This week, we received an opportunity to try out an early development build of the first 10 to 20 minutes of Cat Quest II: The Lupus Empire, scheduled to launch for Nintendo Switch in 2019.

If you haven’t, check out our first Cat Quest II interview to have a better idea of the game first.

As this is the first time we are playing a small and actual part of the final game, there are many new gameplay and story elements we have discovered in our playthrough for the very first time, which we will share with you in this feature.

First and foremost is the game’s plot. In Cat Quest II, you play as a Cat and a Dog, who used to be the kings of Felingard Kingdom and the Lupus Empire. It appears that their thrones were forcefully taken away by the antagonists of this game, so you will have to reclaim their rightful thrones in Cat Quest II.

When the game begins, we start off on two islands, where we learn about the game’s basic controls. In the island there is a dungeon where we discover a new type of enemy that cannot be hurt by melee attacks and magic. This new type of enemy, which we will for now call them tombstone-type enemies, could only be hurt by obstacles that appear in dungeons, such as spikes. In order to destroy them, we lure them onto the spikes.

During the tutorial, we are introduced to Kirry, a spirit that will guide our heroes in Cat Quest II. According to The Gentlebros, Kirry is a royal advisor that has advised every king that ruled Felingard Kingdom and Lupus Empire. Kirry has a similar role to Spirry in the first game, a spirit that guides players in completing story objectives and quests.

At the end of tutorial, we access a location called King’s Marker, essentially a place that allows fast travel. There are different doors which take you to different places, but since we have only started the game, there’s only one door. The King’s Marker was used by kings of the two countries to quickly travel across the land, and no one else could use them.

After completing the short tutorial which takes about 3 to 5 minutes, the heroes are teleported to Felingard, the kingdom of the cats. There we see various landmarks that appeared in the first game, which look different and are no longer in the same places they used to be. The overworld looks more detailed and the map feels larger. Overall, the general atmosphere is the game is different but feels slightly familiar to the prequel.

In our first quest to reclaim the Felingard throne, Kirry leads us to Kit Cat’s home. Kit Cat is a merchant that offers gears in both games. Unfortunately Kit Cat is nowhere to be seen so we are led to a dungeon to help Kit Cat recover her ornaments. Kit Cat’s appearance has changed in Cat Quest II, and we are expecting the same for all other returning characters.

In the first dungeon, we see new undead enemies and a tombstone enemy. There are also many spikes on the floor which are raised after someone steps on it. Spikes, which appeared later in the game in Cat Quest, are now something we see frequently in Cat Quest II as they are used for many types of puzzles.

In the next two quests, we rescue a herd of magician cats who are being “pawsercutted” by the kingdom, and later have our first encounter with the game’s villians. The anatagonists of the Felingard Kingdom are Lioner, an evil king with stone-like armor which usurped the throne, and two cat jesters clad in red and blue.

And that comes to the end of our first 20 minutes of Cat Quest II. Although we spent a short time with the game, Cat Quest II feels like a game that has more puzzle solving elements than the first, a larger world to explore, hilarious cat puns, and more things to do. The plot is also very intriguing and definitely more interesting than the first game. The improvements and changes make us feel it’s more than a simple sequel.

We will give you our full thoughts on Cat Quest II closer to launch, so until then, please stay tuned.