Hidden Cats in New York: Review & gameplay (PS5)

Hidden Cats in New York is a sequel to Hidden Cats in London. They both are hidden object games, where you have to find cats. Lots of cats. And now, in real life New York just happens to be one of the few places I'd like to visit... So to put it mildly, I was very eagerly waiting for this game.

I previously wrote about the long struggle to find out the release date for Hidden Cats in New York's PS5/PS4 version.

 

 

And I was so anxious to play the game right when it comes out, but then to my horror I realized that the release would be at 2am my time.

 

I do go to bed late, but starting a new game at 2am would be too crazy even on my standards.

Then the game was actually released earlier than promised. I'm not sure when, but it was available before 1am my time. Just when I was about to go to bed... I should put that Gage gif here again...

And then, adding insult to injury, I noticed that I missed a giveaway for this game. Yes, in my current financial situation even that 2,95€ is too much.

But finally, like 12 hours after the game came out, I was finally able to play it. And was I disappointed? No.

Hidden Cats in New York has two difficulty levels: normal and advanced. The fun really only begins with advanced mode, only there you start unlocking hidden bonus levels. And only on advanced mode you can find special hidden cats.

 

There are a couple of things that make finding the cats easier.

First of all there are the sounds. The cats meow when you are near them. You can even adjust the sound settings, that you only hear the meowing.

Then there's the coloring of buildings/areas where all the cats have been found. There is no such feature in for example other series of similar hidden object cat games, A Building/Castle Full of Cats.

 

 

One warning though. On advanced mode at least for me towards the end of the level I had three uncolored buildings left, but the remaining cats were not in these buildings. I don't know if it's intentional or a bug. Hint: Special cats might appear only occasionally, and they could even be airborne...

And another tip: If you want to get the platinum trophy for this game, you can't use any hints on normal and advanced mode. On hidden bonus levels hints are allowed.

There are total of 757 cats to be found, so if you really love finding cats, this game is for you.

 

Here's a gameplay video of Hidden Cats in New York (PS5):

 

I wonder why the first game in this series - Hidden Cats in Paris - hasn't been published for PS4/PS5? 

There are many more Hidden Cats-games on PC, at least seven so far. I guess we'll just have to wait patiently to get more games of this series to consoles.

My Time at Sandrock: Best bachelors to romance

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There might be some spoilers in this blog text/photos, so read at your own risk. 

 

In My time at Portia choosing a husband was pretty straightforward for me, because the trophy said it had to be Gust. On my own I would have never chosen him, he was always so rude to me. Until he fell in love with me... I always thought that I'd divorce him and marry someone else, but in the end I found myself wanting to be with him forever. Love works in strange ways.

But in My time at Sandrock I was free to choose my own husband. And it was so difficult, there are 21 love interests in total. This blog post is about the bachelors, not the bachelorettes.

Early in the game I kept running into Arvio. But when he said how handsome Fang is I realized that he must prefer the company of men. So as a female builder that meant no Arvio for me. But if you don't date Arvio you miss his reverse confession, and his clingy behaviour afterwards. It's really easy to romance Arvio. Just choose heart options during the picnic, and that will trigger his confession.

 

What is a reverse confession?

In the context of this game reverse confession means an NPC initiating a romantic relationship with the player. Some bachelors/bachelorettes can do reverse confessions, some don't. 

Which bachelors have reverse confession?

Bachelors with reverse confession are Arvio, Unsuur, Qi and Logan. So don't try to give them the heart knot, they have something special planned for you!

Burgess got on my bad side right from the start. On my third day in Sandrock, he commented how tired I look. That day happened to be my birthday! Thank you for the compliment, you really have made my day!

 

Then out of the blue comes Unsuur. He makes a surprise reverse confession early in the game.  So in my opinion Unsuur is definitely the easiest bachelor to start a relationship with. I was not interested in Unsuur before his confession, but found it difficult to turn him down. And instantly regretted saying no to him. Unsuur is the easiest bachelor to romance. You don't even need to gain relationship points with him, just advancing in the main story will trigger his confession.

 

Scientist Qi is heavily involved in the main story, so it's easy to gain relationship points with him. I kept giving him just power stones and data discs as gifts. Also Qi makes a reverse confession, and suddenly he had become my sweetheart. Qi is really adorable in his nerdiness and social awkwardness, and he's definitely the type I would fall for irl.

