armrests of the Corsair TC500 Luxe
I'm declaring war on gaming chair armrests in 2025
Cat Detective Albert Wilde screenshot of Albert the anthropomorphic cat who wears suit driving his car
LA Noire eat your heart out: This weird and wildly funny detective game saw me investigate a mysterious dead body as a broke cat in a suit
Assassin's Creed Shadows screenshot of Yasuke and Naoe
We're only 3 months into 2025, but this year has already been stellar for RPG sickos like me – and it's showing no signs of slowing down