It’s never too late to start your culinary-themed New Year’s resolutions, after all
- Run your own cat-themed restaurant this year
- Tap to keep those cute kitties coming
- Don’t forget to make time for cat naps
Hello and welcome to Ahead of the Game, a series where we tell you all about an upcoming game that, despite not being out yet, is available for you to play at the time of publishing. Through this series, you can grab a chance to play games well ahead of their release date, be that through Soft Launch, Open Beta, Demos, or more.
A brand new year means a brand new venture, and if you’re looking to hone your business management skills as one of your many New Year’s resolutions this 2025, Cat Restaurant might just be exactly what you’re looking for.
This charming tycoon sim will have you opening up your own restaurant to serve hungry cats of various shapes and sizes, from ramyeon-loving chubbs looking for a quick bite to eat to sus kitties with a penchant for scarves.
It doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel where the gameplay is concerned – you’ll unlock recipes, hire staff, and upgrade your kitchen using your earnings from customers as typical of the genre – but what makes it worth a go is, to me, its adorable visuals.
It’s all about the cosy vibes here thanks to the hand-drawn feel of the art style, so even though the nature of the mechanics can be pretty stressful once things start getting inevitably hectic, the lovely aesthetics do wave a calming kind of magic over the whole thing.
Your fingers will have to be at the top of their game when it comes to endlessly tapping – you need to keep promoting your restaurant to entice more cat customers, after all – but you can always watch an ad or two to help with the shoutouts every now and then.
Your staff can also automate processes like taking orders and collecting payments, but you can’t rely on your hired help for too long as they’ll take a break from time to time and leave you to pick up the pieces yourself. Cats, after all, need to cuddle up for some cat naps every so often, so you’ll be left to your own devices to keep your bustling business up and running.
I do like that it adds that little twist to shake up the gameplay, but in all honesty, the cat-themed aesthetics alone are already enough to get me hooked on this wholesome experience.
So, how do you play the aptly titled Cat Restaurant?
This kitty-riffic management sim is currently on soft launch in select regions, so it’s worth having a look if it’s already available in your preferred app store. Why not open your own restaurant to kick off the new year with a bang?