 

 

I was interested in Ernest right from the start, because he is a writer. But I never seemed to find him, to be able to advance my relationship with him. Finally I realized that he spends his time at the church Apartments, but still on too many days I forgot that he even exists. Ernest ended up rejecting my heart knot twice, which really hurt. I think it could have been because I hadn't done all his friendship missions yet. Nonetheless then he finally said yes to me. But when he talks about his love for me... because of those earlier rejections I just feel empty inside. I mean, earlier you didn't love me and now you do? I don't buy it.

 

Sandrock's doctor Fang is a total weirdo at first, not even speaking with the player. He communicates through his pet bird X. It's difficult to even start any kind of social interactions with him. It takes forever to get in speaking terms with Fang, or to be able to give him gifts. In my opinion Fang is the most difficult bachelor to romance. First you have to participate to his medical trials enough times, and those are only available on Wednesdays and Fridays, by his clinic. It's also a nice tip to know that on Sundays Fang spends some time at the graveyard.

 

 

But when you finally get to speaking terms with Fang he's just so nice. Always being worried about you. He worries do you take care of yourself and sleep enough and bring his medicine with you. It's so refreshingly different from the arrogant pricks such as Gust and Qi. I'm swoon by Fang's caring nature.

 

 

But like I said it takes literally forever to romance Fang. When you finally get the gifting option you get a mission where you need to buy something from the Mysterious man. For me this mission triggered of course so that I had almost a month to wait for the Mysterious man. Then you have to plant the seeds and wait for them to grow. And even after that it takes weeks before the next mission in this storyline becomes available.

 

 

But is Fang worth all the trouble and waiting? Yes. His backstory is heartbreaking. 

Which bachelors have reverse proposal?

There are only two bachelors who do a reverse proposal, Owen and Logan. So if you are an old fashioned gal like me who wants the man to propose marriage, you only have these two options. For me Owen was not an option. I even gave him a very special birthday gift: manure. "I guess you win... This will be an unforgettable birthday for me..." Poor guy...

Logan is the supposed bad guy, and arrives late in the main story. So you have to be patient if you want to get in cahoots with him. I just didn't understand his appeal. Yes, in the end he turns out to be a good guy. Or does he? Logan beats me up on at least two occasions, and I'm supposed to fall for him? I'm sorry but it doesn't work like that. If he's violent towards me then I'm not interested. Of course I did romance him, for research purposes. To experience Logan's reverse confession and proposal, and his romance missions. Later I did realize something horrific, but I'm gonna write about it in another post. 

 

Pen is a jerk who only loves himself, and I used to hate him. Then I realized he's the comical relief, just like Trevor in GTA 5. Now I regret that I didn't date Pen on my first playthrough. I could have been a part of his baker's dozen... But you should know that you can't marry Pen, he will always reject the proposal.

 

I also regret not romancing Miguel, for reasons I won't disclose here. But I'm correcting that mistake on my second playthrough.

 

Zeke has some fans who wish it would be possible to romance him. I hear you, but personally I wish I was able to marry Mort. I think I'm in love with his beard. What is this age racism, Pathea?!

 

But in the end I realized who is the love of my Sandrock life: X. 

Yes, you read that right. I totally fell in love with Fang's pet raven. It happened around the missions where X does something illegal just to get another bird Coco to be his friend. When X realized how stupid he had been and cried, it broke my heart. Poor bird, so desperate for friends.

 

 

So I'm choosing X. Fang can move in with him if he wants to. 

 

 

So far Fang is the only bachelor who has a unique post marriage quest. So if you want to see this special content you know what to do.

 

Later I'm gonna post a guide about marriage. And in another upcoming post I'm gonna reveal everything about my three (!!) marriages! We are also getting on the Logan hype train!

 

 

Oh yes, I'm obsessed with (Logan &) My Time at Sandrock!

 

My Time at Sandrock Collector's Edition for Playstation 5 is currently on sale on Amazon.

My Time at Sandrock: Multiplayer coming to consoles

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It's not My Time at Sandrock anymore, it's OUR Time at Sandrock.

 

 

Coming this June, My Time at Sandrock introduces cross-platform co-op multiplayer. Until now the multiplayer mode has been available only on PC.

 

 

Here's a trailer for the cross-platform multiplayer:

 

 

As a PS5/PS4 player I do have one question though: Will this game ever be available for PS4?

EDIT: My Time at Sandrock will be released for Playstation 4 on July 16, 2024.

Hidden Cats in New York: Release date for PS4/PS5

I'm a fan of the Hidden cats in... - game series, so when I found out that Hidden cats in New York was coming to PS5/PS4 I was excited. 

But I couldn't find information about the release date anywhere. The trophy list came, but the game didn't. I thought the trophy lists only come very close to release.

