I’ve performed the Telegram swipe-to-earn recreation Catizen for hours over the previous few weeks, however regardless of this, I nonetheless can’t determine if it’s really enjoyable… or simply mildly infuriating.
Catizen is, for probably the most half, much like the opposite tap-to-earn video games which can be at present racking up tens of millions of gamers on Telegram, with the important thing distinction right here being that you might want to swipe as an alternative of faucet.
You run what is basically a cat café, with higher-level cats incomes you extra passive revenue. Cats periodically parachute into your café, and should you get two of the identical degree, you may drag them onto one another to extend their degree by one. The upper the worth, the extra money they make for you.
By way of gameplay, it is extra concerned than a number of the extra primary tap-to-earn video games, as you may’t simply blindly faucet and nonetheless succeed. Nevertheless, it is missing any actual problem akin to puzzle favorites like Threes or 2048, which have an identical swipe-to-combine mechanic.
Screenshots from Catizen. Picture: Decrypt
Nevertheless, the attract of accelerating the amount of money your cats usher in each second is robust, and should maintain pulling you again to the messaging app besides up the sport, particularly with the lovable visuals. It’s sufficient that if I’m ready round for one thing, I’ll boot it up and declare my passive revenue and mix a cat or two.
However shortly the primary of Catizen’s flaws reveals up, as your whole money solely updates as soon as each few seconds, and isn’t tied to the visuals of individuals selecting up your cats within the café. That creates a disconnect between what’s going on and the numbers you might be poring over.
On prime of that, the numbers themselves are comically massive for no actual cause. As a substitute of comprehending the variety of cash I’ve and the way a lot a cat prices from the shop, I’m counting what number of digits are within the numbers, and in the event that they match up, I may need a shot at getting a brand new cat.
This makes it very tough to get an actual sense of the worth you have got at any time, or how lengthy it will take to afford your subsequent cat. If the numbers have been decreased by a couple of digits, nothing would actually change, however it will be simpler to grasp.
Mixed with that is the financial system, which tries to scale as you get larger degree cats, however as an alternative brings issues to a screeching halt as you get previous the opening ranges. Initially, you’ll simply be capable of afford to level-up cats, and those that drop into your café are of a good sufficient degree to be helpful—however quickly you’ll be fortunate to afford one helpful cat a day.
Unlocking the following degree of cats can take a number of days with out placing down precise money or TON tokens until you permit it working and test in each quarter-hour—which appears to be the optimum approach to play.
Screenshots from Catizen. Picture: Decrypt
Then there’s the fishing mini-game, which I nonetheless don’t actually perceive why it exists. It provides principally nothing aside from a complicated further forex that you would be able to solely get any actual quantity of by spamming buddies or social channels, or paying cash.
Catizen’s downside is that it’s attempting to do an excessive amount of and make issues greater for no actual cause. The fishing mini-game might be axed fully and it wouldn’t change the principle gameplay loop in any respect, the numbers might be smaller with out harming the sport, and the fixed churn of limited-time occasions provides little or no.
If it refocused on simply combining your cats in your café and improved the financial development as your ranges get larger, then Catizen can be a significantly better recreation. However as with most video games like this, the method of constructing the numbers greater is straightforward and satisfying sufficient that leaping in a couple of times a day till the airdrop hits isn’t an excessive amount of of a chore.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
