I play a lot of different types of games, both on my own time and for Phenixx Gaming. Sometimes, I just want something chill and relaxing, while other times I may want something more involved. Calico is the quintessential chill game in my Switch library right now. Do you like cats, dogs, or other animals? Do you like magical girls? Do you like customizing your character and home with various outfits, furniture, etc?

If the answer to any (or multiple) of those questions is yes, then Calico is something you should start looking at right now. Don’t let the pastel, delicate visual style fool you. This game is an unapologetically relaxing, wholesome, heartfelt experience that is both LGBT friendly and relatively easy to understand.

The goal of Calico is to restore the community’s cat café to its former glory. In order to do so, you need to interact with the townspeople, find and befriend animals, decorate your café, and cook various recipes to stock your café. Let’s break each of these things down a bit.

First off, Calico has a robust character creator that lets you make anything from a plus-sized magical girl to a transgender character. There are no gender options, and you can color your character’s skin in a variety of colors from real-world skin tones, to wild colors like pink and blue. They are all done in gradient selectors so you can literally customize your character’s skin tone however you like.

There are all kinds of hair options and clothing options in the game as well. Everything can be colored from your character’s clothing to their hair and even their eyes. Calico truly lets you make your own character, even if it is difficult to see some of the changes when you’re playing on a large screen.

After you’ve made your character, you are greeted by the Mayor, who gives you some furniture to decorate your café with. She also teaches you the beginning steps of your journey, befriending animals, and cooking dishes. The overall gameplay loop is basically that you explore the island, talk to NPC’s, accept quests, then pursue those quests to get new items. With that comes access to new potions that give you various benefits, and access to new shops and recipes to cook.

The decorating of your café is simple. Each furniture set has a different style, and different NPC’s have their own preferred style. So, by decorating your café and providing their favorite foods, you can make your café more successful. Additionally, getting to know the characters lets you befriend them, raising their affection level.

Cooking is one of my favorite parts of Calico though. You shrink down to a small size and throw various ingredients into a bowl. Then once you’ve made the recipe you carry that dish over to your serving tray. It is a fun, cute, relaxing little mini-game that doesn’t ask much of you.

The real pleasure of Calico though is interacting with the animals. There are dozens of animal types that you can befriend. On top of that, some of them you can ride in order to traverse the large map. The map is split into multiple environments, from snowy peaks to beaches. It is absolutely gorgeous, and I can’t overstate how cute the game is.

It is obvious that there was a lot of love and care that went into Calico, and I can see it really being a chill game for a lot of people. It has a day/night cycle, but unlike games like Stardew Valley, you aren’t really pressured by the clock. There is no penalty really for staying out late, and if you just want to take the time to explore, meet new animals, and have fun then you are fully able to without consequence.

The sheer relaxing nature of the game is what keeps me enthralled really. From being able to do all sorts of things with the animals thanks to toys you can collect to finding potions that can change how you interact with them, Calico has a lot to love here.

The characters are all distinct, some of them are in LGBT relationships, and all of them are positive and friendly for all ages. This is a game that any animal lover in your life should enjoy or at least try out. Have you ever wanted to pet a giant cat? If you haven’t thought of that before, Calico will let you do it!

In fact, I only have one single complaint with Calico. There is no compass. It is a little tricky to navigate when you can see where you are on the map but don’t really know where you are facing. Other than that I think that I will be returning to Calico when I just want a break from anything that requires me to do more than pet animals and cook food.

A Nintendo Switch review copy of Calico was provided by Whitethorn Digital for this review.

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Calico

$11.99

9.5

Score

9.5/10

Pros

• Cute Animals
• Chill, Relaxing Gameplay
• Fun Cooking Mini Game
• Lots to See and Explore
• Adorable Characters

Cons

• No Compass