 

 

There are many more Hidden Cats in...-games on PC. I'm tempted to start playing this series on Steam...

So I kept refreshing the Playstation store page many times a day... Is this a sign of insanity? Then I once accidentally typed to the search box "my time at new york"... It's a telltale sign of which games I'm currently obsessed about.

We tried to decipher the code of the ancient murals, but weren't able to correctly predict the release date. I was so disappointed when the game wasn't released on the day we thought.

Then today the release date was finally revealed.

Hidden Cats in New York will be released for PS4/PS5 on April 25, 2024.

So we still have to wait for two more weeks!

The trophy list really was released unusually early...

My Time at Sandrock: Review (PS5)

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As I have told before I totally fell in love with and became heavily addicted to My time at Portia. Now I finally got my hands on to its sequel, My time at Sandrock. The release date for the full version of the game was November 2, 2023.

 

At the start of the game you move to a small desert town, in hopes of making Sandrock great again! During the course of the main story you build things, make new friends, and maybe even fall in love...  

 

I had feared that I wouldn't like Sandrock as much as Portia. From what I had seen and read, I knew that the boring and brown desert setting of Sandrock would not appeal to me at all. I also thought that the characters, or namely bachelors wouldn't be as interesting as in Portia.

But, like its precussor, Sandrock took me like a storm. Maybe not like a sand storm? Sandrock does have sand storms occasionally, and they are rather annoying. There can be dangerous monsters lurking in the storm, so beware.

 

But what annoys me most about Sandrock is the fact that you need water for everything. All your machines need water to function. And water is scarce, especially at the start of the game. I felt like I was using all my time and all my stamina just to get dew, which is what water is made from. But luckily later in the game the situation improves, and suddenly I didn't have to worry about water at all anymore. 

Here's a useful tip: When you adopt pets you can use them as servants and send them out to look for things, such as water. And when you do well in the workshop rankings you get water as a reward. But my problem was of course that I refused to buy any water. Yes, you can buy water from Burgess' shop Water World. 

 

 

But I wanted to save my money to more important things... such as better clothes. And I mean better looking clothes, not clothes with better stats. And so far I haven't found a better looking clothing than the wedding dress... so I wear it all the time. Is it a bit crazy? Maybe, but style above all else.

 

Pathea has made many good improvements to Sandrock compared to Portia. You no longer need to carry all items in your backpack, namely the relic pieces. To be able to restore the relics at the museum you don't have to have them on you. Also the festival badges aren't even items you carry anymore, you just automatically have them on you all the time. So in this sense Sandrock really is an easier game than Portia.

And that is not the only reason why Sandrock is better and more relaxing game. There are lot less time limited missions. In Portia you were competing with Higgins, but in Sandrock you are actually co-operating with your fellow builder Mi-an.

 

And as a cat lady I really love the fact that cats are very heavily involved in Sandrock. There are three cat residents, and they even are important part of the main story! And that's just the start of it. There are lots of cat related items in the game, and cats are mentioned in dialogue all the time. I'm gonna write many more posts about all the cat things of Sandrock!

 

 

Other similar farm life sims, such as Harvest Moon/Story of seasons, are in my opinion so boring compared to Portia/Sandrock. In Sandrock something is always happening, and the main story is long and fulfilling. Sandrock is very fun to play, and it is full of seriously funny dialogue. Pathea has really found some great writers. 

When it comes to dating and marriage, there are 12 bachelors and 9 bachelorettes to choose from, and boy that choice is difficult to make! Who to marry? You can date them all if you want to, but you can only marry one... unless you use a mod on PC. Of course you can also divorce, and marry someone else. But who can take all that heartbreak? I'm gonna post more about the marriage candidates later.

 

 

Sandrock does have multiplayer, but so far only on PC. Hopefully it will come to consoles as well.

What Sandrock desperately needs is more trophies. It has the same amount of trophies as Portia, but somehow it feels less. What's worst you get all the story trophies long before the game main story's end. I've been told that this must be because those are based on the early access-version of the game. But as a trophy hunter my heart bleeds because of this. I'd want to keep playing My time at Sandrock forever, but I feel I should move on to other games, because of those pesky trophies.

But I can't give up on Sandrock, not yet. After spending 180+ hours on my first playthrough, I'm gonna start a second one. This time as a male builder. I'm planning on seeing all the scenes and romantic side missions I missed on the first playthrough.

Thank you for the great games, Pathea, and keep up the good work!

 

My Time at Sandrock Collector's Edition for Playstation 5 is currently on sale on Amazon.