Catana

While it's a cute game, it's just not what I was looking for. It's tagged as a Match 3 game, but that's not what it is.

S'allright. I know that's not particularly helpful, but then again, this isn't a particularly deep game. It is more or less a Match-3 game (in broad terms), where you must move your protagonist (a cat samurai) across a grid, surrounded by enemies and as you pass by or end up concluding your move sequence adjacent to a sufficient number of enemies, you will destroy them and remove them from the board. Some enemies will randomly become "angry" and if you end your turn adjacent to them, they will injure you (and you only have a certain number of hit-points/hearts per level). Obviously, as the dozens of levels go on, you will receive some special powers (e.g. a potion to quell all the angry enemies on the game board) that are each usable once per level, and some enemies will require two hits to destroy, etc. There's even a few boss-fights with a variety of special conditions that you must contrive to bring about with your movement and attack patterns in order to beat. It's not a terribly difficult game (on average difficulty.....there is a harder difficulty with less health), and I only died a handful of time over dozens of levels, and almost always on a boss fight. Th…

This is a really interesting take on Match-3. You have a player character, this cute kitty ninja, and he's like a wild card in that you use him to make the matches. So if you have two pieces on the board, and you move him to a space where he is touching both of those pieces -- regardless of whether or not the pieces are touching each other -- then he will destroy those pieces. I probably didn't explain that well, so maybe watch a gameplay video. There are a lot of achievements which so far seem to happen naturally as you play the game. I haven't gotten them all yet so I don't know if there are any that are particularly grindy or annoying, but so far so good.

Catana is a compact and approachable puzzle-strategy game that takes familiar match-based mechanics and reshapes them into a light tactical combat experience. Developed by Adept Studios GD and published by Alawar Casual, the game frames its action within a whimsical fantasy setting where strange creatures and anomalies threaten the balance of a once-peaceful world. Rather than relying on a complex narrative, Catana uses its premise mainly as a backdrop, allowing gameplay to remain the clear focus while still giving players a sense of purpose as they advance through increasingly challenging encounters. At the center of the experience is a grid-based battlefield where every match directly translates into combat actions. Unlike traditional match-three games that emphasize speed or endless clearing, Catana asks players to think carefully about how each move affects the flow of battle. Matching tiles isn’t just about scoring points; it determines attacks, damage output, and the ability to manage enemy threats before they overwhelm the board. This tight connection between puzzle logic and combat strategy gives the game a satisfying rhythm, as every successful match feels impactful and e…

JUST LIKE CLAW AND FEATHERS BUT NOT AS HARD OPPS LEFT MY CAPS ON OH WELL ITS GOOD TO PASS THE TIME IF YOU LIKE THIS YOU LIKE CLAW AND FEATHERS OR VICE VERSA

Great Match and Destroy puzzler. You only strike if there are at least 2 of the same mob type directly near you, the small versions don't count, but you can step on them and eliminate them on a turn when small. For the RED HEART level finish qualifier, never get hit by any of the crazed (flashing) mobs, don't finish on a spot that touches those mobs on a turn. Ninja Kitty will progress and new elements added, I am to level 17 and 2 boss fights so far and a few specials, but a long way to go, and enjoying it a lot, recommended, paid full, no regrets, several achievements so far. Hidden gem on Steam, surprised this one isn't well known.