Skip to main content

New Catly trailer shows what the controversial game actually looks like

A cat sits in a room full of corn in Catly.
SuperAuthenti Co.

After a controversial and confusing reveal at this year’s Game Awards, developer SuperAunthenti Co. has released a new two-minute trailer for Catly. The clip gives a much better idea of what the game is, as does new updates to its Steam description.

Catly debuted during The Game Awards with a short teaser trailer filled with highly detailed cats. It seemed harmless enough, but the clip sparked concerns among viewers who suspected it was using generative AI. When Digital Trends asked if AI is being used in Catly, SuperAuthenti Co. told us that it was not sharing any more details until 2025. Later, internet sleuths discovered that the company’s co-founder, Kevin Yeung, had started another studio two years ago that was working on a blockchain game with a similar description to Catly. Yesterday, SuperAuthenti Co. broke its silence and confirmed that Catly does not use AI nor blockchain tech.

Recommended Videos

Now further responding to critics, SuperAuthenti has replaced the Game Awards trailer altogether on Steam. The gameplay-focused video, which was captured in-game this time, shows off several previously unrevealed features. We learned that there’s an island in the game that can be customized with decorations and that cats can equip cute outfits and accessories. More than anything, the trailer showcases its distinct art style in both its uncanny cats and psychedelic environments. It all has the same colorful tone and color palette of the game we saw last week, but it looks quite a bit different overall.

Also significant is that SuperAuthenti has uploaded entirely new marketing copy to the Steam page. The page previously featured oddly worded sentences that further sparked concerns that the studio was using generative AI to create the game. The new description is much clearer and sheds light on the game’s actual features. Catly will have players doing quests for locals, growing flowers, unlocking abilities on cats, and more.

Also notable is a “content” box that teases that Catly has gacha components. The box notes that it will feature in-game purchases, including “chance based” ones. That implies that Catly could use some form of banner or pulling system like Infinity Nikki. It’s currently unknown if it will be released as an open-world game.

There are still questions to be answered. Chief among them is how this all runs on Apple Watch and who exactly is involved with the studio. For now, though, we at least have a better idea of what the actual gameplay looks like on PC.

Catly is set to launch in 2025 for PC, Nintendo Switch, and Apple Watch.

Giovanni Colantonio
As Digital Trends' Senior Gaming Editor, Giovanni Colantonio oversees all things video games at Digital Trends. As a veteran…
The Spawnies are reimagining what a video game awards show looks like
The Spawnies logo appears on an orange background.

You can’t have an awards show without a little drama. While institutions like the Oscars can shine a celebratory spotlight on artists and their craft, they also tend to bring out the peanut gallery. Everything from nominations to production choices gets skewered as viewers debate the right way to recognize the art they love. That attitude has spilled into video games in recent years, as shows like The Game Awards have opened conversations about how the medium is celebrated, whether or not enough games are getting the shine they deserve, and who should be the arbiter of those decisions. Those discussions have left some hungry for a fresh approach to the standard awards format, one that better represents the way they view video games.

Content creator Kahlief Adams saw a similar need when looking at the current awards landscape. Best known as the host of Spawn On Me, a popular gaming podcast that focuses on lifting up people of color in the gaming industry, Adams began to see how his overall mission naturally dovetailed with the idea of an awards show. With the right approach, an awards show could give him another platform to spotlight underrepresented voices while celebrating a diverse array of games released every year.

Read more
Gori: Cuddly Carnage looks like cat game Stray on nightmare fuel
Gori rides by a horrifying enemy in Gori: Cuddly Carnage.

At first glance, this trailer for indie game Gori: Cuddly Carnage that we spotted this morning looks similar to Stray, an indie darling nominated for Game of the Year at The Game Awards. Gori features a cute orange cat doing its best to survive in a neon-infused postapocalyptic world. The connection between the two games is further heightened by the fact that PlayStation, which heavily promoted Stray ahead of its release, tweeted about the game after posting its trailer on their own YouTube channel.
Interestingly, the tweet focuses on the skateboarding aspect of Gori: Cuddly Carnage, not the gore. Go watch the full trailer, and you'll learn that Gori: Cuddly Carnage is actually a violent game about a cute cat who rides a hoverboard that doubles as a weapon that can chop horrifying unicorns to pieces. While Stray was a game that could kill you with its cuteness, the protagonist of Gori: Cuddly Carnage could just do the job itself.  
https://twitter.com/PlayStation/status/1593604940676620291
This is easily one of the weirdest games we've seen in a while, especially because of its initial similarities to Stray. So, where'd this game come from? Gori: Cuddly Carnage is developed by Angry Demon Studio and published by Wired Productions, and was actually announced for PC in April ahead of Stray's release. This trailer that caught our attention today initially aired during the PC Gaming Show: 2023 Preview on November 17, but was shown again by Sony this morning.  "Play as a badass murder-kitty on a death-dealing hoverboard in Gori: Cuddly Carnage, a third-person ‘skate ‘n’ slash’ set in a neon-glowing futuristic world filled with intense destruction and fast-paced combat," its Steam description reads. 
Apparently, a bloodthirsty toy uprising wiped out humanity, and now it's up to the titular cat to stop it. Its Steam page includes a content warning that says: "The game contains foul language, excessive gore, and other adult content! Enjoy!" While we haven't gone hands-on with Gori: Cuddly Carnage at all, it has certainly caught our attention by going in a widely different direction with the post-pocalyptic cat premise seen in Stray. It's a title that will certainly be on our radar going forward, thanks to its wild new trailer. 
Gori: Cuddly Carnage is not a PC and PlayStation exclusive, unlike Stray. A tweet from Angry Demon Studio confirms that Gori: Cuddly Carnage is slated to also release for Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S sometime in 2023. 

Read more
Devs show what in-development games look like after GTA 6 leak
An in-development screenshot of Deliver Us the Moon showing The Michelin Man instead of the playable character.

Over this past weekend, Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto 6 leaked, with 90 videos showing off in-development builds of the highly anticipated open-world game. Obviously, many aspects of these videos looked incomplete, which caused some people to immediately judge the final quality of the game, engage in lots of angry discourse, and reveal that they don't quite understand how game development works.

One tweet, in particular, caught the ire of game developers as it claimed that "visuals are one of the first things done" and that the final year of development is "all backend stuff" like mission coding and debugging. Obviously, this couldn't be further from the truth, as multiple elements of video games are created in tandem and rely on each other to be complete. For example, would you expect the visuals of a level to be complete before the design of that space and the missions that take place within it are finished?

Read more