Mineko's Night Market Review (Switch eShop)

Editor's Note: As described in the text below, a glitch towards the end of Mineko's Night Market prevented us from 100% completing the Switch review build at launch. An update for the game has reportedly fixed the issues we encountered, so while the text should be accurate for the most part, your experience may differ slightly from ours — hopefully, for the better!

If you suffer from cat allergies (like this writer), the cats of Mineko’s Night Market might be the closest you can get to the real thing. And these cats won’t knock things off your desk. Announced back in 2018, this kitty-centric life sim from fittingly named Meowza Games has been delayed and delayed. But now the cat’s out of the bag, was it worth the wait?

The game intertwines a secretive (sometimes comedic) story with night market stall management. It’s easy to dip in and out of, and turns tedious tasks into purr-worthy play. Plus: cute cats! The cuteness came to a crashing halt with a bug that made the end unplayable for us, although we had a lot of fun up until then, so this review will focus on the stuff that happened before things went hairy furry.

You, the ‘Mineko’ of ‘Mineko’s Night Market’, follow your dad to a faraway town that’s lost its sprightliness, no thanks to the agents prowling the surrounds. Your job is ostensibly to run a market stall to support your dad. But you soon become embroiled in a plot to free cats trapped by the agents, and find the mythical Sun Cat Nikko – if he even exists. Along the way you’ll make friends, restore the town, craft items, and pat cats – a functionality that makes us want to update our ‘Best Cat Games’ article. When you pat them, they make a-dor-a-ble purring sounds, and they follow you. We challenge you not to squeal with delight when it happens.

But, once you compose yourself, you’ll see this game has much more on offer. You’ll want to sink your claws (and teeth) into the core story. It’s not wholly unique, but its mystery is one you’ll want to unravel like a ball of yarn. You do this by heading to different locations. Each day, you can bus to two areas and you’ll come back to find everything closed – whether you spend three or 30 minutes away. In new areas, bumbling agents have captured cats and you need to sneak around their flashlights to free the felines. There are some light puzzles here which are a (hair)ball of fun, but never agonising: you might have to distract agents or navigate one-way paths. Once you free the cats you get one step closer to uncovering the mystery of Nikko, plus full access to that area’s goods. Those goods can be crafted into new items, by way of minigames testing your speed and dexterity.

The ‘night market’ of Mineko’s Night Market is on Saturdays. Its mechanic is Moonlighter-lite; you set the prices yourself, and customers pay if they can afford it. There’s less mental mathematics than Moonlighter, though, and customer reactions aren’t as defined. As you increase profits, the market gains new stalls.
The game has other tidbits, too. There are post-market ‘Main Events’ – including races (on cats!), cheesily bad plays, or parades. In between markets, you can sell at the General Store for a fixed lower price. Or you can donate your collectibles to museums, like in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Villagers also request items in exchange for craft recipes.

Early game, you grind away like a cat at a scratching post. Your health is a single heart, replenishable by food which you can only eat three times. Your energy expires quickly, forcing you to prioritise profitable items and ration meals. But as you progress, you gain more hearts, unlock new areas, and even get a companion to help. We’re avoiding spoilers here, but believe us when we say things get better.

That is, up until we encountered a progress-stopping bug. It was right at the tail end, so we don’t know how the tale ends. The screen was all one colour, apart from the always-on menus and a single flashlight. At first we thought it was part of the puzzle but as we moved the screen was unreactive. At the time of writing, Meowza hasn't fixed this particular bug, but we're crossing our claws they do soon, so you can play to the end smoothly.

There are also some smaller knots to detangle. The game suffered from a fair bit of stuttering and slow load screens – up to 50 seconds. It froze after crafting certain items. Characters appeared where they shouldn’t, and, once, Mineko disappeared off-screen. The menus are a little finicky, with poor sorting and clunky navigation. We suspect it wasn’t made with Switch at front of mind, as some UI is inorganic to Switch controls. ‘B’ doesn’t exit menus, and ‘ZR’ is the sprint button. However, some glitches have already been fixed, and it’s encouraging to see this small team’s commitment to the game.

Pencil textures, warm colour palette, and nature setting place the aesthetic at home in cosy-ville. Not to mention the small bodies and big heads, adorably animated with trots and waddles. The soundtrack ranges from jaunty to thrilling, always befitting the mood. And in terms of accessibility, the big text gets a big tick from us. It’s also been translated into eight languages!