Einstein’s Cats (PC)
When I was a kid, I came across a type of logic puzzle that I quickly adored but rarely could find when I went looking for it. This is partly because it lacks a fitting name, it going by many names but it seems Einstein’s Riddle is one of the most popular despite any connection to Albert Einstein being apocryphal at best. Luckily, after many years of still not knowing its name, it managed to find its way back to me thanks to a little game called Einstein’s Cats, which packs in 108 unique Einstein’s Riddles to solve framed by way of needing to help some cute cats find the exact spots they wish to sit.
In Einstein’s Cats, a puzzle will present you with a lineup of cats with different fur patterns and sometimes different accessories, and using a set of clues on the left hand side of the screen, you need to figure out where they wish to sit. A set of shelves in the background will have various resting places like baskets, cat beds, boxes, and more, but there is only one correct spot for a cat to sit and you need to use what limited knowledge you have to place the cats by way of a process of elimination. You might get a clue like “Orange cats love to be up high”, which means you not only know orange cats must be up high, but if you have enough orange cats to fill the top row, you can then properly surmise all the other cats belong on the bottom row. All hints in Einstein’s Cats are absolute as well, there never being exceptions. If a type of cat likes being in baskets, it will be in a basket. However, some clues reference other cats, like saying one type of cat might like being to the right of one with spots. This is true, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the cat will be in the same row or immediately next to the spotted cat, the player gradually having to eliminate potential places to put cats until they can make informed decisions on how to arrange them all.
Einstein’s Cats is pretty smart about how it arranges these puzzles. Some will come right out and give you a bit of a freebie to get going, the player then using that first cat they can place to determine important details about how to position the others. Other times though you actually need to think much deeper about the clues provided, thinking less about the wording of one clue and more how you know other cats must be placed even if you can’t quite put them all in the right spot yet. Deduction and logical thinking are key to the tougher puzzles, but Einstein’s Cats will mix in a few easier puzzles before it presents the ones that can leave you pondering how to even start. This approach to laying out the levels means you won’t get mentally fatigued, able to commit more brain power to the harder ones before the simpler ones ease up the pressure and let you work back up to the demanding ones.
A good sense for difficulty also extends to how complicated the puzzles get in general. Einstein’s Cats never overextends, the different levels eventually introducing new variables like needing to figure out the names of a cat or two or consider not just what the cat might want to sit in but whether it has preferences for wide or tall sitting spots. This could have very easily become overwhelming, Einstein’s Cats not providing the grid common to Einstein’s Riddles that makes eliminating possibilities easier to keep track of. However, even the toughest stages never push you so hard that you’d need to keep a great deal of information in your head or whip out a piece of paper to track it. You’ll at least be able to gradually place a cat or name tag to ease some of the mental strain, Einstein’s Cats a much easier game to play for some quick puzzle solving since it keeps its scope in check. Most importantly though, if you get cat placement wrong, there isn’t any form of punishment. You’ll see the felines aren’t happy with their placement, but you won’t be told which ones were placed wrong or potentially given the wrong name tags. It’s up to you to reconsider the clues so you truly need to solve the puzzle to clear it, although the game even helps nudge you a little bit by highlighting hints that are relevant to the cat you’ve selected. It doesn’t give the puzzles away, but it can help focus your mind a bit more or make it much easier to spot where you might have went wrong.
Across the 108 levels, Einstein’s Cats doesn’t really change its format too much. There is the eventual introduction of name tags, but most of the time if something is being added, it’s an aesthetic touch. There are 12 worlds with nine puzzles each in Einstein’s Cats, the background changing from areas like a cafe or office to more fantastical places like outer space but you’re still going to be using similar clues to figure out where cats want to sit no matter where in the universe you are. New locations will come with new looks for the cats though, some area appropriate accessories giving them new looks and something new to pop up in the clue text. Hats, outfits, and new colorations will crop up, and rather helpfully the game has a small reference sheet so people who don’t know what a point pattern or tuxedo pattern are can quickly consult it until it becomes second nature. Einstein’s Cats utilizes a pleasant scrapbook aesthetic for its stages as well, the cats not just looking cute but also featuring some light animation and even expressions when they’re happy with their spot or displeased if there are cats out of place. One of the cuter touches though is when you pick up a cat to put it in its sitting spot. Your finger cursor will transform into a set of hands that lift the cat up from beneath its front legs, the touch small but making it feel a little less artificial. If you drop the cat it will revert to a sitting position and just sort of drift down, but considering the game is trying to be cozy and laid back, it’s probably better to not include a distracting animation of it landing on its feet.
That scrapbook look actually connects to the rewards you earn for clearing worlds in Einstein’s Cats. A stickerbook is unlocked where you are able to construct little scenes of your own, the player gradually unlocking the backdrops, objects, and accessories unique to a location for their use in customizing a sticker page. You can place a few cats in a decorated area just for the fun of designing it, and it does go a bit further than just having you plop them down and hope it looks nice. You can alter sticker sizes, move them forward or back so you can change what covers what, and ultimately arrange a nice picture for the sake of having something cute to look at. You do need to go through levels one after the other there’s no skipping around to get stickers you wish to use, but it adds a nice little bit of extra flavor that seems to put the same level construction tools into your hands that the creators of the game used. It would be interesting to allow you to construct your own riddles as well, but that would be a rather advanced addition that would almost change what the game is all about.
THE VERDICT: Einstein’s Cats is a casual and cozy take on logic puzzles that is very smart about how complex to make its individual levels. You’ll have a few simpler stages to ease you in before tougher levels ask for deeper consideration of the provided clues, the game packing a great deal of satisfying riddles even if they’re all cut from very similar cloth. You come to the game for 108 unique Einstein’s Riddles though, and the adorable kitties involved in the puzzles are a good fit for a puzzle game that never gets too overwhelming with its logic. You can appreciate the small things while still working your brain to solve each stage, making this a good fit for people fond of its particular puzzle type.
And so, I give Einstein’s Cats for PC…
A GOOD rating. Even with the rise and fall for how difficult stages are, Einstein’s Cats feels like it hits a good amount of puzzles for its format. 108 gives you some that are easier and quick as well as ones that will make you sit back and ponder more carefully how to connect clues. There are definitely ones that were incredibly satisfying to complete because they required a greater degree of thought, but having easier ones to wind down with or build you up actually helps with giving the game a nice flow. It’s much easier to get sucked into clearing level after level when they’re not stressing you out or asking for the type of thinking where you’d need to make a large grid to figure it out. Some extra very hard levels could have been a nice touch as a sort of end-of-game unlockable, but it’s also clear Einstein’s Cats is trying to mix its approachable look with some solid puzzle designs. For fans of the puzzle style who want to play it all in one go or come back from time to time, Einstein’s Cats does its job well and even has important guard rails in like the reference sheet for cat coat patterns that could have been an issue for someone less familiar with feline appearances. It even keeps the name tags in check, often only asking you to figure out the name for a few felines since it seems the creator could sense that too many variables would eventually lead to the casual nature of the game being replaced with long perplexing stages if it was allowed to get any bigger.
Einstein’s Cats provides pretty much exactly what it promises. It features a fun puzzle type, it knows how to shift it around to provide some satisfying stages to solve, and it does so while putting some adorable kitties front and center for those who don’t want a logic game to look dry and basic. Its simple elements are mixed together well and even give clear room to grow if it wanted to update and add more worlds and locations, but it’s already a good package, especially considering how my past efforts to find Einstein’s Riddles often left me finding only one at a time.