If you are a big cat lover, I advise you to be careful with Copier. But you should also play it right away because it's a great game. It will simply allow you to never let your cat out of sight again. I'm allergic to cats, so rather than hug my furry friend once I was done and sob quietly, I had to linger in the emotional turmoil that Copycat had put me through. That's probably why I want to project it to as many people as possible to feel less alone in all of this.
At the start of the game, you play as Olive, an elderly lady who visits her local animal shelter to adopt a cat. The dialogue between Olive and the shelter worker suggests that this is Olive's first visit to adopt a cat, but the worker comments that she came a few months ago, which will make much more sense later. When you choose your cat, you are told how he ended up in the shelter and what kind of attitude he has, which I thought was a good idea rather than leaving you in silence while you look at the selection . I took this decision seriously because you play as the cat once you leave the shelter rather than staying as Olive. I settled on a ginger cat that bears a striking resemblance to my friend's cat, Soup (which was a terrible idea given the emotion of the story), and headed home.
Luckily, I didn't have the task of naming the cat, which is a huge plus for someone like me who gets way too attached to everything they name. Olive called me Dawn, which is kind of nice I guess, and took me home. As soon as I arrived, I wasn't really nice to Olive. My options as she put her hand in the carrier were to bite it or scratch it, and as soon as I got out of the carrier, I wanted to run away from her. Luckily for me, Olive has the patience of a saint and left me alone to adjust to the new house. Soon after, Olive explained to me that she had a cat that looked exactly like me, but something happened that caused her to run away and never return.
But no matter how much time and patience Olive was willing to give me, I only had one thing on my mind: escape. This temptation is the only direction you have early in the game, and it becomes overwhelming at times. No matter how hard I tried to stay put, my hand had to go. But I guess if I could just stay with Olive and keep scratching her furniture and stealing her dinner, I'd just be playing a cat simulator and Copycat would never get the chance to present her emotional story, which begins after Olive's involvement in an accident and I rushed to the hospital, leaving myself behind.
Always distracted
The illusion of choice plays a big role in Copycat, because it seems like you have control over what will happen when in reality you don't. For example, when I was first allowed into the garden, there was a hole in the hedge from which I could easily escape. But when I tried, something distracted me and I couldn't leave just yet. It gave me just enough time to feel settled in Olive's house before being thrust into another entirely new environment once I was finally able to escape, but I wish the control do not be torn from me to achieve this.
Despite the urge to escape that dominates every action at the start of the game, when Olive is taken to the hospital, this feeling completely disappears. All you can do is sit and wait for Olive to return, which she does a few days later, but it's not the same. Her daughter is with her and was furious that I trashed the place while Olive was away. She chased me out of the house and into the street, telling me not to come back like last time because Olive is too vulnerable to take care of a pet. That's when I realized that's what happened to the last Dawn, and probably the one before that too.
When I was on the street, I felt free. However, freedom gets boring after a while, so I decided to go back to Olive's house with my tail literally between my legs, ready to meow at the door until her mean daughter lets me in, but this wasn't that simple. When I got home, I was already replaced by another cat that looked exactly like me, also named Dawn. The relationship we had built before I left was shattered, and all I could think about was the shelter worker saying he knew Olive from somewhere. That's because she was constantly replacing the cats she adopted with identical replicas and pretending they never ran away.
At times, Copycat feels like a horror game, contrasting with the wholesome yet harrowing experience I knew I'd sign up for. After all, the life of a shelter cat is far from easy. When I finally took control of Dawn, I very quickly felt nervous about running around corners or exploring new rooms in the house, mainly because I didn't want to meet Olive. She's a nice enough character, but the way she constantly dominates you around the house in the beginning is haunting. Even more so when you realize she just replaced her cats with replicas when they run away. But that's the point, Copycat is supposed to instill that anxiety in you to simulate the feeling of feeling tiny in an intimidating new environment, and that's something it achieves perfectly.
Although I went into Copycat knowing I was in for a pretty harrowing journey, I didn't realize it would be this difficult. There were times when it seemed impossible to get home, especially after Olive looked at me on the porch and told me I looked exactly like her cat and told me to leave. It takes a lot to make me cry unless an animal is involved, so as you can imagine, Copycat got a little teary-eyed. But it made me want to go to the nearest animal shelter and bring home every cat, regardless of my allergies, which is probably the most positivity you can get from a Also sad game.
