Ride your bike through a city, find stray cats in trouble, take them home, clean them up, nurse them back to health, and find them somewhere to live. That is Cat Parents, a cat rescue simulator that hit 100,000 Steam wishlists three days after it was announced. The developers did not see it coming either.

What Is 'Cat Parents'?

Cat Parents is an upcoming cat rescue simulation game developed by GAZE IN GAMES, an indie studio based in Riga, Latvia. The game is coming to PC (Steam) with no release date announced yet.

Players explore a peaceful residential neighborhood by bicycle, locating stray, abandoned, and injured cats that need help. Once rescued, cats are brought home to be bathed, fed, and treated for any illnesses. When they've recovered and feel safe, players can either find adoptive families for them or keep them as permanent companions.

The game features deep home customization, players can set up cat towers, tunnels, beds, and shelters, expanding into their yard to create a full-scale cat sanctuary. It supports both solo play and online co-op, so friends can team up to rescue cats together.

100,000 Wishlists in Three Days

GAZE IN GAMES announced Cat Parents on March 18, 2026, debuting its trailer through major gaming outlet IGN. Interest exploded almost immediately. By March 21, just three days later, the game had crossed 100,000 Steam wishlists.

For perspective: according to a January 2025 report by analytics firm Sensor Tower, 301 titles, or 6% of those tracked, reached 100,000 or more wishlists over the previous 12 months. Cat Parents did it in three days, faster than slot roguelite CloverPit (one week), seating puzzle Is This Seat Taken? (two months), or the much-anticipated camper survival game Outbound (about two weeks), which has since passed a million wishlists.

CEO Solvita Zacha wrote on LinkedIn: "Three days ago, we finally announced Cat Parents, a game we've been dreaming up and pouring our passion into. A game we'd love to play ourselves, and we never imagined that our little dream would spark interest in so many people." And then: "Those millions of views, and 100,000 wishlists and all expectations are a huge responsibility and a huge trust."

From Horror to Cat Rescue

GAZE IN GAMES is known for an entirely different genre. Its previous title, HELLMART (released January 2026), is a horror-simulation hybrid in which players work the night shift at a store plagued by supernatural events. Its demo landed in the top 50 at Steam Next Fest and gathered over 150,000 wishlists, and streamers including CoryxKenshin, CaseOh and Jacksepticeye picked it up.

The pivot from late-night horror to daytime cat rescue has become a talking point in itself. Some Steam community members have also raised questions about the studio's connection to Zoochosis (another viral game with overlapping team members) and debated whether AI-generated assets were used in development, a topic the studio has addressed by stating the game is built by a dedicated new team.

Why Cat Games Dominate Steam

The success of Cat Parents is part of a larger trend. Over the past five years, cozy games have emerged as one of the strongest growth categories on Steam. Cat-themed titles in particular have a remarkable track record for going viral.

The cyberpunk cat adventure Stray (2022) topped Steam's wishlist charts before launch and became a cultural phenomenon. Little Kitty, Big City reached a wide audience by letting players make a nuisance of themselves. More recently, Mewgenics, a cat breeding roguelike, reportedly sold over a million copies in its first week in March 2026.

The appeal isn't hard to understand. Cozy games offer a refuge from competitive, high-stress gaming experiences. They welcome newcomers and experienced players alike. A game where you rescue cats, with no enemies to fight and no timers to beat, hits a universal emotional chord.

Japan's Deep Connection to Cat Culture

Japan has one of the richest cat cultures in the world, and this topic resonates especially deeply with Japanese audiences.

Cat cafés (猫カフェ, neko café), which originated in Japan, have spread worldwide as spaces where people can relax with cats. Japan's cat rescue movement (保護猫活動, hogo-neko katsudō) has also grown significantly, with government data showing increasing adoption rates year over year. The phrase "adopt, don't shop" (ペットショップではなく保護猫を) has become a mainstream sentiment in Japanese society.

In gaming, Japan has its own iconic cat titles. Neko Atsume (2014), a Japanese-developed cat-collecting mobile game, became a global sensation. Japan's famous "cat islands", Aoshima and Tashirojima, attract visitors from around the world.

Cat Parents' focus on rescue and rehoming directly echoes Japan's growing shelter cat culture, making it a title that Japanese gamers are particularly likely to connect with emotionally.

What Indie Studios Can Do Now

Cat Parents demonstrates that a small, self-funded studio can capture global attention with the right concept at the right time. No massive publisher backing, no multimillion-dollar marketing campaign, just a heartfelt game about saving cats that struck a chord with hundreds of thousands of people.

The game has no release date yet, but the gaming world is watching. For cat lovers and cozy game fans alike, this is one to keep on your radar.

What's the cat rescue and adoption culture like in your country? Do you have a favorite cat-themed game? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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