How To Steal Hearts And Treasure In Kleptocats
Kleptocats may have the same aesthetic as Neko Atsume, but it’s a very different game, with a few very specific tricks for success.
The latest to cash in on our culture’s fascination with felines is Apps-O-Rama and Hyperbeard, with their new free to play mobile title, Kleptocats. In Kleptocats, your growing horde of adorably fat, Pusheen-like kitties are sent out to collect decorations for an initially empty room, while you sit around at home and tap bubbles for coins. The game’s about as laid-back as actual cats, so it’s perfect for long workdays when you need a picture of something cute and fuzzy to cheer you up every so often.
But casual though it may be, no kitty is without its secrets! Here are several tips and tricks involved that will result in more coins, more gems, more decorations, and more cats in Kleptocats:
Always max a cat’s happiness
Letting a kitty leave unhappy will result in duplicate items more frequently while the cheerful furball will bring back more unique items, and even gems sometimes! While petting and feeding them may seem a bit tedious, there’s a trick. You can max a kitty’s happiness with one petting session by tapping rapidly on the cat’s head, rather than stroking or scratching as is intuitive. If you can’t tap fast enough and fall just a bit short, feed a treat instead of initiating another pet session, as the treat goes faster.
Check in regularly
Kitties take longer to retrieve items the more items you have, so when you first start the game (or when you get a new room!) be prepared to check back in fairly frequently. The game offers you a bell for coins, which will call kitties back immediately, but there’s no reason to use this. Save your coins for gems to net you new cats and new rooms, instead. Logging in several days in a row will also net you a little bonus money.
Play the minigame
The bubble-popper minigame nets you one coin for every ten pawprint bubbles you pop, plus bonus coins if you tap a coin bubble. If you’re bored waiting for a kitty to return, this can be a good way to net several gems. Of course, the game itself is fairly mundane and can get tedious. If you’re not interested in mini-games that seem so easy, an actual cat could play them, consider only playing for a minute or so when you’re close to 250 coins and just need a few more to buy a gem.
Gems? What are those for?
Each gem costs 250 coins, and four gems will net you one new cat at random. There isn’t much of a difference between the cats beyond aesthetic, but the ones you collect that aren’t active will appear around the room, just like decorations. Try to collect them all!
A second room can also be purchased for a hefty 25 gems. If you’re a really dedicated bubble popper and have the gems, go for it! The second room allows you to have two cats out at a time looking for goodies. However, if you’re close to done with the collection in the first room, consider waiting it out a bit. The second room is available for free once you’ve finished the first, and future rooms will presumably work the same way.
Find the Golden Cat
It’s worth it to explore the room when you get a free moment. Read the item descriptions, have a good laugh at all the easter eggs from other games (there are many!), shudder a little as you realize this game actually has a sinister backstory…but keep an eye out! There’s a golden cat decoration that will sometimes appear in your room at random. Tap it like you would when petting your kitties for some free moolah. Nice!
Puzzle pieces = more cats!
Though there’s not much you can do to control this one, know that the puzzle pieces your kitties sometimes retrieve have a purpose. You can view your puzzle pieces in the cupboard, and when you finish the puzzle, you get a free bonus kitty to add to your collection.
Though the game itself is simple and sweet, Kleptocats actually has some engaging writing and mystery behind its fuzzy exterior. The devs are working hard on updates, too, so keep collecting those kitties. You never know what they might bring back.