Mineko's Night Market

How to grow your own cats and sell trinkets made from hairballs

- Kimberley Ballard

In Japanese folklore, a cat spirit called the Bakeneko dwells in the mountains and uses its supernatural powers to cause mischief. It speaks in tongues, shape shifts into human form and sometimes likes to dance and engage in sumo wrestling. A sharp contrast to the cats of the Western world that only want to sit in small boxes.

Meowza’s upcoming sidescroller is steeped in these kinds of myths. You play as a girl called Mineko, who moves to a suspicious Japanese island overrun with tricksy felines. To make a living, you run a nightly market stall and spend your days foraging and crafting items to sell to the townspeople. Once you’ve made some dough, you can explore the market itself, eating strange food, picking up collectables and playing a variety of minigames.